therefore we confesse that their subiectes ought to obey their ciuile commaundements which may be kept without the breach of Gods law and that not onely for feare but also for conscience sake Thus farre Zanchius whose iudgement in this pointe will be esteemed of I suppose hereafter when all that either is or can be sayd by any man to the contrary will fall to the ground or vanish like smoake If it be saide that Zanchius writeth truely but that my allegation of his wordes is altogether impertinent for that the Bishops of Geneua had neuer any setled right in the ciuile gouernement of that citty I am not the man that will either iustify mine owne discretion or impugne any thinge which may bee brought for the ciuile proceedinges of that state or of any other so as they carry no false groundes of Diuinity with them which may prooue daungerous vnto our owne such as haue bene since published for the authorizing of subiectes in many cases to depose their Princes Christ refused to be a deuider of priuate mens inheritances and then surely it doth not become me to be a decider of any titles to countries citties or kingdomes I pray for all and will not further meddle with any Now it remaineth that hauing made relation vnto you of the premises as you haue heard I should also acquaint you more particularly with the alteration that was made at Geneua in the order and forme of the gouernemente of the Church Wherein you shall finde some greater variety both of actions and pollicy M. Beza speaking of the reformation of religion in that citty sayth that Christes Gospell was established there mirabiliter wonderously A wonder the common saying is doth last but nine dayes but that wonderfull course which he speaketh of will not bee forgotten I suppose in hast As you haue heard that the Bishop of Geneua was dealt withall for the principality of that City so was he vsed as touching his Bishopricke The Ministers cryed out that his Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction was as vnlawfull as his ciuile Wherevpon the Bishopricke was dissolued and that forme of Ecclesiasticall gouernement vtterly abolished whereby that citty had bene ruled in Church-causes from the time that first it receiued the profession of christianity Together with the ouerthrow of which Bishopricke all the orders constitution and lawes of the Church which had beene in framing by all the learned men in christendome euer since the Apostles times were at one stroake quite chopte of and wholy abrogated vnder pretence forsooth of the name of cannon lawes the popes lawes and I wot not what Wherein the ministers dealt as wisely in mine opinion as if some king succeeding fower or fiue of his predecessors whome he hated should therevpon ouerthrow all the lawes that eyther they or any other of his predecessors had euer made before him Maister Caluin being charged by some as it seemeth with the rashnesse which was vsed at Geneua in this point doth excuse it thus in effect vz. that they deale therein as men doe with rotten houses they ouerthrewe all the whole forme of ecclesiasticall building as once as it were into a rude heape out of the which they might the better make choyse and take of that olde stuffe as much as liked them to build withall againe afterward Indeede there are many builders in these dayes of such a kinde of humor Nothing will content them but that they build themselues And therein also they are very inconstant Now this must downe now that must vppe now this must bee chaunged and that must bee enlarged here the workemen mistooke me this is not in good proportion away with it I will haue this square chaunged into a rounde and this rounde altered into a square A fitter metaphore could not well haue beene found to haue shewed the vnstayed minds of such manner of reformers But to proceed The auncient forme of ecclesiasticall gouernement with all the Elders thereof being thus ouerturned as the citezens in the framing of their newe ciuill gouernement had an especiall eye to the manner of the ciuill gouernement of their neighbour citties and states adioyning so had both the magistrates and the ministers at the first also great regard of the ecclesiasticall pollicy in the same citties relying principally vppon their forme of Church-gouernement and vppon their orders and ceremonyes in that behalfe prouided But this Church Modell was also shortly after wholy misliked For the ministers perceiued that as they thought the ciuill magistrats had too great authorie giuen vnto them in church-causes that they themselues had a great deale too little Maister Caluin speaking of this manner of reformation calleth it but a correcting of the Church And Beza yeeldeth a reason why Farellus Viretus contented thēselues with such a simple Church-gouernement vz. in effecte to my vnderstanding not that they were ignorant what insufficiency there was in it but because in such a hurly burly and great chaunge of things they could haue no better and afterwardes when they woulde faine haue bettered themselues the rest of the ministers that should haue ioyned with them therein were fearefull to attempt so soone any new alteration The same yeare that Geneua was assaulted vz. 1 5 3 6. Maister Caluin came thether and was there admitted non concionator tantum hoc enim primum recusarat sed etiam sacrarum liter arum doctor not onely for their preacher for he had refused that before but also for a doctor of the holy scriptures In which place hee was scarcely warme when like a man of courage reiecting all feare hee tooke in hand to frame a new platforme for the gouernement of that Church or as Maister Bezaes word is ecclesiam componere to compound the Church being of likelyhood before in his opinion tanquam dissoluta scopa as a dissolute Chaos and vndigested bundell And in very short time hee did so farre prouaile therein as that hee caused the cittizens being assembled together to abiure their former popish gouernement as they termed it by Bishops and to sweare to a certaine draught of discipline paucis capitibus comprehensam comprehended as Beza saith vnder a fewe heades What the forme of this draught was I finde it not any where mentioned But whatsoeuer it was it appeareth that both he Farellus and Viretus so vsed themselues in the administration of it as that the rest of the ministers and the chiefest of the cittie grew quickly very weary of it For through their rough dealing in diuers pointes especially in opposing themselues against the orders of Berne before that time receiued there and particularly for their obstinate refusing to administer the Lordes supper with vnleauened bread according to a resolution giuen to that effecte by a Synode at Lausanna of the ministers of Berne which resolution since Beza calleth iniquissimum decretum for these and such like causes I say they were al three of them within nine monethes after
some Prophets some Euangelistes some Pastors and Doctors for the repayring of the Saintes for the worke and the Ministerie and for the edification of the body of Christ. And againe vppon these wordes A Bishop must be vnreproueable c. hee meeteth with the common obiection for the equalitie of Ministers because euery Minister is called a Bishope sometimes in the Scriptures and sayth that the word Bishoppe notwithstanding it be oftentimes vsed by S. Paule for euery pastor of the church of God who haue a kinde of ouersight ouer theyr seuerall charges and so may suo modo after a sort bee called Superintendents and Bishops c. yet heere it signifieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Primarios illos ecclesiarum pastores c. Those chiefe pastors to whom the ouersight of the liues and manners of the other ministers is committed whom according to the force of the Greeke appellation we in these dayes do call Superintendents Hitherto then it appeareth as I take it what is both the practise of the reformed Churches in Germany and the iudgemēt also of the chiefe learned men there since Melanchthon Bucers times concerning Bishops or Superintendents with their preheminence charge and authoritie Some there are indeed beyond the seas who followinge the immoderate proude and slaunderous humor that Melanchthon Camerarius spake of before haue vttered their great mislike of the Germaine Superintendents and that with lesse modestie a great deale then doth well become them In reproofe of one of them Gerlachius a learned man of Tubing writeth in this sort Licet titulos ordinum c. Although thou beholdest with disdaine as it were from aboue the titles of orders after the fashion of hypocrites and of the Anabaptistes yet with a vaine perswasion of knowledge foolish arrogancye whereby thou contemnest our countrymen in respect of thy selfe and dost chalenge especiall knowledge to thee and thy fellowes onely Plus turges quà m omnes Doctores et Superintendentes nostri Thou swellest more with pride then all our Doctors and Superintendents And what commeth into thy minde that thou shouldest cauill at the degrees of ministers as though it were not lawfull to ordayne such degrees for the building and gouernment of the Church Did not God himselfe in the old Testament appoint a chiefe Bishop Priests and Leuits And in the new Testament gaue hee not some Apostles some Prophets some Euangelists and some Pastors and Doctors Had not the primatiue church accordingly Bishops Priestes and Deacons And againe a little after in the same booke whilest thou a proude man girdest so often at the title of Superintendent I affirme that thou reprehendest the Apostle Paule himselfe who hath giuen this name to a distinct order of ministers of the church And our Auncestors following this Apostle haue thought it meete that for the edifying of the church and for orders sake there should be certaine Superintendentes that is ouerseers not onely of the flocke but of the nisters in like manner Thus farre Gerlachius who if hee were in England knewe into what an extremitie the like persons are growen vnto in the same case amongst vs It would peraduenture moue him For nowe there is no remedye with our ministers of that consorte but they must all bee equall They cannot endure it no the meanest of them to haue anye of their owne coate their Superior They are fallen into the contradiction of Chors and doe tell both Moyses and Aaron that they take to much vpon them All Pastores saye they are and ought to be of equall authoritie in their seuerall Parishes and no one to haue power ouer another Euery parish Priest with them must bee a Bishop and haue as full iurisdiction in his Parochiall dioces as it is lawful for any Bishop in the world either to haue or to execute For orders sake they are content that in their Classicall prouinciall or Nationall assemblies some one minister bee chosen from amongst thēselues to be the moderator for the propounding of matters gathering of voices c. But his office preheminence is to continew no longer then whilest those assemblies last Otherwise or for any further authoritie either of Bishops or Archbishops whether they haue abolished popery reformed religiō maintained the gospell abandoned superstitiō or whatsoeuer they haue done or yealded vnto they holde it altogether vnlawfull do raile against them all against their callings and against all that defend them and that with more then heathenish scurrilitie Cartwright is the chiefe man that began this course in Englande and you shall see howe pretily his schollers follow him Archbishops Bishops sayth he are new ministeries neuer ordayned by God The first step to this kind of Bishopricke beganne at Alexandria and not at Syon The name and office of an Archbishop is vnlawfull his function is of the earth and so can do no good but much harme in the church he is a knobbe or some lumpe of flesh which being no member of the body doth burthen it and disgrace it Whereupon foorth come his schollers crying out amaine that Archbishops Bishops are superfluous members of the body of Christ and that they mayme and deforme his body making it by that meanes a monster That they are vnlawfull false bastardly gouernors of the church That they are the ordinances of the Diuell That they are in respect of theyr places enemies of God that they are petye Popes pety Antichristes Bishops of the Diuell and incarnate Diuels that none euer defended this gouernmēt of our Bishops but Papists and such as were infected with Popish errours That the Lawes that mayntaine the Archbishops and Bishops are no more to bee accounted of then the Lawes that mayntaine Steves and that the true church of God ought to haue no more to do with them and their Synagogues then with the Synagogue of Sathan All which Consistorian and modest assertions aswell for the equalitie of Ministers as against the calling of Bishops being ioyned together are wholy opposite to all that which hitherto I haue writt̄e touching this matter Euen as though they should haue cast downe their gauntlets proclaymed an vtter defiance to all the Churches that euer were established in the world for much aboue three thousande yeares the Churches whilest the law continued the churches in Christs time the Churches in his Apostles times the Churches throughout all christendome for a thousand fiue hundred yeares against all the generall Councels all the auncient fathers all ecclesiasticall histories against al the chiefe reformers of religon in this latter age against all the learned mens iudgements before mentioned and against all the reformed churches whersoeuer in christ̄edome that eyther haue BB. or Superint̄edents God forgiue th̄e this great sin of pride presumption deliuer th̄e out of the number of those of wh̄o it is said that their mouthes speake proud things that they dispise gouernment that they
priest prophets if they be Christs substitutes as he is a prophet and kings by the same proprietie of speech if they be Christs immediat substitutes as he is a king And so I will go to the next chapter wherby you shall perceaue more particularly that call them as ye list they challenge authoritie like princes or rather popes to deale in many matters CAP. XXV In vvhat causes more particularly their elderships are to deale as they pretend YOu haue heard before of certaine of the seuerall and ioint offices of their counterfeit church-aldermen and likewise in the chapter how they challenge to themselues in their elderships the whole gouernment in all church-causes Now for that it might bee doubted how farre these words Church causes should extend they haue taken great paines to cleare their meaning in that behalfe and so haue vsed the matter to my vnderstanding as that they haue left out no one cause of what nature soeuer but that either directly or indirectly by hooke or crooke they haue brought it vnder their lee and with-within their compasse Read their sayings and then iudge as you see cause All crimes saith Knox that by the lavv of God deserue death deserue also excommunication as vvilfull murderers adulterers sorcerers vvitches coniurers charmers giuers of drinke to destroy children open blasphemers as denyers of the truth raylors against the Sacraments c. And hovv will they proceed in the execution of this censure vpon such manner of sinnes the same order doth specifie A superintendent must direct his letters of summons to the parish church where the offender dvvelleth or if the offender haue no certaine dvvelling place then to the chiefe tovvne and best reformed church in that diocesse vvhere the crime was committed appointing to the offender a certain day and place vvhen vvher he shal appeare before the superintendent his assessors to heare that crime tried as touching the truth of it and to ansvver for himselfe vvhy the sentence of excommunication should not be pronounced against him Here are then new summons and nevv citations Here is authoritie challēged not only to appoint such offices and to vse such iurisdiction but that which seemeth strāge to me indeed to trie a murderer and such like offendors as touching the very facts whether they committed them or not Do they impanall a iurie thinke you as we do in England for triall of the fact or are the elders of the consistorie iudges of the facts as they be of law That is not expressed But what if the partie vpon his summons appeare not That is no great matter Inquisition being taken of the crime he is the next Sunday to be excōmunicated not for his contempt in not appearing but for the very fact it selfe as in their form of excommunication in such cases it is expressed For the inquisition of the crime taken in his wilfull absence shall be a conuiction for his soule let his body escape the temporall magistrats hands as it may This is round dealing A man is condemned of murder and neuer heard for sitting but of one citation in a matter of life and death out goeth their excōmunication Call they this proceeding after the new discipline But to follow this case to the end It happeneth that this murderer is aftervvard pardoned by the magistrat but yet though hee professe repentance he may not be receaued till after fortie daies of triall and vntill hee hath satisfied the kinred and friends of the man that vvas slaine You may say what if they will not be satisfied That I warrant you is prouided for Then ought the church to put moderation to the vnreasonable in case the ciuile magistrat hath not so done before It is very well what the king will not they may Besides when it is sayd that the church ought to put such a moderation you must vnderstand that except the parties do agree to be so put out flieth againe as I suppose their foresaid slipperie censure Againe for all other offences that fall not vnder the ciuile svvord and yet are slanderous and offensiue to the church as fornication drunkennesse vsed svvearing curssed speaking chiding fighting bravvling and common contempt of the order of the church breaking of the sabboth vvāton vain vvords vncomly gestures negligēce in hearing of preaching or obtaining from the Lords table vvhen it is publikely ministred suspicion of auarice or of pride superfluitie or riotousnesse in cheare or raiment c. All these likewise do come by certaine degrees within the compasse of their censures all according to the word of God you must suppose or els you do them wrong Vnto these may be also further added ministers apparell vvomens lasciuious dissolute or too sumptuous attire either publikely or priuatly dauncing all games that bring losse stage-plaies of all sorts haunting of tauerns or tipling houses all inordinat liuers and all such like matters according to the discretion of the eldership cuirelinquenda sunt vvhervnto they are to be left From which discretion it proceeded as I take it that for some disorders committed in Edenburgh about a Robin-hood which the prouost and bailifs would haue staied the vvhole multitude vvere holden excommunicate But yet I haue not done with these causes They grow vpon me more and more And it is no reason that our owne brotherhood of England should be pretermitted They vz. the elderships shall suffer no levvd customs saith the admonitioner to remaine in their parishes either games or othervvise You know their meaning Maipoles Ales maigames moricedances all must downe How doth Robin-hood stick in their stomacks Besides all that haue liued vvith offence to the congregation although they haue suffered the punishment of the lavv for it yet because they offended therby both God the church they are vvithin the limits of the elderships to be censured by them The demōstrator is also very bountiful The office of the church gouernors saith he is to decide controuersies in doctrine and maners so far as pertaineth to conscience and the church censures That is if any shall refuse their said decision they will not indeed whip him or hang him those are ciuile punishments But so farre as the church-censures will reach haue at him Will he run to trouble his neighbour either to the Chancerie to the Kings-bench or cōmon pleas may haue both cōscience and iustice of his eldership at home Such a fellovv shal pay for it It is wisely therfore considered of the humble motioner where he telleth the lords of her maiesties priuie coūsaile that the church is to censure such a partie vvho is apparantly troublesome and contentious and vvithout reasonable cause and vpon meere vvill and stomacke doth vex molest his brother to trouble the countrie Apparātly troublesome that is apparantly to their conceits without reasonable cause vz. to be approued by thē And how can they know how reasonable the cause is except
called it ecclesia that is the Church Very well any thing will content me Howbeit for ought I know there was no cause why it might not haue pleased our sauiour Christ if he had conceiued so notable a liking of that Iewish platforme but that hee might also haue retayned the olde name and so haue made no alteration at all The authour of the booke of Discipline hauing as it should seeme some such like consideration in his head or what other I know not and thinking scorne as I gesse to runne to the Iewes Talmud for a name for this regiment is not afraid to dissent from Caluin Beza his olde tutor Cartwright and a number of other his good maisters here in saying obseruandum est vnà cum re ipsa nomen etiam a Iudaeis ad nos translatum esse It is heere to be obserued that together with the thing it selfe the very name also is translated vnto vs from the Iewes And what name is that Forsooth saith he Nomen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is congregation or church saepius apud Mosen certis delectis viris tribuitur qui a toâ—a congregatione adres obeundas designarentur is often giuen by Moses vnto a certaine number of chosen men that were to be appointed by the whole congregation to deale in sundry affaires So as by this fellowes saying Christ made no alteration at all when he said Dic ecclesiae tell the church but kept euen the olde name of it vz which it had before giuen vnto it by Moses How blinde then was Beza Cartwright and the rest that they could not finde this proper name of their soueraigntie in all the olde testament but were faine to flie to the Talmud But will Beza thinke you take this at his handes No I warrant you For saith he vocabulo ecclesiae significari ciuium conuentum nemo est qui ignoret c. Haebrei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocant Sed postea communis loquendi consuetudo fecit vt pro eoruÌ„ caetu accipiatur qui ChristuÌ„ profitentur There is no man ignorant that the word ecclesia doth signifie an assembly of Citizens The Hebrews do call it an assembly or company met together But afterward by custome it came to passe that it was taken for the assembly of them that do professe Christ. Which custome I hope it will be confessed did begin about Christes time and not in Moses time And then the disciplinarian Trauerser is very well serued for his sawcinesse in taking vpon him to proceed further then his sayd Maisters had giuen him in commission But howsoeuer these fellows will agree amongst themselues me thinketh a man might be bold by their place of Mathew to call their parochiall regiment by the name of the church For they all wil coÌ„fesse that Christ called it so And then it will follow by their grounds that euery parish or church must haue a newe church erected in it which new church must haue authoritie to command censure the old and so one Church must be ouer another Yea but saith Beza in effect we are rather to follow the apostles in this point then Christ. That which he called Church meaning the Synedrium that is Councell the apostles called presbyteriuÌ„ Eldership Quod Christus ecclesiam iam mutato Synagogae vel Synedrij nomine appellarat Paulus presbyterium nominauni That which Christ called the Church changing the name of Synagoge or Councell Paul called Eldership Againe quod Iudaei Synedrium Christiani presbyterium teste Apostolo vocarant That which the Iewes called Councel the Christians as the Apostle witnesseth called Eldership And why Beza would blush if he could not giue a reason for any thing Idcirco fortassis potius quam Synedrium ne qua pateret calumniandi occasio quasi Christiani statum publicum turbare de magistratuum authoritate ac iurisdictione quicquam ad se protrahere vellent The Apostles peraduenture called this regiment rather Eldership then Councell least there might be giuen thereby some occasion of slaundering as though the christians had purposed to haue troubled the publicke state and to haue taken to themselues some part of the Magistrates authoritie and iurisdiction Well and are we yet come to an issue how we may call this forme of gouernement Shall we tearme it the Eldership No surely if wee will follow some other reformed Churches which are so ofte commended vnto vs. Presbyterium vocare Consistorium apud nos mos est It is the maner and fashion with vs at Geneua saith Beza to call the Eldership a consistorie With whom agreeth I.B. the superintendent as it is thought of the Italian Church in London saying Although we haue in our churches the same order which the Apostles ordained yet we haue changed the name of Eldership do call it now by another name vz consistory And good reason It is so called at Geneua The Apostles call it Eldership but yet they dispensing with that point doe call it as they list Men no doubt of a soueraigne prerogatiue But to proceede It shoulde seeme that as these men haue chaunged the name of Eldership into Consistorie so haue others in some places done it into Synod Against both which sort Bannosius in his long and tedious disciplinarian discourse is verie bold to write his minde that it ought rather to be called Eldership then eyther Synode or consistory And that for two reasons vz first because some men do not distinguish sufficiently the assemblies of the christians from the Synodes of the Iewes and secondly because the Hierarchy of Rome doth call their presbyterium Eldership consistorium a consistory From all these as I suppose many of the French Churches or at the least that of Heidelberge doth dissent For thus Iunius lately a chief Ruler there writeth Concilium ecclesiae Senatumue appellamus quod Paulus presbyterium That which Paul called the Eldership wee call the councell of the churche or the Senate and so the Elders there are Senators Which names both of Senate and Senators sayth Beza Vt ciuilibus dignitatibus couuenientius calumniae obnoxium videtur studio quodam vetus purior ecclesia in occidente repudiasse as being proper to ciuile dignities and subiect to slaunder the olde purer churche in the West doth seeme of purpose to haue reiected And Bannosius affirmeth that the reason that moued those where hee was to call the Eldershippe a consistorie was quod nomen minus odiosum quam Senatus esset because it was a name lesse odious then the name of Senate You haue heard also before out of Beza that the Apostles themselues refused the name of Synedrium as being all one with Councell or Senate for the same respects But all this notwithstanding now that belike they thinke themselues in some places to haue laid such sufficient foundations for the coÌ„tinuance of their regiment as that it shall not be remoued what soeuer the Magistrates shall
