72 OF THE PACIFICATION OF THE CHURCH. 



more dispersed ; as in the court of parliament of 

 France, and in other places. No man will deny but 

 the acts that pass the bishop s jurisdiction are of as 

 great importance as those that pass the civil courts : 

 for men s souls are more precious than their bodies or 

 goods; and so are their good names. Bishops have 

 their infirmities, and have no exception from that 

 general malediction which is pronounced against all 

 men living, &quot; VOB soli, nam si occideret, &c.&quot; Nay, 

 we see that the first warrant in spiritual causes is 

 directed to a number, &quot; Die Ecclesiae ;&quot; which is not 

 so in temporal matters : and we see that in general 

 causes of Church government, there are as well 

 assemblies of all the clergy in councils, as of all the 

 states in parliament. Whence should this sole exer 

 cise of jurisdiction come? Surely I do suppose, and, 

 I think, upon good ground, that f{ ab initio non fuit 

 ita ;&quot; and that the deans and chapters were councils 

 about the sees and chairs of bishops at the first, and 

 were unto them a presbytery or consistory ; and 

 intermeddled not only in the disposing of their re 

 venues and endowments, but much more in jurisdic 

 tion ecclesiastical. But it is probable, that the deans 

 and chapters stuck close to the bishops in matters of 

 profit and the world, and would not lose their hold ; 

 but in matters of jurisdiction, which they accounted 

 but trouble and attendance, they suffered the bishops 

 to incroach and usurp ; and so the one continueth, 

 and the other is lost. And we see that the bishop 

 of Rome, &quot; fas enim et ab hoste doceri,&quot; and no ques 

 tion in that church the first institutions were excel- 



