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CJ^e tntilifi^ ^c^olaf$i Library etc. 



No. g. 



^ Demonstration of Discipline. 



Quly-November 1588]. 






-^/<^ 






[Rev, [OHN UDALL.] 



^ T>emonstration of the truth of 

that Discipline^ which CHRIST hath pre^ 

scribed in His Wordy for the government 

of his Churchy in all times and places^ 

until the end of the world. 

[July — November 1588.] 



Edited by EDWARD ARBER, 

HON, FELLOIV OF KING S COLLEGE^ LONDON; F.S.A. 

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE, ETC., 

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. 



36, CRAVEN PARK, WILLESDEN, LONDON, N.W, 

2 August, i88o. 

No. 9« 

{jSU rights reserved^ 



CONTENTS, 

PACK 

Cibliogrflpny ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• vi 

Introduction ... « ... vli-xii 

A Demonstration of the truth of that Discipline &c. ... i 

TO THE SUPPOSED GOVERNORS OF THE 

CHURCH OF ENGLAND &c 3 

TO THE' READER ... .^. ... ... «.. •»« ••• ... o 

A Demonstration of Discipline ••• •.. 8 

ciiAP. 

1 The Word of GOD describeth perfectly the lawful Form of Church 

Government, and the Officers that are to execute the same : from which 
no Christian Church ought to swerve 13 

2 Every Office in the Church must have express Scriptural authority for it ; 

and no one is to be appointed to such Office unless it be previously 

VclC&liL «••. ••■ ••* ••• ••• ••• «•« ••• ••• ^/ 

3 Church Officers cannot be non-resident 25 

4 The appointment of Officers rests with the Church, and not with patrons 29 

5 The Eldership is to thoroughly examine all persons previous to their 

appointment to Office in the Church 34 

6, No man to be admitted to Church Office until by sufficient trial and due 

examination he is found by the Eldership to be fit 36 

7 Every Church Officer is to be ordained by the laying on of hands ... 40 

8 Such ordaining to be done with humble prayer on the part of the Elder^ 

ship and the Congregation 42 

9 The value of the Laying on of hands 43 

10 There should be one Bishop or Pastor president over every Congregation. 

All such Pastors to be of equal authority 44 

11 In each Congregation, there should be a Doctor ; which is an Office dif- 

ferent from that of a Pastor 49 

J2 Every Congregation should have Elders, to see into the manners of the 
people ; and to be assistant unto the Minister in the ecclesiastical 
government . ... ... ... ... ... 5^ 

13 In every Congregation, there should be certain Deacons attending to 

money matters ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 5$ 

14 There should be, perpetually, in every Congregation, an Eldership; 

consisting of (i) the Pastor or Pastors ; (2) Doctor, if there be any ; 

and (3) Elders : to govern the same ... ... 58 

25 Church Government is only spiritual : therefore its Governors may not 

meddle in civil causes or secular affiiirs -67 

16 The placing and displacing of Church Officers appertains unto the 

J^lUwXwUllJ •• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• /^ 

17 Public Admonition is very profitable and necessary ; and is to be given 

by the Eldership ... 73 

18 When Admdnition fails, the Eldership may exclude from the Lord's 

Supper; and, in the case of Officers, suspend the same . ... .'... 7$ 

19 Where both Admonition and Suspension fail : the Eldership may excom- 

^^•UHXwi*Lw ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• •••* ••• ••• ••• / 

The Conclusion of the whole book ... ... 8a 



[In some copies of the original^ the following^ on an inserted fly-leaf , is fotmd^ 

A Table of Discipline, the particular heades \rhereof, are handled 

in the seueral chapters, according to the number wherewith 

tliey are noted: asfolloweth 



whcrevnto, to wit, to 



The Disci- 
pline of the 
Church ist 
the order that 
God hath 
prescribed in 
iiisworde.for/ 
the ruling of 
the same : 
cap. X. I'he 
omces and 
officers of 
whiche, are 
to bee con- 
sidered ia 



General, / 
the calling, y 



how it must 
be, by 



/ Election; 
whiche 
must be 
done by. 



Ordination 



Particular, 
the officers 
and 
officers, i 



Simple, by 
themselves. 



V 



Compound, 

the Synod 

Ecclesias- 

ticall, 



Byshops. 

Deacons 
or Church 
\ seruants 

What 



Wherein 

it consisteth : 

in 



f A certaine office, Chap. 2 

\ Execute his office faythfuUy, Chap. 3 

{The people, chap. 4. 
Examination, chap. 5. 
Consent (onely) to a man fit for the place. 
Chap. 6. 

'By whom it must be: by the eldership, 

Chap. 7. 

The maner ( publike prayer with the people, 
Howe, \ < chap. 8. 
by (laying on of hands, cap. 9. • 



f PastourS) chap, xo 
1 Doctours, chap. xz. 

( Ouerseers, chap. X3 
I Distributers, chap. 13. 

Be the parties: Pastours, Doctours, end 

Elders, Chaj). 14. 
^ Is the authoritie thereof, chap. X5. 
^placing and displacing; chap. z6. 
'word, chap. 17. 

Isuspentton, capu x8 
Excommunicatioa, 
chap. 19. 



I 



Censures by 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



«& 



ISSUE IN THE AUTHOR'S LIFETIME- 

1. [July-November 1588, East Molesey, Surrey.] See title at/, i. 

%• This Work occasioned A Remonstrance: or plaine detection of 
some of the faults .... cobied up together znaBooke^ entitnled,AT>tmon- 
stration ^c, London. 1590. 



ISSUE SINCE HIS DEATH. 
S. 2 August 1880, Willesden, London, N.W. The present ixnprcssiooi. 

•.• All as separate publications. 





INTRODUCTION. 

IJHere is nothing more heart-rending than judicial 
murder for. ecclesiastical opinions ; when men of the 
highest personal integrity and spotless citizenship 
come to their end unrighteously, either by long 
imprisonment or by swift execution. It is one of 
the glories of Queen Victoria's reign, that no 
; has sulTered therein the extreme penally of the 
law, for any simple political offence ; much more, 
for ecclesiastical matters. Yet, solely for Diotrephes and this 
Demonstration, JOHN Udall, an absolutely upright and pure-minded 
man, was cut off in the prime of life, a victim to the secular power and 
political influence of Queen Elizabeth's Bishops. 

Thus these two books must, necessarily, excite a deep interest in all who 
have a true sympathy with human nature ; as being among the number of 
those works which have proved to be. the death warrants of their authors. 
It does not appear that Udall in any single act, disobeyed the law of the 
land ; or even the injunctions of the High Commission. He had nothing 
to do with the Martinist publications, except that he gave Penry certain 
notes as to matters of fact which had transpired. He repudiated alto- 
gether the Martinist use of satire and invective in the advancement of the 
common Cause he had so dearly at heart. He was universally respected 
by ail the earnest men of the time : and even by such a man as Jambs I. 
Nowadays, so far from being imprisoned to death, he would have be- 
come one of the Leaders of Opinion in the nation. 

It Is but another illustration of the strong-handed Episcopal control of 
the press at that time, that such an Ecclesiastical Epitome as this, had to 
be secretly printed in an out-of-the-way village. 



viii Introduction. 

r P 

As we have seen in the Introductory Sketchy pp. 89, 1 1 5, this Demon- 
stration was set up in type by Robert Waldegrave at Mistress Crane's 
country house at East Molesey, near Hampton Court. It was set in a 
small size of Roman and Italic type, which Waldegrave had managed to 
save in a box under his cloak on the 13th May 1588, when his press, print- 
ing DiOTREPHESy was seized ; and which he left in the charge of Mistress 
Crane for about two months. This type^ which the. London printers well 
knew as Waldegrave's type, was evidently cast on the Continent, as the 
semicolon so frequently occurs in this Text At that time, that stop was 
not usually cast in English founts of type ; neither was it recognized as 
a stop at all, by such a critic as George Puttenham in his description 
of English Punctuation in his Arte 0/ Poesie, which, was entered at 
Stationers' Hall for publication on the 9th November 1588 ; that is, 
about the very time this Demonstration was first coming into secret 
circulation. 

It was comparatively easy to get the manuscript into type, though the 
occasional errors of spelling are a witness of its troublesomeness : but the 
supreme difficulty was to machine it All the hand-printing presses of 
London were registered. No one could own one, but a fully qualified 
member of the Stationers' Company ; and most of these were only allowed 
one. In some way or other, probably through Waldegrave, Penry 
bought a press ; all Orders, Injunctions, &c., of the High Commission and 
the Stationers' Company to the contrary notwithstanding : and, apparently, 
he, himself, helped Waldegrave to work off the sheets here reprinted. As 
the supply of type was very scanty, one sheet was probably set and'worked 
off at a time ; and then the type distributed for the composition of afresh 
one. The original is on a much smaller page than the present one ; to 
save paper, and to facilitate the secret distribution. 

About three weeks were occupied in printing this book ; and during 
those three weeks the Spanish Armada was sailing for the English Channel. 

Mistress Crane's servant, Nicholas Tomkins, swore on the 15th 
February 1589, that Penry and Waldegrave were "about 3 weeks in her 
Howse in the Country after Midsommer [1588]." Introductory Sketchy 
p, 85. Ed, 1879. But Waldegrave's movements in that neighbourhood 
had already excited suspicions. In the Stationer^ Registers are recorded 
the following payments. 

liemy paid the xth of June [1588] for a Dynner when bothe 
the wardens [F. Coldock and H. Conneway], master 
Watkyns, and master Denham, and the Pursuyvant, with 
John Wolf, Thomas Strange, and Thomas Draper wente 
to Kingston. iiijs ijd/ 



I NTRODUCTION. IX 

Item the same mens supper, at Kingston xs vjd/ 

Item to the poore woman whose house was 

serched at Kingston ijs/ 

Item the boatehire to and from Kingston xiiijs/ 

Item for twooe lynckes the same tyme viijd/ 

Item for a warrant for Penrye and Northe 

goinge and comminge by water [t,^., to Lambeth 

Palace] to get yt signed. iijs viijd/ 

Item paid to WATsoN the Pursuyvant the 

»ame tyme for goinge to Kingston. xs 

Transcript fir-r., I. 528. Ed. 1875. 

So the entire trip cost the Stationers' Company £;i 51-., or about ;^ 13 
in present money. Martin MARPRELATE\i2i% given iis a vivid picture 
of this expedition. 

And I would wish the Purcivants and the Stacioners / with 

Ihe Woolfe their beadle /not to be so redy to molest honest 

men. And Stacioners /I would wish you not to be so francke 

with your bribes /as you were to Thomas Draper/ 1 can tell 

you his grace had need to prouide a bag ful of Items for you/ 

if you be be so liberal. Were you so foolish (or so malicious 

against Walde-graue) to give that knaue Draper fiue pounds 

to betray him into your wretched hands : he brought you to 

Kingstone vpon Thames /with Purcivants to take him /where 

ihe should be a printing books in a Tinkars house, (your 

selues being disguised so /that Walde-graue might not know 

you /for of Citizens you were becom[e] ruffians) There you 

were to seek that could not be found / and many such iournies 

may you make. But when you came to London /you laid 

Thomas Draper in the Counter for cosenage. O well bowlde/ 

when lohn of London throwes his bowle/he will runne after 

it / and crie rub / rub / rub / and say the diuill go with thee.» 
£^i>//^,/^. 38, 39. £'//. 1880. 

After this search, PeNRY and Waldegrave went further into the 
country, to East Molesey ; and there produced this, book in .the beginning 
of July. It came abroad with the Epistle^ in the beginning of November 
1588 : and, curiously enough, the present reprints of both works will be 
^blished on the same day, nearly three hundred years later^ 




I NT ROD uc Tiorr. 

II. 

His piece of Presbyterian Ar^mentatioc was writteiiy when the 
Controversy to which it relates was at a white heat. Ail ether 
possible means had ahneady been taken ; but without efiect. 

We haue sought to aduaunce this cause of God, by humble 
suit to the parliamente, by supplication to your Conuocation 
house, by writing in defence of it, and by challenging to 
dispute for it, seeing none of these means vsed by vs haue 
preuailed. /. 7. 

The Bishops had done rothing, and would do nothing. These Re- 
formers were so thorooghly confident they were in the r^t, that they- 
even dared to say 

Venture your bysbopprickes vpon a disputation, and wee 
will venture our liues, take the challenge if you dare : if the 
truth be on your side, you may hereby, be restored to your 
dignities, and be no more troubled by vs : but if the trueth. 
be against you, what shal it profit you to win the whole 
world, and afterward loose your own souls, pp. 6^ 7. 

To understand aright, Udall's purpose and standpoint ; we shoolcf 
consider tluree things^ 

1. The Bishops' passive resistance, of which Lx>rd Bacon complained 
in his Aduertisematt^ See IntrodMctorj Stetck, fp. 146-168- 

2. There were, at this time, no Dissenters in England : and only a few- 
Brownists in Holland. Every Protestant Englishman bdonged to the 
Chnrch of England, whether he would or not. The right to constitute a. 
Protestant Ecclesiastical Society (on however sound an orthodofxical hasis) 
in the Kingdom, outside the Church of England, was stiffly and absohitri]^ 
denied ; and all attempts thereat rigorously suppt es s ed. No oat couki 
throw off the authority of the Bishops ; who considered Caolbrmity and 
Oidiod<ny as inseparal^e from Loyalty and Patriotism. At wlat infinite 
troable have these since heen disentangled ! 

Nor was this a matter ci mere mental assenL The Bishops^ as Ordi- 
naries, wcie the Rulers of the Church : and the iniquities of the Spiritnal 
Courts of diat tone are not yet iully recognized and understood \gf 



3. Fn s on a By, it was a stn^gle b et ween the Btshops aloac^ and die hest 
of the Clergy and Laity banded together against thcoL Tcchnicaliy,.ifc 



In trod uc tion. xi 

was a fight between the Episcopacy and the Eldership : but inasmuch 
as the Eldership rested on popular election, it was really a conflict 
between Official Power and Public Opinion. 

The Prelates were in possession. For their every act, they could plead 
either legal enactment, or an hitherto unchallenged prescription. Besides 
having all the written law on their side ; they were Judges themselves, with 
large and not strictly- defined powers. They commanded the services of 
a small army of rapacious officials, who were ever at their beck and call. 
Add to these things, their temporalities and great wealth, their peerage, 
their supposed spiritual power ; and were they not immoveable ! Were, 
a few ecclesiastical Radicals, small people altogether, to rise up against 
them, and bring them to judgement ? Well, that is exactly what Udall 
and his friends tried to do. They endeavoured to bring these mighty men 
to the bar of public opinion. Of course, these pioneers were destroyed in 
the attempt: but their ideas remained and fructified, until the Long 
Parliament at last swept away the whole Episcopal system. 



III. 

He intention of the Writer of this Demonstration^ was that it 
sliould be a kind of Ecclesiastical Euclid of Church Manage- 
ment : and nowhere else do we get, in so short a space, such a 
clear tracing of the precise rift, in matters of Public Worship 
and Church Order, between the two systems of the Episcopacy and the 
Eldership, as they subsisted in Elizabeth's reign. 

Doctor Bridges, in his Defence &*€,, 1587, describes the Presbyterian 
Government as a Tetrarchy of Doctor, Pastor, Elders and Deacons : 
but according to this Scheme of Organization, the Deacons had no share 
in the Eldership. /. 58. 

Udall's process herein, is that of a rigid Logic* He- asserts for the 
Eldership a prescription, in all times and places until the End of the 
World. Then comes the irony of History in regard to such confident 
dogmatizing. As a matter of fact, the Holy Discipline, in its integrity, and 
as here defined by Udall, did not last two generations in England. 

From the Eldership, the Doctor disappeared very soon ; and the Pastors 
therein were, as soon, reduced to one. When the Pilgrim Fathers moved 
from Amsterdam to Leyden in 1609 under their single Pastor, the Rev. 
John Roijinson, they chose. Master Brewster^ Assistant to him, in 
the place of an Elder [See English Gamer, Vol, ILp. 365, Ed. 1879]. So 
that the Elders also, in that famous Community, had been reduced to one ; 
and this, within about twenty years of the writing of this Text, wherein 
Udall claims for the Eldership, in its completeness, that it is a divinely- 




3£il 



Introduction. 



ofdaiAed Fixture until the end of the world. William Brewster lived 
till 1644 as the Ruling Elder of the Pilgrim Church : and it may be fairly 
questioned whether be did not altogether outlive the whole Institution of 
the Eldership, as it is laid down and defined in this text 

This but one side of the picture of those times : the other the Prelatical 
side will occupy us in our study of the Martinisi tracts. Meanwhile, one 
clear distinction lies on the surface. If the Eldership was severe, narrow- 
minded, or harsh ; yet it was never corrupt. There was integrity of life 
in it. But the Episcopal system contained much moral corruption, and 
was often monstrously tyrannical. 




A DEMONSTRATION OF 

the trueth of that Discipline which 

Christe hath prescribed in his wordefor 

the goueraement of his Church, in all 
times and places, vntill the ende of the worlde. 

IT Wherein are gathered into a plaine 
forme of reasoning y the proof es thereof; out 
of the scriptures, the euidence of it by 

the light of reason rightly ruled, and the testi- 
monies that haue beene giuen therevnto, by the 
course of the Churche certaine hundreths of 
yeares after the Apostles time ; and the generall 
consent of the Churches rightly reformed in 
these latter times : according as they 
are alleaged and maintained, in 
those seuerall bookes that 
haue bin written con- 
cerning the 
same. 



MATTH. 21. 38. 

The husbandmen said among themselues, this is the heirc ; 
come let vs kill him, and let vs take his inheritaunce. 

LVKE. 19. 27. 
Those mine enemies which would not that I shoulde raigne 
ouer them, bring hither, and slea them before me. 



J 



>■' 




ITTO THE SVPPOSED GOUERNOURS 

of the Church of England, the Archbyshops, 

lord By shops y Archdeacons^ and the 

rest of that order. 

Anie and mosf euident haue our declarations bin 
concerning the truth of that gouerment, which 
Christ hath prescribed in his word for the ruling of 
the Church ; which we haue manifested vnto you, 
both by our writinges and speches, as occasion hath bin 
offered: neuer hath any one of you taken in hand to saye any 
thing against it, but it hath made his eyes to dazzle, as the 
clearest sun-shining; wherby he hath beene driuen to wander 
hyther and thyther, groping for euasions, and yet coulde not 
escape, but hath fallen into infinite most monstrous absurdities, 
and blasphemous assertions, (as by their writinges yet extant 
it may appeare) so forcible is the trueth, to amaze the gaine- 
sayers thereof, and so pregnant is falsehood to beget and 
bring forth thousands of absurdities, and euery one worse 
then other. And will you still continue in your damnable, 
and most deueliish course ? Haue you solde your selues vnto 
Sathan, to fight for him vntill you be dampned in Hell with 
him ? Haue you morgaged the saluation of your soules and 
bodies, for the present fruition of your pompe and plesure, is 
it because you see not what you should do ? It may be so, 
for many are so blinde, that they grope euen at noone day ; 
but me thinkes it can hardly be so, vnlesse you be they that 
haue eyes and see not, for the cause hath bene (by the 



4 ^0 the supposed gouernours of [juAe^xtS: 

blessing of God) so managed, that many ploughmen, artificers^ 
and children do see it, and know it, and are able by the worde 
of God to iustiiie it, and condemne you to bee aduersaries 
vnto the gospell in resisting it. But you think that gouern- 
ment not so needfull, and your fault but small (if it be any) 
in continuing your course begon. The necessitie of the thing 
is many wayes apparant, both in that it hath so plentifujl 
warrant froni Gods owne worde, (as the course of this booke 
do6th euidently declare,)and also in that the gospell can -take 
no roote, nOr haue any free passage, for want of it : and the 
greatnes of your fault appeareth by this, that in so doing, you 
are the cause, of all tKe ignorance, Atheisme, schismes, 
treasons, poperie and vngodlines, that is to be founde in this 
iarid^ which we challenge to prooue to your faces;, if we may 
indifferently be heard, and whereof in the meane while we 
will giue you a taste : for the first it is cleere, that you are 
the causers of that damnable ignoraunce, wherein the people 
are so generally wrapped, for that you haue from time to time 
stopped the streams of knowledge, in those places where the 
Lord in mercie bestowed the same, and in stead of able and 
painefull ministers, haue pestered the Churche, eyther with 
presumptuous proude persons, that are esteemed learned and 
take no paines to bring the people vnto the knowledge of 
lesus Christe, or (which is the greatest nomber) such 
ignorant asses, and filthy swine, as are not worthy to Hue in a 
well ordered common-wealth : and that you are the cause of 
all atheisme, it is plaine, for one may (as in deede many doe) 
professe it, and you saye nothing to him for it. If the most 
filthy liuer will fawne vpon you, and bribe your seruants, you 
will not onely fauor him, but assiste him against any godly 
minister or other : but if any that feare God, refuse to come 
rnder the leaste of your popish ceremonies, he shallbe 
•molested, till his pursse be empty, or else by your tyrannous 
dealing, hee haue made shipwracH of a good conscience^ 
And are not you the cause of all schismes, that make a botch- 
pot of , true, religion and popprye, and so giue some an occa- 



ju^J'xt^:] the Church of England. 5 

sion to fal into this course, and others into that ? And it is 
as cleare, that you are so farre the cause of all treasons, as 
without you they had not bin : for if euery Church had had 
hir gouemment according to Christs institution ; our yong 
gentlemen, and studentes, had not bene (for want of teaching 
and carefull ouersight) made a prey vnto the seducers ; and 
consequently to those practises, which haue broght the bodies 
of so manie vnto Tyborne, and their soules into hell; and 
who but you be the cause of poperye, whilest you vse them 
so well, let them doe what they list, yea, and keepe them in 
office and authoritie vnder you, yea (whiche more is) giue 
them such offices as none that is not popish can execute : I 
speake not of the ignorance which by your means raigneth 
euery wher, which (as they conies) is the mother of their 
deuotion, and you are the wretched fathers of that filthye 
mother, whereby you muste needes bee grandfathers (at the 
least) to al kinde of popery. And who can (without blushing) 
denie you to be the cause of al vngodlines, seeing your 
gouemment is that jyhich giueth leaue to a man to be any 
thing, sauing a sound Christian. For certainly it ommacum 
is more free in these dayes, to be a papist, ffeTJ^s^"" 
anabaptist, of the family of loue, yea anye moste ^'"""• 
wicked one whatsoeuer, then that which we should be, and I 
could Hue these twentie years, any such in England (yea in a 
Byshopps house it may be) and neuer be much molested for 
it ; so true is that which you are charged with, in a Dialogue 
lately come forth against you, and since burned by you, that 
you care for nothinge but the maintenaunce of your dignities, 
be it to the damnation of your owne soules, and iniinit 
millions mo : Enter therefore nowe at the last, into the serious 
consideration of these things : remember that one day, you 
must be presented before the tribunall seat of lesus Christ, to 
be arraigned for all the soules that haue gone to hell (seeing 
you will needes be the rulers of the Church) since the gospel 
first appeared in this land, then shall you not bee excused 
with this ; the Queene and Councell wil haue it so : nor with 

Eng, Scjf, Lib. No. 9. 2 



6 T^o the supposed gouernours of [j^nc^xsMl 

that ; our state cannot beare it. For it shalbe sayde vnto 
you, why do you not infourme them better of my will, why 
taught you them not to worship with trembling and feare, 
and to kisse the sonne least he bee angry ; why did you not 
tell them, that all states must be ruled by my worde, and not 
my word by them and their poUicies. When these things 
shalbe laid to your charge, your consciences shal aunswere ; 
that if you had done so, you should haue lost your dignityes, 
whiche you loued and sought for especially : then shall yoii 
wishe, that the mountains would fall vpon you, and the hills* 
couer you from the presence of the lambe, and from the 
presence of him that sitteth yppon the throne. And I am 
perswaded, that you are in league with hell, and haue made 
a couenaunt with death; yea, you doe perswade your selues, 
that there is no God, neyther shall there be any such day of 
account; or it were vnpossible, that you should giue your 
eyes anye sleepe, or take anye Fest in your bedds, vntill you 
had vnto the Lord by repentance, and the Church by confes- 
sion, vnburdned oour souls of these hellishe wayes, wherein 
you haue so long walked. Repent, repent, be not ashamed 
to amend, though others haue founde you out the way, iudge 
jour selues whyle you haue time, least you be made fyre- 
brandes of hell beyond all time. Let our challenges that wee 
haue made in the name of the Lord, be hearkened vnto ; Let 
vs bee disputed with before indifferent iudges, let the holy 
word of God bee the touch-stone to trye our disputations by, 
and then shall it easily appeare, who hath the Lord on his 
side, and who not. The trueth wil preuaile in spite of your 
teeth, and al other aduersaries vnto it, (for God disdaineth 
to be crossed, by dust and ashes.) Therefore be not obstinate 
so long, as vntill you be found fighters with God ; but preuent 
his wrath, lest it breake foorth against you like fyre that none 
can quench, because of the wickednes of your inuentions. 
Venture your byshopprickes vpon a disputation, and wee will 
venture our Hues, take the challenge if you dare : if the truth 
be on your side, you may hereby, be restored to your dignities, 



jL"tS:] t^e Church of England. 7 

and be no more troubled by vs : but if the trueth be against 
you, what shal it profit you to win the whole world, and after- 
ward loose your own souls. If you refuse still our offer, then 
must you needes be guiltie eyther of this, that you know your 
cause will not abide the tryal, or of this, that you wil take 
no pains to confute vs that keep such a sturre in the Church : 
do not think that because you haue humane authority on your 
side, therefore you are safe,, for he whose authoritie is on our 
side, is the greatest, to whose voice all the deuils in hell shall 
stoup ; much more the sillie arme of sinf ull fleshe. We haue 
sought to aduaunce this cause of God, by humble suit to the 
parliamente, by supplication to your Conuocation house, by 
writing in defence of it, and by challenging to dispute for it, 
seeing none of these means vsed by vs haue preuailed ; If it 
come in by that meanes, which wil make all your heartes to 
ake, blame j'our selues ; for it must preuail, maugre the 
mallice of all that stande against it, or such a iudgement 
must ouertake this lande, as shall cause the eares that heare 
thereof to tingle, and make vs be a by-word to all that pas by 
vs. The Lord open your eyes, that you may see the confu- 
sions whereof you are the cause, and giue you true repentance, 
or confounde you in all your purposes, that bee against him 
and the regiment of his sonne lesus Christ. The same Lord, 
for the loue he beareth to his poore people ; open the eyes of 
her Maiestie, and the Honorable Councellers, that they may 
see your godlesse practises, and in pitie to Gods people, 
rid vs from you, and* turne awaye his iudgementes, 
which the reiecting of his holy yoke hath de- 
serued, not punnishing them that mourne 
for the desolation of Sion, with those 
that spoile and make hauock of 
the Lords inheritaunce. 
Amen. 