Princes and other of the Nobilitie that follow the court to haue particular Consistories in their priuate houses consisting euerie one of a minister and some of the honestest of their Families Here are then Consistories to be erected in the church according to Cartwrightes thirde acceptation of the word church that is in priuat houses and likewise a Parish not of many but of one familie And peraduenture in time it may so come about as that this will bee currant doctrine in Englande not onely for Noblemen to haue Elderships in their priuate houses but for Gentlemen likewise For now it is already groen thus farre that many of both sortes yea some but meane gentlemē will haue their seueral ministers for comming to their parish churches though they be hard by their dores they account it a dishonorable matter their parlor-seruice and priuate speaking as they terme it pleaseth them best I might here adde howe D. Sohnius is bolde to dissent from Cartwright where speakinge of the diuerse significations of the worde church hee sayth Particularis c. The particuler church is deuided and hath her name agreeable to the diuersitye of places that is Nations Prouinces Townes Parishes Houses or Families For so there is a church of one Prouince of one Citie of one towne of one house And so he quoteth many places of scripture for this his assertion But to proceede Danaeus a man as well learned for ought is yet seene as Cartwright is doth not thinke that by the institution of Christ there must needes bee an Eldership not onely in euery Citie but in euery vplandish and countrie towne also For he sayth if I vnderstand him that in the Apostles times the ruling Elders of whom the Eldership is chiefely named was vsed to be established in vnaquaque tantū ciuitate in qua erat ampla et populosa ecclesia et magnus fideliū numerus In euery city onely where the church was populous In which citye hee further addeth quaeque ciuitatis et ecclesiae pars seu paroecia suū habebat presbyterum Euery parish had a priest or minister as the parishes in the countrie had also oppidatim that is towne by towne a priest much like to those whom we call in our times Curatores Curates Furthermore also the reforming ministers of Scotlande do account their platforme now in practice there to be as agreeable to the worde of God as M. Cartwrightes and yet as the Chronicles do report they haue but 52. Elderships in Scotland those placed in their chiefest cities and great townes Vnto euerie of which Elderships as I am informed 24. particular churches or parishes for the most part do appertaine none of them hauing any such particular Eldership of their owne but are ruled controled and censured by those in the sayde cities or townes whereunto they are adioyned and subiect In the Low countries it is true that euerie parish hath her Eldership But what a kinde of Eldership Heare a verie learned and a graue man of that countrie Ruri in pagis c. In the countrie villages in some places they haue but a Pastor one Elder and a Deacon In Gaunt euerye parish likewise had theyr Eldership consisting of moe or fewer as the quantitie of them were besides those there was a consistorye for the whole citie All which particular Elderships in the countrye cities when any matters of greater momēt fell out especially for excōmunicatiō Ea potestas nulli particulari ecclesiae concessa est that power or authoritie is graunted to no particular church sine concilio et assensu generalis consistorij in magna vrbe et in pagis et oppidulis colloquij siue classis without the councel and consent of the generall consistorye in cities great townes of the conference or classis in the country townes villages So as here we find a number of Christs kingdoms set vp but they want their scepter power without the which our men would not giue a pinne for all the rest For so they are vnperfect maymed bodies of Christ. But to come to that which is the patterne of all right church regiment euen to the Eldership of Geneua There are in that citie as I haue heard foure or fiue great parishes and in the territorie belonging vnto it almost 20. and yet for the censuring and guiding of them all they haue but one Eldership according as it seemeth to the Iewish order there being in Ierusalem but one Sanedrim yet many Synagogues Of the which Geneuian reformation it may iustly be affirmed if Cartwright his fellowes with vs say truly first that the church of Geneua hath neglected the commandement of God the institution of Christ the commaundement and practise of the Apostles in that there is not placed an Eldershippe there in euery parish secondly that the sayd church being neither the catholicke church nor one particular parish nor the faithfull company of one familie cannot rightly haue so much as the name of the church nor be truely termed the well squared bodye of Christ with all the true dimensions and limites of it And certaynely there is here no starting hole as farre as I can discerne for the excuse of that Reformation and platforme except it maye bee iustified that all these foure or fiue and twentie parishes or there aboutes are so trussed together that they doe and maie all at once meet in one Congregation are taught with one mouth which to affirme besides that their practise is otherwise will bee thought I trust great boldnes vnlesse they can find a pastor with Stentors voyce who by report could make as great a noise as fifty men I cannot chuse but put you heere in minde of a poynte in Maister Cartwright that seemeth verie strange vnto mee Hee sayth that there were moe that did externally professe Christ in the Apostles times then there are nowe insomuch as wee are not nowe the tithe of them that is the tenth parte Nowe set these thinges together The Church in the Scriptures where it signifieth not the Catholique Church nor one priuate familye doth signifye one particular congregation and no moe are rightlye to bee of one congregation then maye at once bee taught by one mouth And thereuppon will it not followe that if the Apostles were as wise as Mayster Cartwright to bounde their Congregations whereas there is mention in the Scriptures of the Church of Rome of the Church of Corinth of the Church of Antioche of the Church of Ephesus of the Church of Ierusalem we must thinke there were no moe christians there in any one of those Cities then might at one time heare one preacher And by that account there are moe christians within the citie of London the suburbs thé were in al those cities twise as many more Which if M. Cartwright will deny to be true he must needs cōses for the credit of Scotland or of
Zanchius reporteth of Archbishops and Bishops into new and worse Latine names of superintendentes and generall superintendentes Erneste the Duke of Brunswick presently after the assembly of Augusta procured Vrbanus Regius to go home with him ecclesiarum in toto Ducatu Episcoparum ipsius gubernationi permisit and coÌ„mitted vnto his gouernment the Bishopricke or superintendencie of all the Churches within his Dukedome One Sydonius being thrust as it seemeth from the Bishopricke of Mersenburge as cleauing wholly to Popery was afterwardes vppon his leauing of the Pope and vpon promise made to maintaine the reformation of religion made in his absence restored to his bishopricke And after him succeeded as I take it in that bishopricke George the Prince Anhalt before mentioned being chosen thereunto as hee saith himselfe vniuerso capitali consensu by the consent of the whole chapter He had been brought vp in learning and was at the time of the saide election a Priest or Cannon in the Cathedrall Church of Mersenburge Of whom being bishop Henricus Stenius saith règebat ecclesias in Mersenburgensi diocaesi hee ruled the Churches in the dioces of Mersenburge And againe praesuit ecclesijs vniuersae ditionis Mysorum he gouerned the Churches of all the dominion of Mysya Agreeable aswell to these examples as to the saying of Zanchius before specified is that which Ia Haerbrandus a verie learned man and in his time Diuinitie reader of Tubinge writeth in his common places Debent gradus esse c. There ought to be degrees amongest Ministers c. as with vs in the Duchy of Wirtenberge there are subdeacons Deacons Pastors special superintendentes and ouer them generall superintendentes And in another place the same Haerbrand shewing his iudgement generally Saluberrimum esset c. It were a most profitable order for the welfare of the Church if euery particular prouince had her Bishoppes and the Bishops their Archbishop And Iacobus Andreas hee is muche of the same opinion as certaine Ministers of Heidelberge doe reporte vz where hee saith that it is a difficult matter to defend the peaceable estate of Churches except there be some chiefe ruler and Byshop amongest them to whome rerum summa deferatur the full ordering of matters may be referred To this purpose in like sorte Osiander writeth euen as though he had spoken of the Church of England Although in the Primitiue church when she flourished with myracles there were diuers degrees and orders of Ministers some Apostles some Prophets some Euangelistes and some Pastors and Doctors yet as now the state of the Church is the Ministers may be deuided into three orders or degrees vz Deacons Pastors and Superintendentes c. To the Pastors particular Churches are committed Nec dubitatur c. and it is not doubted but that euery one of them may rule the Church committed vnto him sine collegae concilio without the Councell of any fellow Those pastors we call superintendents who are so set ouer other pastors that they may visite the state of their Churches and punish both the Pastors and the people if any thing be done amisse or if any thing fall out that they cannot correct then they referre it vnto a higher court consisting of deuines and politick men who by the ciuile Magistrates authoritie or approbation doe amend such defects c. Hemingius also affirmeth that there are dispares dignitatis gradus in the ministery that partly by the law of Cod partly by the approbation of the Church that as Christ ascending into heauen gaue gifts vnto men Apostles Prophets Euangelists doctors and pastors so he gaue to the Church authoritie for edification that the Church by vertue of that power ordained ministers for her profite that the purer churches following the Apostles times ordained some Patriarchs some Bishops c. some Pastors and some Catechists c. That the reformed Churches haue their Bishops doctors Pastors and vnder them chaplains we call them curâ—tes as I thinke That the Churches in Denmarke doe acknowledge degrees of dignitie amongst Ministers that they iudge it meet that other Ministers should obey their Bishops in althings which tend to the edification of the church according to the word of God the profitable gouernment of the Church and that they iudge Bb s. to haue authoritie ouer other Ministers of the church ius non despoticum sed patrium Ieremia Hombergus a worthy man in the Churches of God about Styria Carinthia and Carniola but now remoued thence through the persecution which the Iesuits haue kindled in those parts affirmeth in his commoÌ„ places of diuinitie reuiewed allowed at Ratisbone with very direct termes that God himselfe hath appointed degrees of ministers in the church euen amongest those which haue a mediate calling vt concordia inter ministros coÌ„seruetur c. that concord amongst ministers might be preserued the workes of their ministery performed more easily and more decently And after he hath specified the common duties both of Bishops and ministers he setteth down those which he thinketh are peculiar to Bishops and to bee executed by them vz excommunication ordination and confirmation And with him agreeth the Diuinitie reader at Lauinge Phill. Haylbronner writing vpon the first Epistle of S. Paul to Timothy Where he sheweth that the Apostle appointed Timothy to be Bishop of Ephesus that accordingly there are and ought to be degrees and orders of ministers of the Church hauing described the common duties likewise of all ministers generally he saith thus Episcopus c. Besides the said common offices to Bishops was commended the publicke ouersight and gouernment so as it belonged to them to appoint fit ministers for the churches neere them also to heare the accusations and complaints which are made against the Pastors of theyr churches and to decide them c. Sic enim Paulus scribit Timotheo Ephesorum Episcopo for so Paul writeth to the Bishop of Ephesus lay thy hands rashly vppon no man and against a Priest admit not an accusation c. Of the same iudgement in like sort is Egidius Hunius the diuinitie professor at Marpurge in his commentarie vpon S. Pauls Epistle to Titus He affirmeth that the Apostle appointed Titus the generall superintendent for the gouernement ouer the Churches of that large and noble Iland of Crete that his dutie was to ordaine Pastors in euery parish and likewise to make Bishops that the Bishop or superintendent hath his dioces the Pastor his parishe or church as Paule commaunded Titus to place priestes in euery parish That thereby it appeareth God doth require that there should bee orders and degrees amongest Ministers vt alij praesint alij subsint that some may rule and some obey that this order is not newly deuised but receaued in the church from the Apostles times and that God himselfe made a distinction betweene Ministers and appointed degrees according to that hee gaue some Apostles
stand in their own c̄oceit that they feare not to speak euill of th̄e that are in dignitie authoritye likewise of those things that they know not that they vse swelling words of vanitie that they beguile vnstable soules that they seperate them selues from other and that they haue not the spirit It will not surely serue their turnes one day to saye that in such their wilfull opposing of themselues as it were against heauen in such their outragious rayling and bitternesse against so holy a calling they followed certaine of their bretheren the ministers in Scotland or in the lowe countries or in Geneua For in this vaine they haue exceeded them all especially them of the two countries last mentioned Maister Caluin although after his restitution to Geneua he might be thought to haue had some harder opinion of Bishopps then he had before yet if you compare him with these fellowes you would thinke him an especiall fauourer and defender of them He could well enough indure it◠to vse these honorable tearmes to Archbishop Cranmer Illustrissime domine clarissime presul et mihi ex animo reuerende commendinge his authoritie his wisdome and his integritie desiringe him to put them all in practise for the benefit of the Church And in his letter to the King of Polonia he sheweth himselfe to be far from Cartwrights minde vz. that the Popes authoritie is more necessary ouer all Churches then the authoritie of an Archbishopp ouer a prouince and that neither of them can discharge so great an office For there writinge against the pope he propoundeth to the Kinges consideration the auncient forme of church-gouernment by Archbishops tearminge it a moderate honor meaninge therby as I take it the preheminence and authoritie which Archbishops then had as beinge limited for the execution of it within the compasse of mans power wheras the Popes pretended authoritie beinge of so large an extent as comprehending the whole world could not possibly be executed by any man liuinge But yet I am short of M. Caluins moderatiō in this matter for discoursing of the state of the auncient churches before the time of popery of Bishops Archbishops and patriarches their authority and superiority in their circuites dioces and prouinces he vseth these modest speeches Although the Bishops of those times did set foorth many canons wherin they might be thought to expresse more then is expressed in the scriptures yet they framed their whole gouernement according to the onely rule of gods word with that caution vt facilè videas nihil fere hac parte habuisse a verbo Dei alienum that you may easily see there was nothing almost in this behalfe disagreeing from the word of God If there may be found any imperfection in the orders which they made yet they indeuoured with a sincere studie to keepe the institution of God from the which nō multum aberrarunt they swarued not much And a little after the elders that were ministers of the worde did choose one from amongst them-selues in euery Cittie vnto whom especially they gaue the title of Bishop Ne ex aequalitate vt fieri solet dissidia nascerentur least by aequalitie as it vsually happeneth dissentions should arise As touching the beginning of this order he agreeth with S. Ierome that it hath continued in the Church since S. Markes time And saith he that euery prouince had her Archbishop that also in the Nicene Councel Patriarches were appointed who were in order and degree aboue Archbishops Id ad disciplinae conseruationem pertinebat It did pertaine to the preseruation of discipline But his conclusion is yet more full and differeth but a little if it differ at all from that which the learneder sort in England doe now maintaine with all antiquitie For speaking of the forme of gouernment so framed as is said in the councel of Nice he vseth these wordes Si rem intuemur reperiemus veteres Episcopos non aliam regendae ecclesiae formam voluisse fingere ab ea quam Deus verbo suo praescripsit if we looke to the forme of gouernment it selfe we shall finds that the auncient Bishoppes would not deuise another forme of churchregiment differing from that which God hath prescribed in his word And thus you may perceaue what great difference there is betwixt our mens spirites and Maister Caluins their outrage and his modestie their pride and his humilitie their rashnes ignorance and giddines and his sobrietie learning and iudgment The forme of ecclesiasticall gouernment agreed vpon in the councell of Nice differeth not from that which God hath prescribed and who then but men that haue shamelesse foreheads dare so incounter it But it may peraduenture be sayd that howsoeuer Caluin did carrie himselfe in this cause yet Beza is of an other opinion Indeed he is so but it turneth more more dayly to his own discredit He succeeded Maister Caluin in place but neither in his learning nor in all his vertues And I do attribute it vnto his want of iudgment that he hath shewed himselfe such a busie body where he had nothing to doe It is chiefly he that hath set the pretended reformers in this whole land so much a gogge against Bishops by his secret letters and other disordered writinges of incouragement vnto them And yet forsooth he can write to other men and pretend the quite contrarie Consider the processe following and then if I be too blame thus to write of him tell me of it In one of his epistles dated 1570. he affirmeth that Archbishops Primates are a shadowe and image of the policy of Roome that they are petty tyrantes in respect of the Pope and that although the names be neuer soe auntient yet it ought to haue beene enquired whether it were lawful to bring them into the church c. It had beene a maruailous beneficiall matter to all posteritie that Beza had beene the commaunder at Geneua in the times of the Primitiue church that so the learend graue fathers of those ages might haue inquired this point of him knowen his pleasure In the yeare 1572. it seemed good vnto him as it hath beene said before to write his letter into this Iland to Knox the reformer in Scotland at what time the Bishops there had receaued the Gospell at the least many of them as I thinke though it woulde not serue their turne to keepe them in their places In which letter amongst many other good consistorian documents hee writeth thus But I would haue you and the other brethren to remember that which is before your eies as Bishops brought foorth the Papacy so false or counter set Bishops the reliques of Popery will bring in Epicurisme They that desire the churches good let them take heede of this pestilence And seeing you haue put that plague in Scotland to flight quaeso c. I hartily pray you that you neuer suffer it againe vnder any pretence or color of keepinge
you of vs or least those things which we haue written of Ecclesiasticall policie properly against that Antichristian tyrannie as necessitie required are taken by some in that sense as if euer we had meant to compel to our order those churches that thinke otherwise then we doo of it and the gouernors of them agreeing els with vs in the truth of doctrine agreeable to the word of God and that except they followed our order we accounted otherwise of them then their godlines and dignitie and mutuall brotherhood doth require c. Farre be this arrogancie from vs. Quis vllum nobis in vllam Ecclesiam imperium tribuit Who doth giue vs authority ouer anie church Far be it from vs that we should thinke so the substantiall matters be kept there ought nothing to be graunted to antiquitie nothing to custome nothing to the circumstances of places times and persons c. Againe in his booke against D. Sarauia hauing spoken of the tyrannie of Popish Bishops hee maketh this exception Neque tamen But wee doo not therefore accuse all Archbishops and Bishops now so called of tyranie For what arrogancie were that Nay so as they doo imitate the examples of the olde holy Bishops and indeuor as much as they can to reforme the house of God so miserably deformed according to the rule of Gods word why may we not acknowledge al of them now so called Archbishops and Bishops obey them and honor them with all reuerence So far we are from that which some obiect vnto vs most falsly and most impudently as though we tooke vppon vs to prescribe to anie Church in anie place our examples to be followed like vnto those vnwise men who account wel of nothing but of that which they doo themselues And to the same effect a little before If now the reformed Churches of England being vnderpropped with the authoritie of Bishoppes and Archbishops do continue as this hath happened to that Church in our memorie that she hath had men of that calling not onely most notable martyrs of God but also excellent pastors and doctors Fruatur sane ista singulari dei benificentia quae vtinam illi sit perpetua Let her truly inioy this singular blessing of God which I wish may be perpetuall vnto her Furthermore it should seeme that Zanchius as moderate and learned a man as euer fauoured the pretended Elderships was appointed some 12 or 16. yeres since to draw a confâ—ssion of religion for the Churches of France others as Melanchthon had done the Augustan confession for Germanie Accordingly hee drew it and in the same speaking of Bishops he vseth these wordes Non improbamius patres c. Wee doo not disalow the fathers in that after a diuers waie of dispensing the word and gouerning the Church they multiplied diuerse orders of Ministers seeing it was lawfull for them so to do as it is vnto vs and seeing it appeareth that they did it for honest causes appertaining at that time to the order decencie and edification of the Church And in the next article Hac ratione c. By this reason vz. that the nurseries of dissentions and of schismes may be taken away wee thinke that these thinges which were ordained before the Councell of Nice concerning Archbishops nay as touching the foure Patriarches may be excused and defended When this booke was perused and this clause found in it then forsoth a deuise was had for the staying of it vnder pretence that now it was thought more meete that there should be a harmonie made of all the confessions of diuers churches But Zanchius himselfe maketh this the chiefe cause if I vnderstand him why his booke dyd mislike some of them for that hee had written as before is mentioned of Bishops For so hee sayth Magnus quidam vir c. A certaine great man meaning Beza as it is supposed did write vnto mee of this matter as followeth Your confession was read by mee and N. others with great delight It is written most learnedly and in a most exquisite methode and if you except that which you adde towards the end touching Archbishops and the Hierarchie mihi summopere placuit it pleased mee exceedingly Vpon this occasion as it seemeth Zanchius printed his said confession with certaine annotations In the which annotations he sheweth three reasons for his allowance of Archbishops Bishops The first is grounded vpon the practise of the primitiue church presently after the Apostles times the second is for that hee thought it his dutie in the draught of his said booke to haue regard to those reformed churches which retaine both Bishops Archbishops and the third because all the reformed Churches generally although they haue chaunged the names yet in effect they doe keepe the authoritie as where they haue superintendents and generall superintendents Nay saith he where these new base Latine names are not admitted Ibi tamen solent esse aliquot primarij penes quos fere tota est authoritas yet there are in those places vsually certaine chiefemen that doe in a manner beare all the sway But I pray you be pleased that I may deliuer vnto you the maner of his setting down of his first reason and that in his owne words for they carry with them a notable condemnation of other mens great pride rashnes Cum haenc conscriberem fidei confessionem c. When I writ this confession of faith I writ all the thinges in it of a good conscience and as I beleeued so I freely spake the scriptures teaching men so to doe And my faith first of all and simply doth rely vpon the word of God then somewhat also vpon the common consent of the whole ancient Catholicke Church if the same bee not repugnant to the scriptures For I beleeue that what thinges were defined and receiued by the auncient Fathers assembled in the name of the Lord with a generall consent of them all and without any contradiction of the holy Scriptures the same surely although they be not of the same authoritie with holy Scriptures yet did they proceed from the holy Ghost Heereof it commeth to passe that those things which are of this nature neither would I neither dare I with a good conscience disallow them And what can be shewed more certainly out of histories out of the councels out of the writings of all the ancient fathers then that those orders of Ministers of the which we haue spoken haue bene ordained and receiued in the Church by the generall consent of all christian common-wealths And who then am I that should presume to reproue that which the whole Church hath approued This is true and religious humilitie Thus all graue and discreet godly men haue euerwritten Those that contemne all the learned Fathers that went before them doe open a windowe to their owne discredite by those that shall come after them That which this godly and great learned man ascribeth to the
