to ordain the bishops that were under him;" which they gather out of those words of St. Paul unto him: "Fory this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee." Out of which Calvin collecteth this doctrine unto us for the general: "We learn out of this place, that there was not then such an equality betwixt the ministers of the Church, but that there was some one who was president over the rest both in authority and in counsel:" and St. Chrysostom, for the particular of Titus: "Had he not been an approved man, he would not have committed that whole island unto him: he would not have commanded him to supply the things that were defective; he would not have committed unto him the judgment of so many bishops, if he had not had very great confidence in the man;" and bishop Jewell upon him again: "Having the government of many bishops, what may we call him but an archbishop?"

Which is not so much to be wondered at, when we see that the bishops of another island stick not, and that without any control, to deduce the ordination of their metropolitan from the apostolic times, in the face of the whole general council of Ephesus. For whereas the patriarch of Antioch did claim an interest in the ordaining of the metropolitan of Cyprus: the bishops of that island prescribed to the contrary, that from the time of "the holy apostles it could never be shewed, that the bishop of Antioch was ever present at any such ordination, or did ever communicate the grace of ordination to that island ;" and that the former bishops of Constantia (the metropolis of

y Tit. chap. 1. ver. 5.

Discimus ex hoc loco, non eam fuisse tunc æqualitatem inter ecclesiæ ministros quin unus aliquis autoritate et consilio præesset. Calvin. in Tit. cap. 1.

ver. 5.

* Εἰ μὴ γὰρ ἦν δόκιμος, οὐκ ἂν αὐτῷ τὴν νῆσον ὁλόκληρον ἐπέτρεψεν, οὐκ ἂν τὰ ἐλλειφθέντα ἀναπληρῶσαι προσέταξεν (Ἵνα γάρ, φησι, τὰ λεί ποντα ἐπιδιορθώσῃ) οὐκ ἂν τοσούτων ἐπισκόπων κρίσιν ἐπέτρεψεν, εἰ μὴ σpódρa ¿Ðáþрeι T ávopì. Chrysost. in Tit. cap. 1. homil. 1.

b A sanctis apostolis nunquam possunt ostendere quod adfuerit Antiochenus et ordinaverit, vel communicaverit unquam insulæ ordinationis gratiam, neque alius quisquam. Concil. Ephesin. act. 7.

Cyprus) Troilus, Sabinus, Epiphanius, and "all the holy and orthodox bishops which were before them, ever since the holy apostles, were constituted by those which were in Cyprus ;" and therefore desired that "asd in the beginning from the times of the apostles, and by the constitutions and canons of the most holy and great synod of Nice, the synod of the Cyprian bishops remained untouched and superior to privy underminings and open power;" so they might still be continued in the possession of their ancient right. Whereupon the council condemning the attempt of the bishop of Antioch, as an “innovation brought in against the ecclesiastical laws and the canons of the holy fathers;" did not only order, that "the governors of the churches which were in Cyprus should keep their own right entire and inviolable, according to the canons of the holy fathers and their ancient custom" but also for all other dioceses and provinces wheresoever, that no bishop should intrude himself into any other province, which had not formerly and from the beginning been under him or his predecessors.

The beginning of which kind of subordination of many bishops unto one chief, if it were not to be derived from apostolical right: yet it is by Beza fetched from the same light of nature and enforcement of necessity, whereby men

Et nunc memorati episcopi, et qui a sanctis apostolis erant omnes orthodoxi, ab his qui in Cypro constituti sunt. Concil. Ephesin. act. 7.

d Sicut initio a temporibus apostolorum et constitutionibus et canonibus sanctissimæ et magnæ synodi Nicænæ ; illæsa et superior insidiis et potentia permansit nostra Cypriorum synodus. Ibid.

e

Πρᾶγμα παρὰ τοὺς ἐκκλησιαστικούς θεσμούς καὶ τοὺς κανόνας τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων καινοτομούμενον. Ibid.

[ Εξουσι τὸ ἀνεπηρέαστον καὶ ἀβίαστον οἱ τῶν ἁγίων ἐκκλησιῶν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Κύπρον προεστῶτες, κατὰ τοὺς κανόνας τῶν ὁσίων πατέρων καὶ τὴν ἀρχαίαν συνήθειαν. Ibid.

ε Τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων διοικήσεων καὶ τῶν ἁπανταχοῦ ἐπαρχιῶν παραφυλαχθήσεται· ὥστε μηδένα τῶν θεοφιλεστάτων ἐπισκόπων ἐπαρχίαν ἑτέραν, οὐκ οὖσαν ἄνωθεν καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὑπὸ τὴν αὐτοῦ ἤγουν τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ χεῖρα, καταλαμβάνειν. et paulo post: ̓́Εδοξε τοίνυν τῇ ἁγία καὶ οἰκουμενικὴ συνόδω, σώζεσθαι ἑκάστῃ ἐπαρχίᾳ καθαρὰ καὶ ἀβίαστα τὰ αὐτῇ προσόντα δίκαια αὐτῇ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἄνωθεν, κατὰ τὸ πάλαι κρατῆσαν ἔθος. Ibid.

h Neque vero magis existimandum est, hunc externum ordinem fuisse initio

were at first induced to enter into consociations, subjected one unto another, and by Bucer acknowledged to have "been consentaneous to the law of Christ," and to have "been done by the right of the body of Christ;" and by all men must be confessed to be conformable to the pattern delivered by God unto Moses. For having set apart the three families of the Levites for his own service, and constituted a chief, as we have heard, over every of them: he placed immediately over them all, not Aaron the high priest, but Eleazar his son, saying: "Eleazark, the son of Aaron the priest, shall be chief over the chief of the Levites, and have the oversight of them that keep the charge of the sanctuary."