TO THE READER. 

INfinite and vnspeakeable (Christian Reader) are the 
miseries from whiche lesus Christe our Sauiour hath 
freed vs, and the benefites and blessings, wherewith 

]in this life he beginneth, and for euer will continue 

to adorne vs. The consideration whereof (if our vnthankful- 
nes vnto his Maiesty, were any way proporcionable, to that 
which we endeuour vnto towards men) shoulde make vs con- 
tinually to deuise, and all the daies of our life to studie howe 
wee might shew our selues (at least in some sort) carefuU to glo- 
rifie his blessed name, aboue all thinges that we desire, by how 
muche as his loue towardes vs, excelleth whatsoeuer can else 
(according to our wish) befall vnto vs : but if we do with equall 
ballance (on the other side) looke into the course of mans 
life, howe well this dutie is performed ; we shal see, that men 
declare themselues rather bent to spit in his face, and to defie 
him, then any way to honour him as their head and Soueraigne : 
for (to saye nothing of the prophane life, and the godlesse 
couersation, wherewith the generall number, that professeth 
lesus Christ, is wholy defiled) wee see that many nations, 
people and languages are very willing to receiue lesus Christe 
as their priest to sacrifice foi* their sinnes, but that he should 
become their king, to prescribe lawes vnto them, whereby they 
may bee ruled, is of all other things the most vnsauory, yea 
(if it be offered) the most grieuous tydinges, and vnreason- 
able request : wherein, albeit manye nations that haue re- 
nounced that whore of Rome, are heynously sinnefuU against 
his glorious maiestie : yet is there none in the whole worlde 
so far out of square as Englande, in reteyning that popishe 
hierarchic, firste coynedin the midst of the mistery of iniquitie, 
and that filthie sinck of the Canon law, which was inuented 
and patched together, for the confirming and increasing of 
the kingdome of Antichrist*: Wherein as great indignitie is 
offered vnto lesus Christ, in committing his Church vnto the 
gouernement of the same, as can be, by meane vnderlings 
vnto a king; in committing his beloued spouse vnto the 
direction of the mistresse of the Stewes, and enforcing hir to 



4* ^ 



jL^^] TO THE READER. 9 

line after the orders of a brothelhbuse. For the reformation 
wherof, while some haue written, and others according to 
their callinges, carefully stoode, howheynously it hath beene 
taken, howe hardly they haue bene vsed, and what shameful! 
reproches haue beene offered (euen vnto the course of the 
Gospell) for sp)^e that hath beene borne vnto reformation, 
almost by all estates and degrees, lamentable experienqe hath 
taught many of vs : but our posterity shall knowe it more 
particulerly, and the Church thoroughout the world shall 
discernie and iudge of it more euidently, when their bodies 
are rotten in the dust, and their soules (if they repent not) in 
etemall and intolerable torments ; who haue reiected a 
request so holy, profitable and reasonable ; yea, and handled 
the intreaters for the same so cruelly, vnchristianly and 
vnlawfully: but they would gladlyperswadethemseflues (if their 
conscience would let them) that they haue onely executed 
iustice vpon vs as malefactours, and they perswade men that 
we desire a thing, not warranted by the worde, not heard of in 
the Church of God, vntill within this few years, nor tollerabl.e 
in any christian common-weal whatsoeuer: The whiche 
monstrous slaunders, albeit they haue bene manye wayes, and 
by many men of most worthie gifts detected, and made 
knowne in those seuerall bookes that haue bene published 
concerning the same : yet haue I thought it necessarie (in 
another course) to write also of it. The course of my enter- 
prise, is first in respect of the fauorers of the desired reforma- 
tion ; secondly of the aduersaries of the same, the fauourers 
of it, are also of two sorts ; ministers of the word, and priuate 
persons, and both I hope, may haue profit by it. Concerning 
the former, when these wofull troubles that were renewed 
vpon vs (by that wretched subscription, that was euery where 
vrged) did begin to increase, I thought it meete to betake my 
selfe vnto that which I had read, or might any way by studie 
finde oat, concerning the cause, and collected all into a briefe 
sum, and referred euery thing vnto some head; whiche 
beeing euer present with me, might furnish me to answere in 
the defence of the trueth, though it were of a sodden, by 
which (thorow the blessing of God) I found such profite in my 
seuerall troubles, that I thought it a course not altogether 
vnprofitable for others also, and vpon that occasion betooke 
my selfe vnto a more serious meditation about the matter. 



lO TO THE READER. Wy^^ 

and communicating the thing with diuers very worthy men ; 
I found encouragement and hartening on, generally by all 
whom I made acquainted therwith : so that I trust (the 
iudgments,yea andwishes also of others, so iumping with mine) 
many ministers that loue the cause, and haue not so thorowly 
studied it as were meet they should, may reape some profit 
therby. Now concerning priuate men that loue the cause, 
som haue great affaires in hand, and haue no leasure to read 
the seuerall books of this argumente : some when they read, 
are not of sufficient capacity to conceiue the force of a reason, 
or to make vse of it, to enform themselues in the grounded 
knowledge of the cause thereby: some (which is the generall 
fait of our religious gentlemen) will take no paines to read, 
some are poore and not able to buie the books which might 
let them see the cause, al these (I hope) may finde helpe in 
some measure hereby. Nowe concerning the aduetsaries vnto 
the cause, they are of two sortes also, they that know it, and 
they that are ignoraunt of it : the former, if they write anye 
thing against it, are contented to deal in so rouing a course 
as may rather arise vnto great volumes, then soundly to saye 
anye thing againste the cause : Wherein D. Whitgifte, but 
especially D. Bridges, haue giuen vs an euident example : and 
these with others of their iudgment (though non in these 
latter days, haue written more vnlearnedly then they, of any 
argument of diuinity whatsoeuer) are contented to make the 
world belieue (if men will be so wilfully seduced) that our 
arguments be no arguments, that they be grounded vpon false 
foundations, and that we are not able to conclude our cause 
in any forme of reasoning. The course that is here taken (I 
trust) shall shew that they are liars : the other sort of aduer- 
saries be they that be meerly ignorant of any thing, either for 
it or against it ; and perswading themselues that the sway and 
shew of the worlde must needs cary the truth with it, do (like 
blind bayardes) boldly venture to say any thing against it, 
and think they do wel. Now of all these sorts of people, I 
haue to request some thing, I hope I shall obtaine my request 
(at the least) at the hands of some of them. The first sort of 
fauorers (which be the ministers) I intreat, that as they ten- 
der the glory of God, and honour of the cause which they 
stand in ; so they would diligently imploy themselues in this, 
that they may be founde able to defend the same by sounde 






jL^x^s.] ' TO THE READER. II 

and euident grounds out of the worde, and so muche the 
rather, for that the aduersaries doe greatly triumph, when 
they meete with one that professeth the cause, and is not 
able to defende it, and confute the gainsayers of it. The 
second sort of fauorers, be the priuate persons that loue the 
cause, whom I beseech to be carefull (as of all other pointes 
of religion) of this, that they growe in the knowledge of the 
word of God, whei'eby they may be able, vpon their owne 
knowledge to defend the truth, and not giue the enemie any 
occasion to think or say, that they be of that minde, because 
such and suche ministers, whom they do affect, do thinke so. 
Now concerning the former sort of aduersaries, to wit, they 
that know it, I pray them to looke into their owne hearts, and 
they shal finde they mislike it ; eyther because it correcteth 
their excessiue pompe and maintenaunce, or requireth more 
trauaile in their ministery, then they are willing to vndergo, 
or at the least, controUeth that dissolutnes of behauior, 
wherin they willingly wallow : and if it would please god to 
bring them to a serious meditation of this, that it is the will 
of the mighty God (before whom they must be called to giue 
an account) whiche they doe resist, they would (I doubt not) 
more carefully looke about them. And lastly for them that 
being ignorant of the cause, speake euill of that they know 
not : let them (if they will bee admonished) vouchsafe to 
reade this little book, and wey the reasons with an vpright 
iudgment, which shal cause them (at the least) to suspend 
their sharpe censures, which so vsually appeare in their 
ordinary communication : and concerning vs al, let vs know 
(for one day we shalbe sure to feel it) that the controuersie 
is not about goats woolle (as the prouerbe sayth) neither 
light and trifling maters, which may safely be folowed or re- 
iected (as in deed the enemies of this cause do confidently 
affirme) but about no les matter then this, whether lesus 
Christ shalbe king or no ; For if none is said to be a king, 
but he that ruleth by the scepter of his lawes, then the turn- 
ing out of these orders which christ hath prescribed in his 
word, for the ruling of the Church, is to giue him the tytle, 
and denye him the authority belonging to the same, and so (in 
trueth) to make him an Idol, making him to cary a shew of 
that which he is not, and (with the crucifiers of him) to put 
a reede in his hand, in stead of his yron rod ; and crowning 



12 TO THE READER. [jL^^ 

him with thorns, in stead of the crown of greatest glory ; 
which is the cause that so many Atheists spit in his face, and 
so many godles persons, do make but a iest of him : but 
when he commeth to shewhim-selfe in his glorious maiestie ; 
it shalbe said vnto all these sorts of aduersaries : Those mine 
enemies whUhe would not that I should rdigne ouer titem, bring 
hither, and slea them before me. Luke. 19, 27. The which 
fearefiill sentence, that we may auoide, let euerye one of vs 
(as may stand wiUi our seueraJl callings) carefully endeuor, 
to aduaunce this kingdom here, which (among other assur- 
ances giuen vs from the Lord) shalbe a testimonie vnto vs, 
that we shall haue part in that gloiy, which shalbe reuealed 
herafter. Now concerning the order of this booke ; to direct 
thee (good reader) vnto thy further instruction, in the points 
therof. Thou hast in eueiy chapter, diuers proofs out of 
the holy word of God, which must be the things wherewith 
thou mayest safely informe thy conscience : then shalt thou 
finde (also) arguments drawn from reson rightly ruled by the 
same word : and lastly, (because our aduersaries charge vs, 
that we desire a thing not known vnto the olde writers, nor 
agreed vpon ajnong the newe) thou hast here the witnes of 
them both in so plentifuU and vniforme wise, as may plainly 
declare, that al godly learned men of al times, haue giuen 
testimony vnto the trueth of it. The most of the thinges that 
are here expressed, I acknowledg to be gathered out of the 
books that haue bene published, and are extant (purposely) 
concerning this argument ; as may appeare in the seueral 
points, wherein thou art sent vnto them Now, lest either 
thou shouldst be deceiued with a diuers impression, or think 
me to missealleadge the authors, I am to shew thee what 
books I haue followed. The i. book of T. C. twise printed, I 
folow the latter; of Ecclesiast discip. I folow the latine, 
printed 15749 and the last booke of D. Whitgift, which con- 
taineth all the former in it. The rest (as I take it) haue 
bene but once printed, and therfore cary no doubt in them. 
If thou bee satisfied herewith, giue God the glory: and pro- 
mote the cause by prayer, and all other go^ meanes that 
thy calling may affoord : and pray for vs, that we may neuer 
shrinke, nor be ouerthrowen by the strength of them that 
fight against it. 

FINIS. 




A DEMONSTRATION 
of Discipline 

Chap. I. 

The diffinition of Discipline, coniaynetk this proposUion 
holden by vs. 

jHe worde of God describeth perfectly vnto 
Ivs, that forme of gouerning the Church 
Jlwhich is lawfull, and the ofiicers that are 
llto execute the same; from the which no 
nChristian Church ought to swarue. Ad- 
11 monition in the prjeface: Ecclesiasticall 
jlDiscip. fol. 5. T.C. first booke, page. 26. 

II CounterpoysoD page 8. -Discourse of 

gouernment, page. i. &c. 

The Assertion of the BB. and their adherents. 

He worde of God describeth not any exacte forme of 
_ Discipline, neyther are the offices and officers, namely, 
and particularly expressed in the Scriptures, but in some 
points left to the discretion and Itbertie of the Churche. 
VVhitgi/t in prseface, and page. 84. aunswere to the Abstract. 
page 33. 



T'He proofe of the former is the disproofe of the latter, 
which is thus declared. 
These things write I vnto thee, &c. out of whiche place 
I reason thus. That end which Paule respected iTun.j.i4.ij. 
in writing vnto Timothie, doth the holy ghost direct al 
ministers vnto for euer ; for it must be kept. i. Tim. 6. 14. 
But he wrote to directe him in the establishing and building 
of the Church. Therefore that word must direct ministers for 



T 



14 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. [jl^^^. 

euer : and consequently they neither may add to, nor take from 
it, but gouerne it onely by the rules that be there prescribed. 

2 Euery house ought to be ruled by the orders of the skilfull, 
wise, and careful householder onely : But the Church is the 
house of God, and God is such a householder : Therefore the 
Church ought to be ruled by the orders of God onely, which 
are no where to be had, but in his worde. 

3 That which teacheth euery good way, teacheth also how 
• the Church must be gouerned : But the word of God teacheth 

Prouerb2. 9. cuery good way: pro. 2. 9. therefore it teacheth 
how the Church must be gouerned. 

4 We cannot glorifie God, but by obedience to his word ; 
I Cor. xa 31. in all that we doe, we must glorifie God. i Cor. 
10. 31. Therefore in all that we doe, there must be obedi- 
ence to the word ; and consequently in goueming his Church. 

5 If meat and drinke be not sanctified vnto vs, but by the 
I Tim 4. 5. word and prayer, then much lesse is any thing holy 
which is done in the gouernement of the Church besides the 
word : But the former is true by the testimonie of the Apostle 
I. Tim. 4. 5 : therefore the latter must be true also. 

6 All lawfuU things are of fayth. Rom. 14 23. All lawful! 
Rom. X4.23. things that are of fayth, haue a warrant from the 
word, for the word is the foundation of fayth ; therefore all 
things lawfull, haue their warrant from the word : and conse- 
quently euery lawfull action in the gouernement of the Church. 

7 Eyther hath God left a prescript forme of gouernement 
for the Church, vnder the newe testament : or he is lesse 
careful for it now, then he was vnder the lawe ; for his care 
is in guyding it : But he is as careful now for his church as 
he was then : Therefore hath hee left a prescript forme to 
gouerne it. 

8 He that was asfaythfull as Moses, left as clear instruction, 
Heb. 3. a. both for the buylding of faith, and gouernment of 
the Churche, as Moses did : But Christ was as faythfull in 
Gods house. Heb. 3. 2 : therefore he lefte as cleare instruc- 
tion for them both as Moses ; but Moses gaue direction euen 
for euery particular, as appeareth in the buylding of the 
Tabernacle, and order of the priesthood : Therefore hath 
Christe also giuen particuler direction for the gouernment 
of the Church. 

9 If the word of God haue described sufi&cient ministers 



jL^ilsS:] ^ DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 1 5 

and ministeries, for the buyldingof the Church, and keeping 
it in good order, then is our assertion true: But it Rom 12. 5.6.7. 
hath set downe sufficient for doctrine, exhortation, Ephes."ii"&c. 
ouerseeing, distributing, and ordering of euery See aJunterp ' 
particular Churche or generall Synode : Therefore ^^"^ "' 
is our assertion true. 

10 That gouernement which the Apostles taught and 
planted, is expressed in the word of God : But the Apostles 
taught and planted, pastours and teachers for instruction, 
elders for ouersight, and deacons to distribute, and that 
vniformely in euery Churche, as appeareth by their writinges 
and practises : Therefore a certaine forme of gouernement is 
expressed in the worde. 

11 Euery lawfuU office and action in the building of the 
Churche, is from heauen. Matth. 21. 25. 26. Matt.21.25.26 
Euery thing that is (in the ordinarie building) from heuen, is 
reueled in the word:, Therfore euerye lawfull office and action 
is reuealed in the worde. 

12 If God continued (in regarde. of the substance) the 
Church administration, as wel as the things to be administred, 
then is the forme of Discipline described in the word : But 
the former is true, as appeareth by the particulars ; for 
priests, pastours ; for teaching Leuites, or doctors of the 
law, Teachers; for rulers of the Synagogue, Elders; for 
Leuiticall lookers to the treasurie, Deacons ; for the 
Sanedrim, the Eldershipp : therefore the forme of gouemment 
is prescribed in the word. 

13 Euery wise king that is careful for his subiects, setteth 
downe Lawes for the gouemment of the same, and will haue 
them tyed to no other : But Christ is such a king vnto his 
church : Therefore hath he prescribed Lawes vnto his Church, 
which none therein can alter or disobey ; and consequently, 
the certaine forme of gouemment of the Church is described 
in the worde. 

14 That which the ministers must teach the people to 
obserue, is set downe in the worde of god, for they Mat*. 28 20. 
may teach nothing but that which is there, Matth. 28. 20 : 
But they are to teache them to obserue, ai)d be obedient 
vnto, the particular forme of the Churche gouernement : 
Therfore the particular forme is set downe in the word. 

15 Euery gouemment consisteth in the gouemours^ matte.^ 



1 6 A DEMONSTRATION OF JDISCIPLINE. \jl^^. 

wherabout they are to be imployed, and maner of doing 
it : But in the word are described all these particulars, as it 
is shewed in the 9. reason : Therfore the word prescribeth a 
prescript forme of gouernment. 

16 The Christian religion shall finde, that out of this 
CypnanuiMr. Scrfpture, rulcs of all doctrine haue sprong^and that 
t?smS chmST from hence doeth spring, and hyther doth returne, 
whatsoeuer, the Ecclesiasticall Discipline doth containe. 

17 We may not giue our selues the libertie to bring in 
Cyprian de anye thing that other men bring of their will ; we 
ue^LereL haue th^ Apostlcs for authours, whiche themselues 
brought nothing of their owne will, but the Discipline which 
they receiuedof Christe, they deliuered faythfully to the people. 

18 It is adulterous, it is sacriledgious, whatsoeuer is or- 
cyprian ub z. dayncd by humane furie, that the diuine disposition 
EpisL 8. should be violated. 

Therefore if Timothie was written vnto, that he might 
TheConciusion. be directed by the worde, in disposing of the 
Churches; if the Lawes of God onely being the housholder, 
must be followed in the Churche, his House ; if the word of 
God teache vs in euery^ good way, whereof the gouernement 
of the Church is one ; if God must be glorified in the ruling 
of his Church, which cannot be, but by obedience to his 
word ; if nothing be lawfull, but that which is of fayth, war- 
ranted by the word ; if God haue shewed himself as carefuU 
for his Church vnder the Go^ell, as vnder the law ; if Christ 
was as faythfull to giue direction as Moses ; if in the worde 
be descqbed sufficient ministers and ministeries, to buylde vp 
the Churche ; if that gouernement, which the Apostles taught 
and practized, be in the worde ; if euery lawfull office and 
action in an ordinarie building, be from heauen, and reuealed 
thence by the worde ; if God continued the same forme (in 
respect of the substance) in the time of the Gospel, that was 
vnder the law ; if euery wise carefuU king, doe set downe 
lawes for the direction of his subiectes ; if the Apostles haue 
taught vs to obey that which Christ commanded ; if both the 
gouemours matter of gouernment, and maner of doing it, be 
set downe in the worde ; if all that pertayneth to Ecclesias- 
ticall Discipline, spring from the scriptures ; if wee may 
bring nothing into the Discipline of the Church, but that 
which the Apostles haue deliuered vs; lastly, if that be 




jL^ISJ A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 1 7 

adulterous and sacriligious, that is not according to the 
worde : then it must needes followe, that God doth describe 
perfectly vnto vs out of his worde, that forme of gouemment 
which is lawfully and the officers that are to execute the 
same : from the which it is not lawful for any Christian Church 
to swarue. And contrariwise, that is a most vntrue assertion 
to saye, that the officers and offices are not particularly 
expressed, but left to thediscretion of the Church. The reasons 
that they alleadge against this, are in effect none, and their 
obiections to these reasons, not worthy to be mentioned. 

Chap. 2. 

IVery officer in the Church, must be placed in some 
calling warraunted by the worde of God, and some 
congregation must haue neede of such a one, before 
he be called to any function. Wherein are these 
propositions. 

1 No calling is lawfull in the Churche, but that whiche 
is directly warraunted out of the word, vnto him The first pro- 
that executeth it. posiuon. 

The BB. and their adherentes thinke otherwise, as their 
practize in ordeyning Archbysh. L. Byshops, Deanes, Arch- 
deacons, Chauncellors, officialls, &c. doth plainly declare. 

2 The name and office of an Archb. is contrary The second 
to the word of God. proposition. 

3 No man may be ordeined viito any office in the Church, 
vntill there be such a place void as he is fit for ; T.C. i. 
booke, page 61. 

They thinke otherwise, as their making of so many ministers 
at once proueth, and as is holden, VVhitgift page 222. 

1 'nr^he first is prooued thus : If lohn wasconstrayned to 
X prooue his ministerie out of the Scriptures Reason for the 
when the Priests accused him; then is no calling ^nS?\'" 
lawfull, that hath not his warrant in the word, for if «3* «s. 
any be priuiledged, the extraordinarye ministers (whereof he 
was one) are specially excepted: But he prooued his ministery 
by the word, as appeareth by his aunswere vnto them, in the 
23. verse. Therfore no calling is lawfull in the Church, 
that hath not his warrant in the word. 