followeth Timendum est c. It is to be feared least wee seeme ridiculous to your magistrats in requiring that of them which as yet wee haue not obtained of our owne We shall teach what the right vse is of church goods and who are the lawfull Stewardes of them that by our authoritie wee maie vrge those of Neocome Cur non potius exordium a nobis facimus But first why do not we begin with our selues Take heede therefore least in attempting to do you good that we doe not rather hurt your cause How much more forceable would that be which is in the booke that I procured to be printed when I was at Strasburgh For there the Princes as many as imbrace the gospel do promise the restitution of all which they haue in their possessions if once there were any godly concord agreed vpon Your magistrates are to be admonished by the example of those Princes that at the least vntill that time they would keepe them all wholy together vndisposed of or distracted in their owne hands You will aske me why I cease or hold my peace if I see the same mischiefe in Geneua that vexeth you Ego verònō cesso c. I do not truly cease openly in my sermons as oft as oportunitie serueth therunto Contestor Deum homines graue nobis imminere iudicium I do with griefe praier call God and men to witnes that a heauie iudgement hangeth ouer our heades I haue also affirmed diuerse times asmuch in our Senate neither doe I thinke that as yet I haue discharged my dutie seing I haue nothing preuailed But I do follow Ambrose who retayning the doctrine and the place of a pastor so as in defence of them he was ready to haue spent his life agros tyrannidi Imperatoris Valentiniani sinebat hee permitted the possessions of the Church to the tiranny of Valentinian the Emperor For our magistrates do suspect that the strife is but of emulation as though our griefe onely were that they haue wrong those thinges out of our fingers which now they possesse excepte peraduenture they giue it so out not because they thinke so but for that they would thereby discredit our words in that behalfe But yet notwithstanding we must so auoyd suspition that we doe not winke at sacriledge And againe the same maister Caluin in another epistle to Viretus doth signifie vnto him how he dealt with the magistrates of Geneua at one especiall time when there was speach about certaine stipends When I sawe howe hard they were in that matter acriter aurem illis vellicaui c. I made their eares to burn saith he as concerning the administration of Church-goods how in time they were to thinke what account they should make both to God and men Papam fuisse furem et sacrilegum videndum ne simus successores that the Pope was a thiefe and a church robber and they were to looke to it that they proued not his successors I did vse a preface that might cause attention vz. That the woundes of a friend were better c. and that they should not seeke any Balaam qui illis in maledictione benediceret who in their cursed estate should blesse them Hitherto maister Caluin whose wordes I haue set down at large that you might the better vnderstand the estate of the most worthy Reformation of the church of Geneua and how the discipline being there in her full prime and brightnes it is not possible that anye grosse enormities should continue in that Citie Indeed it is much and I meruaile how it is endured that maister Caluin should resemble the magistrates of Geneua to such cruell tyrannouse and sacrilegious persons Valentinian the Emperor and the Pope of Rome But most of all I wonder that maister Beza would publish such letters in print Being but written to priuate men the matter could not be great Marry now they are thus offred to all posteritie the testimonie of such tyrannous sacrilege will be euer had in memorie For which kind of dealing they are much beholden to Beza It was indeed handled of him politickly Of likelyhood the sacrilege mentioned doth continue there still But he being a prouident man thought it better that maister Caluin being dead should tell them of it then he himselfe being aliue and therefore subiect vnto their displeasures For otherwise maister Beza for his parte is as earnest against sacrilege as euer maister Caluin was and it may be for ought I do know or remember to the contrarie that hee hath dealt himselfe as roundly with them But sure I am of his iudgement which doth appeare in his treatise of his three sortes of Bishops where this question being propounded vnto him vz. Whether these thinges which had beene once vowed to holy vses might afterwardes bee otherwise employed he maketh this answere Concerning the goodes of the Church first of all we suppose great heed ought to be taken that none doth staine himselfe with handling the church goods For if God hath taken reuenge of such sacrilege euen amongst the very Idolaters what trow we will his iudgement bee against them which haue spoyled his Church and haue prophaned the thinges which were set a part for his true worship Moreouer it is euident that this turneth greatly to the reproch of the name of God and of his holy gospell as though for sooth papistrie hath beene abandoned not for the loue of the truth but to robbe the Church of her goodes as though new theeues haue entred into the roomes of the olde c. Viretus in like manner for his earnestnes in this pointe is neither short of Caluin not Beza The lesse authoritie that the ministerye and ministers haue the greater libertie haue sacrilegers theeues extortioners and other wicked ones Againe I know many which liked the gospell well when in the beginning their preachers cryed against the abuse that they sayd was in the Romish church and in priests and monkes They liked well also that the goods of the Church should be taken from Priests and Monkes to haue the gouernment of them themselues vnder colour that the Priests and Monkes abused them and that they should be put to better vse but God knoweth how euill they are bestowed vppon manye and in many places The worst is that those which haue not done herein as they ought and which dayly forget themselues more more cannot now a dayes so much as suffer the preachers to admonish reproue them to stir thē vp to bestow it where they ought to bestow it according to the order discipline c. And in another place These fellowes that will not restore the church-liuings may be likened to those Diuils which cry why art thou come to torment vs before our time And the same fellowes also say Qui nostra tollit inimicus est hee that taketh awaye ours is our enemie They regard not whether they haue gotten the goods that they possesse
as much authoritie as anye King maie lawfully challenge we abbridge her of nothing that the worde of God alloweth her and many other such ambiguous protestations they vse to make in this behalfe But they plav the deceitfull sophisters whom the Lord abhorreth For these are some of their grounds A man would thinke that they had taken them out of Hosius The Christian soueraigne ought not to be called the head vnder Christ of the particular and visible churches vvithin his dominions No ciuile magistrat hath prehemineÌ„ce by ordinary authoritie to determine of church-causes No ciuile magistrat in Councels or assemblies for church-matters can either be cheefe moderator ouer-ruler iudge or determiner No ciuile magistrat hath such authoritie as that vvithout his consent it should not be lavvfull for ecclesiastical persons to make any church-order or ceremonie No ciuile magistrat ought to receiue either tenths or first fruits of any ecclesiasticall persons The iudgemeÌ„t of church-matters pertaineth to God they ought ordinarily to be handled by the church-officers the principallitie or direction of the iudgement of them is by Gods ordinance pertaining to the ministerie of the Church As for the making of orders and ceremonies in the church they do vvhen there is a constituted and ordered church pertaine vnto the ministers of the church and to the ecclesiasticall gouernors and that as they meddle not vvith the making of ciuile lavves and lavves for the common-vvealth so the ciuile magistrate hath not to ordaine ceremonies pertaining to the church The ministers are to determine of controuersies as they arise and to make or abolish needfull or hurtfull ceremonies Herevnto may be added that which is before obserued how he ascribeth the same right in church causes to an infidel or prophane magistrat that he doth to any Christian princes and of their mutuall agreement with the Pope himselfe in the manner of both their excluding of Christian magistrats from hauing any thing to do as vnder Christ in his Church Hitherto then concerning all these puritane-popish assertious so much derogating from the lawfull authoritie of Christian princes There is but only this difference betwixt them the rankest Iesuits in Europe that what the one sort ascribe to the Pope and his shauelings the other do challenge to themselues and their Aldermen Vpon which occasion Cartvvright finding himselfe with his fellowes ranged to walke step by step with such a crue taketh vpon him like some dawber or bricklaier to make a high wall as he tearmeth it betwixt the Papists and them in this point But God knoweth it is a simple one and so thinne that you may easily looke through it and discerne them marching both togither First sayth he the Papists exempt their priests from the punishment of the ciuile magistrate vvhich vve doe not It is reason in deed you should not But if you doe not what doe these things mean The author of the second admonition desireth that he and his companions may be deliuered by act of Parlement from the authoritie of the ciuile magistrates as Iustices and others and from their inditings and finings Furthermore where Cartvvright sayth that the authoritie of christian Princes commeth immediately from God and not from Christ as he is mediator and that the authoritie of the svvord is the same ordinance of God as vvell in heathen princes as in Christians doth it not follow that in his iudgement Christian princes haue no authoritie ouer any of their subiects but only as they are men and not as they are either Christians or priests If you thinke it doth not then what T.C. wanteth I.B. doth supplie and that in proper tearmes as if it please you to peruse the place it will appeare vnto you Besides there goeth a letter from hand to hand written by certaine gentlemen of Suffolke to the Lords of her maiesties councell wherein there is great complaint made in the behalfe of certaine of the brotherhood as a matter fit to bee reformed that being ministers they had at their assises bene presented brought to the barre endicted arraigned and condemned Which dealing they tearme to be very hard and tending to the vtter discredit of the vvhole ministerie and profession of truth So that of all likelihood for all Cartvvrights saying both he and his fellowes could be well contented to be exempted from the ciuile magistrats But let vs heare the papists vpon this point or first part of Cartvvrights wall and peraduenture you shall find them as forward for their subiection herein as hee himselfe is or at the least as small a difference betwixt them as euer you saw though it were betweene two twiâ—nes Good kings may put bishops and priests in mind of their duties and bridle both their riot and arrogancie The prince by the vvord of God may make lavves for the obseruation of both tables and punish the trangressors I do here presently offer my selfe to receaue a corporall â—ath vpon the Euangelists that I do vtterly thinke and am persuaded in my conscience that the Queenes highnesse is the onely supreme gouernour of this realme and of all other her highnesse dominions and countries c. And further I shall presently svveare that her highnesse hath vnder God the soueraignty and rule ouer all maner of persons borne vvithin these her highnesse realms of vvhat estate ecclestasticall or temporall soeuer they be Fatemur person as EpiscoparuÌ„ qui in toto orbe fuerunt Romano imperatori subiectos fuisse VVe confesse that the persons of all the Bishops in the vvorld vvere subiect to the Romane emperour Rex praeest hominibus Christianis verum non quia sunt Christiani sed quia sunt homines quoniam ipsi episcopi sunt homines episcopis etiam ea ex parte rex praeesset The king ruleth christiaÌ„s not as they are christiaÌ„s but as they are men because bishops are men the king in that respect hath authoritie ouer them Harding also confesseth that if the causes be ciuile and temporall and all other causes our reformers do tie to their Elderships Bishops may be conuented before ciuile authoritie And it appeareth amongst all the learned Papists that the cheese prerogatiue they haue had in this point hath proceeded from the meere fauour and good will of Christian Princes the rather to couer and keepe from the people such faults in the Clergie as might breed their contempt Hitherto then this wall riseth vp but easily especially if I should adde in this place the brethren of Scotland their diuinitie for this matter when they not the Papists gaue the king and state occasion to make it by act of Parlement 1584 treason for any man to refuse to answer before the king though it were concerning any matter which was ecclesiasticall Now concerning the second part of Cartvvrights wall it is this The Papists sayth he vvill haue the Prince to
hands the carefull charge or procuration of Churches as pertaining to their dutie Good Kings and Princes do maintain true religion and by the aduise of their priests vvhen any great defections happen do pull dovvn the false And where Cartvvright doth charge the Papists to constraine their Princes for the keeping of their decrees be they good or bad although it be true in deed that they do so and that those of his owne stampe likewise vvhere they raigne are nothing more fauourable vnto them as farre as their might will reach yet as he doth in this matter prefer himselfe and his adherents before them it is but a meere cauil For the Papists holding this ground that their Councels and Popes in such their decrees and conclusions as it pleaseth them to make cannot erre that being graunted it followeth of necessitie that euery Christian Prince ought to put them in execution and to punish those that shall oppose themselues against them So that vvhatsoeuer they do impose vpon the Church they affirme it is good euen as Cartvvright doth his discipline which he would intrude vpon vs both of them ioining in this point that as wel Cartvvrights new ministery as the popes priesthood will be the iudges of their owne decrees whether they be good or bad and then what leaue they to the Christian magistrat more the one sort then the other Surely this wall riseth very slowly as yet but peraduenture the third part will be higher thē the other two when you haue viewed them iudge Our meaning is not sayth Cartvvright vtterly to seclude the magistrat out of our church-meetings for often times a simple man as the prouerbe sayth the Gardiner hath spoken to good purpose c. He may be assistant and haue his voice in such assemblies Out of question you deale very bountifully with your soueraign But to helpe him in building this part of his wall I will set downe what is the vttermost that he yeeldeth to herein if hee haue not retracted the same as afterward it shall be considered The Prince may call a councell of the ministerie and appoint both the time and the houres for the same The ciuile magistrat is not vtterly to be excluded from such assemblies as do meet for the deciding of church-causes and orders he may be there assistant and haue his voice but he may not be either moderator there nor determiner nor iudge Neither may the orders or decrees there made be sayd to haue bene done by the Princes authoritie And therefore in times past the cannons of councels vvere not called the Emperors but the Bishops decrees Princes may be assistant in councels and ought to defend the same assembled if any behaue themselues there tumultuously or othervvise disorderly the Prince may punish him The Prince ought to confirme the decrees of such councels to see the decrees executed and to punish the contemners of them Thus hereof Cartvvright and now come in the papists It vvas lavvfull in times past for emperors to call councels to appoint both time and place for the same And maister Harding confesseth that princes may do so still by the aduise of the clergie Princes and their embassadors according to their estates haue most honourable seats in all councels may sit there as assistants giue their aduises make exhortations to the Bishops to be very circumspect and carefull and in the end may subscribe vvith them to the causes there decreed But they may not sit there as iudges moderators or determiners and therfore in their subscriptions they vvrōt not as bishops did definientes subscripsimus but consentientes Neither vvere the councels called Imperatoria but Episcopalia Princes may be assistant in councels Nay sayth Saunders they may be presidents ouer Bishops in councels ad pacem concordiam retinendam vt nullum fieri tumultum permittant tumultuantem vero custodiae mancipent and cause such assemblies to auoid all delaies All Christian princes ought to confirme the decrees of generall councels to see the decrees executed and to punish the contemners of them Compare these places with Cartvvrights words and tell me what great difference ye find betweene them But what if Cartvvright as I sayd haue retracted these points then it must needs be confessed that the Papists do yeeld more to Christian princes in causes ecclesiastical then the puritans CHAP. XXIIII Their disagreement in suppressing the authoritie of Princes in church-causes and in the aduancing of their ovvn IT appeareth in the latter end of the two and twentith chapter how by a fine distinction of raigning vnder Christ as he is onely God and vnder Christ as he is mediator they first would exclude all Christian princes from their lawfull authoritie in causes ecclesiasticall ascribing no more vnto them then as if they were heathens except it be to execute their pleasures and to maintaine them which they say is the dutie also of all the heathen rulers and secondly how by the same distinctiō they lift vp their own horns as if it were so many popes challenging euery one of them together with their elderships to be Christs immediat vicars for church-causes vpon earth In the substance of which doctrine although they do all agree yet when they come to the particular grounds whervpō they would gladly lay their foundations of it there they are distracted and do confound themselues I meane not to enter here any further into this matter then as cōcerning the sayd distinction with the seuerall branches thereof Cartvvright bestoweth soure leaues to prooue that no ciuile magistrat may be called the head of the particular church within his dominion And his cheefest reasons are drawn from the parts of the distinction mentioned Now when he laboureth so much vpon this word head hee knoweth that we meane thereby nothing els but a chiefe authoritie and he wrangleth of purpose that whereas his opinion is direct that no ciuile magistrat as he is a ciuile magistrat hath any office in the Church he might dazle the eies of his reader as though he could bee content to maintaine the right of the crowne and did only insist vpon the word head But to muster them together about the said distinction Cartvvright sayth that our Sauiour Christ as hee is the sonne of God only or as he is onely the Creator and preseruer of mankind coequall vvith his father he is the gouernour of kingdoms and common-vvealths and not as hee is the sauiour and redeemer of mankind But the humble motioner doth tell vs from Scotland another tale peraduenture vpon the credit of the brethren there Christ sayth he hath all povver and superioritie aboue all principalities either in heauen or in earth he is Lord of lords and King of kings and the Prince of kings in the earth he is Lord of all kingdoms and common-vvealths to dispose and rule them at his pleasure
sibi persuasit papa diaboli vicarius The pastors themselues shall not be Christ's vicars as he is priest vvhich office notvvithstanding the pope the diuels vicar tooke falsely vpon him The pastors he saith shall not be Christs vicars as he is a priest And thē ther is no remedie They shal not How shal they hold then immediatly of him as he is a prophet That is it They are his substitutes or vicars saith hee onely as he is a prophet Did any man euer say so before Surely not to my remembrance Maister Fenner in his diuinitie perused by maister Cartvvright and allowed of at Geneua can find but two kinds of offices appertaining to Christ vz. his priesthood and his kingly office and therfore he maketh prophesie a part of his priesthood It is much what also to the same purpose and directly contrary to I. B. that the diuinitie grounds printed at Geneua do affirme by the mouth of one Abraham Henric where they say Pastorū ministeriū vt olim sacerdotum c. The dutie of pastors as in times past of the priests consisteth in three things teaching administring of the sacraments publicke praier So as either I.B. must be content that ministers may be Christs vicars as he is a priest or else I see not how he will bestow them You will say peraduēture that they may be Christs vice-gerēts as he is a king but that as I sayd he will not indure If any might be Christs vicars sayth he as he is a king the Apostles Prophets Euangelists Ministers and Doctors might be his vicars At ne hi quidem quia rex est dicendi sunt vicarij But they neither are to be called Christs vicars as he is a king Well some place they must haue there is no remedie I dare say you would smile if it should so fall out that all our consistorian ministers will needs bee Christs substitutes in that he is a king Surely I must tell you it proueth so For as touching I. B. they reckon him I perceaue but a simple politian Christs kingdome it hath bene truly vrged is not of this world it is plea good enough against our bishops but it holdeth not to impaire the estimation of our petit consistorian kings A distinction will helpe thē at a pinch Christs kingdome is not of this world but it ought to be in this world Do you not here desire to know what this kingdome is That I may not keepe you long in suspence it is the Geneuian Eldership and euen the very same kingdome saith our counterpoizer vvhere of Christ spake many times after his resurrection by the space of sortie daies as the Iesuits themseluss are compelled to confesse See the seducer Who cōpelled the Iesuits to say so would not a man haue thought that this place had bene vrged by some protestants against the papists for the ouerthrow of some especiall points of poperie wher vpon after much paines the Iesuits bad bene driuen in spight of their heads to admit of the interpretatiō mētioned But it is clean contrary the Iesuits do abuse this place of purpose in the behalfe of the Antichristian Romish form of church regimēt so doth the Counterpoizer following the Iesuits therin for the setting forth of their Geneuian papacy or Regalitie I could adde here a number of strange sayings whereof you shall here anon in some other chapters following concerning this new presbiteriall kingdome But now it is more pertinent to make the point I haue in hand more apparant vnto you Christ as a king prescribed the forme of ecclesiasticall gouernment saith Cartvvright not as a priest nor as a prophet but as a king With Cartvvright his scholler Dudlie Fenner doth agree in this point setteth downe the first part of his kingly administration to be about the building and continuance of the church by the officers appointed Eph. 4.11.12.13 Maister Beza also he runneth the same course how Christ being a king the head of the church doth administer his kingdome Per legitime vocatos pastores by pastors lavvfully called And Sonnius in like manner affirmeth that Christ doth execute his kingly office in the collectiō of the church by the ministerie of the word and sacraments and by the internall gouernment of his spirit and the external of the ministerie Here is indeed very roiall preferment for al the ministers of the word But I meruaile how the ruling elders do hold their authoritie They are neither priests nor prophets of likelihood then they must be little kings Wel then Christ is the king the presbiterie is his kingdome his immediat vice-gerents they are all of them What Surely by the due course of degrees which are acknowledged the pastors must be all of thē as it were emperors the doctors kings the elders dukes and the deacons lords of the treasurie c. And for the authoritie of euery such kingdom it must needs fal out to be very soueraign For if euery presbiterie as it is before noted be properly to be called the body of Christ and the true portraiture of the catholick church that euery one of thē is of equall authoritie now that the officers in them are Christs immediat vice-gerēts within their own kingdoms who shall controll any of their doings or whither should a man appeale if he found himselfe iniuried I remember maister Bezas saying That euery eldership is the tribunall seat of Christ. Which is all one almost with the assertion of some Romish parasits that the pope and Christ haue but one consistorie They tell vs of appellations from an eldership to a classis from a classis to a prouinciall synod from a prouincial synod to a nationall from a nationall vnto a generall councell But as the papists do make euery appellation from the pope to be as absurd and all one as if the appeale were made from Christ so must it necessarily follow to be as vntollerable to appeale from any consistorie it being as it hath bene affirmed the tribunall seat of Christ and the officers in it Christs immediat gouernors And because it is pretended that the regiment they speake of is in the best perfection at Geneua I would gladly know whither a man might appeale vpon occasion from that eldership there The churches of Bern or Zuricke haue no more to do with the church of Geneua they will say then Geneua hath to do with them or an eldership in Scotland with another of the low countries But I haue taried too long vpon this matter in collecting vpon their contrarie assertions Therefore to conclude I would wish all christian and godly magistrats that haue as yet in their hands the lawfull authoritie in church-causes which belongeth vnto them by the word of God to keepe it stil vntill at the least these disciplinarie deuisers be fully resolued whether we must account thē priest prophets or kings priests if they be Christs substitutes as he is a
