Your proofes goe very lowe when you vse suche slender ones: the words of Cy∣prian in that Epistle be these: Quod & ipsum videmus de diuina authoritate descendere vt* 1.1 sacerdos, plebe praesente, sub omnium oculis delegatur. &c. The whiche thing we see to discende from the authoritie of God, that the Priest be chosen the people beeing present before them all. &c. What can you else gather of this, but that a Priest must be chosen in presence of the people, and that then he is sayde to be chosen sub omnium oculis, before al their eyes, when he is chosen publikely, and openly in the sighte of many. But what is this to the strayghtning of his charge? A man mighte as well reason thus: Al the Citizens of Rome were not at Cornelius election, therefore he is not Bishop of all the Citie of Rome. But to the ende that you maye vnderstande, the vanitie of this your assertion, and that it may appeare that Cyprian maketh the Bishop in degree to be aboue a Priest, & also that at the election of the Bishop of Rome, moe were pre∣sent than those of the Citie: I will set downe his wordes as they be. Lib. 4. Epist. 2.* 1.2 I come nowe vnto the person of our fellowe Cornelius, that you may more truely knowe him, as well as we, not by the lyes of malicious men and backbyters, but by the iudgement of God, whiche made him Bishop, and by the testimonie of his fellow Bishops, the whole* 1.3 number whereof through all the worlde dyd ioyntly agree. For (whiche thing did greatly commende our welbeloued Cornelius vnto God, and to Christ, and his Churche, and al∣so to all his fellowe ministers) he did not sodenly come to the Bishopricke, but beeing promoted by all the ecclesiasticall offyces, he ascended to the high dignitie of Priesthoode,* 1.4 by all degrees of religion. Then afterwarde he neyther desired nor would haue the Bishop∣ricke it selfe, neyther as others vse whiche are puffed vp with pride and arrogancie, dyd he inuade the See by force: but beeing quiet and modest, and suche a one as they vse to be whiche are chosen vnto this place by God, for the moderation of his chaste conscience, and the humblenesse of his naturall and preserued shame fastnesse. He dyd not (as some men doe) vse violence, that he might be made Bishop, but suffered violence, that he mighte by* 1.5 compulsion be driuen to receyue the Bishopricke. And he was made Bishop of many of our fellowe Bishops, whiche were then at Rome, and whiche sente very honorable and commendable letters vnto vs of his ordination. But Cornelius was made Bishop by the iudgement of God, and his Christ, by the testimonie almoste of all Clearks, by the suffra∣ges of the people whiche was then present, and by the Colledge of the auncient Priestes, and of good men.
In these wordes first it is to be noted that he sayth Cornelius was made Bishop* 1.6 by the testimonie of his fellowe Bishops: Quorum numerus vniuersus per totum mun∣dum concordi vnanimitate consensit, The whole number whereof through all the worlde did ioyntly agree▪ Secondly that he was promoted to the highe dignitie of Priesthoode, per omnia ecclesiastica officia & cunctis religionis gradibus: Through all ecclesiasticall offyces▪ and by all degrees of religion, and then afterwarde was made Bishop. Thirdly, that Cornelius was made Bishop by the iudgement of God and Christ, by the testimonie almoste of all Clearkes, and by the suffrages of the people, whiche was then present, and by the Colledge of auncient Priests, and good men. Howe farre these thinges differ from your collections, and howe farre from Cyprians meaning you gather your coniectures, let the Reader iudge. I haue before sufficiently proued by auncient te∣stimonies, that the Bishop of Rome, Carthage, and other, had not one Citie onely to gouerne, or one parishe, but diuers places, whole Prouinces and Countreys, as Cyprians owne wordes before rehearsed maketh manifest. Wherefore all this you doe but speake of pleasure.
If you had tolde me in what place Cyprian sayth, that out of one Prouince there was 90. Bishops that condemned Priuatus, I woulde haue sayde something to it: but séeing