1 8 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE, [^t^^l 

2 The callings vnder the Gospell must haue as good 
warrant as they had vnder the law, because the light of the 
Gospell is (at the least) as cleare as that of the law : But 
there was neuer any lawfull calling vnder the lawe (excepting 
those that were by miraculous manner confirmed from 
heauen) whiche had not his directe warrant out of the worde. 
Therefore no calling is lawfull in the Churche, whiche is not 
directly warranted in the word. 

3 If Corath Dathan and Abiram (though they were Le- 
Numb. i6. uites) were punished for that they had no warrant 
for that which they presumed to take in hande, then is euerye 
lawfull calling, both in generall warranted out of the worde, 
and particularly layde vppon the parties from the Lorde : But 
the former is true, as the historic teacheth vs : Therefore 
must the latter needes be true also. 

4 That which giueth comfort vnto a man in the time of 
his troubles, must haue -a warraunt out of Gods worde : 
But euerye lawfull calling giueth comfort vnto a man in the 
time of his troubles : Therefore euery lawfull calling hath a 
warrant out of Gods word. 

5 That which helpeth Gods people forward in godlines, 
must haue a warraunt out of Gods word : for God hath pro- 
mised a blessing to his owne ordinance onely: But euery 
lawfull calling in the Churche, helpeth Gods people forward 
in godlines : Therefore euerie lawfull calling hath a warrant 
out of Gods word. 

Therefore if lohn did prooue his calling out of the 
Theconciusioa Scrfpturcs ; if cucryc calling vnder the lawe. 
was warraunted out of the Scriptures ; if Corath, &c. were 
punnished for enterprising that which they had no warrant 
for, out of the Scriptures; if comfort in troubles commeth 
onely from the Scriptures ; and lastly, if euery helpe to 
godlines is warraunted in the Scriptures ; then, &c. 

They confesse all these reasons to be true, but do 

denie that the Archbish. l.b. &c. be distinct ministers 

from others. VVhitgift page 303. which we holde 

T.C. 2. booke page 438. and prooue it thus. 

1 Those thinges that haue diuers efficient causes, are 

diuers : Our bb. and the ministers of the worde haue diuers 

efficient causes, for the one is the ordinance of God, the other 

the constitution of humane pollicie, as themselues doe 

confesse : Therefore they are distinct ministers from others. 



jL^tsl] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 19 

f 

2 A diuers forme maketh diuers things : the ministers of 
the word, and the L. Byshops haue diutrs formes : for their 
ordination (euen in the Church of England) is diuers, seeing 
one L. B. may ordaine a minister : But there must bee three 
to ordaine one of them : Therefore they are distinct ministers. 

3 Members of one diuision are distincte one from another : 
the L. BB. and ordinarie ministers bee members of one 
diuision : for vsually the ministers be diuided into the rulers, 
and them that are to be ruled : therefore they are distinct 
ministers. 

4 The things that haue diuers effects, are diuers in them- 
selues one from another: the L. bb. and other ministers 
haue diuers effects ; for the one effecteth rule and gouerne- 
ment, the other subiection and obedience : Therefore they are 

X diuers and distinct ministers. 

5 They that be imploied about diuers things are diuers one 
from another : The L. Bb. and the ordinary ministers, be 
imployed about diuers things, for the one is exercised in 
generall viewe of many congregations, and the other in 
the particular direction of one : Therefore they be distinct 
ministers. 

6 That which is perpetuall, and that which may be taken 
away by men, are distinct one from another : The office of 
the minister is perpetuall, Ephes. 4.13. and the Bb. may be 
taken away as themselues do confesse : Therefore they are 
diuers, and distinct ministers. 

Therefore if the ministers of the worde, and L.Bb. proceed 
from diuers causes; if they baue their being by xheConciusioa 
diuers formes; if they be members of one diuision, which 
(in nature) cannot be one ; if they produce diuers effectes ; 
if they be exercized about diuers subiectes : lastly, if the one 
be perpetuall, and the other but for a time, then must it 
needes fgllowe, that they are diuers and distinct ministers 
one from another. 

The name of an Archb. and also the office that he 
executeth^ is cotUrary to the word of God. pro^itbn 

and reasons 
for the proofs 
of it. 

First, the reasons that prooue it vnlawfuU to giue the name 
vnto any man in the Churche, are these. 



20 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. \J^^k 

1 No man majrhaue the name giueH him, which is proper 
na^of^chb. ^^ ^^^ Satliour lesus Christe : But the name of 
may be given* Archb. IS proper vnto our Sauiour lesus Christe, 
TpltTr 5 4 ^® appeareth in the places quoted : Therefore 
Hebr. 13 fli>.' 00 man may haue the name of Archb. giuen vnto 

Actes3. 15.5.31. , . " " 

Hebr. 12.2. Ilim. 

2 If the name Pope be therefore odious, because of that 
Antichrist, who is intituled therwith, then must also the name 
of Archb. when it is ascribed vnto any mortal man : forsomuch 
as it is the title of a speciall member of that kingdom of 
Antichrist : But the former is true euen by their owne con- 
fession. VVhitgift page 300. Therefore must the latter be 
true also. 

obections ^^^ ^^^y obiect diuers things against this, 

for^thename for thc proouing of the name Archb. to 

an^il'swcrs bce lawfully giuen vnto some men, which 

therevnto together with their answers do briefly follow. 

whitgift 1 Obiectioil Clemens aloweth of those names, 

page 318. j^g Polydor reporteth, lib. 4. cap. 12. 

Answere Polydor is but the reporter, and M. lewell hath 
prooued euidently against Harding that Clemens is counter- 
feite, and worthy of no credite. 

2 Obiection Erasmus sayth that Titus was an Arch- 
bishop. 

Answere He spake as the times were wherein he lined : 
but that prooueth not that he helde him one in deed, no more 
then our naming of the Archb. of Canterburye, when we speake 
of him, prooueth that we like and allow his authoritie. 

3 Obiection Anacletus sayth that lames was the first 
Archb. of lerusalem. 

Answere He is forged (as our aunswers to the papists 
haue shewed) but a witnes of better credit calleth him onely 
a bishop, Euseb. lib. 2. cap. 23. and Simon bishop after him, 
lib. 3. cap. 22. and Irseneus saith lib. 4. cap. 63. that the 
Apostles ordayned bishops euery where, making no mention 
of Archb. 

4 Obiection The Councell of Nice Canon 6. mentioneth 
a Metropolitan bishop. 

Answere That prooueth nothing, for it was onely as much 
as to say, the Bish. of the chiefe Citie. 



june^xtss:] ^ DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 21 



s 



econdly the reasons that prooue the office of That the 
the Archb. vnlawfuU be these. Archb.^s 



1 Euery ministery that is lawful, must be of God : vniawfuii. 
The office of the Archb. is not of God, for that he is not 

, described in the worde, and themselues confesse that he is of 
humane pollicie: Therefore the office of the Archb. is vnlawfuU. 

2 That ministery whose original is vnknown, hath no 
warrant from Gods worde, and consequently is vnlawfuU : 
The original of the Arch, is vnknowne as they confesse; 

. VVhiigifi page 351. Therefore it is vnlawfuU. 

3 That office which is needles in the church is also vnlaw- 
ful to be exercised in the same : The office of the Archb. is 

. needlesse, for the ministery is perfect without it, as the 
Apostle prooueth, Ephes. 4. 13. Therefore the office of an 
Archb. is vnlawfuU. 

4 If all the giftes needful for the perfecting of the Church, 
te appropriated vnto other ministeries, then is his ministery 
vnlawful : But al the needful gifts, are appropriated vnto 
pastors[,] doctors, elders and deacons, whereof he is none-: 
Therefore his office is vnlawful. 

5 That office is vnlawful, which none may lawfully giue : 
But none may lawfully bestowe the office of an Archb. 
because none can giue any newe giftes to adorne him 
withall: Therefore his office is vnlawfuU. 

This reason being vsed of all sounde diuines against the 
pope, is of the same valewe against the Archb. 

6 If the office of an Archb. be lawful!, then it is eyther in 
respect of his excellencie aboue other men, or the place 
whereof he is aboue other places : But neyther of these 
haue euer bene, neyther hereafter can be: Therefore that 
office is vnlawfuU. 

Therefore if the office of the Archb. be not of God ; if the 
original of it be vnknown ; if in the Church it be The conclusion 
needlesse ; if all the gifts that God hath bestowed vppon his 
ministery be appropriated vnto those Church officers, where- 
of he is none ; if none may lawfully bestow such an office 
vpon any ; if it can neyther bee incident vnto any one man 
for his excellencie, nor his place for preheminence : then 
must it needs follow, that his office is vnlawfuU. 

Caluin in his Institut. booke 4. cap. 11. sect. 7. alleadgeth 
diuers reasons to this purpose, and Beza in his booke of 

Ekg, Sen, Lib, No. 9. ^ 



22 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. [jL^^^. 

diuorcementSy stretcheth the same to all the inferiour officers 
vnder him paying: Officials, proctors, promotours, and all 
that swinish filth, now of long time hath wasted the Churche. 
So doth Peter Martyr vppon the Rom. 13. speaking against 
ciuill Jurisdiction in Byshops, doth by the same reasons 
condemne it in their substitutes. 

But this being the corner stone of their building, they 
labour to support it with many props the most special 
whereof are these. 

1 Obiection Cyprian sayth, lib. i. Epist. 3. ad CoYnelium^ 
Se^officTof^' Neyther haue haeresies and schismes risen of anye 
the Archb : other occasion, then of that, that the prieste of God 

and answers . ^vj ^i '^j* ^i_ a* 

thcrvnto. IS not obcyed, neyther one priest for the time, 
and one iudge for the time in the stead of Christ thought 
vpon, to whome if the whole brotherhood woulde be obedient 
according to Gods teachinge, no man woulde mooue any 
thing against the College of priests 

Answere This place is alleaged for the pope and the 
answere that M. lewel and others make to it, serueth our 
turne : onely let this be noted, that Cyprian speaketh of the 
people at Rome, that had receiued another bishop (besides 
Cornelius) who was an haeretike ; for all the course of his 
writings, condemneth this superioritie. It is expounded by 
M. lewel, booke i. sect. 4. diuision 5, of euery bishop : and 
so is it by M. Nowell against Dorman, booke i. page 25. and 
also by M. Foxe, tom.' i. fol. 93. See T.C. in his i. reply 
page 98. &c.^ 

2 Obiection The authority of the Archb. preserueth 
vnitie. 

Answere Cyprian lib. 4. Epist. 9. sayth that vnitie is 
reserued by the agreement of bishopps, that is of ministers, 
one with another. 

3 Obiection It compoundeth controuersies, that els would 
growe to many heades without any special remedie. 

Answere Cyprian lib. i. Epist. 13. sayth that the plenti- 
fuU body and company of Elders, are (as it were) the glewe 
of mutual concord, that if any of our companye be authour 
of hseresie, the rest should helpe« 

4 Obiection lerome vpon Tit. i. sayth that in the 
beginning a bishop and priest (meaning a teaching Elder) 
were all one : but when men began to say, I am of Paule, I 



juiySL] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 2^ 

am of Apollo [s] , &c» It was decreed that one shoulde bfe 
chosen to beare rule ouer the rest. 

Answere From the beginning it was not so: the sayinge 
of Tertull. Contra Prax. is fitt for this : that is true what- 
souer is firste, and that is false whatsoeuer is latter: and 
lerome sayth in the place alleaged, that this authority is by 
custome and not by any institution of God ; if it had bene 
the best way to take away diuisions, the Apostles (in whose 
times the controuersies did arise) would haue taken the same 
order. 

6 Obiection Caluine sayth that the Apostles had one 
among them to gouerne the rest. 

Answere That was not in superioritie, but for order to 
propound the matters, gather the voyces and such like; 
which is meete to be in euery wel ordered meeting: but his 
authority is no more ouer the rest, then the speaker in the 
Parliament hath ouer the other knightes and Burgesses. 

6 Obiection Paule was superior to Timothy and Titus. 

Answere Paule and they had diuers offices, whereof the 
Apostles office was the chiefe, the like is to be sayd of 
Timothie aiid Titus, hauing superiority ouer the other 
ministers, for that they were Euangelists, a degree aboue 
ordiharie ministers. 

Therefore if the place alleaged out of Cyprian, make 
nothing for Archb. if vnity be not preserued by him, but 
by the By shoppes among themselues; if his autho- The conclusion 
ritie make nothing to the taking away of controuersies; 
if it be meerly inuented by man, and not from the 
beginning; if it be by custome, and not by any ordinance of 
God ; if neyther one Apostle ouer the rest, nor any of them 
ouer the EuangelistSj nor of the Euangelistes ouer the 
pastours and teachers, wil serue to prooue their authority: 
then must it needs follow, that it is vtterly vnlawful. 

No man may be ordayned vnto any office in the Church, 
vntill there be such a pliace voyde as he is.Theaproposi- 
fit for, T.C. booke i. page 6i. VVhttgift, page 222. reMOMforU; 

1 As was the 12. place for Matthias, so is a certaine 
Church, to euery Church officer: But Matthias was not 
ordained vnto the place of an Apostle, vntill ludas Act r. 



«y. 



24 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. [jL^xtw: 

by hanging himself, had made it voyde, Act i. 20. Therefore 
may none be ordained vnto any office in the Church, before 
the place where he may be imployed, be destitute of such 
a one. 

2 As the Apostles did in planting of the Churches, so must 
it bee done in the buyldinge thereof for euer: But they 
ordayned neyther pastour, teacher, elder or deacon, but to 
some certaine Church that had neede therof : Therfore may 
none bee ordayned vnto any office, vntill a place be voyd 
that hath need of him. 

3 Those thinges that bee of one beginning, continuance 
and ending, cannot be one, before or after another : But a 
minister, and the execution of his ministery in a lawfuU 
standing be so ; for they be relatiues, and haue reference one 
vnto the other : Therfore a minister ought not be ordained 
before there be a ministery whervnto he is to be allotted. 

4 If non[e] ought to be called to be a shepherd, that hath no 
flocke of sheepe to keepe: neither any watchman, that is not 
allotted to som place to watch : then may none be ordayned 
to any office, before there be a place void for him : for 
ministers are in this sence tearmed shepheards and watch- 
men : But the former is true, as euery simple man can easily 
perceiue : Therefore the latter is true also. 

5 To do contrary to the precepts and practize of the 
Apostles is vnlawfuU : But to ordain any officer, without a 
certain place wherin he may be imployed, is contrary to the 
precepts and practize of the Apostles, as it appeareth. Tit. 
I. 5. Act. 14. 23. Therefore to ordayne any officer of the 
Churche, without a certayne place wherevnto he is to be 
allotted, is vnlawfull. 

6 It was ordayned that no Elder, Deacon, or any other 
Coanai Ecclesiastical officer, shoulde bee ordayned a 

cap!^6.°i. IS ApolelymenoSf that is loosely, or let at randone 
(but as afterward is expounded) specially in a Church of 
citie or towne. 

7 The ordination that is made without a title, let it be 
concii. vrba- yoid : and in what Churche one is intituled, let 

num test Ora- - . , 

tuum dist. 70. nim tiiere remame. 

leromad 8 Hc complaiueth that ministers were ordayned, 

Nepotian. bciug choscn by no Churche, and so went here and 
there, hauing no certaine place. 



ji,y?588.] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 25 

9 That action, which neuer is read to be practized, but by 
idolators is vnlawfull : To haue wandring officers, is onely 
found to be in idolaters, as appeareth ludg. 17. 8. There- 
fore it is vnlawfull. 

Therefore, if the Apostles ordayned not Mathias, vntill 
the place was voide ; if in planting of Churches, they 
euer alotted officers to their proper places ; if The conclusion. 
minister and ministery be of one beginning, continuance and 
ending ; if it be with a minister, and his ministery, as with a 
shepheard and his flocke, that he cannot be the one, but in 
respect of hauing the other ; if it be vnlawfull to transgresse 
the precepts and practize of the Apostles ; if no minister in 
the Church, be ordained at randone ; if the ordination that 
is without a title be voyde ; if lerome complayned of it, as a 
great faulte in his time ; if no example be founde of it, but 
in Idolaters : then must it needs follow, that to ordayne any 
Church officer, vntill there be such a place voyd as he is fit 
for, is vtterly vnlawfull : and so the Bb. making of many 
ministers at once, and licencing of wandring preachers, is 
contrary to the word of God. 

They will haue some thing to saye for euery action they 
doe, be it neuer so shamefull : that which they Anobiection. 
alleage for this, is, that Paule and Barnabas did wander. 

The Apostles office (and so the Euangelistes as assistants 
vnto them) was to prech the word, and plant The answer*. 
Churches in euery part of the world : but the order that they 
left, is a president for us, which is that euery Church haue 
their proper officers, and that there be no other elsewhere to 
be found. 

Chap. 3. 

Vei^ Church-officer, ought to execute the office 
committed vnto him, with all faythfull our assertion, 
diligence, and consequently be continually resident 
vppon his charge, T.C. booke i. page 65. 

They deny not the proposition, but the consequent that is 
inferred vpon it, as appeareth by their writinges. Their assertion. 
VVhitgift page 246. and by their dayly practize in giuing 
dispensations for many benefices. 




26: A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. \J^t^\ 

The reasons we alleadge to proo^e the necessitie of per- 
petuall residence, and the vnlawfulnes of nonresidence, 
be these that follow. 

1 A shepheard hath a flpcke to the en<Je to feed it con- 
tinually : The minister is a shepheardj and his charge a 
flocke: Therefore he ought to feed it continually, and con- 
sequently to be perpetually resideint, for how can he feed 
them from whom he is absent. 

2 Where God doth place anye man, there his continuall 
trauaile is needfuU, for God is most wise in disposing euery 
thing: But God placeth euery right minister ouer that people, 
which is his charge: Therefore his cqntinuall trauaile is 
needfuU there, and consequently he may not. discontinue. 

3 Flockes that are in danger, are (by carefull shepeards) 
watched night and day, Luk [e] . 2. 8. Euery congregation is a 
flocke in daunger, for the enemie goeth about like a roaring 
lyon, I. Pet. 5. 8. and soweth tares whilest men sleepe. 
Math. 13. 25. Therefore euery congregation is to bee watched 
night and day by the minister therof, and consequently he, 
may not be nonresident. 

4 If his dutie to them requireth so muche trauayle, as 
may continually set him on worke, then may he not be non- 
resident: But it is euident (that it doth so) to all them that . 
eyther know by the worde of God, what studie, prayer, 
doctrine, exhortation, &c. be reqijiired of him, or maketh anye 
conscience of giuing account for the souls committed to their . 
charge: Therfore may not they be nonresident. 

1 6 If the minister cannot apply himsejf fruitfully, to the 
capacitie of his people, vnlesse hee haue particular knpwledge . 
of their disposition, and capacitie, then is it not lawfuU for 
him to be nonresident: for by continuall residence among 
them, he may knowe them ahd not else: But the -former^is 
true, as the small knowledge that the people gef by generall 
teaching, doth euidently declare: Therfore is not lawful for 
him to be nonresident. 

6 If the ministers of the Gospell, be as narrowly tyed to 
their charges, as the priests vnder the law, then may they 
not be nonresident: For they were alwayes readie in the 
Temple, to answere the doubts, i. Sam. i. 9: But it is clear 
that they are, because men are now as hardly trayned vnto 
godlines, and the enemie is as. wrathfuU as he was then: 
Therefore they may not be nonresident. 



jL^itS:] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 27 

7 If the minister must be an example to his people; then 
must he be daily present with them, that they may beholde 
him: But the former is true, i. Tim. 4. 12. Therfore is the 
latter true also. 

8 He whom the sheepe are to follow in and out, and must 
knowe by the voyce, ought to bee continually among them 2 
A good minister of the worde is such a one, lohn. 10. 4. 
Therefore he must be resident among them. 

9 None can be alwayes readie to feede his flocke, that is 
absent from it : Euerye minister must be alwayes readie to 
feede his flocke, because it dependeth vpon him. i. Pet. 5. 2. 
Therefore euery minister is to bee resident with his flocke. 

10 Hee that must take heede to his flocke, watch ouer it, 
and feed it, must be resident continually with it : Euery 
minister must do so, Act. 20. 28. Therefore, &c. 

11 If Satan be the cause of nonresidence, then is it vtterly 
vnlawfuU: But Satan is the cause of it, i. thes. 2. 17. 18. 
Therfore it is vtterly vnlawful. 

12 That which abridgeth the loue of God to his people, 
and comfort to the minister, that same is vnlawfull : But not 
to be resident doth both : Therefore it is vnlawfull. 

13 That which hindreth the louing familiarity that shoulde 
be betwixt the minister and his people, that same is vnlawfull: 
But nonresidence doth so, for it maketh them strange one to 
another, and argueth small loue in him towards them: 
Therefore it is vnlawfull. 

. 14 To be absent from them that haue interest in vs, and 
continuall need of vs is vnlawful, which we can see to be 
true in our seruants, &c: But the congregation hath an 
interest in the minister, and continuall neede of him : 
Therefore it is vnlawfull for him to bee absent from them. ' 

15 If the priests might not dwell farre from the temple, 
then may not ministers be nonresident : But the former is 
true, as appeareth by this; that they had houses buylded 
close to the Temple, i. Chron. 28. 13. Therefore the latter 
is true also, seeing the residence of the one is as needful! as 
the other, as appeareth in the sixt reason. 

16 Let no Clarke be placed in two charges, for it is filthie 
merchaundize, and no nian can serue two masters, concu Nice 
and euerye one must tary in that place wherevnto ^°" 's. 
he is called. 



28 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE, [jl^t^. 

17 Damasus compareth them that set ouer their charges 
concii. torn. 2. to othcrs, to harfots that put out their children^ 
that they may giue themselues to lust the sooner. 
Thcoderet lib. 18 It was ordayned that none, eyther B. oi' 
I. cap. 19. Elder, should go from citie to citie. 

Therefore, if a minister haue the charge of a flocke com- 
Theconciusion mitted vuto him, to the end to feed it; if God 
place men, to the end to haue them there imploied; if 
flocks in daunger haue need of continuall watche; if the 
ministers dutie to his flocke requireth all that trauayle that 
he can performe ; if he cannot be fruitfully profitable vnto 
them, without continuall residence; if his residence be as 
strictly required as theirs vnder the law ; if he cannot be a 
patterne vnto them without he be resident ; if they cannot 
follow him, nor know him if he be absent ; if he cannot be 
alwayes readie to feed his flock, vnlesse he bee there ; if hee 
cannot take heede to them, feede them, and watche ouer 
them, without his presence ; if Satan be the authour of non- 
residencie; if his absence abridge Gods loue to them^ 
and comfort from himselfe ; if absence be an hinderance to 
the louing familiaritie that shoulde be betwixt him and them; 
if they haue interest in him, and continuall neede of him ; if 
he may no more bee absent, then the priests dwell from the 
Temple ; if the Councel of Nice did vpon good grounds forbid 
it ; if absence be like to the practize of an harlot ; if it be 
not lawfull to go from place to place ; then is nonresidence 
vnlawfull, and the practize therof contrary to the word of God. 
The bellie (for which nonresidencie is defended and 
practized) hath no eares, therefore it is that they heare 
not these euident sounds ; yet haue they very little to saye 
for it, so grosse is the error thereof; so much as hath any 
shewe of reason, is here set downe and answered. 

1 Obiection Two parrishes may bee vnited, why then may 
not one haue charge of them both before, when they be two. 

Answere Because one shepheard may keep one flocke 
though it bee great, but hee cannot keepe two, being verye 
little, and going in diuers pastures ; againe, one man may 
haue so many flockes as he can lead in and out euerye 
Sabboth, to the exercises of religion, which is verye plaine 
that he cannot doe, to more then one congregation. 