orders to this poynte in the newly subscribed booke of discipline Plurium sententiae verbo Dei consentaneae singulares omnes eius cansilij conuentus ecclesiae parere debent All Churches must obey the sentence of the greater part of that Councellor assembly vnder whose direction they are the same being agreeable to the worde of God And agayne It is made a part of theyr Aldermens office to see Vt quae à conuentibus piè decreta retulerint à ciuibus suis earum ecclesiarum studiosè obseruentur that those godly decrees which they shall bring from the assemblyes bee diligently obserued of theyr Cittizens of those Churches Lastly Conuentus sententia rata habeatur donec à conuentu maior is authoritatis secus iudicatum puerit Let the sentence of euery assembly bee ratified vntill it shall be otherwise iudged-of by an assembly of greater authoritie As a classicall to bee ouerruled by a prouinciall a prouinciall by a nationall a nationall by a generall And thus they write of theyr owne orders and assemblyes Which rules take them altogether as they lye if they bee true as I doe not greatly dislike them being well applyed then do these busie bodies among vs sin most directly against theyr own consciences in that they oppose themselues as they do against those things which the greater part of the national Sinode high court of parliament of this Realme hath allowed of beeing most agreeable to the worde of God before some generall Councell or assembly of more authoritie haue iudged otherwise and determined for the course that they haue proceeded in Generall Councell I am sure they haue none And for any other assembly that hath beene held and should haue greater authoritie in England than the nationall Synode of all our owne Churches and the high Court of Parliament let them name it In their writinges generally they exclayme against the high Commission or at the least against the Commissioners as many of them as bee clergie men affirming it to bee against the worde of God that any such should bee of that Commission And yet in Scotland it was agreeable with the Scriptures that fortie or fiftie at the least Ministers of the worde as I conceyue it shoulde bee verie great Commissioners from the King Anno 1589. to very manie great purposes euen for the purging of that lande from all sortes of enemies to the religion there professed Likewise earnest suite is made in the Supplication before mentioned to her Maiestie and found in Fields study that the foresaid foure twentie Doctors that should bee of the Parliament house might be likewise generall Commissioners vnder the great scale of England or the more part of them to beare and determine all and euery secte errour heresie contempt default and misdemeanour agaynst the worde of God and her Maiesties lawes of reformation of religion to depriue any Pastour not dooing or neglecting his duetie to examine witnesses and to imprison the bodyes of all such malefactors and to certifie their names to the Lordes of her Maiesties Councell that they may receiue further condigne punishment Besides there bee some that resemble the high Commission nowe in force vnto the authoritie which they challenge to theyr seuerall Elderships Whereupon one of them acquainted I doubt not with the desires of the rest sayth That if the high Commission were setled in fiue hundred places more than it is and shoulde gouerne by the worde of God and lawes of this Realme there would rise more profit thereby to religion than yet hath beene found by the Bishops He would haue it in fiue hundreth places Scotland is diuided into two and fiftie Eldershippes and of likelyhood they would haue fiue hundred in England And that as I take it is the mystery of his number of fiue hundred To conclude I finde another motion which liketh wel that if there were fiue hundred Elderships more or fewer established yet there might be in euery great Towne certaine Commissioners in causes ecclesiasticall appoynted to looke that the Elderships did their dueties if they did not to compel them therunto by ciuill authority So as therby it appeareth that although our Bishops other Clergie men may not be such Commissioners with vs in some few places yet their Pastors Doctors Aldermen may in euery parish or so many of them or I knowe not whom as it should please her Maiestie to assigne to euery greate Towne Surely the worde of God is much troubled with such kinde of choppers and chaungers of it euery giddy heade wresting and wringing it to serue his owne deuise Wee shoulde haue Commissions to thatch houses withall I see if they might be our directors They are offended with the authoritie that her Maiestie dooth giue vnto her Commissioners for causes ecclesiasticall as beeing vnlawfull in that by vertue of that commission they may sende sometimes for offendors to appeare before them by purseuants and commit them to prison as occasion shal fall out and theyr faultes misdemeanors and contempts shall require But at Geneua the like authoritie in effecte is lawfull in their Eldership For there the Consistorie hath a Beadle sergeant or purseuant or as you lift to tearme him appoynted by the ciuill Magistrates to attende vppon it whose office is to call such before the Consistorie as the Aldermen shall appoynt him And for imprisoning of any offendors and contemptuous persons there is notany matter almost for the which they may call a man before them but one parte of the punishment of it by the lawes of the Cittie is imprisonment As if any when hee appeareth in the Consistorie or els where be so hardie as but to speake euill of any of the Ministers or misname them he is to be imprisoned Besides as I haue noted it before theyr Elders are alwayes of the Councell of state and seldome or neuer but they will bee sure to haue one of the foure Syndickes to bee of that bench So as together they raigne lyke Lordes in theyr Consistorie and who dare say My Lordes why doe you so If they direct imprisonment is but a small matter I speake not agaynst that order there let them vse it as they thinke good Only I see not why the worde of God should bee so bountifull to them and is so sparing to vs. In that by the orders of our Church and the laws of the Realme there is required of Ministers a subscription to her Maiesties lawfull authoritie in ecclesiasticall causes to the Articles of Religion and to the Communion booke c. greate quarrels haue beene raysed and many exceptions are taken against it Insomuch as one a wise man I warraunt you dooth ascribe all the daungers that haue beene complotted against her Maiesties person by the traitrous Papistes the dearth of corne the cause that we haue had such watching and warding by souldiers and lastly that the Spanyards would haue inuaded this land
their setting vppe of their short plat of discipline bannished the cittie The causes before mentioned of this their bannishment were giuen out thus in generall termes Tyranni esse voluerunt in liberam ciuitatem voluerunt nouum pontificatum reuocare They would haue beene tyrants ouer a free cittie they would haue recalled a new papacy And here beganne the Consistorian humor which raigneth nowe amongst the factious sorte in England to shew it selfe but yet in a more secrete sorte by their priuate letters one to an other Their fauourers and partakers whome they lefte behinde them at Geneua presently after their departure entered into faction and refused to receiue the communion with vnleauened bread as it had beene ordered they should doe by the said Synode at Lausanna The ministers that remained in the cittie after them were greatly disgraced For in that they continued their ministery there without the newe Discipline they were said to hold otiosam functionem an idle function The Senate of two hundred that expelled the said three preachers was termed by Caluin tumultuos a perditorum hominum factio a tumultuoas faction of rakehells castaway es Beza saith that in that councell the greater part ouercame the better But then by the way they were not all of them such manner of men as Caluin reporteth The chiefest magistrates of the cittie euen the Syndickes were termed factionum et discordiarum duces the ringleaders of factions and dissentions They were resembled to Nabucadnezar and the exiles to Daniell And generally they gaue it out against all their backe frendes that they went about to ouerthrowe the Church and that they had obdurated themselues against the Lord Iesus Christ. These and such like speaches you must thinke were giuen out then secretly but since they are published in printe for other ministers instructions which may hereafter receiue any checke about that kinde of discipline Hetherto for ought I finde the pretended discipline had no great successe I must therfore proceede on forward These three preachers being thus banished their friendes at Geneua were maruailous earnest to haue them thither againe Many letters were procured from certaine churches and learned men to the magistrates in that behalfe as you shall partly perceaue by diuerse epistles set out vnder the title or together with Caluins epistles Euery one likewise in the Cittie that held for the discipline did his best with the people But Maister Caluin was the man whom they all of them most desired for the rest being else where placed they cared not much Vnto these endeuours may be added some very wise courses taken by Maister Caluin in the time that he discontinued from Geneua Cardinall Sadolet hauing written to the Geneuians in dislike of the alteration both of their state and of the Romish religion admonishing them to returne to their olde byace Maister Caluin aunswered him and iustified as he thought meete their proceedinges therein to their very good contentment Also where some that of his owne friends had greatly laboured to discredite the ministers of that cittie which were lefte to the griefe of the magistrates endeuoured to haue brought them vtterly into contempt for executing their ministerie without the pretended Discipline c. Maister Caluin staied that course by writing vnto them that he doubted not but that their ministers deliuered vnto them the chiefe heads of Christian religion which were necessary to saluation and that also they ioyned thereunto the right vse of the Sacramentes And then saith he where those two pointes are performed illic substantia ministery viget there is the substance of the ministerie and a lawfull honour and obedience is to be giuen to that Ministery Lastly the mutinie mentioned which was about refusall to communicate with vnleauened bread he likewise appeased by perswading the authours of it that it was a matter of indifferencie for the which they ought not to disquiet the peace of the Church By which occasions together with the former sutes mentioned the Citie as I iudge hauing conceaued a better opinion of maister Caluin then they had before and supposing that if he came againe amongst them he would vse a great deale more mildnesse and moderation in his proceedinges then hee had earst done they were at the last contented after two yeares bannishment and more to recall him vnto them vz in the yeare 1541. Whilest his friendes were labouring for him as you haue heard he himselfe perceiuing that hee shoulde returne thither was still harping to his friendes vppon this string how he might haue the Citie so bound to the forme of Discipline which he had in his head as that afterwardes they might not when they list start from it And therefore as soone as he was come thither hee imployed his studie that way especially At the first offering of his paines to the Senate he told him that the Church there could not possibly continue except there were same certaine forme of Church gouernement established Whereupon the Senate ordered at his request that he and fiue other of the Ministers should conferre together about such a forme as they thought meet and that hauing so done they should offer the same to the consideration of the said Senate Here then you shall see the strength of maister Caluins wit He wisely saw that notwithstanding the Bishops ecclesiasticall authoritie had been vtterly disgraced and was thereupon reiected as being forsooth Popish and tyrannicall yet it was not good for the Church that the ministers should bate the citie one ace of an ecclesiasticall authoritie aequiualent at the least to that which their Bishops formerly had enioyed amongest them Howbeit he well perceiued withall that for the bringing of this matter about there must be verie good pollicie and circumspection vsed or else that it would be a thing impossible to bring a people hauing gotten their libertie into the like or a worse seruitude then they were in before His plot therefore as I take it was as followeth He laboured to perswade the people and the Magistrates that as there was a ciuile Senate for the gouernement of the Citie and the territories thereof in ciuile causes so by the word of God there should be an ecclesiasticall Senate for the gouernment of the same Citie and territories conteining aboue twentie parishes in causes ecclesiasticall And to this purpose he wanted not I warrant you very many probable reasons The persons that should beare authoritie in this Senate I nothing doubt but that he could haue been very well contented they should haue been all of them ministers euen as the ciuile gouernment did then wholly consist of ciuile persons But by reason of the great authoritie that the preachers had before intituled the ciuile magistrates vnto for the bannishment of their Bishop for their dealing in Church causes wherewithall they were in some sorte possessed hee very wisely considered with Farellus and Viretus that if they tooke that course
vnto the sayde ministers by Budaeus his messenger and did acknowledge them to be godly and to drae towardes the prescript of gods worde and therefore that the chaunging of them by any innouation was not to be admitted in their opinions that it was better they should be wholy kept especially in this age when men waxe worse and worse that although say they our discipline doth not agree with that of Geneua in all points yet the same being framed according to the circumstaunces of times places and persons doth not import any ouerthrowe of yours and that according to their desire of Geneua they had sent vnto them the forme of their discipline not minding as they said to prescribe any iote of it to them for that they deemed their owne at Geneua to be more meete for them there This being the summe of the aunswere agreed vppon by the sayde Senate at Zuricke Maister Bullinger presently dispatcheth the same in a priuate letter to Caluin and not that onely but he also writ his letters at the same time to the ministers of Schafhusen and Basill two of those citties belike to the which the deciding of the saide questions was also referred signifying what aunswere the magistrates of Zuricke had made that they likewise there might concurre with them in their aunsweres for the peace and edification of the Church of Geneua although sayth he you haue not the like forme of discipline in your Churches After that M. Bullinger had thus dispatched his priuate letters the Senate then soone after sent their saide aunswere to Geneua Which being receiued perused and considered of there was great muttering in the cittie The magistrates thereby did finde themselues as it were in a laberinth The strength of their state did depend especially as I iudge vpon the league and frendship which they had with the sayde fower citties So as they might not doe any thinge that shoulde dislike them And on the other side remeÌ„bring the great abuses of their Consistorialls how they had formerly dealt with them and tyrannized ouer them as they supposed it greatly troubled them to confirme vnto them any such authoritie It seemeth therefore that they endeuoured to protract the time as much as they could And yet because they thought it meet that some thing should be done vpon the receipt of the sayde aunswere they caused a kinde of generall reconciliation by giuing theyr right handes and an oathe was taken that none of them for the time to come would support any euill causes Maister Caluin being discontent with this plausible colour of peace as perceiuing that thereby the restoring of the Discipline vnicus pacis custos the onely preseruer of peace as he tearmeth it was neglected and that their Church was still like Noahs Arke in the floud he grewe after a short time to be resolute and prouoked the magistrates to giue their answere whether they would followe the aduise of the sayd former Cities or they would not Whereupon as it seemeth the matter was put to voyces And now see the vpshoote In illa promiscua collunie suffragijs fuimus superiores in that confused ofscouring of the whole multitude saith maister Caluin we had the most voyces It is very worthy the obseruation and to bee kept likewise in perpetuall memory in what honourable presence according to maister Caluins own estimation by how reuerend a companie of learned fathers and famous persons and with what singular grauitie great wisedome and mature deliberation this solemne and glorious forme of the pretended holy Discipline was reuiued againe and intertained at Geneua In illa promiscua colluuie suffragijs fuimus superiores In that disordered dunghill of riffraffe tagge and ragge our presbyteriall platforme hauing moste of their voyces carried away the bucklers No doubt a worthie victorie For if an assembly be called colluuies as I take it is a maiori parte of the greater part what godly man liuing would not then haue flung vp his cappe and reioyced to haue seene the noble Consistorye triumphing that day with the applause and approbation of so honourable a company Men may talke hereafter of the councell of Nice with shame inough if they shall compare it with this royal assembly In good earnest seeing the multitude of all the Citizens of Geneua was content to gratifie maister Caluin so much it might haue become him well inough to haue recompensed their friendships with some better tearmes But let that go if the Citizens themselues do take it well at his hands to be so vsed by him it shall not any way trouble me any further When maister Caluin had well considered how hardly he had obtained his conquest and how it was not very vnlike but that some of those who had before opposed them selues would still be practising to ouerthrowe his worke againe if possibly they coulde hee aduised as it should seeme with his best and surest friendes what course was meetest to be thought of and taken for the preuenting of so notable a mischiefe And their plot was howe they might strengthen their saide Colluuies or greater part for the better continuance of it The present oportunitie serued their purpose Whereupon like wise men they so hammered their matters whilest the Iron was hot that they procured fiftie of maister Caluins owne nation all of them meere Frenchmen to be admitted Cittizens at one time in Geneua Which was a point of very great importance For as I take it the people hauing reserued to them selues as Bodiue saith ius iâ—beâ—â—dae legis authoritie to make lawes the Eldership being set vp by them could not be ouerthrowne afterwardes without them And then to haue such an increase of assured friends that would sticke as fast to maister Caluin as the skinne did to his forehead was surely a great matter in so little a towne And as this pollicie was put in practise for the Citizens so I coniecture it was also from time to time as touching the ministers None but Frenchmen might rule there in that Consistorie if maister Caluin could helpe it When the Magistrates vpon a time would needes haue one Trollietus a Geneuian borne to bee one of their ministers heare I pray you how maister Caluin writeth thereof to his friend Viretus Trollietus quidam quod natione sit Geneuensis c. One Trollietus because he is a Geneuian borne is obtruded vnto vs in whome there do appeare many signes which none of vs like of Aud I see not any thing in him worthy a Minister nisi quod Simiae amant suos catulos but that apes loue their whelpes So as I gesse that for maister Caluins time no Apes were fit for his turne but his owne Though maister Caluin writ in this sort merrily peraduenture to his familiar friend yet maister Beza was not bound to haue published such a disgrace in print against those that haue deserued better of him But this partialitie in the choyse of their ministers was not a
this side of the seas amongst vs. If Maister Caluin but especially maister Beza could haue been content to haue contained themselues within the limites either of Geneua or Fraunce to haue intermedled raigned there only and to haue vrged their platforme and deuise no further they might the better for vs in England haue been borne withall But nowe seeing they haue not so done who can be offended that I should make mention of it to the end that if they dealt amisse therein theyr examples and proceedinges might haue the estimation which indeed they deserue I omit how in K. Edwards time certaine malecontents grew vp in the Church of England because sundry matters might not bee ordered as they were at Geneua maister Caluin hauing written sundry letters into England to some suche like effect In Queene Maries time assoone as certaine of our Countreymen were come to Franckforde they were assaulted with the orders of Geneua Quarrels arising about the communion booke and forme of the seruice of England in Kinge Edwardes time there were particulars collected out of it by Knox Whittingham and such as had already tasted of that intoxication and sent to Geneua to bee censured by M. Caluin Who vpon the receit of them returned his answere concerning the sayde Booke compiled confirmed before by such men and such an authorititie as he ought to haue reuerenced In Anglicana Liturgia qualem describitis multas video fuisse tolerabiles ineptias I see that in the English forme of seruice as you describe it there were many tollerable foolleries When Knox and Whittingham had gotten this letter they published it to the Congregation Which being read it so wrought in the heartes of many sayth the discourser of the troubles at Franckford that they were not before so stoute to maintaine all the partes of the Booke of England as afterwardes they were bent against it If you haue Caluins Booke of Epistles I pray you reade it Although Beza thought it meete to be published in print yet shall you finde it to containe no one point of substance in it able to perswade a childe So as thereby you may iudge of their giddinesse who were moued so greatly with it When some of the sayd parties Whittingham diuerse others of a more violent humor came first to Franckford they fel also presently into a very especiall liking of the Geneua discipline as finding it to containe such rules and practices as did greatly concurre with their owne disposions In England poperie was restored and much crueltie vsed whereby they were constrained for the sauing of their liues to leaue their Countrye their liuings and theyr friendes In which case a man may easily gesse how acceptable these pointes were vnto some kinde of humors vz. that if Bishops and Princes refused to admit of the Gospell they might be vsed by their subiects as the Bishop of Geneua was vsed that is deposed and that euerie particular minister with his assistants according to the platforme of that discipline was himselfe a Bishop and had as great authoritie within his owne parish as any Bishop in the world might lawfully challenge euen to the excommunicating of the best aswell the Prince as the Pesaunt And indeede accordingly these positions as afterward it will appere were so pleasing to Whittingham and his consortes as it had beene a very meane forme of discipline I suppose that hauing such principles annexed vnto it wold at that time haue beene refused by them Howbeit many there were and that of the learnedest of those that then departed the Realme as Doct. Cox Doct. Horne M. Iewell with sundrie others who perceauing the trickes of that discipline did vtterly dislike it So as when they came afterwardes to Franckford they wholy insisted vppon the platforme of England and in short time obtayning of the Magistrates the vse thereof they did chose either D. Cox or D. Horne as I gesse or some such other as had beene of especiall account in K. Edwards time to be as it were their Superintendent For the bringing of which matter to passe one maister Clanbourge a chiefe magistrate in that Citie hauing shewed them some especiall fauour complaint was made thereof as it seemeth to M. Caluin Whereupon the sayde M. Clanbourg did write to him as it should appeare that he was induced to yeald to such a choyse the rather because the sayd Superintendent had some such like superior place in England before he came thither Vnto the which point maister Caluin that he might thrust his oare into euerye mans boat to disgrace the sayd platforme of England as much as lay in him and to incourage the factious company at Franckforde that were besotted with his pretended discipline did returne this answere If Beza hath set out his letter truely I would one point had beene omitted which was suggested vnto you I doubt not by that one partie I thinke he meaneth the sayd superintendent For otherwise it would neuer haue come into your cogitation as though he had still kept his whole estate in England to haue established his former ministerie there with you in a perpetuall possession of the authoritie therof Peraduenture there is nothinge that from the beginninge his meaninge is since the Englishemen came thither hath stired vp more contention or at the leaste displeasure so hath kindled strife then this emulation in that the greater part did thinke themselues to be thrust from their equall degree and to bee contumeliously excluded from the common societie if the Church which had receaued intertainment with you meaning the companie that had receiued his forme of discipline before the saide learned men came to Franckford should receaue their lawes from the other parte or side Within some short time after this that the sayd order of the English Church was established as you haue hard at Franckford diuerse of those men who had beene earnest for the Geneuian discipline deuided themselues from that Church as Whittingham Gilby Goodman and others and went to Geneua Where to the great discredit of the estate of the Church of England in Kinge Edwardes time to the greate griefe of such godly men and afterwardes worthy Martirs as remayned here in Queene Maries time in England and to the greate discouragement of sundry weake professors then also in England they reiected the whole forme of our English reformation the booke of common praier our seruice the order of our sacramentes and of all thinges els in effect there prescribed and conformed themselues altogether to the fashions of the Church at Geneua Where they had not beene longe when they had sucked and disgested the whole doctrine before mentioned to be as the appendants necessarily annexed to that forme of newe discipline and which was afterwardes enlarged by Beza as I take it Hotoman others of the disciplinarian humor in their bookes intituled De iure magistratuum c. Vindicia contra tirannos Franco-gallia c. The generall summe
