make no odds between bishops; and therefore, if a presbyter at Eugubium be the next in degree to a bishop, surely, even at Rome it ought in reason to be so likewise, and not a deacon for wealth's sake only to be above, who by order should be, and elsewhere is, underneath a presbyter. But ye will say, that according to the custom of Rome, a deacon presenteth unto the bishop him which standeth to be ordained presbyter, and upon the deacon's testimony given concerning his fitness, he receiveth at the bishop's hands ordination: so that in Rome the deacons have this special pre-eminence, the presbyter ought there to give place unto him. Wherefore is the custom of one city brought against the practice of the whole world? The paucity of deacons in the church of Rome hath gotten the credit; as unto presbyters their multitude hath been cause of contempt: howbeit, even in the church of Rome, presbyters sit and deacons stand: an argument as strong against the superiority of deacons, as the fore alleged reason doth seem for it. Besides, whosoever is promoted must needs be raised from a lower degree to a higher; wherefore either let him which is presbyter be made a deacon, that so the deacon may appear to be the greater; or if of deacons presbyters be made, let them know themselves to be in regard of deacons, though below in gain, yet above in office. And to the end we may understand that those apostolic orders are taken out of the Old Testament, what Aaron and his sons and the Levites were in the temple, the same in the church may bishops, and presbyters, and deacons, challenge unto themselves." This is the very drift and substance; this the true construction and sense, of St. Jerome's whole discourse in that epistle: which I have therefore endeavoured the more at large to explain, because one thing is less effectual, or more usual to be alleged against the ancient authority of bishops; concerning whose government St. Jerome's own words otherwhere are sufficient to shew his opinion; that this order was not only in Alexandria so ancient, but even as ancient in other churches. We have before alleged his testimony touching James the bishop of Jerusalem. As for bishops in other churches, on the first of the epistle to Titus thus he speaketh, "Till through instinct of the devil there grew in the church factions, and among the people it began to be professed, I am of Paul, I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, churches were governed by the common advice of presbyters;

but when every one began to reckon those whom himself had baptized, his own and not Christ's, it was decreed in the whole world, that one chosen out of the presbyters, should be placed above the rest, to whom all care of the church should belong, and so the seeds of schism be removed." If it be so, that by St. Jerome's own confession this order was not then begun when people in the apostles' absence began to be divided into factions by their teachers, and to rehearse, "I am of Paul;" but that even at the very first appointment thereof was agreed upon and received throughout the world: how shall a man be persuaded that the same Jerome thought it so ancient no where saving in Alexandria, one only church. of the whole world? A sentence there is indeed of St. Jerome's, which, being not thoroughly considered and weighed, may cause his meaning so to be taken, as if he judged episcopal regiment to have been the church's invention longer after, and not the apostles' own institution; as namely, when he admonisheth bishops in this manner; "as therefore presbyters do know that the custom of the church makes them subject to the bishop which is set over them; so let bishops know, that custom rather than the truth of any ordinance of the Lord maketh them greater than the rest, and that with common advice they ought to govern the church." To clear the sense of these words therefore, as we have done already the former: laws which the church from the beginning universally hath observed, were some delivered by Christ himself, with a charge to keep them to the world's end, as the law of baptizing and administering the holy eucharist; some brought in afterward by the apostles, yet not without the special direction of the Holy Ghost, as occasions did arise; of this sort are those apostolical orders and laws, whereby deacons, widows, virgins, were first appointed in the church.

a

This answer to St. Jerome seemeth dangerous; I have qualified it as I may by addition of some words of restraint: yet I satisfy not myself, in my judgment it would be altered. "Now whereas Jerome doth term the government of bishops

a Bishops he meaneth by restraint; for the episcopal power was always in the church instituted by Christ himself, the apostles being in government bishops at large, as no man will deny, having received from Christ himself that episcopal authority. For which cause Cyprian hath said of them, "Meminisse diaconi debent quoniam apostolos, id est, episcopos et præpositos Dominus elegit: Diaconos autem, post ascensum Domini in cœlos, apostoli sibi constituerunt, episcopatûs sui et ecclesiæ ministros." Lib. iii. ep. 9.