2 Obiection Parishes were deuided by men, as especially 
by Denis the Monk, Pope of Rome. 




jL^z^li] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 29 

Answere That is vntrue, for the Apostles deuided the 
Church into congregations, and placed elders ouer euery one 
of them, as the whol[e] course of the Acts and Epistles of 
the Apostles prooueth: and VVhitgift confesseth page 250. 
Therefore these mistes notwithstanding, nonresidencie must 
needes be vnlawfuU: and certainely those that haue any 
sparkle of conscience, feare of God, or loue to their flockes, 
will neuer defend it, much lesse enter into the practize of it. 

Chap. 4. 

|T belongeth to the Church, to make choise of those 

)fficers which Christ would haue placed our assertion. 

jin the same: T.C. 2. booke i. part[,] page 193. 

|Ecclesiast. Discip. fol. 40. and VVhitgift confesseth 

it page 164. 

They deny this, as their denying of al the arguments that 
bee brought for it doth prooue, VVhitgift page 154. 166. &c. 
and their practize of allowing patrons, and also being such 
themselues doth euidently declare. 

If the former bee prooued true, then the latter must returne 
to Antichriste, which is thus declared. 

1 That which was the continuall and constant practize of 
the Church in the time of the Apostles, that same Act. i. 26. 

is to be followed for euer, which appeareth by this, that the 
ordinaunces giuen from God by Paule, i. Tim. 6. 14. are en- 
ioyned to be kept vntill Christ come to iudgement : but it 
was the constant, and the continuall practize of the Churches, 
then to haue a stroke in the choyse of their owne ecclesias- 
tical officers. Act. i. and 26. where the Apostles presented two, 
to the peoples liking : wherof God was to be prayed vnto, 
to make one an Apostle. Act. 6. 3. where the Church is 
willed to choose their Deacons, and Act. 14, 25. where they 
gaue their consent in the choosing of their elders, by the 
stretching forth of their handes : Therefore it belongeth to 
the Church to choose their owne Church officers. 

2 If the people had an interest in the liking of their 
teaching Leuites, (which were of the tribe of Numb. 8.9. 
Aaron) then much more must the people now, for there was 
greater likelihood, that they were sent of God, then any of 
the common sort of men : But the former is true, as appereth 



30 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. {J^^^\ 

by the manner of the setting of them a side vnto that office 
in the lawe : .Therefore must the latter needs Be true also. 

3 That which pertayneth vnto all, ought to be approoued 
of all the congregation : But euery ministery in the Church, 
pertayneth to all the congregation : Therefore, authority to 
approoue of them, pertayneth to all the congregation. 

4 That election which is most effectuall to bring the 
people to obedience, is of all other the best ; and to abridge 
it, is vnlawfull : But election by common consent, is most 
effectuall to bring the people to obedience, when they shall 
see him teache or rule, whom they themselues haue chosen : 
Therefore election by the Church is the best, and all other 
kindes of elections vnlawfull. 

6 That election which procureth greatest reuerence of the 
people to their teachers and rulers is meetest, and all others 
vnlawfull : But for the people to consent in the election of 
their gouernours, procureth greatest reuerence, in their 
hearts towards them : Therefore election by the people is 
the best, and all others bee vnlawfull. 

Testimonies of the ancient writers. 

6 The minister should be chosen (the people being pre- 
Cypnanbooke scut) in the cycs of all, and should be by the 
ii5>ist.3. common iudgement, and testimonie approoued 
worthy and fit : &c. Therefore this is the lawfuU vocation 
by the worde of God, where those which are chosen, be 
appoynted by the consent and approbation of the people. 
For which also, he bringeth diuers authorities out of the 
Scriptures. 

Ambrose 7 That is truely and certainly a diuine election 

Epist: 8a of a Byshop, which is made by the whole Church, 
leromead 8 Lct the pcoplc haue authority to choose their 

Ruffinum. Clarkcs and ministers. 

AdNepotia- 9 They runne (speaking of the life of the 
""^ Clarkes) to Byshops suffragans certaine time^ of 

the yeare, and bringing some sum of money, they are 
anoynted and ordayned, being chosen of none, and after- 
This is right ward the Byshop without any lawfuU election, 

our English . , .•' , -^ r xi_ 

fashion. IS chosen m huggermuger oi the canons, or 
prebendaries onely, without the knowledge of the people. 
Nazianien. 10 In tbc Oration of the death of his Father, 



jL™588.] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 3 1 

approoueth the election by the people, at large, and confuteth 
them that would hinder it 

U When he appoynted Eradius to succeed him, Augustine. 
sayth, it was the approoued right and custome, that the 
whole Churche should eyther choose or consent vnto their 
Bishop. 

12 Anthimius choosing a Bishopp without the peoples 
consent, filled all Armenia with sedition. Basil. Epist. 

13 Why did Peter communicate the election * . 
with, the disciples ? lest the matter should haue acJ'r*'' ^ 
turned to a braule, and haue fallen to a contention. 

Testimonies of generall Councells. 

14 It is'meete that you should haue power, both to choose, 
and to giue their names that are worthy to be among the 
cleargie, and to do all things absolutely according ^5"^%.^'^*''* 
to the lawes and decrees of the Church, and if it ret!*" *° °* 
happen any to dye in the. Church, then those which were 
last taken, are to be promoted,, to the honor of him that is 
dead, if they be worthy, and if the people choose them. 

16 Let the people choose, and the By-shopp ap- The same 
prooue, and scale vp the election with them. trf^Tiib. i!*" 

16 In an Epistle to Damasus, Ambrose &c. sayth, we 
haue ordayned Nectarius Bishopp of Constantinople, condi. con- 
&c. the whole citie decreeing the same; and ^";i^®i^J/ii^\ 
Flauianus. was appoynted Bishop of Antioch, the 9- cap. 14. 
whole citie appoynting him. 

17 When he hath bin examined in all these and found 
fully instructed, then let him be ordayned Bishop, condi. car- 
by the common consent of the Clarkes and lay *^''^^^"'*- 
people. 

18 Let not him be qonpted a prieste in the Church, whom 
the cleargie, and people of that citie where he is, Conci.Toietan. 

« . 1 test* (list* 5'* 

do not choose. 

19 If any Bishop after the death of his predecessor, be 
chosen of any, but of the Bishops of the same concii:Gabii. 
prouince, and of the cleargie and citizens, let c^«>«^o- 
another be chosen : and if it be otherwise, let the ordination 
be void and of none effecte. 

Testimonies out of the Emperors lawes. 

20 Following the doctrine of the holy A^o^lk.'s.^ &5:.* ^^ 



32 A DEMONSTRAJION OF DISCIPLINE. [iL^xtwl 

j^tinian in ordaync, that as oft as it shall fall out, that the 
ministers place shalbe voyde in any citie, that 
voyces be giuen of the inhabiters of that citie, that hee (of 
three whiche for their right fayth, holines of life, and other 
things, are most approoued) be chosen to the Bishopprick 
which is most meete of them. 

21 Being not ignoraunt of the holy canons : that the holy 
caroius Mag- Churche should vse her honour the more freely, 
«c^mm^^ we assent vnto the ecclesiasticall order, that the 
canonum. Bishops bc chosen, by the election of the cleargie 
and people. 

Lodouicus 22 He decreed, that he should be Bishop of Rome, 
caroiifiiius. whome all the people of Rome shoulde consent to 
choose. 

23 Lodouicke the second, commaunded by his letters, the 
Andiiani* "^^ Ro^ismes to choose their owne Bishopp, not looking 
sccundi? for other mens voyces, which (being straungers) 
coulde not so well tell what was done in the commoq- wealth, 
where they were strangers, and that it appertayned to the 
citizens. 

Idem in vita 24 Lct thc people (sayth Otho the Emperor) 
Lconis octeui. choose and I will approue it. 

The testimonies of the nevve writers. 

25 The newe writers, as Musculus, in his Common places, 
in the title of Magistrats: BuUinger vpon i. Tim. 4. Caluine 
Institut. booke 4. chap. 3. sect. 15. Harmon, confes. Heluet. 
cap. 18. and many others are on our side in this behalfe. 

26 If there bee none that write against it, but the papists, 
and no arguments vsed against it, but those which be 
borrowed out of the popish writers: then doth it belong 
to the Church to choose their own^ Church officers : But 
the former is true, as all that doe read them, that write of 
this argument do knowe, and as is manifest, by comparing 
Pighius, Hosius, &c. with VVhitgift : Therefore the latter is 
true also. 

Therefore seeing the interest of the Church in choosing of 
TheConciusion their Church officers, is grounded vpon the word of 
J*^; ^^^ God, both in commaundement, and continuall prac- 
ai2. tize, both in the olde and newe Testament ; seeing 

it 'is warranted by the light of common reason ; seeing it is 



jL^xts":] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 33 

commended vnto vs, by the manifold practice of all ancient 
times, so long as any sinceritie remayned, not onely in the 
time of persecution, but also of peace ; seeing it hath beene 
confirmed by so many generall Councels and ratified by the 
decrees of so many Emperors ; seing it hath such a cloude of 
witnesses, both of ancient and latter times, of the best ap- 
prooued writers ; seeing none doe set themselues against it, 
but the papistes, or they that invade it onely with the same 
weapons that are fetched out of the popes Armory : it must 
needs follow, that it belongeth vnto the Churche to choose 
their Churche officers : and that the taking away of this free- 
dom, abridgeth the libertie that Christ hath endowed his 
Churche withall, and bringeth her into great bondage, as Mus- 
culus truly affirmeth. 

Their obiedions against those things are these 

1 Obiection They were then vnder the crosse, few in num- 
ber, and therfore it was easily knowen who were fit. 

Answere The Gospell was dispersed thorow out all Asia, 
Affrica, and much of Europe, and they could lesse keepe to- 
gether, or meete, and therefore that maketh rather for vs. 

2 Obiection Wee haue many hypocrites, to whome it were 
daungerous to committ such waightie actions. 

Answere It is true, that we haue many : but it is a prin- 
ciple in hypocrisie, to be forwardst in such publike actions, 
that they may get fame thereby. 

3 Obiection They had knowledge to doe it, but our people 
be ignorante. 

.fljiswere We should also finde our people to haue know- 
ledge, if they had teaching : but howsoeuer they choose, they 
cannot haue worse then ordinarily are chosen by the Bishops 
and patrons. 

4 Obiection The Church was not then established, 
Answere That is vntrue, for though it wanted the helpe 

of Magistrates, yet the Apostles coulde and did better 
establish without them, then we can with the helpe of them : 
but if this order might be altered, it had bene fitter then, for 
nowe the magistraicie may compounde the differences of the 
Elders, which help then they lacked. 
6 Obiection Drunkards, papists, &c. wil choose them 



34 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. [jLcftu. 

that bee like themselues, and we knowe the best disposed be 
alwayes the fewest. 

Answere Such are not of the Churche,but without, i Cor. 
5. 12. and therefore are not to meddle in anye holy action : 
but if the people shoulde choose an vnmeete man, the elder- 
shippe that gouerneth the action, is to reforme them : besides 
this, if Gods order had hir place, the schooles of the prophets 
would send them none, (for the ministers especially) to make 
choyse of, but meet men, that whomsoeuer they tooke, he 
should be found sufficient. 

6 Obiection Paule commandeth i. Tim. 5. 22 to lay his 
handes on no man rashly : therefore one did it. 

Answere Hee teacheth what to doe for his part, and 
though others would be rashe, yet he should not ioyne with 
them in it, as appeareth in the latter ende of that same verse, 
for that is ascribed vnto him, which also belonged vnto others, 
because he was the director : Caluin and Musculus expound 
the place so. 

7 Obiection The Councell of Laodicea, decreed that the 
people should not elect. 

Answere That is, as Caluine taketh it vpon Acts 16. they 
might not elect alone, without the direction of some graue 
and good minister, which should be the manner in the 
elections, that (according to Gods word) we desire. 

Chap. 5. 

One is to be admitted vnto any publike office in the 
Church vntill he be thorowly examined by the elder- 
ship, both concerning his state of Christianitie, and 
abilitie to that place where to he is to be called, 
i .C. I. book : page 38. Disci. Ecclesiast fol. 46 : 

They thinke one may do it, as appereth by the book of 
ordering, &c. VVhitgift page 134. and 135. and their slight 
passing it ouer, thorow the Archdeacons hands. 




ke former is proouedy and the latter disprootted 
thus. 



T 

1 Those .that are toordayne, must haue particular know- 
ledge of the parties to bee ordayhed, (or else they breake the 
rule prescribed them, !• Tim. 5.22.) which cannot be without 



jL^ilsi:] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 35 

examination : But the Eldership is to ordayne euerye Churche 
officer, as shall appeare in the Chap [ter] . of Ordination : 
Therefore it belongeth to the Eldership tb examine, &c. 

2 The matter of greatest importance in the gouemement 
of the Churche, must be done by the most able gouemours of 
the same : The approouing or disproouing of Churche officers, 
is the matter of greatest importance, because the consequence 
of ruling well is the best, or ill the worst : and the Eldership 
is the Senate of most able gouemours in the Church, as shall 
appear in the Chap [ter]. of Eldership: Therefore the 
Eldership is to examine, &c. 

3 The way whereby a mans insufficiencie is best espyed 
and his abilitie discerned, is the fittest to examine them that 
are to be admitted : But by the eldership (consisting of diuers) 
his insufficiencie is best espyed, and his abilitie best discerned, 
for the common prouerbe telleth vs that many eyes do see 
more then one : Therefore it belongeth to the Eldership, &c. 

4 They are to examine Church officers, that are least sub- 
iect to be blinded with partiallitie : But the Eldership is least 
subiect to partiallitie, both for that they be many, who are not 
so easily ouer ruled by affection or fauour, as one, as also (and 
that especially) for that it being the Lords owne ordinance (as 
shall appeare) we are to perswade our selues, that his spirit 
shal guyde them : Therefore it belongeth to the Eldership, &c. 

6 The way that was vsed in the Apostles time in examin- 
ing, is of vs to be folowed, vnles some reason out of the word 
to perswade the conscience, can be alleadged to the contrary, 
which none haue euer yet done : But many vsed in the 
Apostles time to examine, as appereth in chosing oiit one to 
te in the place of ludas. Act. i. 22. 23. and fit men for 
Deacons, Act. 6, 5. wherof the gouemours especially were 
some, for that they were to ordayn vpon knowledge, as is 
said in the first reason : Therefore it belongeth to the 
Eldership, &c. 

6 They whose testimony the people may best credit, are 
to examine them that are to be admitted : But the people 
may best credite the iudgement of a company of able and 
sufficient men, which the Eldershipp rightly established must 
needes be : Therefore it belongeth to the Eldership. &c. 

7 Examination belongeth vnto them which may most 
perswade the people of his sufficiency, and so procure gretest 



*> 



6 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE, [jL^itss! 



reuerence vnto him in his place : But the examination by the 
Eldership is such : Therefore it belongeth to the Eldership, &c. 
Therefore if they that are to ordain, must examine : if it 
The conclusion fac a matter of gretest waight in the gouemment of 
the Churche, and they the most able to dispatch it ; if by 
them his sufficiency or insufficiency be best found out ; if 
they be hardliest carried away with affection or parciallitie ; 
if the examination was suche in the Apostles time ; if the 
people may (in reason) giue most credit to the examination 
that is by such ; if that kinde of examination perswade 
the people best of his sufficiencies and procure him greatest 
reuerence in his place : then must it needs folow, that it 
pertaineth to the Eldership to examine those that are to bee 
admitted to any office in the Church. 

There is nothing obiected against this, that hath 

any shew of reason in it, and therfore it were needles 

to set any thing downe. 

Chap. 6. 

Efore consent be giuen to any man vnto any calling 
in the Churche, it must appeare (by sufficient tryall, 
and due examination) that he is quallified with those 
giftes, that the worde of God requireth in one of 

that place, Discipl. Ecclesiast fol. 44. T.C. 2. booke : i. part 

page 368. and in many other places. 

They gainsay this in two points : first in mainteining their 

reading ministery : secondly, in gouerning the Church, by 

their commissaries and officialls: which both shalbe 

ouerthrown, if we prooue these two propositions following, 

to be true by the worde of God. 

No man ought to bee receiued vnto the ministery, but such 

The I. Pro- as be able to teache the trueth and conuince the 

position. gainsayers. 

The 2. pro- The Churche ought not to be gouerned by 

position. commissaries officialls and chauncellors. 

1 T T e that may be receiued into the ministery, must 

J[ 1 be able to teach the people, whatsoeuer Christe 

Thy.pro-^^^ hath commauuded, Matth. 28. 20. Onely he that is 

p?OTued'* "* able to teache the trueth, and conuince the 




jL^xls";] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 3 '^ 

gainsayers, can teach the people whatsoeuer Christ hath 
commanded : Therefore . none must be receiued into the 
ministery, but such as be able to teach, &c. 

2 That which is to be done conditionally, may not be 
done, if that condition be not kept: Men are to be receiued 
into the ministery conditionally, that is, if they bee 
vnreprooueable, Tit. i. 5. 6. Therefore if they be not such 
as bee there discribed, they may not be receiued: and 
consequently, none may be receiued, but such as be able to 
teach. &c. 

3 That which cannot be done without the manifest brech 
of Gods commandement, may not be done at all : To receiue 
any that be not able to teach, is a manifest breach of Gods 
commaundement. i. Tim. 3. i. Tit. i. g. Therefore no man 
ought to be receiued into the ministerye, that is not able to 
teach, &c. 

4 They whome the Lorde refuseth to be his ministers, 
may not be receiued into the ministery : for the ministery 
being the Lords haruest, we may admit none to labour therein, 
but onely such, as he hath giuen liking of, by the rules of 
his worde : The Lorde refuseth to be his ministers, all those 
that cannot teach : Hosea 4. 6. Therefore such as are not 
able to teache, may not be receiued, and consequently none 
may be receiued, but those that be able to teach, &c. 

5 He that may be admitted into the ministery, must be 
able to deuide the word of God aright, 2. Tim. 2. 15. Onely 
he that is able to teaoh and conuince the gainesayers, can 
deuide the worde of God aright : Therefore none may be 
admitted into the ministery, but he that is able to teach, &c. 

6 He that may bee admitted into the ministery, must 
haue a treasury, furnished with olde thinges and newe, and 
must be able to bring it forth as occasion shal serue : Matth. 
13. 52. Onely hee that is able to teache, &c. is such a one : 
Therefore onely he may be admitted &c« 

7 He that can espy the enemy, and giue warning afore- 
hand how to resist him, may be receiued into the ministery, 
Ezek. 33. 7. None can espy the enemie, and giue warning 
^orehande howe to resist him, but he that is able to teach : 
&c. Therefore none may be admitted into the ministery, but 
he that is able to teach, &c. 

8 He that leadeth himselfe, and his people into hel, may 

Eng, sen. Lib, No. 9. a 



38 .i€ DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. \^^^ 



Confes. 
Hduet. 



not be admitted into the ministery : He that is not able to 
teache and conuince the gainsayer, leadeth himselfe and his 
people into hell. Matth. 15. 14. Therefore he that is not 
able to teache, &c. may not be admitted into the ministery. 
Angast.ub 9 Hee thatpreacbeth not, but holdeth his peace 
dcpast. murdereth. 

Gregor. x. 10 Hfee that preacheth not, is not sent, and so 

epist 33. he begetteth no fa3^h in man. 
, 11 In that S. Paule, requiireth that a byshop should be 
leromead wisc, he barreth those, that vnder the name of 
oecumcnium. simplicitye, excuse the follye of ministers. 

12 We condemne all vnmeet ministers, not endued with 
gifts necessary for a shepherd that should feed his 
flocke. 

, Therfore, if a minister must teache vnto his people all 
that Christe hath commaunded ; if none may be made 
ministers, but conditionally, if they be quallified with gifts 
meete for the same; if vnpreaching ministers cannot be 
made without the manifest breach of the commaun dement 
of God ; if they may not bee made ministers, whom the Lord 
refuseth to haue ; if euery minister must haue a treasurie 
well furnished, and be able to bring forth of it when need 
requireth; if euery minister must haue skill to see the 
enemie, and to giue warning aforehand how to resist him ; if 
vnleamed ministers draw their people to hell after them ; if 
he that preacheth jiot;, be a murtherer ; if he be not sent; 
and so doe no good : if he be barred from the ministery : 
lastly, if he be condemned, as not to be in such a place : then 
must it needes followe, that none may be receiued into the 
ministery, but suqh as be able to teach the trueth, and to 
conuince the gainsayer. , 

Many are the arguments that be alleaged to this purpose, 
andmaijy moe may. be alleadged, (for the whole course of the 
scriptures tende therevnto) the testimony of all sorts of 
writers, is very plentiful! for this purpose: yea of the viery 
Canon law, (as the authour of the 4bstracte hath learnedly 
prooued) and yet doe not, our., prelates rest in the same, but 
haue sett themselues (though, in a silly manner) against it, 
in this sort that foUoweth. 

1 Obiection There must bee reading in the Church, there?i 
fore a reading ministery, VVhifgift p^-ge 252. ^■ 



. - -. 



-/.••• 






jL""^] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE, 39 

Answers By that reason we muste haue an; officer for 
euery particular action, for there must be breaking of bread 
in the Church, and powring of water; but it foUoweth not^ 
that therefore there must bee one, whpse office must bee 
onely to breake bread, or to powrie water. 

2 Obiection It is better to biaue readers then none, for 
preachers cannot be had for euerye congregation. , 

Answere It is not better^ for if they had non [e] , they 
would seek for him that they should haue ; whereas nowe, 
they that haue a reader onely, thinke themselues in case good 
inough : but if there be such want of prechers, why are so 
many of the most diligent and able ones turned out. 

3 Obiection It is impossible to haue prechers euery wherci 
and suche as can be had, must bee taken. 

Answere Sometimes you say all is well: and is it.no>y 
impossible that our state shoulde obey the Lordes ordinance ; 
this is the greatest disgrace to it that can be : afid yet it 
foUoweth not, for no necessitie may warrant vs, to violate thp 
decrees of the highest. 

: 4 Obiection It were vncharitablenes to turne them out 
that be bare readers, for so theyi their wiues and children 
might beg, 

Answere This is to sell mens soulsior moi:sels of bread : 
shall we rather feare the begging of 3. or 4.. then the 
damnation of iqoo. but they may bee other wayes prouided for ; 
they neede. not beg, many of them may retume to their 
occupations againe. 

So that al these obiections notwithstanding, the conclusion 
remaineth sure, which is grounded vpon so many certaine 
and vnmooueable foundations. 

The Churche ought not to begouernedby Commissaries^ 
and officidtls^ and Chauncellors. 

1 They which are no Elders of the Church, haue nothing 
to do in the gouernement of the same, i. Tim. 5. , The^^^^^o: 
17. These chauncellors, commissaries ahHofficialls, prooi^^ ^ 
are no Elders in the Church ; whether we expound Elder for 
a minister, and him alscy,;^ that/is a!^sfeistant vnto the minister 
an ouerseeing the.Churphe, or for a minister onely as they do< 
for none of them be ministers, and if they be, they doe xi4\ 
rule in this respect,! that they are ministers : .Therefore tKe 
Churche ought not to be gouemed by themL . 



....^^!U. 



40 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. [jL^xX 

2 They that must goueme the Churche of God, must haue 
a warraunt for their so doing, from lesus Christ the head of 
the Church : But Chauncellors, &c. haue no warraunt so 
to doe, from lesus Christe the heade of the Churche: 
Therefore the Church ought not to be gouerned by them. 

3 Those whose names offices and practize, be deriued 
from Antichrist, may haue nothing to do in the gouemement 
of the Churche : for who will suffer his wife to be gouerned 
by the Master of a brothelhouse : But the names, offices, and 
practize of Chauncellors, officialls and commissaries be such, 
which is playne by this, that they haue their grounde in that 
filthie dunghill the cannon law : Therefore they may haue 
nothing to do in the gouernement of the Church. 