raigne aboue his people About the same time Goodman Whittingham Gilby and some others returned from Geneua into England What violēt and seditious doctrine they brought home with them at the least they three that are mentioned I leaue to some other oportunity But for the Geneuian discipline all their desires were in that point insatiable They had seene how Caluin and Beza did raign at Geneua and thought scorne thereuppon to be subiect vnto any It seemed vnto them a notable matter If euery one of them might by and by haue obtained an absolute autority where they should haue beene placed Comming from Geneua they thought they should haue beene admired But finding themselues therein deceaued and that their Geneuian motions were little regarded it wrought in them a very great discontentment and made them so wilfull that nothing would please them which was not practised in Geneua So as thereby great contentions were presently stirred vp by thē Their first assault was made against the Communion Book with the orders ceremonies that are therein prescribed In the which quarrels perceiuing themselues in many respectes as I take it to be ouermatched what was their refuge but forsooth they must complaine to maister Beza Which complaint receaued he writte his Letter in their behalfe vnto Doctor Grindall 1566. then Bishop of London I wish a man would read the Epistles of Leo sometimes Bishop of Rome and conferre them with this of Bezaes to consider whether tooke more vppon him Leo where he might commaund or Beza where there was no reason he should at all haue intermedled But let him goe on He findeth faults with the manner of apparell appointed for our Ministers with the Crosse in Baptisme with kneeling at the holy Communion with all ceremonies that carrie with them any signification and withall the ancient Fathers applying himselfe altogether to strengthen and incourage his factious old acquaintance in their froward and peruerse obstinacie And because his course taken therein should not bee vnknowen with the same minde that he writte this letter now you see hee hath printed it The yeare after 1567. when the sayd malecontents perceiued that notwithstanding Bezaes letter there was no place giuen vnto their giddie fancies but that euery daye they were withstood more and more and that with such sufficient reasons as for mine owne part I thinke that all the Bezaes in Christendome will neuer be able sufficiently to confute they beganne to stagger and knew not what they should do They could finde no directions in the scriptures how they might behaue themselues and therfore they were constrayned to fly againe to Beza Obserue well I pray you what he himselfe writeth hereof Saepe multumque c. Being oft and greatly desired of my deerest beloued Brethren of the Churches of England that in their miserable state Consilium illis aliquod suggereremus in quo acquiescere ipsorum conscientiae possent I would giue them some councell whereupon their consciences might rest diuerse men houlding diuers opinions c. A long time I differred for diuers waighty reasons so to do and I professe that most willingly I would yet haue beene silent but that I thinke I should greatlye offende if I should still reiect their so many petitions and most pitifull mournings Wee in England may thinke wee haue had great iewels of these disturbers and that for all their pretences of great learning and grauitie they were indeed of a very shallow iudgement that could finde nothing to stay their consciences vppon but what should bee sent to them from M. Beza It was a fond part for them to write so vnto him and a very insolent parte for him to take so much vpon him but in that hee hath published so much to the world in print their childishnes his owne pride I may terme it but I want a word to expresse my conceit Hereby it should seeme that if Beza had taken such a course as might well haue beseemed him it lay greatly in his power to haue very much quieted all those present troubles But that minde was farre from him and yet it would haue tended a great deale more to his owne credit For he giueth his sayd deerest beloued Brethren very vnwise vnlearned and vngodly councell although euer since that time according to their promise they haue very grauely builded their consciences vpon it And it was this in effect that if they could not enioy their ministerie without giuing their consents to the manner of making of our Ministers by the Bishops without the voyces of such a Presbiterie as he and his Schollers do dreame of without giuing their consents to the vse of the Cap and Surplise and to the manner of excommunication in the Church of England c. They should then giue place manifestae violentiae to manifest violence and liue as priuate men Let any man that list read ouer that Epistle also and then iudge indifferently by what light aduise this peeuish opposition hath beene continued amongst vs. After some time spent in these brables then they bethought them to fall more directly in hand with the Geneuian Discipline To this purpose certaine persons assembled themselues priuately together in London as I haue beene enformed namely Gilbye Sampson Leuer Field Wilcox and I wot not who besides And then it was agreed-vpon as it seemeth that an admonition which the now L. Archbishop of Canterburie did afterwards confute should be compiled and offred vnto the Parliament approching Anno. 1572. Against which time it was also prouided that Beza should write his letterr to a great man in this Land for and in the behalfe of the chiefe contents therof vz. for the admitting in England of the sayd Allobrogicall Discipline Which office you may be sure he performed very willingly Vnderstanding sayth he of an assembly of the Estate of England wherein there would bee dealing with matters of Religion I could not chose but write vnto you of that matter And so he proceedeth shewing that all men doe allow of our doctrine but not of our Discipline That except where there is pure doctrine there be also pure discipline meaning his own Geneuian Darling the Churches are litle the better and that therefore her Maiestie and her faythfull Councellors should procure the setting vp of this pure Discipline notwithstanding any difficulties whatsoeuer that might hinder it The same yeare also 1572. hee writ to the Queenes Maiestie an Epistle dedicatory before his annotations vpon the new Testament In the which although he doth confesse that her Highnes hath restored to this Lande the true worship of God yet he insinuateth that wee want a full instauration of Ecclesiasticall Discipline that our Temples are not fully repurged that some high places remayne as yet not abolished and wisheth that those wantes and blemishes might be supplyed and reformed meaning as I thinke hee would confesse if he were deposed that her Maiestie should conforme the present Apostolicall and most
haue not wanted the common affections of men Much trouble there was before their saide deuise was receaued which made them afterwardes the fonder of it We haue a saying that the Crow thinketh her owne birde the fairest and so doe men and women for the most part their owne children Nature doth therein beare sway with the best But especially she sheweth her force most in the fruicts of a mans mind For as our mindes ought to be more deare vnto vs then our bodies so are the fruites of our minds of greater account with vs then the fruites of our bodies Few men that we heare of will giue their liues for their children but many wee see will do it most readily in the maintenance of their opinions Which thinges considered I cannot but in some sorte excuse maister Caluin and maister Beza in seeking all manner of waies all shewes all shiftes all aduauntages that possibly they could either finde or deuise whereby they might iustifie in some sorte the birth and bringing vp of their misconceaued offpring The chiefest ouersight was in my opinion that other learned and wise men doe not well obserue these manner of naturall and common affections in them but were carried after them as it were with a whirlewind to like as they liked to say as they said and to doe as they did If maister Caluin and maister Beza affirmed it why it was inough I haue heard it credibly reported that in a certaine Colledge in Cambridge when it happeneth that in there disputations the authority either of Saint Augustine or of Saint Ambrose or of Saint Ierome or of any other of the ancient Fathers nay the whole consent of them all alltogether is alledged it is reiected with very great disdaâ—ne as what tell you me of Saint Augustine Saint Ambrose or of the rest I regard them not a rush were they not men Whereas at other time when it happeneth that a man of an other humor doth aunswere if it fall out that he beinge pressed with the authority either of Caluin or Beza shall chance to deny it you shall see some beginne to smile in commiseration of such the poore mans simplicity some grow to be angry in regard of such presumption and some will depart away accounting such a kinde of fellowe not worthy the hearing Were not this a pretty and pleasaunt Interlude or Comedy to behold such Parasites playing their partes so Disciplinarian-like And all these follies and dependances that the people haue doted so much after some kinde of Ministers that the inferior sort of those ministers haue taken all for currant coine that hath beene paide them by their superiors and that they the superiors haue beene also so farre ouercaried with the credite of the saide two persons all these follies I say did proceed from this fountaine that neither the people nor their rash seducers did in time put the holy Apostles rule in practise vz. try all thinges and keepe that which is good But it is better late then neuer Since men of all sorts haue entered more carefully into the triall of all the saide pretences together with the very substaunce of that their pretended holy platforme the furious rage of that floud hath beene pretily well diuerted And the very chiefe Captains themselues being vrged of necessity a litle to fall on searching haue found that which I feare they are sorry for and are become as it seemeth like men greatly amased to be at their wits end And now to this purpose I will tell you a wonder If Cartwright and his adherents were to beginne the course againe that they haue runne I am perswaded they would neuer tread so much as one steppe in it But nowe they haue engaged their credits they must shift thinges of aswell as they can and where their wards serue them not beare-of the blowes that shall fall vppon them with their heads and shoulders In the yeare 1572. as you haue heard in the former Chapter the first admonition was offered to the Parliament as containing a perfect platforme of the worthy pretended Discipline to haue beene established within this Realme Within a yeare or two after Cartwright taking in haÌ„d the defence of that platform did alter it in some points especially where it seemed to ascribe too much vnto the people And then if it bee true which is reported that one desiring vppon a time conference with him about these manner of causes he answered what neede you to talke with me you may haue my Bookes they are Est and Amen I doubt not but he would haue sworne vppon conuenient occasion that the admonitioners platforme so qualified by him was a most perfect patterne for all Churches Howbeit within a while after it proued not so For about the yeare 1583. where before the platfourme of Geneua as it was lefte at large in Cartwrigts Bookes had beene followed now there was a particular draught made for England with a newe forme of common Praier therein prescribed The yeare ensuing 1584. the seuen and twentith of her Maiesty out starteth this Booke with great glory at the Parliament time and forthwith the present gouernment of the Church with all the orders lawes and ceremonies thereof was to be cut-off at one blow and this new booke or platforme must needes be established But it preuailed not Shortly after that Parliament the saide booke and platforme was found amongest themselues to haue some thing amisse in it And the correcting of it was referred to Trauerse Which worke by him performed came out againe about the yeare 1586. when there was an other Parliament in the nine and twentieth of her maiesties raigne But it was then as I suppose seuered from the saide book of Common praier and become an entire worke of it selfe And then also at the saide Parliament there wanted not diuerse solicitors for the admittance of it Afterwardes a new conference was had againe about this seconde corrected booke For still there were some things out of square in it In the yeare 1588. at an assembly in Couentry these doubts which were growen were as it seemeth debated and so were many other Cartwright himselfe being present But which of the saide doubts in their platfourme were then resolued I find it not This appeared that some of them remained which they were not able to resolue vpon For although they then concluded that the platforme it selfe was an essentiall forme of Discipline necessary for all times subscribed vnto the practise of the greatest part of it without any further expecting the magistrats pleasure yet in theyr subscriptions they excepted some fewe points which were reserued to be discussed by certaine brethren in an other assembly Where this assembly was kept I canuot certainely affirme But it appeareth vppon deposition that the next yeare after there was one held in Sainct Iohns Colledge in Cambridge Where Cartwright being againe present and many moe besides diuerse imperfections in the saide
shall we thinke that they heard of it and conspired together to ouerthrow Christes institution It may be said that peraduenture they heard of it and reproued it but could not reforme it Very well But where be then their admonitions petitions supplications and libels against it Where be their suspensions excommunications and giuings ouer to Sathan Not a word of that abuse in Saint Iohns Gospell written after the supposed defection but especially could he haue pretermitted such a high point in the booke of his Reuelations Or had he so many Reuelations of other matters of lesse importance forsooth and was such an ouerthrowe of Christes kingdome kept from him The Disciplinarian shiftes in this case to make the best of them can be but slaunderous and desperate But to graunt to all of them the acceptation of the Apostles times after the largest accompt there is surely nothing lesse to be found in those times then the Geneua platforme For then as particular congregations professed the Gospell you should haue found a Priest or minister of the worde and Sacramentes placed in them In Citties where there were diuerse such congregations or wherevnto sondry congregations of the country did appertaine then you shoulde haue found some Timothy a Bishop to gouerne them After that diuerse Citties had receaued the Gospell or some whole Countrey it was not long but some Titus was placed as Archbishop ouer them The twelue Apostles were in those times as twelue Patriarchs for all the world who planted directed visited commaunded and appointed the foresaid Church gouernours and what else they thought meet for the benefit of the church If I were presently to leaue this life and should speak what I thought of the present forme of Ecclesiasticall gouernement at this time in the Church of England I would take it vppon my soule so farre as my iudgement serueth me that it is much more Apostolicall then any other forme of gouernment that I know in any other reformed Churche in the world As for these men that talke so much of the Apostles times they are indeede but brablers Their deuised regiment hath not any resemblaunce at all of that which was in the Apostles times They haue peruerted in deede the true meaning of certaine places both in the scriptures and in the auncient fathers for a shew to serue their turnes as after it shall appeare and other proofes from those times they haue not any But you will say this is denied It is so and of that else-where Howbeit in the meane while that cannot hinder my purpose to search out the pretended antiquity of it For it is confessed by them that the Apostles practised no other form of Ecclesiasticall gouernment in their times then Christ himselfe in his time did ordaine and assigne vnto them to be practised afterwards And what forme was that Forsooth they say it was the very same forme of Church regiment that was amongest the Iewes and that Christ when he said Dic Ecclesiae tell the Church did translate the same being called Sanedrim Councell or Senate into the Church to be the onely lawfull gouernment thereof vnto the end of the world So as here then we must fetch another friske about to search for the antiquity of the Iewish Senate Maister Caluin after hee had deuised the Geneua platforme and leapt ouer more then a thousand and fiue hundred yeares for the strengthning of it by those wordes of Christ tell the Church vppon occasion he further saith that as farre as his auncient records will serue him the foresaide Iewish Sanedrim was deuised by the Iewes after theyr returne out of captiuity which was vppon the pointe of fiue hundred yeares before Christ Scimus c. wee knowe that from the time that the Iewes returned out of the captiuitye of Babilon the censure of manners and of doctrine was committed to a chosen Counsell which they called Sanedrim in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hoc legitimum fuit Deoque probatum regimen c. This was a lawfull regiment and allowed of God And againe to cutte of all childishe cauilles how to shift this place as that Caluin saith not that it was then first instituted the sam e Caluin speaketh hereof more plainely where intreating of the seuenty Elders Numbers 2. that were chosen to assist Moyses he hath these wordes Certum quidem est c. it is very certaine that when the Iewes were returned from the captiuity of Babylon because it was not lawfull for them to create a king they did imitate this example in erecting of their Sanedrim Here is then the time as plainely set down again as needeth vz. after the Captiuity the cause why they ordained it vz. because they might haue no King and the patterne they did imitate vz. Moyses choosing of seuenty Elders to assist him in his gouernment But all this will not yet serue the turne For besides many other exceptions which are taken to Maister Caluins extraction of the Iewes Sanedrim out of Christs wordes tell the Church this is one that if they will needes inforce such a gouernment vppon the Church as was amongst the Iewes then they meane belike to wrest from the Prince the ciuile sword and to deale themselues in ciuile causes by their owne authority which they haue so much condemned in others though they meddle not otherwise with them then by the Princes appointment for that the Iewes-sayd gouernment or Sanedrim had to doe as well in ciuile causes as in any other that were Ecclesiastical Their aunswere to this exception is that in deede the gouernement they speake-of had to deale in Christs time with ciuile causes de facto but not de iure and that the Priests Iudaicis rebus confusis through their pride and ambition had crastily and corruptly procured such vnlawfull authority vnto themselues to the defacing and hinderaunce of the Lordes institution by Moyses at the first See how they carry vs from post to piller Maister Caluin is no body with Beza Now we must yet further backeward vz. from the restitution of the Iewes out of Babilon to Moyses his time almost a thousand and fiue hundred yeares Surely maister Caluin should haue been as well acquainted with Moyses doings as Beza is for that he hath written Commentaries vppon all his fiue Bookes which Beza hath not If Caluin in sifting the Text so painefully as he hath done cold finde no such matter in Moyses as Beza pretendeth it doth greatly preiudice in my opinion his lighter conceite But heare his wordes We must omnia reuocare ad institutionem Domini per Mosem loquentis vt quid iure factum sit intelligamus Call euery thing to the institution of the Lorde speaking by Moyses if we will haue a true vnderstanding of this gouernement and of the right authority thereof Very well Here then wee must haue a newe issue We must set vp as I said the Church-gouernement which the Apostles practised the Apostles practised
death were when they dyed in the same case that Crete was when Titus was sent thither and had therefore as much neede of a Titus as euer Crete had Furthermore who can bee accompted to be well in his wittes that will imagine that Christ should ordaine such an authoritie but for some threescore yeares especially the same causes continuing why it was first instituted that were before Nay I may boldly say that there was greater neede for the continuance of it afterward For the Apostles hauing so great power to worke myracles and by their praiers to procure from God such straunge executions of his pleasure vpon the contemptuous as did fall vpon Ananias and his wife and I doubt not but in like cases sometimes vpon some others their ruling and commaunding authoritie was not so necessarie then as it was afterwards when that power to worke myracles ceased But what should I neede to vse many wordes in a matter so apparant After the death of the apostles and of their assistants vz the Bishops placed by them as is mentioned the Ecclesiasticall hystories and the auncient fathers haue kept the register of their names that succeeded sundry of them and ruled the Churches after them as they before had ruled them Whereupon they were called from all antiquitie the Apostles and Apostolicall mens successors This inequalitie in the Ministery of the worde hath been approued and honoured by all the auncient fathers none excepted by all the generall Councelles that euer were held in Christendome and by all other men of learning that euer I heard of for many hundred yeares after the Apostles time sauing that Aerius the hereticke an ambitious person growing into great rage for that hee missed of a Bishopricke which he sued for first broached the opinion which is nowe so currant amongest his Schollers that there ought to bee no difference betweene a Bishoppe and a Priest Whereby he tooke vppon him to be equall with the Byshop that preuailed in the said suite against him chalenged to haue as great authoritie he being but a Priest as the other had being a Bishop In this latter age of the worlde when after a long darkenesse it pleased almightie God to restore vnto vs the light of his Gospell the chiefe instruments that God then vsed and adorned with most singular giftes for such a mightie worke were very farre from that conceite â—and rashe presumption which afterwardes possessed certaine persons of Aerius humour and yet doth boyle in many of theyr followers breastes It is true that many thinges are to bee found in their writings which at the first shew do make very greatly against Bishops But diuerse persons in these dayes not well considering the circumstances of those times doe greatly abuse the world in extending them further then they meant them It was farre from their intent that those thinges which they had written against Popish Bishops the ennemies of the Gospell should euer haue bene vrged against such Bishops as did willingly embrace it I will acquaint you a little with the proceedings of those times and then leaue this point to your wise consideration When the said learned men beganne to seeke the reformation of Religion in Germany it is not vnknowen vnto you into what subiection the Pope had brought all Christian Princes and states The Bishops as his vassals did then wholly depend vppon him They held their Bishoprickes by his authoritie and nothing coulde be done especially in Church matters but by the Pope and them So as when Luther and the rest beganne to disclose the enormities of Popery and desired some godly reformation of them you may easily conceiue the Pope and his Bishops being the chiefe maintainers of that corruption what little incouragement they found at their handes It is euident in their writinges howe earnestly and humbly at the first they dealth both with the Pope and with many other of the chiefest Bishops that they would be content and pleased to reforme such thinges as they found to bee amisse in the Church But all their indeuours to that purpose were in vain The Pope and his Clergy stood too much vpon their reputation If they should haue yealded they imagined the world would haue condemned them in that they had not in time of themselues preuented or redressed so notable abuses Whereupon Luther those learned men that ioyned with him were driuen to flie vnto the Ciuil magistrates to aduertise them of their dueties prouing it vnto them most plentifully out of the scriptures that in such an obstinate defection amongst the priests it appertained vnto theÌ„ euery one within their owne free states and territories to reforme religion themselues as the godly kings in the old testameÌ„t had done in the like cases And the rather to moue them thereunto they laboured by al the means they could to make the Popish Clergy most odious vnto them They inueighed against their pride against their superfluities against their tyranny and against their corruptions After much paines taking to these and the like effectes it pleased God to moue the hearts of many of the ciuile magistrates to thinke better of their duties plainly to perceiue how the Pope and his Bishops had formerly abused them The godly kings and magistrates in the scriptures wheÌ„ they reformed religion were euer most carefull that the liuinges appointed by God for the Priests might be throughly preserued If any by abuse had bin alienated they caused them to be restored againe And so I suppose the ciuile magistrates should haue done in this latter age But it hath faln out otherwise and all the other godly learned men in christendome do mislike it The perswasions to Princes that the Bishops and Abbots had too much was very plausible The free Cities notwithstanding their freedom in respect of the Emperor yet they were subiect all of them vnto Bishops were not discontented that so good an occasion was offred vnto theÌ„ to procure their greater liberty Luther and the rest of those learned men regarding nothing but that the light of the gospel might be restored were content to yeald much to beare against their minds with many vnequall conditions So as at the last by their wisdome and diligence they preuailed God moued the hearts of diuers ciuile magistrates to begin a reformation The Pope the Bishops and the chiefest of the Cleargy impugned it by all the meanes they could possibly Whereupon there being no other remedie their authoritie imployed to hinder those proceedinges was reiected and the most of their liuings which they had in any of those territories were seazed into the hands of the ciuile gouernors there vpon these many such like occasions great trobles did arise The bishops thoght theÌ„selues greatly iniuried Diuers great princes took their parts so did the Emperor They misliked the reformatioÌ„ which was proceeded in after that sort the authoritye of Bb s. was greatly insisted vpon Insomuch as notwithstaÌ„ding that the sayd learned
profitable duetiés doe appertaine but these our Elders therefore I thinke they are to bee referred to them I thinke Beholde hee is not certaine There are no other When shall that be proued by the coldnes of his conclusion considering the mans warm disposition it seemeth to me that if the same things might bee brought to passe without these Elders that they ascribe to their offices they would not much insist to vrge them any longer Which maketh mee to remember the notable Counsaile which Gualter gaue to the Bishops of England in a Letter of his to the Bishop of Ely Where prosecuting certaine points of more then popish tyranny practised by some of his neighbour Consistorians and commending those in Englande that did oppose themselues to the innouators here hee giueth this adui se. Ne tamen hi habeant plausibilem calumniandi occasionem c. But leaste your disturbers and vnquiete personnes may haue a plausible occasion of slaundering it is necessary to ordayne by the Magistrates authority a Christian meanes or Discipline for reformation of manners whereby the Ministers if theyr liues bee dissolute the too much libertye of great men and the corrupt behauiour of the common people may bee restrained Nam si id fiat non habebunt illi quod quiritentur nisi apertam Imperij affectationem profiteri velint For if that be done those persons shall haue no cause to complaine except they will publikely professe the affectation of the Empire It appeareth by diuers letters of Gualters that the present state of the Church of England is so depraued beyond the seas by these companions amongst vs as that it hath beene conceiued by godly men that wee had no lawes no good orders no discipline but that euery man might doe what he list which caused him to giue this aduise Whereas if he had knowne the trueth hee would rather haue vrged the Bishops to a more carefull regard then hetherto they haue had for the executinge of such lawes as wee haue made to our hands already then for the making any new For the best reformed churches in Europe may cast their caps as the saying is in this respect at England Which heapeth a greater iudgement vpon them that can not bee content to liue quietly vnder the present gouernement but do so frowardly so seditiously so fondly seek to disturbe the same and to bringe vnto vs they know not what a counterfeite Chimera without either top or toe proportionable to that which is pretended But this is by the way My purpose was to informe you that for the duties or offices before so largely ascribed vnto their Elders to bee seuerally by them executed in their particular tribes they haue no warrant in the woord of God but are driuen to silly shiftes their proculdubio their thinkinges and as you haue seene in effect to confesse as much So that by their owne diuinity those men that dare take vpon them such offices are in daunger to perish Now I will come to those offices which they affirme they are to execute with the Pastor and Doctor CHAP. XVI Of their Aldermens ioynt-office with the Ministers in the election abdication and ordination of Ministers and of their disagreement about the same THe Elders saith maister Cartwright are ioyntly to execute with the Ministers election or choyse and the abdication or putting out of Ecclesiasticall officers Tush why omitteth he ordinatioÌ„ Let it be added out of his demonstrator and others to go with the other for company Euery officer of the church saith the Demonst. he must be ordained by the laying on of the handes of the Eldership Indeed heere is now good fellowship The second is in excommunication of the stubborne or absolution of the repentant The third is the decision of all such matters as do rise in the church eyther touching corrupt manners or peruerse doctrine A man would haue thought these Elders had been sufficiently loaden before but here is a surcharge with a witnesse I trust their proofes for these thinges are very pregnant or else their presumption will be more then palpable You must not forget that whether these Rulers in Moses time did ioyne with the Priestes in the execution of any of their offices at all or not Beza though hee labour to seeke out their first institution and so to finde them when they were at the best yet he is driuen to his probabile est for that point and can go no further that way Besides will they say that in the old testament these their Elders had to doe in the electing or chosing of Priests so consequently in their deposition Lay it in them or in their voices to make new Leuites It is a mockery Besides what if their Elderships themselues haue no such authoritie shall it not in some sorte impaire the credite of their Aldermen Or if the Ministers the maisters of the game be cut short may not their attendantes be contented though they be somewhat abridged At Geneua in the election of their Ministers the councell of state hath in effect a negatiue voyce For after their Ministers vpon examination of the partie and hearing of him preach haue thought him a meete man for the ministery he must againe preach before some of the Councell and if the Councel like him not he cannot be chosen but is repelled And as the ciuile magistrate hath there his ordinary authoritie in the electing of ministers so hath he when any of them doe incurre the daunger of law the like authoritie to depose them againe from the Ministery This were a disgrace indeed if our graue Eldership should be thus ouerruled But for their Aldermen in all that action of both sortes vz election and abdication I doe not find them so much as once mentioned by those lawes except they be included in the name of ministers And then some of their ministers are dumbe dogges By the decrees of the nationall Synode at the Hage the election of ministers may not be by the Consistorie alone but the Deacons are also ioyned in commission with them and likewise the Classis or if there be none then two or three neighbour-ministers And for deposition of any from the ministerie that is Penes caetum Classicum belonging to the Classicall assembly It seemeth that the Elders being more in number in euerie Eldership then the ministers beganne to play false play and shewed some wilfulnesse so as nowe they must in this sorte be bridled with a pluralitie of more Priestly voyces By which meanes though they seeme to haue some interest in these affaires yet in effect it is none at all Furthermore it is ordered by the great Synode in Fraunce that a minister may not be chosen by one onely minister with his consistorie but by two or three ministers or if there be a colloquy by the collâ—quy with the consistorie or els by the prouinciall Synode if it may be But touching
