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Chap. 2. the. 2. Diuision.
And what the hande of man is able to reache heerein, it is to be considered in the Apostles, whome if the office of the ministerie dyd so wholly occupie and set a worke, that they could admitte no other charge with it, yea and were fayne to cast of that whych they had, it is cleare that none of those which lyue nowe can beside that function, admit any other publike calling. The story is knowne in the Acts, that the Apostles euen during the tune that they kept togither at Ierusalem,* 1.1 and taught the Churche there, were fayne, that they might the better attende vnto preaching and praying (by which two thyngs S. Luke summarily setteth foorth the office of the ministerie) to giue ouer the charge of prouiding for the poore vnto others, bycause they were not able to do both. Now for so much as the Apostles endued with suche giftes as none haue beene since, or shall be hereafter, could not discharge togither with the office of the minister that also of the Deacon, howe shoulde any man be founde, that togither with that office, can discharge the office of a ciuill Magi∣strate? And if the Apostles would not haue the office of a Deacon, whiche was ecclesiasticall, and therefore of the same kynde with the ministerie ioyned vnto it, howe muche lesse wyll they suffer that the ministerie should be ioyned with a ciuill offyce, and therefore of an other kynde? For rea∣son teacheth that there is an easier mingling of those whych are of one kynde, than of those whiche are of dyuers kyndes.
It is euident that the Apostles, from the ascention of Christ into heauen vntill* 1.2 this time, did execute both the office of the Apostles, and the office of Deacons also. Wherby it is manyfest that these offices may at sometimes méete togither in one, and the selfe same person. And M. Caluine vpon the. 6. of the Actes sayth: That they dyd not altogither caste off this care for the poore, sed leuationem quaesijsse vt suo muneri in∣tenti esse possent, but that they sought an easing thereof, that they might be intentiue vnto their offyce. The causes therfore that moued the Apostles to leaue off from executing the one, that is, the Deaconship, is to be considered. One cause was, the great encrease of the number of Christians, whiche was nowe growne to suche a multitude, that the Apostles coulde not well both make prouision for the poore, and gyue them selues also bothe to preaching and praying.
An other cause was the murmuring and grudging of the Gretians, who thought that the Apostles had more regarde to prouide for their owne countrey men the Iewes, than for the Erecians béeing straungers vnto them. Wherefore the Apo∣stles béeing willing to eschewe this grudging and repyning, dyd for auoyding the suspition of partialitie, will the whole multitude to choose them Deacons: and both those causes be expressed in the beginning of the. 6. 〈1 line〉〈1 line〉hapter of the Acts.
The thirde cause was, for that the Apostles knewe, that they shoulde shortly be dispersed, and that their office was to goe from place to place, to plant Churches, and preache the Gospell, so that they coulde not nowe execute the office of Deacons, as they dyd whilest they remayned togither.
This beeing so (as it can not be denied) there can be no likely argument gathered of this place, that ecclesiasticall persons may not haue some kinde of ciuill functions. And if a man well consider howe busie and troublesome an office the Deaconship was at that tyme (the Churche béeing in persecution, and the number of poore great) he shall easily perceyue, that there is no comparison betwixt the troublesomnesse of that office then, and the ciuill offices nowe committed to ecclesiastical persons, which be so farre from hindering their ecclesiasticall functions, that they worke the cleane contrarie effect. And yet it is certayne, that the Apostle S. Paule, and Titus, with Luke, or as some thinke, Barnabas, did togither with the office of preaching, make collections for the poore. 2. Corinth. 8.