4 They that being inferiours, doe proudly tyrannize ouer 
their superiours, ought not to rule the Church of God, for it 
is meet it should be ruled by modest, humble and orderly 
men : But such' are they (for being inferiors to the ministers 
of the word, as our aduersaries doe confesse, and is plaine 
also by the cannon lawe they crow ouer them as if they wer 
their slaues :) and if they doe not so, they can doe nothing : 
Therefore they ought not to rule' the Churche of God. 

5 They that Hue by the faultes of men, are not fit to rule 
the Church of God: for they wil rather increase offences 
(that theirgayne may increase) then orderly lessen them, as 
experience (also) prooueth : But suche are all Chauncellors, 
commissaries and officials : Therefore they ought not to rule 
the Church of God* 

' Therefore, if chauncellors, commissaries and officialls be 
no Elders of the Churche ; if they haue no warraunt from 
lesus Christe, the head of the Church; if their names, offices 
and practize, be dei;ivied from Antichrist ; if their office 
compel them (being inferiors) to tyrannize ouer their 
superiours ; if they Hue onely by the faults and offences of 
men : then it must needs followe, that the Churche of God 
ought not to be governed by them. 



C H A P. 7. 

Very officer of the Church must be ordayned by 
the laying on of the handes of the Eldershipp, 
T.C. 2. booke, i. part page 274. Discip. Ecclesiast. 
fol. 53- 




jL^lS A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 4 1 

They say it ought to be done by the bishopp alone, VVhitgift 
page 196. their dayly practize doth likewise shew it. 

T^he former is prooued, and. the latter disprooued by these 
reasons following. 
As Church officers were ordayned in the Apostles time, 
so must they be continually, for they did lay the plot, accord- 
ing wherevnto the Churche must be built vnto the ende : but. 
they were ordayned in the Apostles time by the laying on of 
the hands of the Eldership, Act. 6. 6. and 13. 3. Therefore 
the Churche officers must be ordayned by laying on of the 
handes of the Eldership. 

2 Churche officers must bee ordayned by them that haue 
warrant from the worde, to assure the parties ordayned, that 
they are called of God : Onely the Eldership hath suche a 
warrant, i. Tim. 4. 14. Therefore they ought to bee ordayned 
by the Eldership. 

3 Many of the sentences alleadged before, out of Councells, 
Emperors, lawes, histories, and sound writers both olde and 
newe, for election not to be by one, but by diuers ; speake 
also of ordination, and so are forcible to this purpose. 

4 Euagrius came to the office of a Bishopp vnlawfuUy,, 
because onely Paulinus ordayned him, contrary to "^^"^^ 
the tenure of many Cannons, which prouide, that cap. 23^' 
they should not be ordayned, but by all the Bishops of the 
prouince, or (at the least) by three* 

6 When a Bishop is to be ordayned, &c. one bishop shal^ 
pronounce the blessing, and the rest of the bishops ^Sh^"* 
with the Elders present, shall all lay on their hands. ca^a?' 

6 When a bishopp was to be ordayned, the cyprianiiK. 
bishops adioyning did ordayne him. ^p***- *• 

Therefore if Church officers were ordained in the Apostles 
time, not by one, but by the Eldershipp, consisting The conclusion 
of many; if they be to ordayne, that haue warrant out 
of the worde, to^ assure the parties ordayned, that they 
are called of God ; if ordination by one bishop be vnlawfull 
and contrary to many canons of Councells ; if the bishops 
and Elders were to laye on their hands : lastly, if the bishops 
adioyning were to ordayne ; then must it needes foUowe^ that 
Churche officers are not to be ordained by one man, but by 
the laying on of the handes of the Eldership. 



42" A DEliONSTkATION OF DISCIPLINE, {j};,^^- 

^ ' But they fight hard against this, because it striketh 

at' a maine pillar of their kingdome, their chiefe 

.grounds be these. » . > , .-. ^ 

1 ObfoCtion Paule and Bamabas brdayned Elders, where 
is no, mention of any. Eldership. 

'.. AnSYVete They are said to ordaine, because they being; 
the chiefe procured it ; so is toshua, 5! 3. saide to circumcise, 
which was the Leuites office, so say we, the Queene hath 
riiade a lawfe, and yet not she alone maketh any. 

3 Obiection Though it were so then, yet is it not so required 
liowe, no more then the comniunitie in the Apostles time. 

An^vyere There was no more .communitie then (for they 
that thiiike otherwise, are in'that point Anabaptists) then is to 
be reduired now, so that instance niaketh for vs. 

3 Ubiection Examples are no general rules to be followed; 

Ansvvete Examples not contrarying ariye rule, or reasoii 
of. the Scriptyre, be tp be ioUpwed, as if they were com- 
maundenienteS, so that notwithstanding anything aledged 
to the contrary, it retnaineth vpon the former groundies most 
stedfast, that * it belpiVgeth to t^e Eldership to ordaine those 
Church^ officers that are to ' be iiripiloyed in the publike 
SeruicecifQod. • • i' • ' « ^ ^ -^ ' ' 'V • * , 

Chap. 8. 

IHe ordaining^ of Churche officers must be done with 
[humble prayer of the Eldership, and the'congrega-. 
|ti6nv Disci^L' Ecclesiast. fol. 50. r. :, 
Their vnreuerent beginning and proceedding there- 
with in a corner, is contrary to this : which is condemned by 
the proofetofoui" assertion .by these reasons. 

1 We are to behaue our selues in these actions, as they 
by whom werhaue' direction to doe them, haue set vs an 
example: But the Apostles and Elders, when they ordayned' 
Church officers, did alwayes commende the action to God by 
prayer, tc^ether with those congregations, Puer which they 
placed them, Act. 6.6. and 14.23. Therefore the ordeyning 
of: Churche officers raust be done by humble^ prayer of the. 
Eldership, and congregation. . 

2 The greater the action is that is in hand, the more care* 
fullmust theybe that haue it in hand, to humble themselues 
b^prayer, for the Lords:assistance therein 2 But the ordeyning 





jL^t^?:] A DEMONS'^^RATION OF DISCIPLINE, 43 

of Churche officers, is an action of most weightie importance : 
Therefore they that haue it in hand (which be the 
Eldershipp to ordayne him, and congregation to recejue him) 
ought to humble themselues in earnest prayer before hand. 

o They that shall haue part in the comfort or discojnfort 
of the action, are to iqyne together in prayer vntQ;Go4 
for the better euent,*and against the worse : But, the JBlderT 
shipp and people, shall both haue i^art in the euent of the 
action: Therefore they arc io ibyhe together in humble 
prayer before hand; &t:» * ' IT '^ 

Chap. o. 

jHuirche officers must, be or4ayMd by laying on of 
hands; in this they* agree with vs, concerning th^ 
ceremonie it^s^lfe^ alb^t neyther iii thfe parties by 

|whome,^nor on whome it must be conferred. The 

pront ot this ceremonie appeareth in the reasons following, f: 
,1 That which stirr^th ^yp euerye partie, to pray, with 
more feruencie, is profitable ^to be vsed : But such is this 
ceremonie, for it affe^tetl^ the ordeyners, when they feele him 
for whom they pray ; and the ordeyned ^Yhen he feeleth „a 
calling and charge from God (as it were) sensiblie comming 
yponhim, andlhe congregation, when^they see him seperated 
from the rest, by whome they shall rQapemuche comfort of 
griefe : Therefore the vse of it is very profitable." 

2 That which helpeth forward the party ordained in his 
c.are, to walke with a,.good conscience in his cabling, is pror 
iitkble to be vsed : Such is the imposition of hands, for botl^ 
it^declareth vnto him, that he is separated of God for that 
purpose, and also giuejh him hope, that his hand whp 
allotted him therevnto, will alwayes assist him in the cp\ir§e 
of that calling : Therefore it is qf a profitable vse. 
' 3 That which worketh a more aclfnowledgment of Go^^ 
ordnance in the heartes of . the pfspple, is profitably Jo ,be 
vsed : Such is the laying on of handes, for it declareth vntq 
them, that the Lorde has placed him, ip. that calling oi^eif 
them : Therefpre it is profitable to bee vsed. t j :: 

. .Therefore seeing the ceremonie of layinge on handeg. is 
forcible, to increase | the feruencie of euery xheconciusidi^ 
partie, whjen thej p/ayf ^ seeing at ass\K \.\\& s-'^vcv^ %^- 



44 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. [jLH^ 

the partie ordayned, and giueth htm an ar^ment of good 
hope, for the blessing of God vppon him in the course of the 
same ; and seeing it procureth a more perswasion in the 
people, that he is allotted vnto them from the Lord himselfe ; 
it is euident that it is not a vaine and idle ceremonie (as 
manie do imagine) but of good and profitable vse, in al 
ordinations. 

Chap. io. 

J He Lord hath ordayned thai there should be one 
byshop or pastor (at the least) president ouer eueiy 
congregation, who are of equall authoritie in their 
seueEali charges, and in the general! gouemement 
ot the Churche, T.C. I. booke, page 23. and 2. booke, i. parti 
page 515. 
They roaintaine contrary vnto this, these two. 

1 That one may haue two or mo chardges, and be absent 
from them, as their dispensations and practize do prooue. 

2 That one minister may haue a soueraigntie, and Lord- 
shipp ouer his fellowe ministers. 

Which both being disprooued, the former assertion will 
remaine stilt sure. 

»«™» 1 /~\ne man may not haae mo charges then he 

^Dponticn ** V^is able in any measure to discharge : No 

man is able in anye measure, to discharge the dutie that is 
belonging vnto mo flocks then one, seeing he cannot preach 
vnto them, both in season and out of season : Therefore no 
man may haue mo charges then one. 

2 That which maketh an open entrance to the enemie to 
spoile, cannot be lawfull: for one to haue mo charges then 
one, maketh open entrance for the enemie to spoyle, for the 
wolffe watcheth to deuoure, whitest the shepheard is absent : 
Therfore no man may haue mo charges then one. 

3 That whiche hath neither precepte, nor president for it, 
eyther in Gods worde, or anye approoued writer, but onely 
from Antichristc, is vnlawfuU : But such is the hauing of 
mo charges then one : Therefore it is vnlawfull. 

4 That which declareth a minister to bee more desirous of 
the fleece, then to profile the flocke, that same is vnlawfull : 
Bat such is the hauing of mo charges then one, for were it 



jL^xffl ^ DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 45 

not for the gaine, they would thinke one a burden as heauiei 
as they could beare : Therefore it is vnlawfull. 

5 All the reasons that bee alleadged in the third chapter, 
against nonresidence, are forcible to this purpose, for if he 
may not be nonresident, he may not haue mo charges^ 
vnlesse he be willing to be quartered, that euery chardge may 
haue a piece of him. 

He reckoneth them among theeues, and their Hooper vpoa 
action to be theeuery, condemned by that «• command, 
commandement. 

Therefore, if one man cannot in any tollerable measure 
discharge mo charges then one ; if to haue mo Theconcittsioa 
maketh an open entrance to the enemie to spoyle; if 
it haue neyther precept, nor president for it, but onely iii 
the kingdome of Antichrist ; if it declare the practizers to be 
more desirous of the fleece, then to feede the flocke ; if all the 
reasons that condemne nonresidency be against it ; lastly if 
it be playne theeuery : then must it needes foUowe, that one 
may not haue two, or mo charges. 

Their obiections (such as they be) are set downe in the 
3* chapter, and the answers vnto them« 

The second proposition that they hold is thus. 

One minister may haue a soueraigne authoritie, J3S^"rf£t^ 
and Lordshipp ouer his fellowe ministers; theyhoide,and 
1 • V * ^1 ji* J reasons against 

which IS thus disprooued. it. 

1 They that haue their commission indifferentlygiuenthem, 
without difference betweene one and another, are of equall 
authoritie, and may not be one ouer another : But such is the 
commission of all Gods ministers indifferently, as appearethr 
Matth. 28. 19. 20. Therfore they are of equall authoritie, 
and may not haue any dominion one ouer another. 

2 That which Christe hath directly forbidden, that may not 
in any case be allowed but is euer vnlawfull : But Christe 
hath directly forbidden, that one minister should haue do- 
minion ouer another. Matt. 20. 25. Luk [ej . 22.25. Therfore one 
minister may not haue superiority or dominion ouer another. 

3 They that may not bee Lordes ouer the people of God, 
may much lesse be Lordes ouer the ministers, for the minis- 
ters be (in respect of the ministery) aboue tiv^ ^^^^^\ ^>^'^ 
minister rmy not be Lordly outr God^ ^^a^\e; V^^.^ \% \r.^^&sr.^ 



46^ A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE^ [jL^^ 

by him on. whome.they wdulde father the 'greatest Ibrdlines) 
i.Pet.5.3. Therefore one minister may not be Lord, or haue 
superiority ouer another* 

4 It is orda3med, and is eqnall and right, that euery mans 
Cyprian 3t>.z. cause be heard, where th^fault was committed: and 
*f^.3-. it is meete to handle the matter there, where they 
may haue both the accusers, and witnesses, of the fault ; which 
sheweth that euery minister bad autoritte ouer his own^ocke, 
and no other to meddle » , . 

5 Bishopps, wheresoeuer they be in all the world, are equall 
, .'. ■■ ■ to our bishops, of parrishc ministers and preachei's ; 

Lather adner- * .. -^ •* , • t j ai_ - • 

siispftpata of none it- can be sayde one is Lorde, another is 
^!^^ ^^'"^^ seruaunt : whatsoeuer bclongeth to the Churche,: 
belongeth equally to all, sauing that some are of better giftes 
then others, howbeit such gifts cause no inequalitie oc 
Lrordship in the Church. .; 

■i 6 In the Apostolike Churche^ the ministers of the word^ 
mmoiliocj. were none aboue another,: and were subiect to noi 

com de nunist. , - • * ^ o 

▼erbi head or president* &c. > : 

.7 3nhehonorjDf:a.bishopp, being taken from the rest of the 
Thesamevpon ministers, and. giuen. to^one, was the iirst step ta 
a.Thes.a. papacie. 

Confes.Heideil 8 Chfistdiditu)stseuerely forbidvutothcApostles 
^p- '7- and their successors, primacie and dominion. 

9 Equall power and function is ^uento all ministers bf the 
Tiiesame4ap.v Church, stod that 'ffotii thc beginning, no one pre- 
18. .ferred himselfe before another, sauing onely.that 

^6r order, some one did ball iKem together, propounded the 
mattery that were to be consulted off,, and gathered the voycesJ 

Therefore, if all ministers haue their commission indiffer-j 
Thecoiiciusioh. ently gitien vnto them; if Christe haue forbidden, 
that one' minister shbuld Haue dominion ouer another; 
if no minister may exercise dominion ouer Gods people; 
i^itithoritietdhandlecontrouersies, belonged to euery seuerail 
congregation ; if a bishopp atid'parish minister be all one.; if 
ih the Apostles time, no minister was aboue another ;' if tfib 
superiorltie of one aboue another, was the first step to the 
piapa(:ie ; lastly, if they haue equall power and function from 
thfe beginning: then must it needs followe, that no minister 
may haue superioritie, pr exercise dominion ouer another. 
Their bbiections hereynto (so many as are worthy any 

answere) be these. ^ * *" \, • 



jL^itsS:] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIFLINE^ 47. 

1 Obieotioii Christ • Matthl 20. 25. fofbiddeth onely 
ambition, and not dominion^ a$ Musculus jexpoundeth it. 

Answeve Musculus his iudgment appeareth in the 6. and 
;^i reasons, the place is expounded atgainst ^superioritie by 
Caluin, Bullinger, Zwifiglius, Guilter, Hemingius, &c. But 
let it bee so expounded : that dominion is ambition, because 
it causeth a man ta'a;spiTe aboue his fellow ministers. 
■ 2 Obiection The Greeke word isigfnifieth rule with 
(Oppression, which is the thing that is forbidden. 

Answere That is not so, for Luk [e] . 22.25* vseth the 
single verbe Keurieuem, [Kvfiuvosi] which signifieth simplie to 
rule: the sonnes of Zebedeus desired not to oppresse but to 
rule, which desire he reprooued. 

^^3 Obiection-^ Christ s^yth not, ho man shalbe so, but he 
that will be so, desiring it. 

Answere But Luke sayth, let the greatest be as your 
seruant, and therefore that ifi but a silly shifte. 



So) 



that the^r assertions beeinge ouerthrown, and their 
obiections answered, it remayneth, that we a bishop shouw 
. prooue yet mote directly, that^ the Lorde 4iath cqnlp^eSn. 
•'■ ordayned, that there should be 9. bishop resident ouer euery 

congregation ; whieh is thus prooiied: .'..■.: 
■' '1 If a bishap'and minister be all one, then must there be 
a bishqp in euery -congregation, for euery man will confesse 
that eiiery congregation- oilght to haue; a minister: But a 
bishopp and a minister is all one, as appeareth by this that S.. 
Paule describeth not one quallity for the bishop^ but it is also 
the quallitie of euery good minister ;• and also in that hee 
describeth no *6thbr minister but the bishop : Therefore there 
ought to be £|. "bishop in cuety congregation. 

2 S. Patiles bishopps and his deacons, were appoynted to 
one place, as appeareth both in the description of them, and 
the practize of the' Apostles : But the deacons were in euery 
congregation, which appeareth PhiL i. 1. Actes.:6. 2. that 
office being needful! euery where ;-aridan that it continued so^ 
longer then the office of bishops, A^h^anasiuS' Apol. 2. lerome 
Contra Luciferianos. &c. Therefore there ought to be a by shop 
in euery cbngregatibn. 

3 That which Paiileenjoyned to Titus, is also to be 
practized alwaies ih the like case : But he commanded him to 



48 A DEMOI^STRATION OF DISCIPLINE. [jL^x^ 

ordaine Elders in euery citie, Tit. i. 5. which are expounded 
in the next verse to be bishops : Therefore there must be a 
bishop in euery congregation. 

Tsnatius ad 4 Euery Church should haue her Communion 
pliiiiadcip. table, and euery Church her bishop. 

5 Where there was found any worthy to be a bishopp, there 
Epiphan. ub. a bishopp was appointed, and where there was not 
&^7'' to furnish both bishop and preaching elder (he 
meaneth the doctor) there the Apostles made a bishop, and 
left the elder. 

6 If a bishop run into a slaunder, and manye bishops can- 
a. concii. not suddeuly be gathered ; his cause shalbe heard of 
^^prto."^"^ twelue bishops. &c. 

3. Concii. torn. ^ ^^^ cldcr bc accuscd, he may call sixe bishops 
i'cap.8.* from the places hard by. 

a Euscb. lib. 5. 8 Stories make mention of bishops of little townes, 
cap. i6. as ""Soticus bish. of the village Cuman: ^Mares, 

lib. s^cap^i*. bishop of a small towne called Solicha: ^'Gregory, 
cSocrat. 4.36. bishop of a smal citie, called Nazianzum: '^The 
\^t: ''• bishop of a Castle. 

9 A minister, that is to say, a bishopp, and (a little after) 
leromeand thc Apostlc doth plainly teach, that a minister and 
Euagrium. ^ bishop is all one, and (vpon Titus) a bishopp and 
a minister are the same : and (od Occanwni) with the ancient 
fathers, bishopps and Elders were all one. 

10 D. Barnes (in his sixt article) sayth, I will neuer 
Acts wwi Mo- beleeue, neyther can I euer beleeue, that one man 
numente. o ^^^ j^^ ^^ ^^ ^£ God, bc a bishop of two or three 

cities, yea of a whole countrie, for that it is contrary to tbe 
doctrin of S. Paul, who writing to Titus, commandeth that 
he shoulde ordayne a bishop in euery towne. 

U It is pitie to see howe farre the office of a bishop is 

Hooper vp«x degenerated from the originall in the Scripture; it 

t^c cwnman . ^^^ ^^^ ^^ j^ ^^ beginning, when bishops were at 

the best, as the Epistle to Titus testifieth, that willeth him, to 
ordaine in euery citie, &c. They know the primitiue Church 
had no such bishops as we haue, vntill the time of Siluester 
the first. 

Therefore, if a bishopp and a minister be all one ; if bishops 
The Conclusion, wcre to bc whcre Deacons are, who were in euery 
congregation; if Paule enioyned Titus to ordayne bishops 




/tine^rss":] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 49 

in euery city ; and if euery church had her bishop a long time 
after the Apostles, as appeareth by the testimonies of 
Councels, Histories and learned writers, both olde and 
newe : then must it needes follow, that there ought to be a 
bishop in euery congregation^ 

Chap, ii. 

Or the further reuealing of the trueth, God hath 
ordayned, that there shoulde be in the Churche 
Doctors, whose office is to be employed in teaching 

of doctrin[e], and is an office different from that of 

the Pastour. 

The latter part of thi3 proposition, is the thing which 
especially they doe deny, which is thus prooued to be true. 

1 Those whiche the Apostle (in speaking of distinct officers) 
doth distinguish one from another, are seuerall and distinct 
one from another : But the Apostle doth distinguishe the 
Pastoure and teacher, one from another, Rom. X2. 7. 8. and 
Ephes. 4. II. euen as hee distinguisheth man and woman. 
Gal. 3. 28. See the Greek of them both : Therefore the office 
of pastour and Doctor are distinct one from anpther. 

2 As are the gifts that adorne offices, so are the officers 
themselues, for the execution of the office, consisteth in the 
employing of the gifts : But the gifts of the pastour and 
Doctor are diuers, as apeareth i. Cor. 12. 8. and by 
experience, for some hath an excellent gift in doctrine, and 
not in application, and others excel in application and 
exhortation, that are verye meane, in deliuering of doctrine : 
Therefore the office of a pastor and teacher, are distinct one 
from another. 

3 Those that are to take a diuers course in teaching are 
diuers, and different in their functions, for els why should 
they be enioyned to take a diuers course : But the pastor is 
to take one course, and the Doctor another, for the one is to 
direct himselfe principally to exhort, and the other to attend 
vpon doctrine. Rom. 12. 7. 8. Therefore the office of pastour 
and Doctor, be distinct offices the one from the other. 

4 The Ecclesiastical stories (especially speaking of the 
Church of Alexandria) doe vsually make a difference betwixt 
the bishopp and the Doctor. 



50 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. [juieY^ 

5 Cathedrall Churched baue yet som ^hew thereof left in 
them, who (besides the bishopp) haue also one that readeth 
a I^ecture in diuinitie, 

6 If . the distinguishipg of them, make more for the 
buylding of the Churche, then the yniting of them ;. then are 
they to be distinguished, and not made ail one : But the 
former is true, as appereth by thisjvthat hardly is a people 
broght to a sounde knowledge of ' godlines, by him that 
instructeth in doctrine continually, and as Hardly are wee 
Btirred vp to a zealous care of our duetie, though we be 
exhorted continually; which both shoulde bee with lesse 
<:ontinuance, if one man were to performe all : Therefore 
they are to be esteemed distinct offices, and not parts of 
One office, which One is to perform* 

Therfore, if the Apostle Paul distinguisheth them one 
Theconciusion from another; if God do vsually bestow doctrine 
and exhortation vpon seuerall persons, wherein eche is found 
to excell, and to be no bodie in the other ; if the pastor be 
commanded to take one course in teaching, and the Doctor 
another; if Ecclesiasticall stories doe vsually distinguish 
them ; if Cathedrall Churches haue yet some steps left of the 
distinction; if to- distinguish them, maketh more to the 
building of the Churche, then to vnite them : then must it 
needs follow, that the office of pastour, and Doctour be 
distinct, and different the one from the other. 