it containeth in it not the iudgement onlie of any particular man but is the full resolution of Cartwright and all his crue here in England contained in a certaine booke of Discipline whereunto the chiefest of theÌ„ haue subscribed The presbyterye saith that booke is an assembly or senate of elders By the name of elders are ment ministers of the word and those that are properly called Elders They meane such as in their place I haue spoken of Here then you haue that Deacons are of the presbyterie and that they are not of the presbyterie Chuse which side you will belieue I thinke they are bewitched If I might aduise you beleiue them both alike But some will peraduenture saie that it maketh no great matter whether side hath the truth that the point betwixte them is of no importance and that I am too blame to make so much of nothing Whereunto I answere that if there bee anie who shall so conceaue he is not well acquainted with the depth of this matter For indeed it worketh a meruailous alteration in the Deacons office Admitte them to haue their places and voices in the Consistories and then their authoritie is growen to bee verie great Then they haue equall right with their pastors and Doctors to ordaine ministers by imposition of their handes Then the forgiuing and retaining of sinnes doth appertaine vnto theÌ„ Then they are become the Apostles successors and doe carry the keyes of the kingdome of heauen aswell as any of the rest For in Consistorio standum maioris partis sententiae In the Consistorye men must stande to the sentence of the greater part One mans voice there is as good as an others And so in all other matters that do belonge to the Consistorie and which are to be executed there iointly by them all together the Deacons beare swaie haue a stroake with the best of them Wheras on the otherside if they be excluded out of the Consistorie as Beza our men would haue theÌ„ then they haue nothing at all to doe with any of these matters but are restrained draweÌ„ into a more narrow coÌ„passe must content theÌ„selues to be either proctors of hospitals or else collectors distributers of the peoples deuotioÌ„ to the poore And therein also they are subiect to great controlment For as the lawes certaine grounds of Geneua affirme therfore also coÌ„monly so held elsewhere DiaconoruÌ„ administratio pastorum inspectioni est obnoxia the deacons administration is vnder the ouersight of the pastors It is true thâ—t Beza is pleased to allow the deacons a little more scope theÌ„ hitherto I haue mentioned And that is that in the celebratioÌ„ of the Lordes supper they may by their office carrie the cup to the communicants M. Cartwright goeth a little further and telleth vs also that they maie likewise distribute the bread In all reformed Churches almost saith he the Deacons do assist the minister in helping of him to distribute the cup in some places also the bread If none would be angrie with me I would gladlie aske this question vz. why the Deacons might not aswell helpe the minister to baptise and to distribute the worde as well as the Lordes supper But as I saide before of the Noblemen Elders so do I also of our worshipfull Deacons What a sight were it to see a Iustice of peace peraduenture in his veluet cloake his chaine of golde and such correspondent attire as is agreeable to that calling deliuering to the people that I maie speake of so holie a sacrament sacramentallie the most blessed bodie and blood of our Sauiour Christ And yet I allow the sight as reasonable as to see the proctor of a Spittlehouse executing of that charge Peraduenture it will here be said againe that if there be anie deformitie in the beholding of either of these sights it is not in them but in the beholders For they are ecclesiastical persons as soone as they are made Deacons And then why doth it not belong vnto them to deale in ecclesiasticall causes It is wel obiected That point indeed would not be omitted It is generallie agreed vpon amongst them I confes that their new found halfe-partie Deacons are ecclesiasticall persons For our Counter-poisoner saith That whosoeuer are called as you must vnderstande their Deacons are to beare office in the Church with due examination and triall and with the consent of those to whom it appertayneth and are with fasting and prayers or with prayers onely and with imposition of handes separated or put a part to that office they are al Ecclesiasticall persons and not lay men as they terme them Surely if our Noble men were once become Elders and our chiefest Gentlemen Deacons and so both the sorts of them Ecclesiasticall persons what a clergy should we haue in England Now there is no one calling in the whole common wealth that is growen to be more contemptible with many then the calling of Clergy men But that would soone be recouered when such men of estimation should bee in the account of Ecclesiasticall persons There was an old saying Soluat Ecclesiae let euery man pay to the Church Which now is altered and made aunswerable to the humor that now raigneth Soluat Ecclesia let the Church-men pay for it And indeede if we had suche Elders and Deacons to be of the number of vs that are Church-men and Ecclesiasticall persons we might surely pay wel for it At the least if their tenths subsidies should be in all respects rateable to ours And there were no reason that the Pastors and Doctors men so farre in degree aboue the Elders and Deacons should finde lesse fauour then their inferiours or be more deepely charged except their liuings were in true value according to their degrees But this would be the mischiefe of it that the Disciplinary platformres haue so far ouershot themselues already as certainely they haue marred all these their former speculations For they haue made the Deacons office but annual And I am perswaded that if our noble men worshipfull Gentlemen were but for one yeare to all respects become Ecclesiasticall persons they would hardly be drawen to continue in that calling the next yeare after It was neuer heard of in the Church of Christ for the space of a thousand and fiue hundred yeares that the deacons office should be annuall Imposition of handes by the Presbytery to an office for a yeare In what Apostle in what Euangelist in what History may we finde it A man shalbe an Ecclesiasticall person to day and to morrowe without any fault committed by him he shall become a lay man againe Maister Beza seeing the absurdity hereof doth indeuour to salue it as well as he can And wot yee howe Surely he saith in effect that few men will bee willing to â—arry long in that office and that therefore they are glad to haue them as they may and to frame their lawes accordingly But
man shall oppose against my exposition the authority of certayne of the aunciente fathers ad verbum dei prouoco I doe appeale to the word of God and I desire that the reasons which I haue broughte for it may be refelled How crancke hee is with the auncient fathers but not a word of M. Caluin And his reason as I take it was this bicause M. Caluins authority seruinge him much better for the credite of diuers Disciplinary positions then all the auncient fathers doe hee is more desirous for the continuance of his reputation then of all theirs A fourth matter there is also concerning these widdowes which is of the greatest importance and is yet no better agreed vpon then as you haue heard of the rest Be it that in the Apostles times there were such widdowes as they affecte yet the question is whether it be necessary that now there should bee such church-officers or new colleges of widdowes set vp in euery parish to looke to the poore that be sicke or not Some of their proctors doe wauer much in this point some are resolute for them some are as resolute to my vnderstanding against them First I pray you let M. Cartwright speak his pleasure Saint Paule reckoneth vp all the ordinary and perpetuall offices of the Church of the Doctor of the Pastor of the Deacon of the Elder and leaueth not out so much as the Widdow Againe Now there is not so great vse of these widdowes with vs c. Part of the necessity why they were first founded grew both by the multitude of strangers c. and by the great heat of those East countries wherevppon the washing and supplinge of feete was required Againe For asmuch as there are poore which are sicke in euery church I doe not see a better order can bee deuised c. if there can bee any widdowes gotten And againe I conclude that if such may bee gotten we ought to kepe that order in the church In good time It is a very substantiall conclusion And is he come to this If such can be gotten Hath God appointed such officers to be in euery parishe as cannot be gotten He told vs before in the behalfe of his Elders as you shall heare againe the thirde time that when men are called to a lawfull and profitable calling and especially to a publicke calling God doth powre his giftes on that person which is called so plentifully that he is as it were soddainely made a new man Whereuppon he inferreth that doe but once make choice of such Elders as he doth after and God will by and by make them fitte persons to execute their offices And may wee not then also affirme by the Analogy of the same doctrine that when God appointeth an ordinary and perpetuall office in his Church he doth also prouide either ordinarily or extraordinarily that there shall be alwaies some to vndertake it What prerogatiue haue his Elders aboue his Widdowes that God hauing appointed them both alike to beare a continuall office in his Church the one sort should be so miraculously prouided for euen vppon the soddaine and the other be suffered so farre to weare out as that they cannot bee gotten May it not be as truely saide sette vp the Eldership in euery parishe and God will prouide Widdowes as set it so vp in the most Clownish parish in England and God wil presently by inspiration make the poor husbandmen Carters Thatchers and Dawbers newly chosen to be Elders such meet and able men to gouern the church as the keies of the kingdom of Heauen may be safely committed into their hands Whether through these and such like other conceites or vpon what grounds els I know not but there is a second sorte of Disciplinary Widdowistes that are very farre growen past Cartwrights Ifs. One that writeth the defence of the godlye Ministers as hee intituleth them hath in that Treatise framed tenne argumentes of a wonderfull power as many haue supposed Wherein hee al'wayes comprehendeth the widdowes nameth them as necessary partes of the forme of that Church-gouernement which Christ and his Apostles haue appointed to be the ordinary and perpetuall platforme for the guiding and gouerninge of the Church vntill the ende of the world and maketh them by such force as his argumentes haue as necessary for the ordinary continuance of them as eyther Pastor Doctor Elders or men Deacons The learned discourser likewise agreeth with this Defence-maker where hauing spoken of Widdowes amongst the rest of their Church-officers and of all their offices he saith that beeing instituted by the spirite of God for the necessary vse of the Church which vse still continueth they ought also to be retayned amōngst vs. I may not here also omit the author of the Fruitfull sermon who expoūdeth so pretily the similitude which S. Paul vseth of that mysticall body whereof as I take it Christ is the head that he excludeth the whole Church from being any members of it except they bee eyther Pastors Doctors Elders Deacons or Widdowes A member saith he is such a parte of the bodye as hath receiued from the head some particular and necessary guifte to helpe and benefite the whole body and euery member therof And so he reckoneth vs his members as I haue sayd His meaning therein is this as I thinke that the rest of the body is but as it were a rude lumpe which is to bee framed and fashioned by the sayd members by euery one according to the office of it And after for the necessity vz. that euery one of his sayde members no moe no fewer should allwayes continue in the body he vseth these woordes If nature lacke any one member be it neuer so base if it bee but one toe shee is sorry shee is grieued she lamenteth shee iudgeth her selfe maimed yea shee would redeeme it with the perill of loosinge the rest such is her loue and desire to appear in her beauty perfection As though he should haue said that he and his fellowes are so far bewitched with the desire of their Eldershippes that rather then they will misse their Widdowes euen the meanest members of it they care not to hazard the being of the whole Church Vnto this fruictfull sermoner mentioned I will adde one of Fenners inuincible arguments because it enforceth the sayd similitude of the members of the body so syllogistically Whatsoeuer officers are ordinary mēbers of the Church are sette into the same of God for ordinary c perpetuall dueties with ordinary and perpetuall giftes wherein they are commanded to abide and wherewith the Church is commaunded to bee content Those are ordinary perpetuall and the best for no man may remoue the members of Christs body hauing ordinary giftes and actions for the perpetuall vse of the body But these of Doctors Pastors Elders Deacons Church-seruants are ordinarye members of the Church are set into the same of God for ordinary duties of teaching
is so auncient and that the originall thereof is not founde it should seeme to haue come from the Apostles They tearme the bringing-in of these authorities the mouing summoning of Hell they saye those tymes were not pure and virgine-like but departed from the Apostolicall simplicitie and doe treade them all vnder theyr feete with as great facilitie as may be Clement Anacletus and Anicetus are discharged for rogues and men branded in the foreheads Epiphanius wrote according to the time he liued in about 380. and though the name of Archbishop was in his time amongst Grecians yet it followeth not thereby that it was in vse amongst the Latines For Ambrose when Cartwright writte his first Booke and that they were not so throughlie angred as now they are hee onely gaue him this brande Ambrose holdeth other thinges corruptlye and then hee expoundeth him that of likelyhoode the Archbishop hee speaketh of was no other then he which for the time ruled the action when Bishops were ordayned and after the action ended hadde no more authoritie then the rest But since his choller increasing first hee beganne as he sayth in his second booke to suspect the place alledged out of his booke de dignitate Sacerdotum to be corrupted whereuppon within a short time after he grew to bee so hardened against him by finding some other things also in the saide booke which hee misliked that he hath bored him in the eare for a Roge likewise and sent him a rouing amongst his fellowes making the author of that booke a false Ambrose which is an vnlearned shift Sozomenus and Volusianus they writt not according to that which was but according to the custome and manner of the age wherein they wrotte As though he should saye they lied And as touching Augustine his sentence is approued say they vnaduisedly and that thereby a windowe is open to bring in all poperie Which is a lewde reproch For the antiquitie of the name of Archdeacon are alledged by D.W. the testimonies of Damasus Ierome Sixtus Sozemene Socrates To whose authorities their answere is two of them are counterfeits Damasus spake in the Dragons voice Amongst men the best ground beareth thistles those times were corrupt And yet Sixtus liued Bishop of Rome about the yeare 265. and was a godly martyr A number of authorities being cited which affirme that Timothie was Bishop of Ephesus as Eusebius Dorotheus Nicephorus Ierome Isidorus Dionysius Areopagita Epiphanius Ambrose Chrisostome Oecumenius Theodoret c. Their aunswere is They esteeme him a Bishop indeed and not an Euangelist But what then if they were for one a hundred they cannot counteruayle much lesse beare downe the testimony of the Apostle As though they euer purposed anye such matter But it goeth hard when for a matter of historie all these worthie Fathers can find no better credit If Timothy were Bishop of Ephesus I trust he will not say that the Apostle is ouerborne And that he was Bishop all these affirme it who liuing neerer to the Apostles times shold know aswell as Cartwright what was in fact then and being both as religious and as learned as he wold pretend to be could as easily haue espied what repugnāces there was betwixt that practise and the Apostles writings and would as earnestly haue reprooued it if there had beene any as hee Sainct Ciprian and Sainct Ierome are of opinion nay S. Ierome saith it was the opinion and the iudgement of the whole catholicke Church for so I interprete his words the whole worlde that for the auoyding of schismes and heresies it was necessarie that there should be one Bishop in euery Diocese as our learned writers haue thought of those places writing against the Papists to gouerne and ouer-rule the rest of the Priestes within their charge least otherwise as by experience it was found amongst the Corinthians there would be in short time as many schismes altars as there were priests and heades and that euery one might not carry his schollers after him and so following their own fancies teare in pieces the Church of Christ. With them in like manner all the godly generall Councels since that time haue agreed finding daily new mischiefs to arise which were not before hatched haue for the meeting with them increased accordinglye the authoritie of Bishops and so kept the church in good order at the least for aboue fiue hundred yeares Since which time although the Pope with extreme iniurie to all other Bishops hath lifted himselfe by a false title aboue not only thē but aboue al kings Emperors in like manner neuer ceasing till he hath set himselfe in the seate of the beast yet with many other points of Christianitie this also hath beene preserued that the gouernment of the church by Bishops in euery Kingdome prouince and Dioces is Apostolical and not only in that respect to be for euer continued but necessary also in regarde of the causes before mentioned But now all this is reckoned nothing There are some two or three that do take vpon them to prooue forsooth that all the said Fathers of the primatiue Church all Councells and all whosoeuer that haue liked that ordinaunce haue been deceaued in their iudgements in that they haue accounted the institution of Bishops their gouernment to be a means for the auoiding of schismes or for the maintenaunce of the peace of the Church But how they prooue it I will not stand now vppon that poynt It is forsooth in a worde by discourse of reason whereof Cartwright braggeth and for that as they saie there were great controuersies in the church notwithstanding their institution c. And now it is their Eldership must weare the Crowne and reforme all that is amisse Well what wee are to thinke of their Elderships we partly haue seene and yet shall heare more before I haue done In the meane time it is euident how they oppose their owne iudgement to all the world since Christs time Cyrillus for calling the Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 high priest as Ignatius hadde done in effect before the prince or chiefe of priests and Tertullian also Episcopus est summus Sacerdos the Bishop is the high priest is wonderfully censured Hee that bringeth in a priest into the church saith Cartwright goeth about to burye our Sauiour Christ. And as for him that bringeth in an high priest into the church hee goeth about to put our Sauiour Christ out of his office This that he affirmeth here toucheth not only Cyrill but the most I am sure of all the auncient Fathers who were as carefull for the office and prerogatiue of Christ and haue written as manye notable woorkes against such Hereticks as haue impugned his Soueraigntie in any respect as euer he or his Sectaries haue written or I thinke will doe But his breath maye well blast himselfe they I doubt not are in heauen and
against him doth traÌ„slate for dioces parish as in this place he doth it with a most brasen forehead The councell of Nice of Antioch of Carthage and of Sardis directly prouing that Bishops only had authority to excommunicate Cartwright giueth no other answere vnto them but this that Maister Caluin saith how Bishops in excommunicating after that manner dealt therein ambitiously Athanasius saith that Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria had the Churches of Pentapolis committed to his care Cartwright saith that care importeth not iurisdiction and so as to the Councell of Nice and of Antioch Cyprian saith the cause of heresies and schismes is this that Priests wil not obey their BB. Cartwright that answereth that is iu effect if his vnpreaching Aldermen will not obay their Pastors Epiphanius speaking of one Peter a Bishop of Alexandria saith this is the custome that the Bishop of Alexandria should haue the Ecclesiastiasticall gouernment of all Egipt Thebais Mariota Libia Ammonica Mariotes Pentapolis Whereupon Cartwright gloseth thus that is besides his own church he procured the good of other churches rouÌ„d about him Again Epiphanius of one Miletus an Archbishop that he was subiect or vnder the said Peter Archbishop of Alexandria Cartwright saith that euery Bishop of name was called an Archbishop And where it is said Miletus was vnder Peter that is vnder him in honour and not subiect vnto him saith Cartwright contrary to the manifest words and meaning of the author Theodoret Bishop of Cyprus saith of himself that he had the gouernment ouer 800. Churches Cartwright saith in effect that he lied that his words coÌ„cerning his care in gouerning those churches being spoken of himselfe want not suspition and that hee was condemned for writing against Cirill neuer mentioning how hee was wrongfully condemned in his absence and afterward restored I omit a number of their other shifts and presumptuous dealings with the fathers As of Epiphanius For him it is knowen of what authority he is c. it were better to laie his words against Aerius vpon some counterfaite and false Epiphanius to spare his credit Likewise of Ambrose Many errors corrupt expositions are found in his works in his exposition vpon the place to the Philippians a child may see how violently he forceth the Text. And also their reiecting of Councels by heaps c. wher they haue no coulor how they may peruert them But yet I may not let this escape my fingars that Cartwright whether for his owne glory or else that God would haue him to be the instrument of his owne shame is well content rather then he will want testimonies to encounter with the authority of Bishops to sort both himselfe all his followers in the number of those that euer since the Apostles times haue repined at that authority thereupon haue beene ouerruled by all the auncient Fâ—thers and Councels as busie bodies Schismaticks You shall heare his wordes and then iudge whether I haue mistaken them To what ende both in the Nicene councell and in many other holden more then two hundred yeares after are there found so manie canons for the acknowledging of the authority of one Metropolitane in euery Province for the honor which he should haue the name he should be called by for the place where hee should sit at their meetings for the bounds of their circuit Doe not all these declare that there were some which were ennemies to that authoritye c. To this I might adde his defence to Aerius and his confutation of Epiphanius not without some discredit to Sainct Augustine Lastlie whatsoeuer is saide or may be said hereafter out of all the auncient Fathers and Histories and out of all the generall Councels concerning the saide gouernment of the Church by Bishops Archbishops and Patriarches of their institution authority title circuites and prerogatiues Cartwright doth take vpon him most boldlie most falsly to prescribe vnto vs certain rules how we must vnderstaÌ„d them or otherwise there is not one of them that will be allowed of I blush in his behalfe I assure you to sette it downe and am ashamed that anie man bearing the name of a Christian shoulde deale so like an Impostor But this it is That it maye appeare saith he what the Fathers and Councelles doe mean when they giue more to the Bishop of anye one churche then to the Elder of the same church and that no man bee deceaued by the name of Gouernour or ruler ouer the rest to fancy any such authority and domination or Lordship as wee see vsed in our church it is to bee vnderstoode that amongest the Pastors Elders and Deacons of euery particular church and in the meetings and companies of the Ministers or Elders of diuerse churches there was one chosen by the voyces suffrages of them al or the most part which did propound the matters that were to be handled whether they were difficulties to be soluted or punishments censures to be decreed vppon those that had faulted or whether there were elections to be made or what other matter so euer occasion was giuen to intreate off the which also gathered the voyces reasons of those which had interest to speake in such causes which also did pronounce according to the number of the voyces which were giuen which was also the mouth of the rest to admonish or to comfort or to rebuke sharply such as were to receaue admonishment consolation or rebuke which in a worde did moderate that whole action which was done for that time they were assembled c. And must we thus vnderstande the Fathers generall Councels Hee might as truely saie that the present forme of our ecclesiasticall gouernment in England vnder her maiestie by Archbishops and Bishops is euen the very same maÌ„ner of church-gouernment that he his followers looke for the right platform of those Elderships which haue so mightely bewitched them Men that once haue passed the limits of modestie may afterwards saie write what they list The ancient Fathers haue deserued farre otherwise of the Church of Christ then that for the maintenaunce of such a forgery as the pretended form of discipline is they shold be vsed after any such manner I would wish all men that are of this proud presumptuous humor to peruse the books which S Augustine hath written against Iulianus the Pelagian There they shall find the very same contemptuous spirit in Iulianus that raigneth in theÌ„selues exalteth it selfe so greatly against the godly learned fathers as also on the other side they shall there see the fruites of Gods spirit vz. in what reuerend account verie high estimation S. Augustine had such worthy holy men by name as here you haue heard very contumeliously disgraced childishly neglected disdaynfully contemned and most proudlie reiected Ita intellexit Ambrosius ita Cyprianus ita Gregorius c. So Ambrose vnderstood such a place of the