In respect of which oversight, as he hath by the Septuagint (warrantably enough by the Word of God) given unto him the name of a bishop: so the Holy Ghost having vouchsafed to honour him with the title of σε 199 3, ὁ ἀρχων ἐπὶ τῶν ἀρχόντων τῶν Λευϊτῶν, the president of the presidents of the Levites;" none, that without prejudice did take the matter into consideration, would much stick to afford unto him the name of an archbishop, at least he would be taught hereby to retain that reverend opinion of the primitive bishops of the Christian Church, who so willingly submitted themselves, not only to the archiepiscopal, but also to a patriarchical government, which Calvin professed he did that in all this, they were far from having a thought, "to" devise another form of church government, than that which God had prescribed in his Word."

humani generis. Pagi enim ex familiis, et ex pagis urbes, et ex urbibus civitates ipsæ, suadente natura et necessitate flagitante, sensum coierunt; aliis aliorum exemplum sequutis. Bez. de divers. gradib. ministr. contr. Sarav. cap. 24. sec. 4.

i Atque hoc consentiebat legi Christi, fiebatque ex jure corporis Christi. M. Bucer. de vi et usu S. ministerii. inter scripta ejus Anglicana, pag. 565.

k Num. chap. 3. ver. 32.

1 Επίσκοπος Ελεάζαρ, LXX. Num. cap. 4. ver. 16.

m Num. cap. 3. ver. 32.

"Reperiemus veteres episcopos non aliam regendæ ecclesiæ formam voluisse fingere ab ea quam Deus verbo suo præscripsit. Calvin. institut. lib. 4. cap. 4.

sec. 4.

The writers which in the next age after the Apostles, have here given testimony for episcopacy.

In the fourteenth year of Domitian, about the ninetyfifth year of our Lord, according to the vulgar account, St. John wrote his Revelation; and in it, the epistle directed by our Saviour "to the angel of the Church in Philadelphia." No longer than twelve years after that time, Ignatius, St. John's scholar, writeth his letters unto the same Church. In the beginning whereof, he giveth this testimony unto their bishop: that "he knew him to have been promoted, not of himself, nor by men, unto that ministry, pertaining to the public weal of the Church:" which is every whit as much as if he had called him their angel. Afterwards he telleth them, that there is but "one" bishop," joined "with the presbytery and the deacons :" and that he delivered this as the voice of God; "Take heed unto your bishop, and to the presbytery and the deacons ;" calling him to witness, for whom he was bound, and for whom he went then unto his last martyrdom, that he had not this from human flesh, or from the mouth of man, but that the Spirit spake it: "Without the bishop do nothing." So that from St. John's time,

- Εγνων ὅτι οὐκ ἀφ, ἑαυτοῦ, οὐδὲ δι' ἀνθρώπων, ἠξιώθη τὴν διακονίαν τὴν εἰς τὸ κοινὸν ἀνήκουσαν ἐγχειρισθῆναι. Ignat. epist. ad Philadelph. » Εἷς ἐπίσκοπος, ἅμα τῷ πρεσβυτερίῳ καὶ τοῖς διακόνοις. Ibid.

• Οὐκ ἐμὸς ὁ λόγος ἀλλὰ Θεοῦ. Τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ προσέχετε, καὶ τῷ πρεσβυτερίῳ καὶ τοῖς διακόνοις. Ibid.

4 Μάρτυς μοι, δι' ὃν δέδεμαι, ὅτι ἀπὸ στόματος ἀνθρώπου (al. ἀπὸ σαρκὸς ἀνθρωπίνης) οὐκ ἔγνων· τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ἐκήρυξε [μοι,] λέγον τάδε· Χωpig iπioкómov μndèv πolîtε. Id. ibid. cum Antiocho, serm. 124.

71

we have this continued succession of witnesses, in the age next following, for episcopacy:

In the year

CVII. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch; where first they were called Christians.

CXXX. Hadrian the emperor, touching the bishops of Egypt.

CL. Justin Martyr, from Samaria.

CLXIX. The church of Smyrna.

CLXXV. Dionysius, bishop of Corinth.

CLXXX. Hegesippus from Judæa.

Irenæus, bishop of Lyons, near unto us.

CXCV. Tertullian, from Africk.

Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus.

CC. Clemens, presbyter of Alexandria.