• . < 

Chap. 1 2, 

• • .1 

I Very congregation ought to haue Elders to see into 
the miners of the people, and to be assistaunt vnto 
the ministers, in the gouernment E)cclesiastical. 
T.G»= book I. pag. 174. Discw fol, 1^20. which they 

denie, VVhitgiftp. 6?7, and their practize in kepping them out 

of the Church: : 

But it is prooued to be. true, by these reasons following. ; 
1 That which the Apostles established in euery congrega* 
tion, ought still to continue, seeing the Churche must bcQ 
ruled by the same lawes that it was ruled by then, and 
jieedeth as great furtherance now, as it did then : But the 
Apostles established Elders in euery congregation. Act 14. ^3v 




jL^x^lsi;] A DEMONSTRATtONt OP DISCIPLINE. 5 1 

which cannot be vhderstood of -preaching Elders onely; 
considering that the scarcitie of them was suche, as Paule 
was constrayned to sende Timothie and Titus to great 
cities, which he could hardly spare, as he often testifiieth: 
Therefore there ought to be suche Elders, as are onely to 
assiste in gouernment in euery congregation. ■ ' 

2 Those which God hath ordayned to help forward the 
building of the Churche, ought to be in euerye congregation, 
vnlesse it may appeare that some congregation needeth not 
so much helpe as Christ hath appoynted : But Christ hath 
ordayned Elders in the Churche, for the helping forwarde of 
the building of the Churche. i. Cor. 12. 28. Therefore suche 
Elders ought to be in euery congregation. 

3 That which being wanting, the bodie can not be entire, 
that same must be in euery congregation : But the Elders 
cannot be wanting, and the Church be an entire bodie, Rom. 
12. 8. which euery congregation should be, Rom. 12. 4 
Therefore there ought to be such Elders in euery congregation* 

4 If the word of God doe describe such Elders in the 
Church, then ought they to be in euery congregation, which 
is cleare by this, that euery congregation hath need of them^ 
as well as any : and that euery congregation must haue all 
the other officers of the Churche : and that euery congrega- 
tion is of equall dignitie in the bodie of Christ : But the worde 
of God describeth vntD vs such Elders, i. Tim. 5. 17. Therfore 
they ought to be in euery congregation. 

5 There is no Church that can stand without hir Eldershii^ 

or COUncell. IgnaLadTralL- 

6 It belongeth onely to the bishopp to baptize, and the 
Elder and Deacon may'not do ity but vpon the 5*]JJJ^^^« 
bishops licence. 

7 Neithei: Elder nor deacon' hatie right, but vpon J«j^« contra 
the bishops commandement (so much as) to baptize. 

.8 Elders fell away thorow the ambition of the Ambros.vpon 
teachers. * *"**^* 

9 Valerius the bishOpp did contrary to the ciistome of the 
Apostolicall Churches, m^ appoynting Augustine to ^^ArlSinl 
preache, being but an Eld^r. ^ .\ . . ^ "'"^ ugusum 

10 After that Arrius was conuicted of haeresie, it ^*a;."^*^* ^ 
was decreed that elders should ilo niore preach. 

V 11 The number of the Elders of euery Churche, SSt^bcSf!! 



52 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. [jieYsss!* 

ought to be encreascd, according to the multitude of the 
people, 

12 Speaking of the Elders that were to assist the minister, 
^^'K. «. h^ lamenteth that it is so fallen out of the churchy 

that the name doth scarse remaine. 

13 Certain of the people were ioyned with the pastor, in 

Thesamevpon thc gouemment of the Churche, because the pastor 
1. Cor. la. ^g^g i^Qt 2^]3ig ^q ^Qg ^ himsclfe. 

Sh^'l^'Vlri'"'' 14 There were elders that did assist the 
?ect. 8. mmister, m the gouernment of the Church, &c. 

15 VVhitgift confesseth, that in the primitiue Church, they 
bad in euery Church certain Seniors, pag. 638. Let it then 
appeare out of the word, to satisfie the conscience how it 
may bee left out. 

16 If the platforme set down to Timothie and Titus be for 
^11 Churches, then must Elders be in all ; for these Elders 
are the^re described : But it is a platforme for all Churches, 
and that to the ende of the world, i. Tim. 6. 14. Therefore 
they ought to be in euerye congregation. 

17 That which is contained in euery ministers commission 
to teache and practize, must be in euery congregation : but 
the ordination and practize of that office, is in euery minis- 
ters commission, Matth. 28. 20. or els they ordayned Elders 
without warrant from Christ, which none dare affirme: 
Therefore there must be Elders in euery congregation. 

18 Wheresoeuer a bishoppe must be, there must also the 
Elders bee, whiche appeareth by this, that where the one is 
described, there is the other also : But a bishopp must be in 
euery congregation, as I haue prooued sufficiently in the 
10. Chap. Therfore there ought to be elders in euery 
congregation. 

19 If the Apostles laboured for vniformitie in the least 
things, and established in all Churches one order, then must 
there be Elders in euery congregation, for they were in some, 
as al men do confesse : But the former is true, as not onely 
the view of their practize declareth, but also the Apostles 
expresse words ; Thus I teach in all Churches : Therefore 
the latter is true also, that in eueiy congregation there must 
be such Elders. 

Therefore, if the Apostles established Elders in euery con- 
TOie Conclusion grcgation ; if Christe hath esteemed their helpe 



^u^e^Jk] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 53 

ncedfull to further the buylding of his Church ; if without 
them a congregation cannot be entire ; if the worde of God 
say that they ought to be in the Churche ; if it was continued 
so long after the Apostles time : and be approoued by the 
testimonie of manie very learned, both olde and newe writers, 
and confessed by the greatest aduersary vnto them ; if they 
be within the compasse of euerye ministers commission ; if 
they are to be, wheresoeuer a bishopp must be; if the 
Apostles established vniformitie^ euen in the meanest thinges; 
then must it needs followe, that there ought to be such 
Elders in euery congregation, as are to assiste the minister 
in the gouemement of the same. 

They confesse it was so in the Apostles time, but seeme 

to say somewhat that it cannot be vnder a christian 

magistrate thus : 

1 Obiection God hath giuen the soueraigne authoritie 
ouer his Church to the Christian magistrate, which these 
Elders would abridge. 

Answer No more tben the eldership abridged the 
soueraigntie of Dauid ouer Israeli, for his gouemmeiitis 
temporal], and theirs spiritualL 

2 Obiection Gualter vpon the i. Cor. 5. denieth it to be 
needfull vnder a christian magistrate. 

Answere Gualter denieth excommunication vnder a 
christian magistrate, be is as partial in this argument 
as VVhiigift. 

3 Obiection The prince bath the authority that the 
Elders had. 

Answere That is no truer, then to saye the prince hath 
authoritie to preach the word, &c. for these be thinges, that 
his high authoritie must see done, but he may doe none of 
them himselfe. 

But there be many reasons which may bee Reasons 
alleadged, to prooue that they are (at the least) as proouing Eiders 

AS ncocss&Tv 

necessary vnder a Christian magistrate in these vnderachnstian 
dayes, as they were in the time oifthe Apostles, as S^^IL**'" 
namely these : *^™*' 

1 The lesse able that ministers are to direct their people 
in the wayes of godlines, the more neede they haue of the 
assistaunce that God hath allowed them in his wotdv^^xi^w. 
ministers are now lesse able \<&%p^c\^^ ntArx CStccN^ccax^ 

Sjve, Scif. Lib. No» 9. e 



54 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE, \zt^^^ 

magistrats, when men are ouertaken with ease and peace, 
which quench good things) then they were in the time 
of the Apostles : Therefore there is as great (if not greater) 
need of Elders now, then was in the time of the Apostles. 

2 If christian magistrates be to maintayne the order that 
Christ hath set down for the gouernement of his Churche, 
then must there be Elders in it vnder a Christian magistrate, 
for Elders are appointed of Christ, i. Cor. iz. 8. But 
Christian magistrates are to mayntaine the order that 
Christe hath set downe for the ruling of his Church, Isai. 49. 
23. Therefore there must be Elders in the Church, vnder a 
christian magistrate. 

3 If the rule of Christe cannot be perpetually obserued, 
tell the Church, vnlesse there be Elders ; then must there 
be such vnder a christian magistrate: But the former is true, 
for by the Churche is there ment the Senate of ministers and 
Elders, as shall be prooued in the chapter of Excommunica- 
tion : Therfore there must be Elders vnder a Christian 
magistrate. 

4 If the whole gouernement of the Churche described in 
the Epistles to Timothie and Titus, be to bee obserued vntill 
the ende, then must there bee Elders vnder Christian magis- 
trates, for they are contayned in those Epistles: But the 
former is true. i. Tim. 6. 14. Therefore there must be 
Elders vnder a christian magistrate. 

5 Where sinners are more outragious, and the best most 
subiect to wax cold, there is greatest neede of all the helpes 
that God hath ordayned to punish sinne, and to cherish well 
doing : But so it is vnder a christian magistrate, especially 
in the peace of the Church, as VVhitgift confesseth, page 643. 
Therefore there is (at the least) as great neede of Elders 
(seeing they are helpers appointed of God) vnder a Christian 
magistrate, as at any other time. 

Therfore if ministers be lesse able now, then in the 
•The Conclusion Apostlcs time; if Christian magistrates must main- 
taine the order prescribed by Christ ; if els the rule of Christ 
(tel the church) cannot be still obserued; if the whole 
gouernment described by S. Paule, must be kept for euer ; 
lastly if there be, (at the least) as great neede of all the helpes 
that can be, as euer there was : then must it needs follow, 
that Elders are as necessary in the Churche vnder a christian 
magistrate, as in the time of j^erseculiorv. 



i 



jL^x^S;] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 55 




Chap. 13, 

|Here ought to be in euery congregation certaine 
Deacons, endued with those quallities, whiche the 
worde of God describeth ; whose office is onely in 

receiuinge the liberallitie of the Saints, and 

distributing it vnto the needie, T.C. !• booke, page 190. 
Discip. Eccles, fol. 119. 

This assertion hath two braunches, whiche both are 
gain saide by our aduersaries, the first whereof is this. 
The office of the Deacon, consisteth onely in Thei.propo- 
receiuing and distributing vnto the poore, the **''°°- 
liberallitie of the saints, which they denie, VVhitgift page 
582. The booke of ordering, &c. that maketh it a degree of 
the ministery: but the proposition being prooued true, 
maketh their opinion and practize appeare false, which is 
thus : 

1 That wherein Steuen and the rest were imployed, is the 
office of a Deacon : for the first institution of them by the 
Apostles, is in that example : But they were onely to attend 
vpon the prouision for the poore : Act. 6. 4. &c. Therefore 
the office of the Deacon, is only to attend vpon the distribut- 
ing vnto the poore, from the liberallitie of the saints. 

2 That which the Apostle maketh an ordinarye and dis- 
tincte office from others in the Churche, must be attended 
vpon by them that are in the same office, and not be mingled 
with any other: But the Apostle Rom. 12. 8. maketh distri- 
buting in simplicitie, such an office as it is expounded by 
M. Caluin, Beza, Bucer, Martyr. &c. Therefore the Deacons 
office must be attended vppon, and consequently, it consisteth 
onely in distributing, &c. 

3 That which the Apostles founde themselues insufficient 
for, that can no man now discharge in any tollerable measure, 
for they were more adorned with gifts then any be now : But 
they found themselues insufficient for the ministery of the 
worde, and distributing vnto the poore also. Act. 6. 2. There- 
fore no man can in any tollerable measure, discharge the 
office of a minister and Deacon also, and coasta^^^^\^^'^^ 
Deacon is to attend upon distribulitvg oivfcX^* 



56 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. {^^^^ 

4 If the ministeries of the worde be perfect, without the 
Deacon, then may he not meddle in the same, for how may 
one lawfully labor, in that wherein there is no need of him : 
But such IS the ministery of the word, where the seuerall 
ministers thereof are named, Ephes. 4. ii. wherein the 
Deacon is not contayned, as VVhitgifte confesseth, page 308. 
and 309. Therefore the Deacon may not meddle with the 
ministery of the word, and consequently must be imployed 
onely in distributing, &c^ 

5 If there bee no quallitie required in the perfect descrip- 
tion of the deacon, which is proper to the ministery of the 
word, then is not be to medle with the same : But the for^^ 
mer is true, as appeareth, i. Tim. 3. 8. Therefore the latter 
is true also, and consequently, he must attend only vpon 
distributing, &c. 

6 If it belong to th« deacons office, to meddle with the 
ministery of the worde and Sacramentes, then is it greater, 
then that of the pastor, for that the doing of both, requireth 
greater giftes then the one : But it is not a greater, but in- 
feriour office to the pastor, as appeareth by all those places 
wherein they are described, that the Deacon is described 
after the bishopp : Therfore his office is not to meddle 
with both, and consequently he must attende vpon 
distributing, &c. 

6. Concii. 7 Deacons are ministers of tables, and not of 

Srr holv things. 

3. concii. 8 In the ministers sicknes, the Deacons shal 

Ta«en..can.4. ^ead the HomiHcs of the Fathers. 

9 The Deacons haue need of great wisdom, although the 
chrisost. vpon preaching of the worde bee not committed vnto 
Act. 6. them : and further, it is absurd that they should 
do both the office of preaching, and caring for the poore, 
considering that they be not able to do both thorowly. 

10 Although (the goodes of the Church increasing) there 
Bulling, decad Were bcsides the Deacons, sub-deacons, and Arch- 
fl. sciTO. 2. deacons, yet the Deacons remained still in their 
charge for the poor, and were not as yet mingled with the 
bishopps or priestes, and with the order of them whiche 
taught. 

Buccrdcrcg. U The office of Deaconship, was religiously 
chri.t. 14. i^gpt jj^ ^jjg Churche, vntill it was driuen out by 

Antichrist. 



jL^tfiS:] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 57 

12 This office muste of necessitie be restored as it is 
described. Act, 6. if England (for bee speaketh it ^*gJ"*^J 
in the behalfe of our Churche) will receiue the nSQEih«.4- 
Discipline of Christ. 

13 Speaking of these Deacons, lamenteth that p.Mart.rom.12. 
this order, is so fallen out of the Churche that the name doth 
scarce remaine. 

14 Describing the Deacons of the Apostles time, Caiuin insti. 
sayth, that we after their example, ought to haue ^^'1.^9*^^* ^ 
the like. 

15 The office of distributing the goodes of the church, is 
an ordinarie function in a church lawfully con- B«ia.confes. 
stituted; the which, sect. 30, he calleth the <»p-5.»ect.23. 
Deaconship. 

Therefore if Steuen and the rest were imployed, onely in 
distributing the goodes of the Church; if the Theconciusion 
Apostle maketh the Deacons office, an ordinary and distinct 
office from al others in the Churche ; if the Apostles were 
not sufficient for the ministery of the worde, and distributing; 
if the ministeries of the worde be perfect without the deacon ; 
if in the description of the Deacon, no quallitie bee required,, 
that is proper to a minister of the word ; if to deale in both 
would make the Deacon a greater officer then the pastor ; if 
the Councels, auncient writers, and the sounde writers of 
latter times, do declare that the Deacons were to be wholy 
imployed in the distributing of the goods of the Church; then 
must it needs follow, that his office is not to meddle with 
anye part of the ministery of the worde and sacraments, but 
to attend onely vpon the distributing of the liberallitie of the 
Churche, vnto them that stande in neede thereof. 

Their objections herevnto, be these two that follow. 

1 Obiection Phillip one of the seuen deacons did preache, 
Actes 8. 8. therefore Deacons may preach the word. 

Answere Phillip was a deacon of the church at Icrusalem, 
while they abode together, but now he was not any more so, 
but an Euangelist, as he is euer tearmed after, by vertue of 
which office he did preach. 

2 Obiection Steuen, beeing a Deacon, preached. Act. 7. 2. 
Answer He preached not ; for all that is there, was but 

his Apologie at the seat of iudgement, which euery man in 
the like case may doe, and which many of the martyrs 
haue done. 



58 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. [jicYsw!* 

So that the former proposition becing true, vpon the 
groundes alleadged, notwithstanding these obiections, we are 
to proceede to the second, which is this. 

iTiea. ^ I ^here ought to be such Deacons (as are 

proposition. J^ described in the former proposition) in euery 
congregation, which is thus prooued. 

1 That office which euerye congregation hath need of, 
ought to be in euery congregation : But euery congregation 
hath need of the Deacons office, whiche appeareth by this, that 
they haue poore to prouide for, (or els they must regarde 
the necessitie of others) and the liberallitie of others to distri- 
bute : Therefore Deacons ought to be in euery congregation. 

2 That which is indefinitely appointed for the good of the 
Church, belongeth vnto euery congregation, as well as to any 
one : But suche is the appointment of the Deacons, i. Tim. 
3. 8. Therfore there must be deacons in euery congregation. 
ignat. ad 3 Eucry Church ought to haue their office of 
phuadeiph. Dcaconship. 

4 All the reasons (or the most of them) that are alleadged 
chap, 10. for a bishopp in euerye congregation, and chap. 12. 
for Elders in euery congregation ; are forcible herevnto. 

Therefore, if there be the like neede of Deacons in one 
The Conclusion. Congregation, that is in another; if they be 
appointed indefinitely for the good of the Church ; if euery 
Church must haue their office of Deaconship ; and lastly, if 
there be like resons to prooue they belong to euery Church, 
that be for bishopps and Elders : then must it needes follow, 
that there ought to be Deacons in euery congregation. 

Chap. 14. 

[Here ought to be in euerye congregation, an 
eldership, consisting of a pastor or pastors, 
doctor (if there be any) and elders, whose authoritie 

Christ hath ordayned to be perpetual in his church, 

10 gouerne the same onely by the rules of Gods wprd : T.C. 
I. booke, page 175. Discip. Ecclesiast. 123. which containeth 
these 3. perticular propositions, defended by vs, and gainesaid 
by the bb. and their adherents. 

1 The Eldership ought to be in euery congregation. 




jL^4m;] a demonstration of discipline. 59 

2 The office of the Eldership is perpetualL 

3 The Church mtcst be gotcernedy onely by the rules of 
Gods vvorde. 

The first is denyed by them, VVhitgift page 627. "^^jP'f* 
and by their practize, in tying the gouernment proportion. 
of many Churches to the bb. sea, it is thus prooued. 

1 Whatsoeuer Christe hath ordayned, as a meanes, to 
keepe men in obedience to the gospell, that same must be in 
euery congregation, for particuler men are in particuler 
congregations : But Christ hath ordayned the Eldership for 
that ende, as appeareth, Matth. 18. 15. &c. where Chrisost. 
expoundeth : Tell the Churche : that is sa)^h he, the gouernors 
of the Churche : Therefore the Eldershipp ought to be in 
euery Church. 

2 Where all sortes of Elders ought to bee, there must be 
also the ioyning of their offices intone, for the good of that 
congregation ouer which they are placed : But all sorts of 
Elders ought to be in euery congregation, as is prooued in the 
10. chap[ter] for bishopps, the 12. for Elders, &c. Therefore 

here must be an Eldership in euery congregation. 

3 If no perticular congregation haue greater priuiledges 
giuen therevnto by the word of God then others haue, then 
must there eyther be no Eldership at all (which is false, in 
that Elders are prooued to be by the worde of God in the 
Church) or els it must be in euery congregation : But euery 
congregation is of like priuiledge, which appeareth by this, 
that it is a perfect badie of it selfe : Therefore there must be 
an Eldership in euery congregation. 

4 The same warrant that is in the worde of God, for to 
haue an Eldership in one place, is a warrant for it in all ; for 
the word of God tyeth it, not to Churches in cities, but 
indefinitely to the church : But there is warraunt for it out 
of the worde to be some where, as appeareth by this, that 
the Apostles are sayd to establish it, and make mention of 
it: Therefore it must be in euery congregation. 

Therefore, if the Eldershipp be ordayned by Christ, as a 
meanes to keepe men in obedience vnto the Gospell; Thecondusbn. 
if all sorts of Elders must be in euery Church; if euery 
congregation be of equall priuiledges; lastly if there bee 



6o A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 1^]^^^ 

the lyke warraunt for it in eueiy Church, that is in any : then 
must it needs followe, that there ought to be an Eldership in 
euery congregation. 

Whatsoeuer is obiected against this, that hath any shewe 
in it, is aunswered in the 12. chap[ter]. of Elders. 

Thea._ nr^he office of the Eldershipp is ordayned by 
proposition. J^ ChHst to be perpetuall, and ordinarie for the 
gouemment of his church, T.C. i. book 177 denied by them, 
VVhitgift 627. and by their practize in keeping it out : but 
the trueth of it appeareth by these reasons that do follow. 

1 If the causes why Christe woulde haue an Eldershipp in 
his Churche be perpetuall, then must also the thing it selfe 
Seethe bc pcrpctuall I But the causes are perpetuall, 
SiJ^i*^* which be to gouerne the Church by the rules of 
13a. his worde, and that ecclesiastically : Therefore 
the Eldership is perpetuall. 

2 If Christ be the author of the Eldership, and left it by 
the Apostles to bee established in the Church, then it is 
perpetuall ; for his commission giuen to the Apostles, is to be 
obserued vnto the end of the world : But Christ is the author 
of it, as appereth both by his giuing of the gifts for the 
perticular members thereof, and the whole bodye of it ; as also 
m that the Apostles did establish it in the Church, who went 
not from their commission, i. cor. 11. 12. Therfore the 
Eldership is perpetuall. 

3 Whatsoeuer is the cocnmaundement of God, once 
deliuered by him, is neuer repealed againe, and to be 
acknowledged of euery spirituall man ; that same is to bee 
receiued by the Churche of God to be perpetuall : But such 
is the gouernment of the Church by pastors, doctors and 
Elders, and so of the whole Eldership, as appeareth in that 
they are all mentioned in the writinges of S. Paule, which 
are so esteemed : i. cor. 14. 37. Therefore the gouernment 
of the Church by an Eldership is perpetuall. 

4 That whose seuerall parts is perpetuall, and which hath 
perpetuall gifts giuen, for the furnishing thereof for euer ; that 
same must needs be perpetuall : But the seuerall parts of the 
Eldership, as pastour, doctour and Elders, be perpetual!, as 
is proued in the 10. and 12. chap. Therfore the Eldership is 
perpetu2dL 



jL^^] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 6 1 

6 Whatsoeuer is grounded vpon the generall commaunde- 
mentSy and rules of the scriptures, that same is perpetuall : 
But the goueming of the Church by the Eldership, is such, 
as hath partly bene prooued in election and ordination, and 
execution of the seuerall Churche offices, which is the 
greatest part of gouemement, and shall further appeare, in 
the censures of the Church hereafter: Therfore the 
gouemment of the Church by the Eldership, is perpetuall. 

6 Whatsoeuer manner of gouemment hath sufficient power, 
and that from God, to begin, continue, and strengthen, both 
the gouernors of the Church in their callings, and the people 
in the course of obedience vnto Christe ; that same gouem- 
ment is to be perpetual ; But such is the gouemment by the 
Eldershipp, as appeareth by this, that the Apostles vsed no 
other : Therefore the Eldership is to be perpetuall. 

7 That gouemment which the 12. Apostles, and Paule, 
before they consulted together, did vniformly agree in, that 
same must needs be of God, and consequently perpetuall, 
vnlesse the repealing of it doe appeare : but suche is the 
gouemement by the Eldership, (for all the aduersaries 
therevnto, confesse that it was in the Apostles time :) 
Therefore it is perpetuall. 

8 Whatsoeuer Jiath the same grounds, that the preaching 
of the word and ministration of the sacramentes haue, the 
same is perpetuall: But such is the gouemment of the 
Eldershipp, for it is grounded vpon the commaundements 
of Christ, and practize of the Apostles: Therefore it is 
perpetuall. 

9 That which hath the like groundes to bee perpetuall, 
that the Apostles, prophets, and Euangelists, had to be for a 
time, the same is perpetuall : But suche is the gouemement 
of the Church by an Eldershipp, which appeareth by this, that 
they are therefore ceased, because their gifts of im[m]ediate 
calling, &c. be gone, and the gifts of these, ioyntly and 
seuerally doe remaine : Therefore it is perpetuall. . 