scriptures So Cyprian so Gregory c. did carry some weight in S. Augustines opinion Those things which diuerse notable men haue alledged out of the auncient Fathers for the iustification of the present ecclesiasticall gouernment in the church of England ought not so lightly to bee regarded with euery princox What the Fathers haue written that agreeth not with our Phantasticall giddye headed fellowes pleasures they write it not of parciality either to grieue them or to gratifie vs but as trueth led theÌ„ Quod inuenerunt in ecclesia teneruÌ„t quod didiceruÌ„t docueruÌ„t quod a patribus acceperunt hoc filiis tradideruÌ„t that which they found in the church saith Augustine they held that which they had learned they taught that which they had receaued of theyr fathers they deliuered to theyr children Though Cartwright his companie do carrie so base a conceit of those times wherein the auncient fathers liued yet the Fathers themselues did not so thinke of theÌ„ Iulianus the heriticke did speake as it seemeth insuch a scornfull sorte of theÌ„ as our Sectaries do But S. Augustine laieth it to his reproch as an apparant argument of his great folly presumptioÌ„ thinking it a most absurd point for him so to vse them Vsque adeò permiscuit imis summa longus dies c. hath time so confounded all things saith Augustine is darknes growen to bee such light and is light it selfe turned into such darknes vt videant Pelagius Celestinus Iulianus et caeci sunt Hilarius Cpyrianus Ambrosius that Pelagius Celestinâ—s and Iulianus can see and Hilary Cyprian and Ambrose are become blind And surely I do not perceaue why I may not without offence applie the same wordes to those men in these daies which treade in the saide fellowes steppes concerning this their contempt pride Were there neuer learned men before you were taught the principles of the Geneua discipline was wisdom dead till you were borne Doe you know what was in the Apostles times better then they did who succeeded the Apostles were the auncient Fathers able to defende the greatest misteries of our saluation against so many pestilent heretiques and were they ignorant in the matters of the externall gouernment of the church Knew they the distinction of the three persons in the blessed Trinitie could they not find what difference Christ allowed off to be continued in his Church betwixt a Bishop and a priest Is the darknes which pride carieth with it groweÌ„ to be so light and is the light that shewed it selfe so many waies in the ancient fathers as in their singular learning great humilitie become such darknes that Cartwright Trauerse Fenner and such like but the shadows of learned men in respect should be thought so clearly sighted shall Ireneus Tertullian Cyprian Ambrose Hierome Chrysostome Augustine Gregory Hilarye and all the rest of those worthie men be reckoned blind Surely he is a bussard that thinketh so And therefore I will coÌ„clude this chapter with another saying of S. Augustines against such busie innouators as you are oportet vt populi christiani vestris prophanis nouitatibus anteponant c. It is meet that all christian people should preferre the auncient fathers before your nouelties eisque potius adherere quà m vobis rather sticke fast to their iudgements then to runne after your phansies CHAP. XXVIII Theyr dealing with all the new writers and many reformed churches when they make against them THis is a grounde layde downe by Cartwright that few men that are of any stayde or sounder iudgement in the scriptures and haue seene or read of the gouernment and order of other churches are against them in such matters as they haue broched vnto vs. And agreablie to this ground his answeres are framed when any thing is vrged against him out of anie of the new writers except Caluin and BeZa If either of them do happen to crosse him it is strange to see how he doubleth shifteth As for any other they are but a puffe with him hee careth not greatly howe hee handleth them Pellicane Bucer Bullinger Illyricus and Musculus affirming with all the auncient Fathers that Timothye was Bishop of Ephesus what then sayth Cartwright If they were for one a hundred they could not beare downe the Apostle As though they hadde euer ment it Luther expoundinge a place of Zacharie contrarie to his liking his exposition sayth Cartwright is out of season Musculus affirmeth that the places 20. of Sainct Mathew 10. of sainct Marke and 22. of sainct Luke vos autem non sic doe not condemne Superioritie but an ambitious desire and tyrannicall vsage of it but Caluin as learned as hee sayth Cartwright is of my iudgement Bucer holdeth that the sayde 20. of Mathew doth propound a generall rule to all magistrats and christians Where Cartwrights extenuating the authoritie of man braueth out Bucer with this that his iudgment hath counterpoise of other as learned Whereas Peter Martyr Bullinger and Gualter do bring diuerse reasons for the lawfull vse of the surplise and such other apparrell as is appointed with vs for Ministers Cartwright is so farre from being moued with their authoritie as that he aduentureth to confute their said reasons after his manner very sophistically affirming in effect but falsely that either they vnderstoode not auncient fathers alleadged by them for that purpose or that they peruerted their meaning Bishop Ridly and Maister Bucer approouing that where there are no preachers there should bee godly learned homilies read in those Churches Cartwright thus dismisseth Bishop Ridley being a partie in this cause hee ought to be no witnesse And for Maister Bucers wordes he saith they are not to be weighed insinuating that his booke concerning his iudgement in king Edwardes daies vppon the communion booke is counterfeited Againe of maister Bucer for his allowing of priuate baptisme and of the signe of the Crosse likewise of the ring in marriage and that the parties married should receiue the communion he saith Bucer hath other grosse absurdities to this authoritie I could oppose other men of as great authoritie sometimes Homer sleepeth his reasons are verie ridiculous verie slender and colde and sauour not of the learning and sharpnesse of the iudgement of maister Bucer Maister Fox in like sorte setting downe his full approbation of the present state ecclesiasticall that Archbishops should be in degree aboue Bishops and Bishops in degree aboue other Ministers and relying for this his iudgement partly vpon the scriptures and partly vppon the primatiue Church and concluding that this is to keepe an order duely and truely in the Church according to the true nature and definition of order by the authoritie of Augustine he is I say thus censured Maister Fox writing a storie doth take greater paine and looketh more diligently to declare what is done and in what time and by whome then howe iustly or vniustly how
conueniently or inconueniently it is done c. Bishop Iewell a man to bee accompted of as his name doth importe and so esteemed not onely heere in England but with all the learned men beyond the seas that euer knewe him or sawe his writinges vppon occasion offered to shewe his opinion concerning one of Cartwrightes propositions vz that both the names and the offices of Archbishops and Archdeacons are to be abolished he presumed forsooth vpon the base authoritie of all antiquitie the auncient fathers the generall Councels and ecclesiasticall histories to call it in the margent of his aunswere nouitiorum assertio a newe assertion or an assertion of yonglinges and in the end after hee hath briefly surueied the strength of Cartwrightes great bulwarke hee concludeth in this sort As for these reasons in my iudgement they are not made to builde vp and they are too weake to pull downe c. stultitia nata est in corde pueri virga disciplinae fugabit eam It is but wantonnesse correction will helpe it Whereupon incommeth Cartwright as hote as a toste and skorning ye may be sure to haue such a mayne Article of the new beliefe to be tearmed nouitiorum assertio hee calleth these wordes biting and sharpe and for his further entrance to confute the Bishops reasons why hee misliked the sayd proposition he nayleth as it were vpon his toombe this shamefull and moste slaunderous inscription Bishop Iewell calleth the doctrine of the Gospell wantonnesse Marke the mans forehead howe it is hardened The Papist that saide hee recanted all his writinges against the Pope was not more impudent Hee calleth their riotous opening of their mouthes against those thinges they either knowe not or which otherwise they depraue moste maliciously agaynst their own consciences as it is to be feared hee calleth I say these and suche like dealinges wantonnesse and not the doctrine of the Gospell Generally thus he writeth of those most learned men and manie of them godly Martirs who were the chiefe penners and approouers of the communion booke in king Edwardes time and offered to defend euerie point of it in Queene Maryes dayes against all the Papistes liuing their knowledge saith Cartwright was in part and although they brought manie thinges to our light yet they being sent out in the morning or euer the sonne of the Gospell was risen so high might ouersee manie thinges which those that are not so sharpe of sight as they were may see for because that which they want in the sharpenesse of sight they haue by the benefite and clearenesse of the sunne and the light Excellent childe of light whose knowledge is not in part And oh worthie Discipline of the Consistorian Synagogues howe clearely shee carrieth all her implementes with her Let a man cast downe his head but for a day like a bulrush and giue a grone or two in the behalfe of that kingdome and by and by he is snatched vp aboue the man in the moone and may passe amongest them for an illuminated Elder But it would bee knowen what mysteries haue beene reuealed eyther by him or anie of his that were vnknowen to those blessed men Surely I know of none except it bee that their Elderships are newly thrust into their Consistoriall beliefe A point I confesse whereof those godly men were ignoraunt Otherwise they were well inough acquainted with these quarrels They had weighed them and finding them too light reiected them They had skill to discerne of such vnbrideled spirites and in their dayes greatly pittied them In a worde to speake my opinion they were in deede golde if they be compared to Cartwright and suche lyke drosse who haue little in them more then ordinarie men but onely paynted colours and Sophisticall shewes Many other particulars of such their dealinges with the newe writers might bee layd downe before you But these to my purpose are I knowe sufficient and therefore I will come to their boldnesse and presumption against not this man or that man but euen whole reformed Churches And although I finde some more temperate and modest heerein then others yet when the freeholde of their Elderships is touched they are all like to themselues The Geneuians in their Annotations vppon their harmony of confessions are well content that euery Church shall vse their libertie as they shall thinke it most expedient in these pointes following vz the reading of the Epistles and Gospels vppon sondayes and holy dayes so as other partes of the Scriptures doe not thereby growe into contempt Kneeling at the communion the vse of all such ordinarie ceremonies at the celebration of the Communion as nowe are vsed among the Lutherans Copes singing Organs c. and were vsed before by the papistes at their masses the dispensation of the communion to those that be sicke at home in their houses Ember dayes and holy dayes consecrated to the godly memorye of the saintes The singinge of Christian hymnes and songes vppon the saide holy dayes made to set out the glory of god in respecte of the great good workes it pleased him to worke by them The vse of funerall sermons and the imposition of handes vppon children that canne say their Catechisme which wee call Confirmation In all these things I say they leaue euery Church to their liberty so as other churches that vse them not bee not thereby praeiudiced But when any confession doth approoue the calling of Bishops yealding vnto them all lawfull obedience if they will not force vppon men their vngodly traditions as of chastitie c. or when their Aldermen or Consistories are impeached then they looke about them it is a nayle in a wound they censure they reiecte they wrest and peruert euery thinge at their pleasure as partly I haue shewed in the ende of the Chapter and as any man may further see that will take the paines to viewe those obseruations Which manner and cariage of themselues I perswade my selfe no wise man will like of For besides their corrupt dealinge it is too Pope-like to take so much vppon them as there they doe What a vanity is this to say of other Churches wee allowe this and that if it bee thus and thus vnderstoode otherwise wee cannot like of it wee thinke it vnlawfull wee cannot disgest it And yet I cannot blame them so much as I doe our owne domesticall counterfeites They are in possession of a gouernement and woulde bee therefore loth to loose it They got it hardly and doe feare euery thinge that maketh against it I am perswaded if they might bee sure to keepe it still they would be content to graunt of their owne goodnesse great liberty to all Churches in their owne matters Whereas our make-bates what furious and outragious courses haue they taken against the Church of England for the vse of those thinges which nowe the Geneuians allowe of And besides concerning their pretended discipline they will needes hold it
Pope to him-selfe But I will leaue these immodrate and forraine dotages specifie vnto you some of our domesticall I confesse to you saith the displayer of men in their colloures I reuerence D. Fulke and no disparagement vnto any I thinke him vniuersally as well learned as euer Caluin or Beza was And in an other place Put it to the censure of D. Fulke D. Whittakers Maister Cartwright c. Men I hope as well able to iudge as all the L. Bishops in christendome Againe No question but Caluin and Beza are wide sometimes Also afterwarde The verie ornaments of your vniuersitie indeede whose verie names and liues doe carry with them aestimation to bee reuerenced D. Fulke D. Goade D. Whittakars to these men I appeale And furthermore If wee should once or twise and vse it not set D. Fulkes learned iudgement against the bare authoritie of Caluin and Beza in this case I doe not see that it be any great preiudice or disparagement vnto any Diuerse other such like speeches there are in that booke whereby a man may see how the brethren are affected vnto their parte-takers Although he nameth some who will neuer thanke him for it and I supose hee hath done them great iniurie in making them to seeme the patrones of such fancies as there are mainetained I made mention before of Cartwrights place amongst certaine disciplinary worthies But my meaninge is not so to passe him ouer whom all the rest of our men doe soe admire His authoritie in deede is very great as being in effecte the Patriarche of them all Those thinges that he writeth are almost oracles Happye is the brother that canne come in his companie If hee bee in prison prayers are made for his deliueraunce if hee bee deliuered great thankes are publickely giuen vnto god for the same If hee commaund the rest obey if hee shall relent I thinke they will all relent When great matters are to bee handled he must needs be one in euery place Couentry Cambrdige London c. And vppon any new accidents the occurrents are caried to him as to their chiefest counsaylor Salute our most reuerent brother maister Cartwright for whome prayers are made with vs. As soone as I knowe of maister Cartwrightes deliuery I sent for maister Trauers and we had psalmes of thankesgiuing prayers to the same purpose and a sermon his text being the 20 of Ieremie 10.11.12.13.14 verses I percciue by those imperfect writinges of maister Cartwrightes and others that the pointes of reformation are at large and particularly debated Wee want bookes whereby wee may come to the knowledge of the truth I meane T. C. bookes The forme of gouernment set down by T. C. is commanded by god I thanke god I haue satisfied in part my longing with conference with M. Cartwright of whom I thinke as she did of Solomon I would gladly knowe when I might come from Oxford to London to see T.C. Maister Snape vpon one of his examinations before her Maiesties Commissioners in causes ecclesiastical findinge some matters to haue bene further disclosed then he looked for presently directed his letters thereof into the countrey mouing his frend that maister Cartwright might be aduertised It were good saith he you sent to T.C. with speed I would gladly heare whether T. C. did councell you or demaund councell of you I wish the matter maye bee well and closly handled For I heare some whispering allready yet among them that fauour the cause that he hath councelled the brethren rather to vse those corruptions then to leaue their charges I wish and hope it be not so not onely least men should iudge the man to be inconstant but especially for that these times be such that in them such yealding will doe no good Maister D. Bridges hauing occasion in his writinges to name Maister Cartwright did forget to carry this word M. vnder his girdle but called him plainly Cartwright Wherat see how maister Trauerse repineth Wee acknowledge and reuerence maister Cartwright as his rare guiftes of knowledge zeale his learned works constant suffering in this cause and at this time his continuall trauell in preaching the Gospell doe worthely deserue for which cause hee was worthy other respect then the replier here doth giue him If hee would needes set downe his name hee shoulde haue considered the example of the Apostle who yet seldome or neuer mentioneth any minister of the Gospell by name yea scarse anye professor without some good marke of the grace of god in them But this and a great deale more both hee and whosoeuer shall serue god as they ought in this cause of the further reformation of the Church must account to endure of them that oppose themselues to this most necessary seruice I had lately some speach with Maister Cartwright concerning our next meeting who aduised me to put you in mind of some thinges c. Hee saith that at your late being together at Wroxall you determined our nexte meetinge to bee at Warwicke at the quarter Sessions that twesday for the humbling of our selues and the day following to consult of other matters His request is that you will giue notice thereof vnto the brethren of our conference and also that by your meanes there may bee some of vs appointed to exercise in priuate that day If this his request connot conueniently bee performed then I take it necessary thot you write so with some speede to M. Cartwright that hee may prouide a remedie else where M. May and I ridde with M. Cartwright to M. Throgmortons two miles out of Warwicke where hee preached more he sayde then euer he did in his life before c. On tuesday M. Cartwright kept M. Fens lecture text psalme 122. 4. vnto the ende takinge thrones as Tremellius doth and vrginge the discipline the want wherof hee affirmed to bee the cause that some friendes forsooke our church and enemies as Papistes would not come neere her I pray you remember to reserue for mee one of the rare birds bookes his name may bee right Cartwright God bee praised though hee cannot speake vnto vs yet accordinge to his name hee doth write He is a worthy wight Sicut discipuli olim presto habuerunt ipsum Dominum ita magistrum Cartwrightum dominum meum habeo presentem as the disciples in times past had the Lord himselfe amongst them so I haue M. Cartwright my Lord in presence with me And thus hetherto of these poore simple but yet most palpable parasites The disciplinarie crue a company of Apostles and Cartwright their Christe Christe amongste his Apostles and Cartwright amongst his Disciples If Cartwright and such other guides were not supposed by their followers to bee very notable Thrasoes is it possible that any man of common sence would shewe themselues to bee such flattering Gnathoes And these are the menne for-sooth that in all their
at another time and when they haue forgotten themselues they will of purpose I feare it to abuse the worlde stand very much vppon the auncient fathers and bragge of their authoritie exceedingly As Cartwright doth in these words most vntruly We propound nothing saith he that the scriptures doe not teach the writers both olde and newe for the most part affirme and the examples of the primitiue Churches confirme Did euer any manne regard Cartwrightes credite who considering what hath beene noted out of his bookes in this whole processe doeth not pittie him with all his harte to heare him so farre to forget himselfe Hee is a manne of good learning which maketh mee to woonder at him It is surely great pittie that euer hee was so maried vnto his Eldershippe For it hath vtterly ouerthrowne all the good partes that bee in him The best lawyer that is when hee giueth himselfe to shiftes and to feed his clyentes with quirkes refusing not to brabble in anye cause be it neuer so false he looseth his estimation and with the grauer sort is little regarded Howe truely Maister Cartwright affirmeth that he and his fellows do propound nothing but that the old writers for the most parte doe affirme and the examples of the primitiue church confirme I trust it hath in part already appeared vnto you in sundry places but especially in the 5. as I saide and in the 27. Chapters I haue heard some Councellers at lawe vse the verye like course of speach when notwithstanding the cause hath falne out most directly against them yet they haue cried out Oh my Lord wee haue these and these olde euidences to shewe such and such depositions doe make for vs verye manifestly wee haue yet many witnesses to bee examined and thus they will proceed with many cracking wordes as though there had beene nothing which had made against them Is Cartwright able trowe you to finde his Parish Bishops and his counterfeit Lay-Elders which two pointes are in effecte all in all with him in the auncient fathers and primitiue Church Hee maye say as truely that the Sonne shines at midnight But yet hee sayth that Ignatius and Cyprians Bishops were but as our pastors or parsons arein euery parish For his vnministering Elders hee alledgeth the same Ignatius and Cyprian and for a surcharge hee bringeth in also Tertullian Hierome Possidonius and Socrates where they make mention of priests I was once purposed to haue set downe the places themselues which they so violently peruerte to bolster out such theyr apparaunt falshood and to haue aunswered them But then I remembred howe effectually that had beene done allready by diuers learned and woorthie menne and of late more fully and largely by two especiall persons whose books one of them is in printing and the other presently comming to the presse and therevpon I altered my mind in that point And yet something thereof agreeably to the course which hetherto I haue obserued that may peraduenture amaze some of them Vppon some occasion falling out maister Cartwright affirmeth that if the now Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury had read the ecclesiasticall stories hee shoulde haue founde easiely the Eldership most florishing in Constantines time vz. in hauing then such Bishops and Elders as hee fancieth to himselfe For he must bee so vnderstood To whome replie being made that he should bring but one ecclesiasticall historie that affirmed so much after some three or fower yeares hee brought two vz. the historie of Magdeburge and Eusebius His testimony out of the first he setteth down in these words The centuries must needes haue told him that the same orders and functions of the church were in that time which were before And what would he inferre hereof Surely if hemeane honestly and doe not dally with the word before refering it further then the Centuries meant it which was but to the age that succeeded the Apostles he could not haue directed a man to any history now extant that doth more directly confound his assertion For there the authors of that history doe most plainely affirme that by and by after the Apostles death necessitas coegit personarum gradus aliquos constituere et conseruare necessity compelled the fathers then liuing to ordaine certaine degrees of persons in the church and to conserue them This is most directly against Cartwrights assertion although for mine own part to note it by the way I thinke the Apostles knowing the necessitie mentioned had taken that order before But to follow the said historie There were three degrees then ordained say the said authors vz. Episcopatus presbyterium Diaconatus the degree of Bishops of priesthood and of Deaconship For the proofe whereof they cite Ignatius Eusebius Theodoret c. and the very place of S. Ierome where he sheweth how for auoiding of schisme one was chosen amongst the ministers to haue preheminence ouer the rest and to whome the name of Bishop was peculiarly then attributed And as concerning the priests or Elders they doe shew it out of Eusebius Nicephorus Irenaeus Iustine c. that their office was to preach the Gospell and to administer the sacraments c. The Centuries thus we see will not serue M. Cartwrights turne to the iustifying of the florishing estate of his Eldership in Constantines daies I wil therfore come vnto his sec̄od authority which he bringeth out of Eusebius It is manifest saith he that the churches were gouerned vnder Constantine by Bishops Elders and Deacons by that which is recited of an infinit number of Elders and Deacons which came to the Councel of Nice with the 250. Bishops It is manifest indeede And it is also as manifeste that there were at that time both Archbishops and Patriarches But there were at that Councel both Bishops Elders and Deacons And what then I know that many men haue wrested many places directly contrarie to the authors meaninge but I doe not remember anie one place within the compasse of my small readinge that is more grosly peruerted then this place is For M. Cartwright running still his old biace would haue men to thinke that by Bishops Eusebius meant so many parishe-ministers and by priests or Elders his said counterfaite Aldermen And his authoritie is so greate amongest his sectaries who professe their Gleaninge after him that what-so-euer he bringeth they take it vpon his credit and so runne on with a conceite that not onely all other authorities brought by him out of the auntient Fathers mentioned are truely by him expounded and applyed but that also euen this place of Eusebius is to bee vnderstood as here he woulde haue it Wherein surely they are much to blame to depend so much vpon any mans credit If they them-selues had euer read either the Fathers or the ecclesiasticall histories they coulde neuer possibly haue beene miscarried so palpably A frinde of mine hauinge some talke not many yeares since with Maister Cartwright about this place of Eusebius