by restraint, an apostolical tradition, acknowledging thereby the same to have been of the apostles' own institution, it may be demanded, how these two will stand together; namely, that the apostles by Divine instinct, should be as Jerome confesseth, the authors of that regiment; and yet the custom of the church be accounted (for so by Jerome it may seem to be in this place accounted) the chiefest prop that upholdeth the same? To this we answer, that forasmuch as the whole body of the church hath power to alter, with general consent, and upon necessary occasions, even the positive law of the apostles, if there be no command to the contrary; and it manifestly appears to her, that change of times have clearly taken away the very reason of God's first institution, as by sundry examples may be most clearly proved; what laws the universal church might change, and doth not; if they have long continued without any alteration; it seemeth that St. Jerome ascribeth continuance of such positive laws, though instituted by God himself, to the judgment of the church. For they which might abrogate a law and do not, are properly said to uphold, to establish it, and to give it being. The regiment therefore whereof Jerome speaketh being positive, and consequently not absolutely necessary, but of a changeable nature, because there is no Divine voice which in express words forbiddeth it to be changed; he might imagine both that it came by the apostles by very Divine appointment at the first, and notwithstanding be, after a sort, said to stand in force, rather by the custom of the church, choosing to continue in it, than by the necessary constraint of any commandment from the word, requiring perpetual continuance thereof." So that St. Jerome's admonition is reasonable, sensible, and plain, being contrived to this effect; the ruling superiority of one bishop over many presbyters in each church, is an order descended from Christ to the apostles, who were themselves bishops at large; and from the apostles to those whom they in their steads appointed bishops over particular countries and cities; and even from those ancient times universally established, thus many years it hath continued, throughout the world; for which cause presbyters must not grudge to continue subject unto their bishops, unless they will proudly oppose themselves against that which God himself ordained by his apostles, and the whole church of Christ approveth and judgeth most convenient. On the

other side bishops, albeit they may avouch, with conformity of truth, that their authority had thus descended even from the very apostles themselves, yet the absolute and everlasting continuance of it they cannot say that any commandment of the Lord doth enjoin; "and therefore must acknowledge that the church hath power by universal consent upon urgent cause to take it away, if thereunto she be constrained through the proud, tyrannical, and unreformable dealings of her bishops, whose regiment she hath thus long delighted in, because she hath found it good and requisite to be so governed. Wherefore, lest bishops forget themselves, as if none on earth had authority to touch their states, let them continually bear in mind, that it is rather the force of custom, whereby the church having so long found it good to continue under the regiment of her virtuous bishops, doth still uphold, maintain, and honour them in that respect; than that any such true and heavenly law can be shewed, by the evidence whereof it may of a truth appear that the Lord himself hath appointed presbyters for ever to be under the regiment of bishops, in what sort soever they behave themselves." Let this consideration be a bridle unto them, let it teach them not to disdain the advice of their presbyters, but to use their authority with so much the greater humility and moderation, as a sword which the church hath power to take from them. In all this there is no let why St. Jerome might not think the authors of episcopal regiment to have been the very blessed apostles themselves, directed therein by the special motion of the Holy Ghost, which the ancients all before, and besides him and himself also elsewhere being known to hold, we are not without better evidence than this, to think him in judgment divided both from himself and from them. Another argument that the regiment of churches by one bishop over many presbyters, hath been always held apostolical, may be this. We find that throughout all those cities where the apostles did plant Christianity, the history of times hath noted succession of pastors in the seat of one, not of many (there being in every such church evermore many pastors), and the first one in every rank of succession, we find to have been, if not some apostle; yet some apostle's disciple. By Epiphanius the bi- Lib. ii. shops of Jerusalem are reckoned down from James, to Hila- Hæres. rion, then bishop. Of them which boasted that they held the 66. same things which they received of such as lived with the

t. 2.

script. advers. hæret.

De Præ apostles themselves, Tertullian speaketh after this sort; Let them therefore shew the beginnings of their churches, let them recite their bishops one by one, each in such sort succeeding other, that the first bishop of them have had for his author and predecessor some apostle, or at least some apostolical person who persevered with the apostles. For so apostolical churches are wont to bring forth the evidence of their estates. So doth the church of Smyrna, having Polycarp, whom John did consecrate. Catalogues of bishops in a number of other churches (bishops and succeeding one another), from the very apostles' times, are by Eusebius and Socrates collected; whereby it appeareth so clear, as nothing in the world more, that under them, and by their appointment, this order began, which maketh many presbyters subject unto the regiment of some one bishop. For as in Rome while the civil ordering of the commonwealth was jointly and equally in the hands of two consuls, historical records concerning them did evermore mention them both, and note which two, as colleagues, succeeded from time to time. So there is no doubt but ecclesiastical antiquity had done the very like, had not one pastor's place and calling been always so eminent above the rest in the same church. And what need we to seek far for proofs that the apostles, who began this order of regiment by bishops, did it not but by Divine instinct, when without such direction things of far less weight and moment they attended not? Paul and Barnabas did not open their mouths to the gentiles, till the Spirit had said, Separate me Paul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have sent them." The eunuch by Philip was neither bapActs tized nor instructed, before the angel of God was sent to give him notice that so it pleased the Most High. In Asia, Paul xvi. and the rest were silent, because the Spirit forbade them to speak. When they intended to have seen Bithynia they

Acts xiii.

viii.

Acts

stayed their journey, the Spirit not giving them leave to go. 1 Tim. Before Timothy was employed in those episcopal affairs of i. 18. the church, about which the apostle St. Paul used him, the Holy Ghost gave special charge for his ordination and prophetical intelligence more than once, what success the same would have. And shall we think that James was made bishop of Jerusalem, Evodius bishop of the church of Antioch, the angels in the churches of Asia bishops, that bishops every where were appointed to take away factions, contentions, and