CHAP. I. 1 2 DISS. I. desire to testify to the world that we would willingly preserve the ecclesiastical and canonical government, if the Bishops would only cease to exercise cruelty upon our churches. This our desire will excuse us before God, before all the world, and unto all posterity; that it may not be justly imputed unto us that the authority of Bishops is impaired amongst us; when men shall hear and read that we, earnestly deprecating the unjust cruelty of the Bishops, could obtain no equal measure at their hands 1. The venerable Melancthon, by whom this Confession was drawn up, thus expresses in an epistle to Luther the congruity of his own private sentiments with those of this public document. "I know not," he says, "with what face we can refuse Bishops, if they will suffer us to have purity of doctrine'. And he elsewhere quotes his illustrious correspondent as maintaining the same opinion. His words are (in allusion to this question), "Luther did always judge as I do 3.' Melanc thon. Luther. Calvin. 3 2 99 The sentiments of allegiance to the episcopal system of Church polity, here expressed by the original Protestants in Germany, were promulgated with equal earnestness by other eminent Reformers, who, under the pressure of the same necessity, departed from a system which they revered.Calvin reports himself to have subscribed willingly 1 Ibid. p. 11. 2 See Brett "" on Church Government,” p. 121. 3 Ibid. in l. c. CHAP. I. and heartily to the confession above quoted'. DISS. I. "Bishops," says he, in another passage of his writings, "have invented no other form of governing the Church but such as the Lord hath prescribed by his own word." Again, in another place, after describing the character of a truly Christian Bishop, he subjoins (in that strong language for which he was remarkable), "I should account those men deserving of every the severest anathema, who do not submit themselves reverently and with all obedience to such a hierarchy 2. This great man was by no means adverse to a considerable variety of grades in the Church. Speaking of Metropolitans or Primates, he observes that their appointment was of primitive institution, "to the end that the Bishops might, by reason of this bond of concord, preserve a closer union among themselves And lest the supremacy of the 2 " 1 The words of Calvin are,-cui pridem volens ac libens subscripsi. Vid. Epist. ad Martin Schaling, quoted by Barbon in the Preface to his work on Liturgies. 2 Talem si nobis hierarchiam exhibeant in quâ sic emineant episcopi ut Christo subesse non recusent, ut ab illo tanquam unico capite pendeant, et ad ipsum referantur,—tum vero nullo non anathemate dignos fatear, si qui erunt qui non eam reverenter summáque obedientiá observant.-Tractat. de Reform. Eccles. 3 Vetus ecclesia Patriarchas instituit, et singulis etiam provinciis quosdam attribuit primatus ut hoc concordie vinculo melius inter se devincti manerent episcopi. Quemadmodum si hodie illustrissimo Poloniæ regno unus præesset Archiepiscopus, non qui dominaret in reliquos, vel jus ab illis ereptum arrogaret, sed qui ordinis causá in Synodis primum teneret locum, et sanctam inter collegas suos et fratres unitatem foveret. Essent denique provin DISS. I. Roman Pontiff should be inferred from this conces CHAP. I. Calvin's distinction Pontificate and the Episcopate. Bucer. "To sion, he makes the following distinction. The same between the from comprehending under one vast dominion, the whole circuit of the world'." favourable view of episcopacy was entertained by other celebrated fathers of the Genevan church. Bucer on all occasions expressed his anxiety, that those churches which enjoyed an episcopal constitution, should not, without sufficient reason, relinquish this advantage; nor obliterate, by excessive change, their resemblance to the Christian communities founded by the Apostles. In his book, De Regno Christi, he writes to this effect. "We see by the constant practice of the Church, even from the time of the Apostles, how it hath pleased the Holy Ghost, that among the ministers to whom the government of the Church is especially committed, one individual should have the chief management both of the churches and of the whole ministry, and should, in that management, take precedence of all his brethren. For which reason the title of Bishop is employed to designate a chief spiritual governor." "Beza, the friend likewise of Calvin, and one among the most learned and indefatigable commentators upon Scripture, writing Beza. ciales vel urbani Episcopi, &c.-Calvin, Sereno. Regi Polon. p. 190. 1 Aliud est moderatum gerere honorem, quam totum terrarum orbem immenso imperio complecti.-Vid. Epist. cxc. 2 See also Brett on Church Government. Chap. v. page 85. CHAP. I. to the English Primate in the name of the Genevan DISS. I. Church, warmly eulogizes the church polity of England. He elsewhere refers emphatically to the authority of Bishops and Archbishops in our English establishment, and pronounces what we may consider his benediction. "Let England enjoy, by all means, that special benefit of God, and God grant that it may be perpetual unto her 1.” In another passage he describes it as a thing incredible, that the episcopal order should be rejected. If," says he," there be any who reject altogether episcopal jurisdiction (a thing I can hardly be persuaded of), God forbid that any one in his senses should give way to the madness of such men "." 2 of Poland gary. Passing from Geneva to the East of Europe, we Reformers find the same attachment for the primitive con- and Hunstitution of the Church. In the book of ecclesiastical canons agreed upon by the Reformers of Poland, and Hungary, anno 1623, the following oath of canonical obedience was required of every candidate for admission to Deacon's orders."I. N. N. swear before the living God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and before his Holy Angels, that I shall yield unto the Bishop 2 1 See Durel's view of the Reformed Churches, 4to. 1662. p. 280. 2 Si qui sunt (quod sanè mihi non facilè persuaseris) qui omnem episcoporum ordinem rejiciant, absit ut quisquam sanæ mentis furoribus illorum assentiatur. Theod. Beza ad tractat. de minist. Ev. gradibus ad Hadr. Sarav. Belgæ editam. CHAP. I. In DISS. I. and Presbyters (senioribus) all due obedience, as unto my superiors. So help me God1." another canon of the same church and synod, after enumerating the several authorities from Scripture for different ranks in the ministry, the assembled Fathers make a declaration as follows. "We also do acknowledge in our churches the orders and degrees aforementioned, insomuch that we have certain Bishops, as also Presbyters eminently so called, or Seniors, who ought to govern, according to established rules, the other persons termed in Scripture Ministers of God, and Pastors of the Churches"." Reformers of Italy. Among the Reformers of Italy, there was the same respect for episcopacy as among those already noticed of Germany and Switzerland. Jerome Zanchius., Zanchius, a very learned native of the Venetian territory, in his thesis on the true method of Reform ing the Church, makes this strong protestation. 1 1 Ego N.N. juro coram Deo vivo, &c. Episcopo et senioribus tanquam superioribus meis debitam obedientiam præstiturus. Sic me Deus adjuvet.-Canon. Eccl. Synod. Comiathinæ in Hungariâ. Class iii. Can. 8. 2 Nos quoque in ecclesiis nostris hos ordines vel gradus ita agnoscimus, ut certos habeamus Episcopos, Presbyteros item eminenter sic dictos, seu seniores, qui cæteros Dei ministros et ecclesiarum pastores scripturæ phrasi sic vocatos, certis legibus regere debeant.-Ibid. Can. 2. 3 His Treatise is entitled, "De verá Reformandarum Ecclesiarum Ratione." He was by some reputed among the most learned of Calvin's contemporaries. He succeeded Peter Martyr at Strasburg, when the latter, in 1549, was called over by King Edward the Sixth to be Professor of Divinity at Oxford. |