proueth was doon in the tyme of the Apostlis, aftir that the cisme, of which it is spokun, ie. Cor. ie. and iije. chapitris in the bigynnyngis, bifille; for remediyng of which cisme, as Ierom conceyueth, ["Diligenter Apostoli verba at|tendamus dicentis: Ut constituas per civitates presbyteros . . . postea intulit, Oportet enim episcopum sine crimine esse. . . . Idem est ergo presbyter qui et episcopus, et antequam diaboli instinctu studia in religione fierent et diceretur in populis: Ego sum Pauli, ego Apollo, ego autem Cephæ, communi presby|terorum consilio ecclesiæ guberna|bantur. Postquam vero unusquis|que eos quos baptizaverat suos pu|tabat, non Christi, in toto orbe decretum est, ut unus de presbyteris electus superponeretur cæteris, ad quem omnis ecclesiæ cura perti|neret et schismatum semina tolle|rentur. . . . . Sicut ergo presbyteri sciunt se ex ecclesiæ consuetudine ei, qui sibi præpositus fuerit, esse subjectos; ita episcopi noverint se magis consuetudine, quam disposi|tionis Dominicæ veritate presbyteris esse majores, et in commune debere ecclesiam regere, &c. S. Hieron. in Ep. ad Tit. c. 1. (Op. tom. vii. pp. 694-696. Ed. Vall.)] bischophode was founde and ordeyned to be aboue preesthode; and bi lijk skile othere statis of ouerte aboue bischophode, and not eer neithir bi Cristis owne deede; neuertheles bi Cristis weelwilling, as it is bifore schewid in this present chapiter.
Thanne ferther it myȝte be argued, that aboue these now seid bischopis, wilned and ordeyned by the Apostlis to be, the Apostlis willeden and meen|eden an othir degree and state in preesthode to be aboue bischopis; ȝhe, and that thei maden [maiden, MS. (first hand).] and ordeyneden a persoon into thilk same degree and state, bifore the cisme had ie. Cor. ije. and iije. chapitris, y proue thus: The Apostlis helden and meeneden hem silf being of the noumbre of xij. to haue state and degree in preesthode aboue tho othere now seid bischopis, which thei made aftirward out of the noumbre of xij., as therto sowneth miche the pro|cesse, Acts ie. capitulum., bi manie therto markable wordis. And also wherto ellis wolden the xj. Apostlis in thilk