alledged and expounded by him as you haue heard vrged him verie earnestly that he woulde indeede tell him truely whether hee beeinge a man of learninge and so coulde not bee ignorant of Eusebius meaninge did not sinne euen against his owne conscience when he cited that place to such an ende and purpose as hee had done His aunswere was that hee did not and that hee was still of the same minde therein that hee was before Why Sir replyed my friende As Eusebius sayeth that there were an infinit number of Elders and Deacons which came to the Councell of Nice with the 250 Bishops So it is reported by Socrates that in the sayde Councell it had beene decreed by the Bishops c. but for Paphnutius that Bishops Elders Deacons shoulde haue companied no more with their wiues Quas cum erant laiui in matrimonium duxissent which they had married when they were lay-menne And now must wee expound Socrates in this place as you doe expounde Eusebius doth Socrates meane by priestes there your manner of lay Elders was the Councell bent to haue debarred such men from their wiues Speake your conscience truely I pray you Maister Cartwright aunswered againe that hee verily thought in his conscience that by priestes there Socrates vnderstood the saide Elders and that the Councell meant to haue seperated them from their wiues And this reason was because within a while after there was some question whether Subdeacons might marrie My sayde friende replied againe that hee was verie sory to heare his aunswere and that he verily thought the like interpretation of Socrates wordes was neuer made before nor would euer be made hee hoped by anie after him And so they parted Afterwardes my sayde friend findinge that when hee told some persons of great place how M. Cartwright did expounde the said words of Socrates they would hardly beleeue him but supposed rather that he had mistaken them did write a letter vnto him desiringe him most earnestly that if he c̄otinued in the same mind he left him he would be content to returne vnto him in writing some further reasons thereof then formerly he made at his being with him Maister Cartvvright hereupon writ backe againe vnto my friend I haue his letter in my custodie excusing himselfe that through want of bookes he could not satisfie his expectation so fully as he would But for the point I speake of thus he writ Touching that it seemeth strange vnto you that the gouerning elders should haue bene in danger to haue bene forbidden mariage in the councell of Neece I thought I had satisfied you in alleaging that not long after there vvas great hold amongst the councels vvhether Deacons yea Subdeacons should be married So as now that which before stood only vpon the credit of the relator is readie to be shewed vnder maister Cartvvrights hand as it hath alreadie bene to diuers of this disciplinarie disposition who as I haue bene informed and partly do know all of them haue vtterly signified their great dislike of that point And yet either he must of necessitie so interpret Socrates or els be driuen to giue ouer Eusebius and so both he and all his Aldermen to take their leaue of the Ecclesiasticall histories and bid them adieu But yet there is another thing in maister Cartvvrights sayd letter which is very fit for you to vnderstand that so you may see how he foileth himselfe One thing sayth hee vnto my sayd friend in your letter I thinke you mistake me in that you esteeme that I should hold a bishop and a minister of the vvord all one in the times of the Nicene councell For notvvithstanding that I hold that in the Apostles time and vvith S. Paule it is all one to be a bishop and to be a minister of the vvord yet it vvere a foule ignorance in me if I should not haue knovvne that long before the councell of Neece the name of bishop vvas for the most part appropriated to one in a church C̄osider I pray you how the man was mistaken If by elders Eusebius should haue meant his counteirfet laie rulers must he not then by his 250 bishops most necessarily haue meant so many parish ministers pastors or parsons except he will say that there was no such ministers there which were as new a paradox as the rest But how agreeth this of the difference he confesseth betwixt a bishop and a minister of the word long before the councell of Neece with some other of his sayings else-where in print such as there are The bishop that Ignatius speaketh of vvas but the minister of a particular congregation Againe Ciprians Bishop vvas nothing els but S. Pauls bishop that is one that had cure and charge of one flocke Again the bishop vvhich S. Ciprian speaketh of is nothing els but such as vve call pastor or as the common name with vs is Parson and his church vvherof he is bishop is neither diocesse nor prouince but a congregation vvhich meet together in one place and bee taught of one man Now ioine these things together and see what a Gallimawfrie ye haue May not a man misdoubt that maister Cartvvright is not yet resolued of his owne opinion Haue not his scholers great cause to reioyce in glaining after so constant an author What can he pretend to salue his credit withall Hee will neuer secke a refuge for shame out of these words vz. For the most part As though he should thus expound S. Ierome where he saith that when some began to hold of Peter some vpon Paule and some vpon Apollo which was as I take it in the Apostles times it was then decreed throughout all the world that for auoyding of schismes one minister who was called a bishop should haue authoritie and iurisdiction ouer all other ministers in his diocesse that is true should Cartvvright say throughout all the world except at Antioch and Carthage two little hamblets where Ignatius and S. Cyprian were but plaine parsons euen like the parsons of Hitchin and Newington Not many yeares since a friend of mine was commanded for a certaine purpose to contriue the cheese matters in controuersie about the pretended discipline into certain questions And it is pertinent to the matter I now speake of to acquaint you with two of them The first because of the pretence which is made as you haue heard of the ancient fathers was this VVhether can it bee shevved out of any ancient father out of any councell either generall or prouinciall or out of any ecclesiasticall historie for the space of 1500 and od yeares euen from the Apostles times till of late that in the ordinarie distribution of church-officers since that time euer vsed into Episcopos Presbyteros diaconos Bishops priests deacons vvhether can it I say be shevved that this vvord Episcopus that is Bishop vvas at any time taken there and vsed by the churches in any countrie for a common and vsuall
the church of Christ. The second question before mentioned being as concerning priests or elders was as it followeth VVhether can it be shevved out of any ancient father out of any councell either generall or prouincial or out of any ecclesiastical historie for the space of 1500 od yeares euen frō the Apostles times till of late that in the sayd ordinarie distribution since that time euer vsed of church-officers into episcopos Presbiteros Diaconos Bishops priests and deacons whether I say can it be shevved that the vvord presbyter priest or elder vvas at any time taken and vsed for certain meere lay men as craftsmen husbandmen citizens gentlemen or noblemen such as should be chosen for a yeare or tvvo to be assistants vnto the ministers of the vvord for the better gouernment of the church as to haue authoritie vvith others to ordaine and impose their hands vpon a minister of the vvord and sacraments to bind and lose sinnes c. vsing in the meane time their seuerall vocations as they did before and ceasing after the said one or tvvo yeres vvithout any offence cōmitted by thē to be any longer presbyteri Or vvas it not euer vvithin the time limited taken vsed only in the said distribution for the ministers of the vvord and sacraments Vnto this questiō one hath made this answer The vvord Presbiteri vvas neuer othervvise takē since the Apostles times in that distribution but for the ministers of the vvord and sacramēts as it is most euidēt to any that shal peruse the ecclesiasticall histories or vvill take any paines to read the vvritings of the ancient fathers But of this point before it be long you shall heare more by one who as he hath done euery thing he dealeth with so hath hee handled this very notably Now in the meane while according to the order which hitherto I haue kept it shall be sufficient for me that the three sayd doctors men well accounted of with maister Cartvvright and his adherents and such as will not bee thought to speake any thing partially may deliuer their opinions as touching this matter For to my vnderstanding they are as direct in this point what the word Presbyteri should signifie in the ancient fathers as they were before in the other of Bishops If in the sayd ancient Fathers the name of Bishop be appropriated to one that had a greater dignitie than was common to all ministers and that by the name of Bishops they neuer vnderstood the pastors of euery parish as doctor Robinson sayth If in the primitiue church and in the Fathers language they were called Bishops that were the cheefe and presidents ouer the rest of the priests or elders euen such as our Sauiour himselfe by the holy Euangelist S. Iohn doth call angels as doctor Reynolds affirmeth If by ancient vse of speech he was onely called a Bishop which in the scriptures is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If the elders that were subiect to these gouernours were of one order and authoritie with them in preaching the word and administration of the sacraments as doctor Fulke hath written against the Iesuits doth it not follow most necessarily that all the Clergie being deduced into three degrees vz. of Bishops priests or elders and deacons that by priests the ancient fathers must needs vnderstand the rest of the ministers of the word and sacraments that were no bishops except any will be so impudent as to say that they were none of the clergie He that will doubt hereof let him doubt for me whether the sunne be vp at noone Besides doctor Raynolds sheweth that Ciprians elders did administer the sacraments And for doctor Fulke after he had once incountred with the papists and amongst many other points was come to this whereof I speake concerning the name of priests as it is a distinct degree vnder bishops though before and peraduenture then also hee had a great fancie to the consistoriall Aldermen yet then that hee was driuen to deale directly and truly consider how he was inforced to alter his disciplinarie stile Those priests or ministers that are made among vs are the same elders that the scriptures in Greeke calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in the bishops letters of orders they call them by the name presbiteri vvhich tearme though in English you sound it priests elders ancient seniors or ministers it is the same office which is described by the holy ghost Tit. 1. and in other places of scripture Againe VVe refuse not the name priest as it commeth of presbiter c. it is odious to some that knovv not the true Etimologie thereof Againe The name priest as it is deriued of the Greeke vve do not refuse it Again It appeareth by many places of VVicklifs vvorks and namely in his homilie vpon Phil. 1 that hee acknovvledgeth the destinction of bishops and priests for order and gouernment although for doctrine and administration of sacraments they are all one Againe In the fathers Episcopus and Presbiter Bishop and Priest are tvvo distinct degrees And againe In the fathers the vvord Presbiter is one degree only that is subiect to the Bishop Whereas therefore maister Cartvvright with his followers do pretend that they propound nothing which the writers both old and new for the most part do not affirme and the examples of the primitiue churches confirme As that where the ancient fathers and ecclesiasticall histories make mention of bishops and priests they vnderstand by bishops his parish parsons and by priests his counterfeit Aldermen beleeue both him all that glaine after him therein as they deserue and as by the premisses you shall iudge there is cause CAP. XXXI Hovv and vvith vvhat disagreement they vvrest and misconster the scriptures in the behalfe of their pretended discipline ABout the yeare 420 there fell a great contention betwixt the bishops of Affrike and Zosimus the bishop of Rome The point in question was this whether it was lawfull for them of Affrike to appeale from the proceedings of their owne bishops to the bishop of Rome Vpon which occasion partly there was a councel held in Affrike tearmed the sixt councell of Carthage wherein S. Augustine was present The bishop of Rome hearing of this councell and that it was assembled especially about that matter sent thither his factors Faustinus bishop of Potentia with other two priests of Rome Philippus and Asellus In this councell when the sayd question began to be debated the bishop of Romes factors being for their wit and learning three of the especiallest men that Zosimus could find out for such a purpose did deale most expresly against the bishop of Affrike for the prerogatiue and iurisdiction of the see of Rome In all the which contention notwithstanding the sayd factors were such excellēt men vsed the strēgth of al the wit and learning that was in them yet they could not find any one argument in all the
were giuen Omnibus veris presbyteris to all true Priests or Elders including in that number his vnpriestlie Eldermen Againe vpon these words of christ the keyes c. Hac metaphorica loquutione significatur oeconomi potestas Esa 22 22. qua funguntur omnes ministri in ecclesia dei vt apparet infra 18 18. By this metaphoricall speech is signified that power of Christ mentioned in Esay the key of the house of Dauid I will lay vppon his shoulders loe hee shall open and no man shall shut and hee shall shut and no man shall open which power all the Ministers in the Church of God doe enioye as it appeareth in Mathew Whatsoeuer ye binde in earth shall bee bound in heauen and whatsoeuer ye loose on earth shall bee loosed in heauen And vppon that place of Mathew the 18 Chapter and in manie other places by the Church and those binders and loosers there spoken of hee vnderstandeth his Eldership so consequently aswell his Aldermen as the Ministers of the worde Hee that with an open face to vse Cartwrightes terme doth affirme that either in Mathew the 16. 15. or in the place of Esay mentioned these vnpreaching Elders were ment or prefigured needeth not I warrant him at any time a vizard Indeed maister Cartwright is not of Bezaes mind herein For saith he in Math. 16. and in Ioh. 20. Christ vnder standeth that euery one of the ministers bindeth looseth by preaching but the wordes Math. 18.18 cannot bee drawen to the particular person of the minister Surelye you haue sponne a faire thredde For if your Aldermen be not aswell vnderstoode in the wordes of Christ Vnto thee I will giue the keyes of the kingdome of heauen as in these Whatsoeuer yee binde on earth shall bee bound in heauen and whatsoeuer ye loose on earth shall be loosed in heauen It will fall out that they will haue no keies either to open or shut withall except peraduenture you will make your lockes with a springe and so indeed they maie shutte the dore but for openinge of it they maie blowe their nailes Heere you see Beza and Cartwright opposite and now you shall haue a fellow to impugne them both in a Theologicall position printed at Geneua sette out by Ant. Fayus and maintained there by one Danyell Niellius out of Math. 16.19 thus saith hee wee may reason To them onely the power of binding and loosing is giuen vnto whom the keyes of the kingdome of heauen are giuen for to haue binding and loosing is that same that it is to haue the keyes of the kingdome of heauen but vnto Peter the keyes were giuen and vnto them in whose name Peter aunswereth Christ demaunding whom the Iewes sayd hee was And because they were giuen ratione officij in regarde of his office it followeth that they were giuen to al qui in veritatis doctrina predicanda sunt ipsis successuri Who in preaching the doctrine of truth shall succeed them By these wordes then their disguised Aldermen must either haue assigned vnto them the same office that the Apostles had be made preachers or else they may put vp their pipes and goe shake their eares But yet more plainly we are aduertised in the same place from Geneua out of Iohn 20.23 We may also inferre after this sorte Christ after hee sent his Apostles as he was sent of the father he breathed on them the holy Ghost saying whose sinnes ye remit they shal be remitted whose sinnes ye retaine they shall be retayned To all them therefore and onely to them who are sent that authoritie is giuen But the Apostles onely are not sent For it is Christ who ascending into heauen gaue to his Church Pastors and Doctors and altogether to that end and for handling that worke Ephes. 4.11.13 Now ioyne both these inferences with that which Beza Cartwright haue before set downe and let him for mee beare the bell for a reconciler of contrarieties that is able in anie probable sorte to make anie one of them friendes with another or for euer hereafter to agree together And yet I know that they of Geneua can do much You must bring them very strange discords but they will make some harmonie of them Whereas the confessions of Bohemia of Augusta and the Apologie of the Church of England doe a cribe these censures wee speake of to the Priestes or Ministers of the word onely the Geneuians to make the world beleeue that in effect all the reformed Churches doe agree with that of theirs and with those other that weare her cullors will needes take vpon them in their annotations ioyned to the ende of their harmony to expouÌ„d the meaning of the said confessions how they must be rightly vnderstoode As for example it is committed to the ministers of the wordâ— saith the confession of Augusta excludere impios c. aâ—communione ecclesiae to exclude the wicked c. from the communioÌ„ of the church Nimirum that is to say affirme the Geneuians ex presbiterij legitimè congregati fententia c. according to the sentence of the Eldership lawfully assembled whereas it neuer as yet set vp any such Eldership Againe the said confession Hic necessario c. heere the Church must yeeld them due obedience meaning to the sayde ministers so excluding the wicked Nempe come in the Geneuians verbi ministris senioribus that is to say to the Ministers of the worde and to the Elders who were neuer allowed of by that confession to this purpose pretended The Apologie of the Church of England hauing shewed that the administration of the keyes doth onely belong to ministers of the worde and that Sacerdos that is the Bishop as I thinke hee meaneth for the execution of these censures is the iudge Sacerdos that is say the Geneuians vnus designatus ex pastorum collegio one chosen out of the Colledge of Pastors Deinde etiam intelligiturpraeire quum de censuris ecclesiasticis agitur legâ—tinam presbyterij cognitionem And furthermore also let it be vnderstoode when speache is of the ecclesiasticall censure that there goeth before a lawfull determination of the Eldership Whether the Apologie haue that meaning the meanest of any sense at all may iudge And thus they deale also with the Bohemian confession So that as I sayd to serue their purposes they can make ex quo libet quid libet of any thing what they list And by these examples ye may also safely learne what credite is to be giuen in this cause both to them and all the rest of that humour when they would seeme to alledge eyther scriptures Councels or Fathers for their most vnwarrantable and counterfeit Aldermen But if it were graunted vnto them for a moneth or two that their Eldermen should be ioyned with the ministers of the worde and haue an equall authoritie with them of binding and loosing would they content themselues therewithall It is
certaine that the Barrowists woulde not and not they onely but euen some others of a little better credite then any of our English botchers who will needs haue the people to haue in effect as great an interest in the execution of the Church censures as all the rest both ministers and Eldermen Thus Vrsinus writeth hereof Fiat excommunicatio c Let excommunication be done by the consent and authoritie of the whole Eldership ecclesiae and of the Church not of the Church alone nor of the Ministers or presbytery alone For this power is not giuen by Christ to a few or to Ministers onely although the administration and execution of it is committed oftentimes to fewe or to one Minister sed toti ecclesiae but to the whole Church If he will not heare them and others tell the Church Potentes dominantur vos autem non sic Princes beare rule like Lordes but you may not do so The consent therfore of the Church is to be required 1. Because it is Christes commaundement 2. For the authoritie of the action 3. That no man bee iniuried 4. Least the Ministery should be changed into an Oligarchy or Popish tyranny Thus farre Vrsinus In whose iudgment you see the Eldership is to be charged alreadie though it be but newly set vp with the same faults that are imputed to our church-gouernment by the brotherhoode amongest vs that is with the alteration of Christes institution with Lordlinesse and with a Popishe tyranny c. So as by this deuise the people are to bee vnderstoode in the person of the Apostles as well as their Elders and the one hath no more authoritie to binde and loose then the other But nothing will content them long Giue them the head euery yeare will bring forth a new platforme It will not be inough for maister Beza to say Neque enim eis assentior qui non nisi totius ecclesiae c. I doe not agree with them who will not haue any man excommunicated but by the consent of the whole Church and of euery man particularly For Christ hath giuen this authoritie sani iudicij hominibus to men of sound iudgement that is to the colledge of Elders according to the manner of the Iewes Vrsinus and those that are of his opinion will aunswere that the rest of the Church are not of their wits that it is but his pride and his Elders presumption to take so much vppon them that they would be Lords ouer their brethren and for the place of Mathew that they know Christes meaning aswell as he and all that take his part Of the third ioynt office that Cartwright saith dothâ—belong vnto his pretended Elders to bee executed ioyntly with the ministers as it was touched in the beginning of the 16. chapter I shall haue a more fit place to speake in the 22.23.24 and 25. chapters following CHAP. XVIII Of the first institution of the old Deacons and of the disagreement about the new disciplinarie Deacons IN the apostles times when after Christes ascention they began to preach in Ierusalem such was the charitie of those that professed the Gospell that many of them solde all or the most part of that which they had and brought the price of it to the Apostles feete The especiall reason that moued them as I take it so to do was this The greatest part that at the first did followe the Apostles were of the poorer sorte Who vppon theyr newe embracing of that so comfortable a doctrine did giue ouer themselues to the carefull meditation and throughly learning of it leauing their trades though not altogether yet surely as I suppose for the most part vntill at the least that they grew to bee more fully instructed therein To the which purpose they kept asmuch together with the Apostles as possibly they could and had their holy assemblies their exhortations praiers and the administratioÌ„ of Baptisme secretly in priuat houses for fear of the Magistrats Now as I said the most of these being poore men and the Apostles themselues hauing nothing to liue vpon When any of the richer sorte did ioyne themselues to that meeting or congregation they sold such thinges as they had or thought meete and brought the price of it vnto the Apostles not onely for theyr owne maintenaunce but committed the distribution of it vnto them for the reliefe also of the rest that wanted and were not able to prouide for themselues those thinges that were necessary This charge as well for the saide religious exercises in their priuate assembly as for this distribution equally to be made as the occasions required the Apostles took vppon them more particularly for a short time then they did afterward vz. vntill the number of Christians in Ierusalem increased from 120. vnto fiue thousand at the least and did grow daily more and more so as they were as I thinke constrained to haue diuerse Congregations And then because they found it to be some hinderaunce vnto the execution of their generall Commission for the further dispersing of the Gospell they caused seuen men to be chosen such as were knowen to be of honest report and full of the holy Ghost and wisedome Vnto whom that businesse was more specially committed Who thenceforth might not onely according to their honesty and discretion take into their hands such money as shoulde be brought from time to time to the godly disposed for the purpose mentioned but also in the Apostles absence agreeably with the fulnes of the holy Ghost whereby they held the mysterye of faith in a pure conscience were to teach to comforte to moue to confirme in the faith the brethren in theyr particular congregations or meetings and likewise to offer their common praiers in al their names vnto the Lord and to baptise the children of the faithfull For the Apostles in appointing of these newe officers had as well regard to the Soules of the people as to their bodies And because at that time which was the infancy and first spring of the Church there were not such meete men as might be made Priests or as they tearme them now a daies preaching Elders it pleased the Apostles to haue them trained vp in that exercise and to make the office of Deacons a degree and a step to the fulnes of Priesthood Which is expressed by Saint Paul when he saith of Deacons qui bene ministrant gradum bonum sibi acquirent they that minister well shal purchase to themselues a good degree And this order or office of Deacons being thus as you haue heard first instituted at Hierusalent was afterward vppon the same occasions and for the same ends ordained in other Churches where alwaies they executed all the parts mentioned of their offices so long as the Churchâ—s continued wherein they were placed Or if it happened as it did after in IerusaleÌ„ that their Churches were dispersed so as contributions collections ceased yet they continued their