10 Whatsoeuer is the perpetuall and ordinary remedie to 
cure diseases of the Church, and strengthen the health of the 
same, that same is perpetuall : But suche is the gouemement 
by the eldershipp, as appeareth by the necessitie, and profite 
of the seuerall offices thereof, and of this, that we are still to 
obserue in causes of extremities; Tell the C\\iUtc\v,\K.'^IS&5^*^^« 
J/. Therefore it is perpetuaW. 



62 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. [j/ncYX 

U That gouernement whiche was in the Church appoynted 
of God vnder the Law, and continued (in respect of the sub- 
stance)by christ and his Apostles, and bettered (in respect of 
the accedents) by them, that same is perpetuall : But such is 
the gouernment by the Eldership, as appeareth in the 12. 
reason of the i. chap : Therefore it is perpetuall. 

12 If there be any reason why this gouernment should be 
alterable (being once set in the Church by Christ) it is eyther 
in respect of the extraordinary offices ceased, or the 
addition of the magistrate : But not of the former, because 
the Churche hath neuer had any neede of extraordinary giftes, 
but God hath giuen them, and so will hee euer: nor of the 
latter, for that the magistrates office is to defende the buylding 
of the Church by that order which Christe hath set downe, 
and not to alter any thing therein : Therefore it is perpetuall. 

13 Eyther this gouernement is the best and perpetuall, or 
els there is none, and so Christe should be thought to haue 
left his Church without a gouernement, which is disprooued 
in the 7. and 8. reasons in the r. chap, for this was once 
established by Christ, and so was no other: But some 
gouernment must needes be the best and perpetuall : 
Therefore this is perpetuall. 

Confess. Hd- 14 No man may iustly forbidd (speaking of the 

BeroTGe^neua, church goucmment) to retume to the old constitu- 

Poionia, Hunl tiou of the churche of God, and to receiue it before 

fimd,'cap. 18. the custome of men. 

Caiuin 16 Experience teacheth this order (speaking of 

cS!Tsect!*8.' the church gouernment) was not for on[e] age, but 

necessary to all ages. 

p. Martyr. 16 Though the common wealth change hir 

vponRom. 3. gouemement,.yet the church must keepe hirs still. 

17 Lamenteth, that some were found among them that are 
Bucerdereg. cstcemcd forwardest, which would not haue the 
Christ. J5. same discipline vsed now a dayes, that was in the 
Apostles times, obiecting the difference of times and men. 

18 The Apostles haue written these lawes, (speaking of 
M. whitakcr Discipline) not for a daye, or for the firste age, but 
i^^Js to endure for all times to come; and therefore haue 
ratified them with a most earnest obtestation : i. Tim. 6. 
14. that these commandements should be kept vntill the day 
of the hord. 



jL^t^:] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 63 

Therefore, if the causes of once ordayning an Eldership, be 
perpetuall ; if Christ be the author of it, and left it The Conclusion/ 
in the Church by the Apostles ; if it be Gods commaudement, 
not yet repealed ; if the parts of it, and gifts for it be 
perpetuall ; if it bee grounded vppon . the generall 
commandements and rules of the scriptures ; if it haue 
sufficient power from God, to begin, continue and confirme 
a church ; if it was agreed vpon by the 12. Apostles, and 
Paule before they met together; if it haue the same 
grounds with the preaching of the worde ; if it haue as good 
grounds to be perpetuall as the Apostles, &c. to be for a 
time ; if it be the perpetuall remedie against all the diseases- 
of the Church ; if it was vnder the law, and inriched by 
Christe and his Apostles vnder the Gospell ; if it be neyther 
alterable in respecte of the extraordinarie offices ceased, nor 
the magistrate added to the Churche ; if it be the onely 
gouernement, that challengeth authoritie from God ; if no 
man may iustly forbidd it ; if it be necessarye for all times ; 
if the common wealth may chaunge hir gouernment, but not 
the Church ; if the difference of times and men be nothing 
against it ; lastly, if the rules that the Apostles gaue for it, 
be confirmed with a charge, to bee kept vntill the comming 
of Christ : then must it needs follow, that the gouernment 
of the Church by an Eldership, ought to be perpetuall. 

They obiect that many inconueniences would obiections 
follow vpon this gouernement, which are seuerally ^^p^iitie of 
to be answered. LndS^^sTo 

1 Ouiection By this euery parrish shal follow *e same. 
their Seniors, and then there will be so many Elderships, so 
many diuers fashions, seeing one may not meddle with 
another. 

Answere The gouernement desired is vniforme for euerye 
Churche, and admitteth no change, no not in outward 
ceremonies, without a synode of the choyce men of 
seuerall Elderships. 

2 Obiection If they being al mean men,chuse an Earle, he 
may not refuse, but be at their beck and commandement. 

Answere No man that is chosen is compelled to an office 
against his will, but he that despiseth to consult with others 
in Gods matters, because they bee poore, reprochetK Qo^d 
that made them, Pro. 17. 5. 



64 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPUNE. [kL^ 



3 Obieetiim It oueriMudeiicdi the parrish, to prcMiide for 
the Doiishment of so many chmch officers. 

Abb were It is not neoessaiy that they should pronide for 
any moe of them, sailing those that are exercised in the 
ministeiy <rf the wmde, vnlesse any of the rest may need the 
liberallity of the Chorch. 

4 OUectioil It bringeth in a newe popedome and 
t3rrannie into the Church. 

Abb were It is blasphemie to tearme the goaemment of 
Christ so, becaose we refiise the tyranny oi the pope, shall 
we therfore doe what we list, and not yeelde obedience to 
the scepter of Christ. 

5 Obieetion It is a kind of Donatisme to challenge such 
authoritie ouer princes. 

Abb were And it is flattery to suffer princes to doe what 
they liste; this is the obieetion of Gualter, who is a 
professed enemy to discipline. 

6 Obiectioil It takes away princes authoritie in causes 
Ecclesiasticall. 

Ann were No more then it did from Dauid in his time, 
nor so much as the Bb. do nowe, for the prince requireth but 
this, to see the church well ordered, which the Eldership 
aloweth and craueth. 

7 Obiectioil It transformeth the state of the common 
wealth, into a meere popularitie, and will alter the 
gouemment thereof. 

ABSVrere It neither transformeth nor alteieth any thing 
in it, for let it be shewed what damage would come by this 
discipline to any magistracie, from the princes throne, to 
the office of the headborow. 

8 Obiectioil It wil breed contention and partiallity in 
iudgement. 

Ansvrere Where can be greater contention then the Bb. 
maintaine for their kingdome, or greater partiallitie then in 
them, to their kinsfolks, seruants, Sycophants, &c. 

9 OMection It wil be contemned, and so good order 
neglected. 

AnSYVere None euer deserued more contempt, then the 
BB. and their officers doe, for all their pompe: but God 
whose ordinaunce it is, will procure sufficient awe vnto it ; 
marke how these obiections stand together, in the 4. it was 
tyrannic, and here it is too contemptible, these be contrary. 



jL^xIm:] a demonstration of discipline. 65 

10 Obiection All alterations be dangerous, 
Answere Neuer (where we change from the obedience of 
Antichriste, to the seruice of the liuing God) was it euer 
dangerous to amende things amisse, by that course which is 
described of God: if it were, let the perticular of it appear, 
this might wel haue bin Steuen Gardiners reason for popery, 
in the time of king H [enryj . the eight. 

The Church must be gouerned onely by the The 3. 
rules of Gods word, this is in effect, the proposition. 
proposition of the first chap[ter]. wherevnto all those reasons 
there alleadged may be referred; there is aduouched 
generally, the certayne grounds of the whole discipline, 
against the imagined libertie left to the Church ; here is 
affirmed the perticular direction of the Churche gouernement, 
by the authoritie of the Eldershipp, to proceed according to 
the rules of Gods reuealed will, and not by that cursed 
and monstrous cannon law, which is made manifest vnto vs 
by these reasons. 

1 All gouernours are to execute their authoritie, by the 
same warrant from which they haue it : But the gouernours 
of the Church of God, haue their warrant to be gouernours 
only from the word, i. Cor. 12. 28. Therefore they must 
gouerne the Church onely by the word. 

2 The Churche is to be gouerned by that which the minis- 
ters may teach vnto the same, for they are taught to the 
ende that they may obey, and so be gouerned by the same : 
But the ministers may teach nothing but the worde of God, 
1. Cor. II. 23. Therefore the Church is to be gouerned 
onely by the word of God. 

3 That which maketh the Churche obedient vnto Christ, 
must be the direction whereby it is to be gouerned : Onely 
the worde of (jod maketh the church obedient vnto christ • 
Thenore it is to be gouerned by the rules of Gods worde. 

4 Euery kingdome or houshold, must be gouerned onely 
by the laws of the king, or orders of the housholder : The 
Churche is the kingdome and house of God, and his worde 
is the onely law that he hath giuen for the same : Therefore 
it must bee gouerned onely by the worde of God. 

6 That which was ordayned to destroy the Churche of 
God, cannot be a good rule to gouerne the same by: But 



66 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. [jL^^m! 

such is the cannon law, for it was ordained to strengthen the 
kingdom of Antichrist : Abstract. Therefore it cannot be a 
good rule to direct the church by, and consequently, it must 
be gouerned by the worde, for no other rule is offered' vnto 
vs, but the one of these twaine. 

6 That which was inuented by the dragon, that 
persecuteth the woman and herchilde, that same cannot be 
good for the church, which is that woman : But such is the 
cannon law, for it was inuented by Antichriste, which is that 
dragon : Therefore it cannot bee good for the ruling of the 
church, and consequently, &c. 

7 That which strengtheneth the power of darknes and 
ignorance, cannot be good to guide them, that must walke in 
light and knowledge : But the cannon lawe strengtheneth the 
power of darknes and ignorance, for it increaseth popery, as 
appeareth by this, that there is scarce an officer towardes it, 
in these dayes of knowledge, but he is a papist : Therfore it 
cannot be good to guide the church of God. 

8 That which destroieth the church of God cannot be good 
to rule the same: But the cannon law destroieth it, for it 
crosseth euery faithfull minister in the discharge of his dutie, 
and euery good christian, walking in the wayes of godlines, 
and nippeth in the head euery good action, as experience 
teacheth vs : Therefore it cannot be a good rule to gouerne 
the churche by. 

9 That which hath bred more trayterous papists in Eng- 
land, then the Seminaries at Rome and Rhemes, that same 
cannot be good to gouerne the church of God : But such is 
the cannon lawe, for it hath kept out discipline, nourished 
ignorance, and fostered superstition and popery, in all estates 
of people, that neuer came at those Seminaries : Therefore 
it cannot be a good rule to gouerne the church of God by. 

10 That which nourisheth the hope of Antichriste to 
returne hither againe, cannot bee good to direct in the 
gouerment of the church : But such is the cannon lawe, 
for it keepeth the cages for those vncleane byrds ; as Archb. 
and L. bb. seas, arches, cathedral churches, &c : therfore it 
cannot be a" good rule for the direction of the Church. 

11 That which all the Churches haue cast off, as vnfit for 
the gouernment of the Church, cannot be good for the same: 
But aU the churches, that haue forsaken the pope (yea they 



jL^.tSJ A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 67 

that haue not receiued the discipline of Christ wholy) haue 
cast of [fj the cannon lawe : Therefore it cannot be good for 
the same. 

12 Yea, we our selues mislike it, as appereth by a statute 
made vnder Ed[ward] • 6. 

Therefore, if gouernours are to rule by the same authoritie 
whereby they are gouernours ; if the Church must The conclusion 
be gouerned, by that which the ministers may teache; if 
the worde of God onely, make the Church obedient vnto 
Christ ; if euery kingdome must be ruled by the lawes of 
their king ; and if the cannon lawe be ordained to destroy 
the Churche ; if it was inuented to persecute the churche ; 
if it strengthen the power of darknesse and ignoraunce, if it 
kill the Churche of God; if it breede more traiterous papistes, 
then the Seminaries at Rome and Rhemes ; if it nowrishe 
the hope of Antichrists returne : lastly if all the Churches 
that haue forsaken the.pope, haue cast it of [f] also ; yea if we 
out" selues do mislike it : then must it needs follow, that the 
Church ought to be gouerned, onely by that golden rule of 
Gods word, and not by that leaden lump of the cannon law. 

Chap. 15. 

I He office of the Church gouernment, is meere 
Ecclesiastical, and therefore the gouernors of the 
Church may not meddle, but onely in church- 
__ matters, as fbr example, vocation, and abdication, 
aecidmg of cqntrouersies, in doctrine and manners, ^0 far as 
appertayneth to conscience, and the church censures, T. C. 
booke I. pag[e] 206 Discipl. Eccle. 126. but they thinke 
that church-gouernours, may also meddle in ciuill causes : 
VVhitgifte page 749 : and their practize, that take vpon them 
to be Councellors of state, to iudge ciuilly, as punishe with 
imprisonment, &c. 

But this is: disprooued, and so the former prooued by these 
reasons. 
1 That which our sauiour Christ refused, because it 
belonged not vnto him, ruling and teaching the church, that 
same is not lawfull for any Ecclesiast [ical] . person to do : 
But Christ refused to deuide the inheritaxvc^, L>\Va„ vi** ^v 




68 A DEMONSTRATION OP DISCIPLINE. [jL^^sm. 

onely because he came to buylde a spirituall kingdome, for 
otherwise he being God, had authoritye ouer all thinges: 
Therefore it is not lawful! for Ecclesiasticall persons to bee 
iudges of ciuill causes. 

2 That which was forbidden the Apostles, is vnlawfull for 
euery Ecclesiasticall officer, for they were the chiefe vnder 
Christ, and had (after a sort) all offices in themselues, vntil 
they could plant them in others : But such dominion was 
forbidden them, as the kinges of the nations, and other ciuill 
magistrates haue, Luk [e] . 22. 28. which is, to rule ciuilly : 
Therefore they may not exercise any ciuill authority. 

3 If necessary dueties are to be lefte, rather then our 
duties to the Churche shoulde not be thorowly discharged, 
then may not a churche officer deale in ciuill iurisdiction, 
which is lesse necessary vnto him : But the former is true, 
as appeareth by the words of Christ, to him that woulde 
haue buried his father, Luke. 9. 59. 60. Therefore they may 
not exercise any ciuil authority. 

4 If he that hath an office must attend vpon it, then may 
he not meddle in another, for hee cannot attend them both 
at once : But the former is true, Rom. I2. 7. Therfore may 
no church officer, meddle with temporall iurisdiction. 

6 As the Souldiour is in his warfare, so are church officers, 
in the ruling of Gods church : But the Soldior entangleth 
not himselfe in the things of this life, because they are of 
another nature to his warfare ; which place Cyprian alleadgeth 
againste a minister, that became an executour to his 
friendes will : Therefore church-officers may not meddle with 
ciuill offices, because they are of another nature, then his 
calling. 

6 Those thinges that in themsekes are of contrary quallitie, 
cannot concurre in one subiect : But the gouernments of the 
church and common wealth be such, not onely in this, that 
they are the next speciall members of one generall, but also, 
in that the one is spiritual!, and the other temporall, the one 
respecteth the soule, and the other the bodie. Therefore 
they cannot bee in one man together, and consequently, &c. 

7 If the gouernment of the churche, both in euery particular 
mans office, and in the generall Eldership, be a matter of 
great waight, and the ability of man, very small in euery 
^ood action^ then may not a church-officer meddle in another 



jL^tw:] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 69 

calling, whereby he is made lesse able to discharge his dutie : 
But the former is true, as all men may see, that looke into 
the worde of God, what is required of such men, and knowe by . 
the same worde, the manifolde infirmities and vntowardnes 
of man : Therfore the latter must needs be true also. 

8 If the Apostles (who were the most able of all others) 
found themselues vnfitt for two offices, which were both 
Ecclesiasticall; then is the best church-gouernour vnfit for 
two, which be of more difference one from another, as be the 
gouernment of the church and commonwelth: But the 
former is true, as appeareth, Actes 6. 2. Therefore the latter 
must needs be true also. 

9 That which we iustly reprooue in the papists, must 
needs (if we do like) be founde more vnlawfull and 
intollerable in our selues : But we iustly reprooue the papists, 
for hauing in their hands both the swordes, that is, the 
Ecclesiasticall and ciuill iurisdiction : Therefore it is more 
intollerable, being found in any of vs. 

10 If it be lawfuU for an ecclesiastical! person, to exercise 
the office of the ciuill magistrate, then (on the contrary) it is 
lawfull for the ciuill magistrate, to exercise the offices of 
Ecclesiasticall persons, for there is as good reason for the one, 
as the other: But the latter is vnlawfull; for who would like 
of any L[ord] . Mayor, to step into the pulpit and preach, &c. 
Therefore the first is vnlawfull also. 

U They may not intangle themselues with canon.Apost. 
worldly offices, but attehde vpon their cap-so. 
Ecclesiasticall affaires. 

12 None of the Clarkes or cleargie, shall receiue any 
charge of those whiche are vnder age, the cause of condi. caiced 
that decree, is there said to be,, for that there were <=»?• 3- et 7. 
certain ministers, that were stuards to noble men ; and in 
the 7. cannon, that none of them shoulde receiue any secular 
honors. 

13 The BB. shall onely attende vnto prayer, 4.concii. 
reading and preaching. Carth.cap.20. 

14 He bringeth diuers reasons to prooue, that bb. may 
neither vsurpe, nor take (being offered vnto them) , . caiuin 

• Ml «r NO / Institut. hb. 4. 

any ciuill office. cap. u. sect. 9. 

15 He sheweth how the offices are to be distinguished, and 
in what sort it is sayde, that the fathers delt in the Bea. coafcs&. 
things of this life, and Vvov^^ \Jcv^ co^^^^A ^:%!'^' 

£.\c scif. Lib. No, Q. a^ 



70 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. [jL^t^. 

punishments by the Apostles were particular and 
extraordinary. 

16 When both the offices meet in one man, the one 
p. Martyr, hindercth the other, so that he that exerciseth the 
vpon rom. 13. Q^e, cannot minister the other. 

17 There is no man so wise and holy, which is able to 
Bucervpon. eXercize both the ciuill, and Ecclesiastical! power, 
Matth. s. ^^^ therefore he that will exercize the one, must 
leaue the other. 

Therefore, if Christ refused to iudge in temporal! causes. 
The Conclusion becjELuse it belonged not to his office ; if ciuill 
dominion was forbidden the Apostles; if necessary duties 
are rather to be lefte vndone, then our diligence in the 
matters of the Churche shoulde bee lessened ; if hee that hath 
an office, must attende vppon it; if wee may not be intangled 
with any hinderance; if the ciuill and Ecclesiastical! functions, 
be of contrary natures ; if euery office in the Church, be more 
then any one can perfectly discharge ; if the Apostles found 
themselues vnfit for two offices of like nature ; if we iustly 
reprooue the papists for their two swordes ; if a magistrate 
may not preach ; if they may not meddle with worldly offices, 
nor be tutors to Orphans, but attend only vnto the ministery 
of the word, &c. ; if they may neither vsurpe, nor take (being 
offered) any ciuill office; if they be to be distinguished to 
seuerall persons, or els one hindereth the other ; lastly, if 
none be able to execute both, then must it needs follow, that 
Ecclesiastical! officers may not beare ciuill offices: and 
consequently the office of the Church-gouernment, is meere 
ecclesiasticall. 

Their obiections hereunto Me these. 

Objections for 1 Obiectioil It countenauceth and maintayneth 

cccilLr^t^^r religion, to haue ciuill authoritie. 

persons, AnsWeie It is (in deed) the papists reason for 

their two swordes, which M [aster], Caluin confuteth: 

Institut, booke 4. cap. ii. sect. g. 

. 2 Obiection It is good to punishe vice by corporal! 

punishment, that Gods word may be the better obeyed. 

Answere It is good to preach Gods word to men, that 
they may obey their prince for conscience sake; may the 



jL^ilffl A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. J I 

magistrate therefore preach ? wee may not doe euerye thing 
that is good, but onely that which is agreeable to our callings. 

3 Obiection Eli and Samuel, were both priests and ludges. 
Answere They were extraordinary (for God separated 

those two offices in Moses^ and gaue the one vnto Aaron) and 
so was Eli[j]ahs killing of the false prophets, and Christes 
whipping of the buyers and sellers out of the Temple. 

4 Obiection Peter killed Ananias, therefore bb. may haue 
prisons. 

Answere It was by his worde onely, and not by anye 
ciuill punishment, if they can doe the like, Peters example 
will serue their tumes, if not, then must it be (with the 
former) extraordinarie. 

Chap. i6. 

|He placing and displacing of Church-officers, 
appertaineth vnto the Eldership. This is prooued 
in the 7. chap[ter]. and their objections are there 
aunswered for the first part, which is the placing : 
but the latter part is to be cleared by some mo reasons, 
because the bb. do displace the best ministers at their plesure, 
which is proued to be a most wicked action, by these resons. 

1 Those that are called vnto the ministery by the Lord 
from heauen, and outwardly by the meanes of men, so long 
as they are blameles in doctrine and conuersation, i. Tim. 3. 
10. cannot be displaced, without hainous wi[c]kednes against 
the manifest will of God : But suche are the ministers that 
the BB do daily displace, as they confesse themselves, when 
(euen) in their sermons they iustifie their doctrine, in saying 
that they differ onely in outward rites ; and as their greatest 
enemies will saye, when they are asked of such mens Hues : 
Therefore they cannot be displaced without great wickednes. 

2 Those that are carefuU to discharge the dutie of Gods 
ministers, both in teaching, and giuing example to their 
flockes, cannot be displaced without great impie^e : Such 
are these ministers, that are daily displaced, as appeareth by 
this, that they pfeache more diligently then any other, and 
that they followe not the course of the worlde, in adding 
liuing vnto lining, but many of them (being as worthy for 
their giftes, as the worthiest) Hue poorely, rather then they 




72 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLTNE. Ul^^^. 

will want the comfort of a good conscience : Therefore they 
cannot be put to silence without great sinne. 

3 To depriue Gods people of their spiritual! comfort, is a 
grieuous and horrible wickednes : To put such to silence as 
are before mentioned is to depriue Gods people of their 
spiritual! comfort : which if any man will denie, all the godly 
where such a one dwelleth, shall tell him hee lyeth : 
Therefore to displace such ministers, is a haynous and 
horrible wickednes. 

4 That which giueth occasion to the weake to stumble and 
fall away from the Gospell, is a haynous and horrible sinne : 
But such is the displacing of those ministers, as appeareth 
by this, that many doubt whether that which he hath taught 
be true, whom the professors of the gospell do displace, and 
by this, that many who had made good beginnings, by the 
discontinuance of their teachers, doe fall away : Therefore to 
displace those ministers, is a haynous and horrible sinne. 

5 Those whose labours God doth blesse, can not be 
displaced without fighting against God, and consequently 
great impietie : But such are these ministers that the bb. doe 
dayly displace, as all that loue the Gospell in euery countrye 
can witnes : Therfore to displace them is great impiety. 

6 That action which giueth the common enemy iust cause 
to reioyce, and hope to get the victory, is a haynous and 
horrible offence : But such is the displacing of those ministers, 
as appeareth in euery country, where such ministers are 
displaced, and such enemies do dwell : Therefore to displace 
such, is a haynous and horrible oiTence. 

7 That action that causeth the doers therof to be esteemed 
enemies to the gospell, must needes be a haynous sinne : 
But such is the putting of those ministers to silence, for it 
maketh the people that haueany loue to religion, think that 
they are not of God in so doing, for say they he that loueth 
Christ, cannot crosse the course of the Gospel as these men 
doe : Therefore the displacing of them is a haynous sinne. 

8 That which letteth in more wickednes at once, then the 
diligent preaching of the worde could driue out in diuers 
yeeres, must needs be a haynous sinne : but suche is the 
displacing of these ministers : for, prophaning of the Saboth, 
and all disorder, commeth into a congregation the same day 
that such a minister, that hath long labored against it is 



}Lcf^:] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 73 

displaced, as experience in suche places prooueth : Therefore 
to displace such ministers is a haynous sinne. 

