70 OF THE PACIFICATION OF THE CHURCH. 



likeliest ; as namely, the government of the Church 

 in the purest times of the first good emperors that 

 embraced the faith. For the times of persecution, 

 before temporal princes received our faith, as they 

 were excellent times for doctrine and manners, so 

 they be improper and unlike examples of outward 

 government and policy. And so much for this point : 

 now to the particular points of controversies, or 

 rather of reformation. 



CIRCUMSTANCES IN THE GOVERNMENT OF 

 BISHOPS. 



FIRST therefore, for the government of bishops, 

 I for my part, not prejudging the precedents of other 

 reformed churches, do hold it warranted by the 

 word of God, and by the practice of the ancient 

 Church in the better times, and much more conve 

 nient for kingdoms, than parity of ministers and 

 government by synods. But then farther, it is to be 

 considered, that the Church is not now to plant or 

 build ; but only to be pruned from corruption, and 

 to be repaired and restored in some decays. 



For it is worth the noting, that the Scripture 

 saith, &quot; Translate sacerdotio, necesse est ut et legis 

 fiat translatio.&quot; It is not possible, in respect of the 

 great and near sympathy between the state civil and 

 the state ecclesiastical, to make so main an altera- 



