The Remains of John Corbet, Section 8
§ 8. Teſtimonies in reference to the Biſhops Plea of being the Apoſtles Succeſſors.
FOR the diverſity of order between a biſhop and a presbyter, it is alledged, That biſhops are the Apoſtles ſucceſſors, which presbyters are not. To this it is anſwered.
1. The ancient Fathers make presbyters as well as biſhops, the ſucceſſors of the Apoſtles. Irenaeus lib. 4. c. 43, 44. We muſt obey the presbyters that are in the Church, even thoſe that have ſucceſſion from the Apoſtles, who have received the certain gift of truth according to the pleaſure of the Father, with the ſucceſſion of Epiſcopacy. Here presbyters are ſaid to have ſucceſſion from the Apoſtles, and to have ſucceſſion of Epiſcopacy. This cannot be evaded by ſaying, he intended it only of presbyters of a ſuperior order, which are biſhops: for this is to beg the queſtion; and in this Father there is no footſtep of any order of presbyters but what are biſhops. Cyprian. l. 3. Ep. 9. The Deacons muſt remember, that the Lord choſe Apoſtles, that is, biſhops and Praepoſiti; but after the aſcenſion of the Lord, the Apoſtles made deacons to themſelves, as Miniſters of their Epiſcopacy and the Church. Now in the names of Biſhops and Praepoſiti, the presbyters are included (as I have before made manifeſt). And it is plain that in this place, all in the ſacred Miniſtry above Deacons, are included in thoſe names, and called Apoſtles. Jerome in his Epiſtle to Heliodor, ſpeaks in general, that Clericks are ſaid to ſucreed the Apoſtolical degree. The late form of Ordination in the Church of England, viz. Receive the Holy Ghoſt; whoſe ſins thou doſt forgive, they are forgiven; and whoſe ſins thou doſt retain, they are retained; and be thou a faithful diſpenſer, &c. is for the former part, the very form of words uſed by our Saviour to his Apoſtles, to expreſs their Paſtoral Authority; and fully proves, that the office of a presbyter is Paſtoral, and of the ſame nature with that which was ordinary in the Apoſtles, and in which they had ſucceſſors.
2. Some conceive there is no proper ſucceſſion to the Apoſtles, whoſe office, as to its formal ſtate, and ſpecifick difference, was extraordinary, and expired with their perſons. And in proper ſpeaking, the ordinary Biſhops or Elders cannot be reckoned the ſucceſſors of the Apoſtles, for they were contemporary with them in the firſt planting of the Churches, and did by divine right receive and exerciſe their governing-power, which the Apoſtles did not ſupercede by their preſence, tho it were under the regulation of their ſupereminent authority; and the Biſhops or Elders of all ſucceeding ages, are properly the ſucceſſors of thoſe firſt biſhops. Bellarmine l. 4. de Pontif. c. 25. ſaith, That biſhops do not properly ſucceed the Apoſtles, becauſe the Apoſtles being not ordinary, but extraordinary Paſtors, have no ſucceſſors; and that the Pope of Rome properly ſucceeds Peter, not as an Apoſtle, but as an ordinary paſtor of the whole church.
3. Whereas ſome ſay, That the Order of biſhops began in the Apoſtles, and the order of presbyters in the ſeventy diſciples: it is anſwered, 1. As concerning the biſhops order, when the Fathers ſpeak of Apoſtles or Evangeliſts long reſiding in one church, they did by way of ſimilitude call them biſhops thereof. Reynolds againſt Hart, ſaith, That the Fathers when they term an Apoſtle the biſhop of this or that City, mean in a general way, that he did attend that Church for the time, and ſupply that room in preaching which the biſhop afterwards did. And not only the Apoſtles, but itinerant Miniſters or Evangeliſts, were in ſuch a general ſence biſhops of the places where they came. Paul ſtaid at or about Epheſus three years, Acts 20.31. yet he was not biſhop there in the ſtrict and proper ſenſe of the word. James was either no biſhop of Jeruſalem, or no Apoſtle, but as many think, another James. 2. As concerning the order of inferior preſbyters, ſaid to be inſtituted in the ſeventy diſciples, it is ſpoken without proof, and againſt Reaſon. Spalatenſis ſaith, thoſe ſeventy had but a temporary commiſſion, and therefore that he cannot affirm that Presbyterial Order was directly and immediately inſtituted in them, de Rep. Eccleſ. l. 2. c. 3. n. 4. Saravia acknowledgeth, that the ſeventy diſciples were Evangeliſts, de Miniſt. Evang. grad. c. 4.