9 That which interrupteth the course of the Gospell, 
without warraunt eyther from Gods word, or the lawes of the 
land, is a haynous and horrible sinne : Such is the displacing 
of those ministers, as is proued in al the writings on our side ; 
and lastly, in the answere to D [octor] . Bridges : therfore 
to displace such ministers, is a haynous and horrible sinne. 

Therefore if the ministers that bee vsually displaced, be 
called of God ; if they discharge the dutie of good xheConciusion 
ministers, both in doctrine and life ; if the displacing of them, 
bee to depriue Gods people of their spiritual comfort : if it 
giue occasion to some to doubt of the Gospel, and to fall 
away ; if God giue a blessing vnto their labours ; if the 
displacing of them giue the enemy matter to reioyce, and hope 
to ouercome ; if it cause the displacers to be esteemed enemies 
to the Gospell ; if it let in more wickednesse in one day, then 
preaching can throwe out in many yeeres ; if it interrupt the 
course of the gospell, without warrant eyther from the word 
of God, or lawes of the land; then must it needs follow, 
that the displacing of those ministers is a most haynous^ and 
horrible sinne against the Lord. 



Chap. 17. 

|He Eldership is to admonishe euery one, by whome 
offence appeareth vnto them to grow in the Church : 
There is no question between vs, about admonition 
it selfe ; but this they deny, that the execution of 
any discipline (and therefore of this poynt) belongeth vnto 
the Eldership; which point is prooued in the seuerall 
chapters going before : so that I need not saye any thing of 
this, sauing with (a reason or twayne) to shewe the necessitie 
and benefit of it in the Church of God. 

1 That whiche priuate men offended, are commaunded to 
seeke vnto for the redresse of the offender, is a necessarie, 
and an ordinary way for the amendment of them that doe 
offend in the Church of God : But such is the admonition of 
those that are in authoritie, andcary the name of the Church, 
Mattb. iS.15. ^66 chap. 14. and the !• proposition of the same : 




74 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. [jL^xts": 

Therefore admonition in such cases by the Eldership, is a 
necessary and ordinary way, for their amendment that do 
offend. 

2 That which is more auaylable to bring the offender to 
repentance, then priuate admonition, eyther by one, or moe, 
that same is verye profitable and necessarie in the Church of. 
God : But such is the publike admonition by the gouernours 
of the Church, as appeareth by this, that Christe maketh it a 
remedy, when the other two will not preuaile. Mat. i8. 15. 
Therfore it' is very profitable and necessary in the church 
of God. 

3 That which maketh men more afraide to offend, then 
any admonition that priuate men can giue, is profitable and 
necessary in the church of God : But such is the Eldership, 
before whom men know they shalbe brought if they doe not 
amend : Therefore it is very profitable and necessary in the 
Church of God. 

4 That which hath a greater promise to do good, then 
priuate admonition, is very necessary in the Church of God :- 
But suci* is the admonition that is giuen by the Eldership,- 
because it preuay/eth when the former doth not : Therefore it 
is profitable in the Church of God. 

5 That without which, all duties of charity cannot be 
exercised towards sinners, is needful to be in the Church of 
God : But without admonitioa by the Eldershipp, all duties of 
charitie cannot be exercised towards sinners: Therfore it 
is rieedfull to be in the Church of God. 

6 That which woulde bridle the outragipus sinnes of some, 
and keepe in the derision and mockery, that priuate admoni- 
tions do receiue, is needful to be in the Church of God : But 
this would admonition by the Eldershipp doe; for if men 
knewe that they should answere vnto the Churche for their ill 
demeanour, to them that rebuke them for sinning; they woulde 
refraine (at least for feare) from such kinde of outrage: 
Therefore it is needful to be in the Churche of God. 

Therefore seeing publike admonition by the Eldership is to 
The Conclusion bc sought, by thosc that are offended, and cannot 
be satisfied ; seeing it is more auayleable then priuate 
admonition; seeing it maketh men more afraid to offend; 
se[e]ing it hath a greater promise ; seeing without it all duties 
of charitj', cannot be exercized towards the sinner; lastly. 




jL^itS:] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 75 

seeing it would bridle the outragious sinnes of many ; 
Therefore it must needs followe, that it is very profitable, and 
necessary to be in the Church of God. 

Chap. i8. 

|Hose that be not reclaimed from their faultes by 
admonition, are by the Eldership to be suspended 
from the Lords supper, or being officers of the 

church, from the execution of their office, vntil they 

do eyther giue good testimony of their amendment, or iust 
Clause to be further proceeded figainst. Neyther is there 
any controuersie betwixt them and vs, about this poynt; 
sauing that (as in the former) they will denie it to appertaine 
to the Eldership, which is prooued before. 



I will therefore (for their vnderstanding that desire direction 
in the trueth) firste, shewe that it is a course that hath 
warrant in the scriptures ; secondly, that it is of very 
profitable vse in the Church of God : the first is thus proued. 

1 Whatsoeuer is enioyned, as a duetie to be done by euery 
christian, if he leaue it vndone, he is to be com- suspentbii ..a 
pelled by the gouernours of the Church to doe it, Jh"^^** ^^ 
Luke. 14. 17. 23. But if a mans brother haue any being vpon v 
thing against him, and he make no conscience to M^th^ordt^ 
leaue his gifte there, and be iftrst reconciled, s«"ethdowne. 
Matth. 5. 24. he is to be conipelled to do it: Therefore 
separation from the Lordes supper, is warranted by the word. 

2 If that cbmmandement of Christe, Matth. 7. 6. giue not 
that which is holy vnto doggs, can neyther be properly 
vnderstood of them, that were neuer of the Churche, nor 
them that be excommunicated; then is it a warraunt for 
such separation of the vnworthy, and consequently, that 
separation is warranted in the word y But the former is truci 
asappeareth by this, that the meanest of the Ie\yes did knowe, 
that holy things belonged to neyther of them, and so th^ 
commandement had beene needk^se t Therefore suspention^ 
is warranted by the word. 

3 If there be sinners that are not to l?e exqommunicatedi, 
and yet it were ofifensiue to giueAVv^tjv \>^^ JVi^t^> ,%ni:^'^^'^ 



76 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. [jL^tw! 

then is this course warranted by the word, for els should Christ 
haue left his Church destitute of direction, in common and 
vsual difficulties, which is prooued in the first chap[ter]. to be 
otherwise : But such sinners there are as the notorious 
sinner repenting; men mainly suspected of notorious 
transgressions,. &c. Therefore suspention hath his warrant 
in the worde. 

4 The course that God prescribed in the shadow, for 
corporal purifyings, must in the body (in respect of the 
substaunce) be obserued in the spirituall clensing of euery 
member of the Church : But many were separated from the 
publike sacrifices for a season, by reason of their corpdrall 
vncleanes, who, yet were not worthy to be excommunicated r 
Therefore must also some be kept from the Lordes supper 
for a season, who yet appeare not so haynously to haue 
sinned, as to deserue excommunication. 

6 The church cannot without great offence, suffer one that 
hath fallen into some open sin, or that is vehemently 
suspected, to haue haynously offended, continue in the 
administration of any publike function: But the Churche 
cannot iustly displace suche a man at the first, making shew 
of repentance, or standing vpon his purgation : Therefore he 
must be separated for a time. 

6 That which was commaunded vnder the law to be done 
to the priest, that was vncleane in body, or suspected to be a 
leaper ; that same must much more vnder the Gospell, be 
done vnto the minister, or other Church officer, that hath 
sinned, or is suspected to haue committed a great sinne : 
But such a priest was to be separated from offring of 
sacrifices for a certaine time : Therefore much more must 
the like be done to a Church officer in the like case. 

Therefore, if the Churche bee tocompell a priuate man to 
tbeConcittsioti doc his ductie ; if, giue not holy things to doggs, 
be vnderstood of them within the church ; if there be 
sinners that cannot with out offence be admitted to the 
Lords supper, and yet deserue not excommunication ; if for 
eorporall vncleannes vnder the law, they were to abstaine 
a certaine time ; and if the Church can not without great 
offence, suffer him that hath committed an open sinne (though 
hie repent) or that is vehemently suspected of a notorious 
slhne, continue in the execution of his office, vntil the 



in 



juic^xt^i:] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 77 

congregation be satisfied; Lastly, if the priest that was 
vncleane, or suspected of leprosie, might not offer sacrifices : 
then is it plaine, that both the separation of some men from 
the Lords supper, and other from the execution of their 
publik[e] function for a time; is a thing warranted by the 
word of God. 



The latter part, which is that this kind of Thevseof 
suspention hath a profitable vse in the p3i"br"ii 
church of God, is thus prooued. «!?« church. 

1 That whiche keepeth the godly in more carefull 
obedience, and keepeth in the hypocrites, that they breake 
not out, is very profitable for the Church of God : But such 
is the vse of the separation from the Lordes supper, and from 
executing publike function in the church : Therefore it is 
profitable in the church of God. 

2 That which remooueth (euen) the appearance of offence, 
from the Churche of God, is very profitable for the same : 
But such is the separation : Therefore it is profitable for the 
Church of God. 

3 That which declareth vnto the world, that the Church 
of God is carefull to practize that which it professeth, is very 
profitable : But such is this separation, for it sheweth that 
they cannot away with vngodly life; no, not among 
themselues : Therefore it is profitable for the church of God. 

4 That which giueth occasion to the church, to be 
^ exercised in the actions of religion, with more sound comfort, 

is profitable for the same : But such is this separation, for 
euery one shall see thereby, the vnworthy (for whose sakes, 
God might be angrie with them all, losh. 7. ii.) weeded from 
among them: Therefore it is profitable for the Church of God. 

6 That whiche is a speciall meanes to procure the Lord 
(in mercie) to continue his word vnto his Church, is profitable 
for the same : such is this seperation ; for it is a notable 
meanes to keepe men in obedience to that which they 
professe : Therfore it is profitable for the chur [c] h of God. 

Therefore, if separation of the knowne, or suspected 
sinner, from the Lords supper, and such a church The conclusion 
officer from the execution of his publike function^ doe 
keepe men in obedience that bt ^o^^^ -asA T^%\x'KiTysiC5cw 



78 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. [jL^x*^! 

hypocrites from outrage ; if it remooue the very appearance 
of euil ; if it let the world see, that the Churche laboureth 
to practize that which it doth professe; if it make euerye 
member of the Churche to be exercized in the actions of 
religion, with greater comfort ; lastly, if it be a special mean 
to procure the Lord in mercie, to continue his word; then 
must it needs follow, that it is of very profitable vse vnto the 
Church of God. 



•\ 




Chap. 19. 

|Hen neyther admonition, nor suspention will seme 
I to reclaym the offender, biit that it doth appeare, 
that he abydeth in impenitencie, and is incorrigible, 

the Eldership, after mature deliberation, and 

commciiuing of the party vnto the prayers of the Churche 
(heeyet remaining obstinate) is to proceed to excommunication: 
which containeth these propositions in question betwixt vs 
and the bb. 

1 It may not be done, but vpon great and wayghtie 
occasion^ 

2 It may not be done by any one man^ but by tkc) 
Eldership y the whole Church consenting therevnto^ 

« 

The former is holden by vs, T.C. i. book, pag[e] 183. Discipl.. 
Eccles. 130. and denied by them in their practize, that send 
it out (many times) for not paying of sixe pence. 

T) ut our ' assertion is thus prooued, and their godlesse 

X3 practize disprooued. 

JlThat which Christ hath ordayned for the last remedie 
Theproofe against sinne, and onely to be vsed when neyther 
^V^ition. admonition, reprehension, nor separation from the, 
externall communion of the saynts for a time will serue ; 
that same is not to be vsed, buj vpon great extremitie : But 
such is excommunicatioi\, as appeareth, Math. 18. 15. There- 
fore it may not be vsed, but vppon most wayghtie occasion, 
that is in thecase (onely) of extremitie, when no other meanes 
will serue the turne. 
2 That whiche cutteth a man of [f J from the Church of God, 



jL^fs^t] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 79 

and giueth him ouer vnto Satan, as one in a desperate case, 
that same may not be vsed but in greatest extremitie : But 
such is excommunication, being vsed according as God hath 
left it vnto his Churche, i. Cor. 5. 5. Therefore it may not 
bee vsed, but in greatest extremitie. 

3 That which a man will doe in the cutting off, of his 
hand or his foote, that same must the Church doe, in 
excommunication ; for it is the cutting off, of a member : 
But a man will trie all other wayes, and will neuer cut of[f ] 
his hande or his foote, vntill he see it incurable, and ready to 
infect the other parts of his bodie : Therefore excommunication 
may not be vsed, but in case of greatest extremitie. 

4 That which is contrary to naturall aflfection, and 
worketh that whiche a louing heart doth tremble to thinke 
of; that same may not be done, but in greatest extremitie : 
But such is the excommunication, for it depriueth the party 
excommunicated of our loue, and throweth him into the 
most wretched case, that can befall vnto man in this life : 
Therefore it may not be done, but in cases of greatest 
extremity. 

Therefore if excommunication be ordained of Christe, as 
a remedie, onely when all other helpes will not The conclusion 
serue ; if it cut the partie from Gods Churche, and giue 
him ouer vnto Satan ; it it must be proceeded vnto, as a 
man doth to the cutting off of his hand or foote ; lastly, 
if it be a worke contrary vnto the naturall affection of man, 
and effecteth that which a louing hart doth tremble to think 
vpon : then must it needs follow, that it is to be proceeded 
vnto, only in the cases of greatest extremitie, and after that 
all other me&nes haue bene vsed, and do appeare not to 
preuaile. 

' I ^he latter poynt (which is, that excommunication may 
I not be done by one man, but by the Eldership, the 
whole Church consenting therevnto) is holden by "nie proofe 
ys,,T.C. booke i. page 183. Discipl. Ecclesiast : prop<^siTion. 
130. &c. and denyed by them, VVhitgift^ page 662. and their 
continuall practise; But our assertion is thus proued, and their 
opinion and practize, founde to be erroneous and vngodly. 

1 That which Christ commanded to be done by the 
Church, may not be done by one ma.tv^NxvV^'^ ^^m n.*^^^^^^ 



8o A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. [jLHtsa! 

L. Grace for the Churche as VVhitgifte doth, page, 662. which 
needeth no confutation : But Christe commanded that 
excommunication should be done by the church, Matth. 18. 
15. Therefore it may not be done by one man. 

2 That which Paule enioyned the Churche, when they 
were met together, to doe, may not be done by one ttian 
But he commanded them to excommunicate the incestuous 
person, when they were met together, i Cor. 5. 5. Therefore 
it may not be done by one man. 

3 That which hath need of greatest aduice, and greatest 
authority, may not be done by one man : But such is the 
matter of excommunication, being the denouncing of that 
against a man, which he will most hardly beleeue, and being 
the wayghtiest poynt of discipline : Therefore it may not be 
done by one man. 

4 Those must excommunicate, that are to deale in the 
other partes of discipline, as shall appear in the resons 
following, and (as I think) no man will denie : But the other 
partes of discipline are exercized not by one, but by the 
Church, as hath bene prooued : Therefore not one, but the 
Church is to excommunicate. 

6 As it was ministred among the lewes, so must it be in 
the Church for euer ; which appeareth by this, that it is 
translated vnto vs from them (as the Greeke word Synedrion^ 
being by a corrupt imitation, called Sanedrim^ by the Rabbins, 
doth import) and had nothing ceremoniall in it : But it was 
executed among them by the Church, and not any one, lohn 
g. 22. Therefore the Church is to excommunicate, and not 
one man. 

Cyprian ub. 3. 6 Sayth, he would neuer do any thing in his 
cpist. 10. charge, without the counsell of his Elders, and 
consent of the people. 

Epist. 14. 7 The elders, and other church-officers, haue as 

wel power to absolue, as the byshop. 

Epist. X9. 8 For so much as absolution belongeth vnto all, 

I alone dare not do it. 

9 If there be any that haue committed such a fault, that 
Tertui. Apoi. he is to be put away from the partaking of the 
<ap. 39. prayers of the Church, &c. There do beare rule, 

certayne of the most approoued auncients or elders of the 
Church, which haue obtayned this honour, not by nioney, but 
by good report. 



jL^^ss":] A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 8 1 

10 It helpeth much to make the party more ashamed, that 
Angust. Kb. 3. he be excommunicated by the whole Church : also 
J^TOeT*** in his bookes of Baptisme, against the Donatists 
often. 

11 The Elders haue interest in other censures Jj^^^J^^J^j^ 
of the Church, and the Church it selfe in EpSt/i? 
excommunication. 

12 S. Paule accuseth the Corinthians, for that cSuib^*'^"'^ 
the whole Church had not excommunicated the cap^g? 
incestuous person. 

13 The Elders had the gouernement in p. Martyr in 
excommunication. x.cor. 5. 

14 It is very dangerous to permit so. weightie a matter to 
one man, and therefore that tyrannic may be The same vpon 
auoyded, and this censure executed with greater t^^ same place 
fruite and grauitie, the ordier that the Apostle there vseth, is 
still to bee obserued. 

15 Hee sheweth that it pertayneth not to one man, that it 
is a wicked fact that one should take the authoritie .caiuininsthut. 
to himselfe, that is common to others ; that it l^.'^^^' "' 
openeth a way to tyrannic ; taketh from the Church their 
right, and abrogateth the Ecclesiasticall senate, ordaynedby 
lesus Christ. 

16 The byshops, when they excommunicated of themselues 
alone, did it ambitiously, contrary to the decrees chap. xa. 

of godly cannons : See Bucer against Gropper, and ^''^' ^• 
vpon Ephes. 4. Dc animi Cura, also Zuinglius in Ecclesiast. 

17 It is plentifully forbidden (euen) by that iilthie see Abstract 
puddle, the cannon law, and therefore it must needs p^«« *^s. 
be a haynous sinne, when it findeth fault with it. 

Therefore if excommunication be to be executed (by the 
commaundement of Christe) of the Churche; if The conclusion 
S. Paule enioyned it vnto the Church; if it haue need of 
greatest aduice and authoritie; if it belong to them that 
may execute the other partes of Discipline; if it was so 
executed among the lewes ; if to absolue, be as well in the 
Elders power, as the Byshops ; if Cyprian durst not do it 
alone ; jf it was the action (in Tertul[l]ians time) of the most 
approoued Elders ; if to be by the whole Churche, helpeth 
much to make the partie mote a^Vv^xtv^dL\ \i>Jcv&^V^^^^^)«jQct^^ 
haue interest in it ; if the V7\vo\^ CAwi^Ocv ?l\. ^^^vci^ ^"^^ 



82 A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE, {^t^^^ 

reprooued, for not doing it ; if it be too weighty a matter for 
one man ; if the executing of it by one, ouerturneth the order 
appoynted by Christ ; bringeth in tyrannic ; maintayneth 
ambition ; and lastly, be forbidden by the cannon law it selfe. 
Then must it needes followe, that it belongeth not vnto one 
man to excommunicate, but vnto the Eldershipp, and that 
with the consent of the whole Church. 

Their obiections herevnto in defence of their owne practize 
be these. 

1 Obiection The right of excommunication, was in S. 
Paule and not in the rest. 

Answere He gaue onely direction in that, as in all other 
matters, whiche hee wrote of vnto them, but if they had 
not throwne out the incestuous person, he had remayned still 
vnexcommunicated, for all that which S. Paule had sayd vnto 
them. 

2 Obiection Christ gaue Peter and euery Apostle power 
to binde, and lose in earth and in heauen, which interpreters 
expound by Matth. i8. 15. 

Answere That power was of denouncinge Gods iudge- 
ments, or pronouncing his mercie in preaching, and not of 
this action : they are expounded one by another, because of 
the ratifying of them both in heauen alike. 

3 Obiection Paule did excommunicate Hymeneus and 
Philetus. 

Answere That is, beeing moderator of the action, he 
pronounced it, not that he did it alone ; The same answere, 
is to be made vnto the fathers, as Ambrose, &c. who are said 
to excommunicate. 



TheConciusionll^^Sil^®^^^^^® vpon thcsc grouuds of Scripturcs, 

wu * ^^^^« HBJ MB Fathers, Councels, Emperours, Lawes, 

rk „ RH Hi9 Histories, newe writers, and cleare light 

■^■'■■* of reason. I conclude, that "Christ hath 

prescribed vnto vs an exacte, and perfect platforme 

of gouerning his church at all times, and in all 

bchap.xo.&iT. places; which is this Hhat there ought to be no 

ministers of the the word, but pastot aiv^l^^^Vvfti^, 



jL\^^'^ A DEMONSTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 83 

whiche are to be ""called by the people, and cChap.4. 
ordained by the Eldership, are of **equall autho- ^ chap. 7. 
ritie in their seuerall congregations, muste ^with « chap. 10. 
all faythfull diligence imploye themselues, in the f chap. 10. 
ministery of the worde and sacramentes, ^that gchap. 21. 
there are to be in euery congregation certaine elders, 
whose office is to ouersee the behauiour of the 
people, and assist their pastour, in the gouemment 
of the church; **also Deacons,' who are to be hchap. 13. 
imployed onely in receiuing, and bestowing the 
liberallity and goods of the church to the reliefe 
of the poore, and other necessary vses: 'Lastly, i chap. 14. 
that there mu^t be in euery congregation an elder- 
shipp of pastour, teacher (if they can haue any) and 
elders, who are in common, to see that the church 
be well gouerned, not onely in maintayning the 
profession and practize of the worde in generall, 
''but also in admonishing, reprehending, or *sepe- k chap. 17 
rating from the Lords supper, them that walke ichap. is. 
offensiuely, and "lastly in excommunicating them, m chap. 19. 
that bye no other iheanes can be reclaimed. So 
that all and euery gouernement, contrary or be- 
sides this, whether in part or in whol[e], 
swarueth from that order, which 
Christ hath set downe in his 
word, and therefore 
is vnlawfulL 



FINIS. 



ERRATA. 

[These have been applied to the text\ 



84 





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to Mr. Arber. Cooksellers and Shipping Agents should 
therefore not be troubled in respect to them* They cannot get 
them any cheaper ; and must, in all fairness, charge Carriage, ' 
Commission etc*, in addition to the Qne Price in which Mr. 
, A R B E R includes free delivery by post. Distribi^tion by post 
V is also quicker (if not moro certain) than any other process 
of deh'very that bpoksellers etc. can corrtmand. Applications 
' shbuld therefore mi;an*fl6/y be made direct to the Publish^. 
• 5, To avoid the recurrencie of small payments ; any sum can be sent 
in advance, on Deposit, and will be accounted for. • i 

(3. The accurate postal address {as if addnssing a letter i^07t:^'s set/) is 
■ -required. ■'■;'''' '^ \ .'■'■'',./'■'■.""■ .: ■'.'■^ 

. 7. AH packets sent outside the United Kingdom are registered. 
0. Inland remittances can be made in yid-, idv or ij^d. P(?5M^^ 
Stamps, when tinder 5s. od.,: or by Postal Orders, Notes, or 
crossed Cheques when above that amount. / - 

Colonial, American, and Continental. remit tafnccs can be made 
by Colonial or Intei-national Money Orders, Notes, etc., or by 
Bank drafts at sight " to order." All Postkl Money Orders ire 
to be made on WiUesden Post- Office, London, li,W^ 
g. Purchasers etc. are informed fvom tirne to time of the fresh issues. 
10* The Wide distribution of the c\in ent Catalogues will be very helpfuU 
Copies \vill be forwarded, as demanded, for that purpose. 
*-* Under these arrangements is if alone possible continuously to 
/?r<>dijp€ and distribute these most impprtant \Votk^vfotlhe\)3:oductioh 
of wJuch, at the cheap rates here studied, or indeed at an^ \yt\c,e ^VajXX; 
^^^ IS, /biuhe most part, no inducement tp l\ve otdvi^aT^/^>^^^^^^