and so long a tyme as he is commonly sayd to haue sit con∣tinually together. If he came to Rome at all, certes it was late ere he came, and peraduēture not long afore his death. For all the old writers, euen those that were néere the A∣postles time, do agreably and stedfastly affirme, that Peter was crucified at Rome vnder the Emperour Nero for preaching Christ and his Gospell, the same time that Paul was beheaded. Which thing I can easly graunt. But from this Peter vnto Siluester there be registred 33. Byshops or pastors of Rome. Of whom notwithstandyng none tooke vpon him any souereintie either ouer the Citie it selfe, or ouer the Church of Rome, and therfore much lesse aduaū∣ced they them selues ouer kynges and kyngdomes. Yet am I not afrayd to say thus much more of them, that if they might be found to haue attempted any whit of this prehe∣minence, or to haue sewed for souereintie, it is certein that they started aside from the way of their predecessours, yea and from their maister Christ, and grew out of kynd from their owne Peter. Wherfore their sayinges and doinges being against the expresse testimonies of Christ and the A∣postles aboue rehearsed, could proue nothing.
Howbeit, like as in other Churches, as of Antioche, A∣lexandria, Corinth, Philippos, Ephesus, Cesarea, and the rest, there were pastors or teachers which were called Bi∣shops, set ouer the Church of God, which by their holy mi∣nisterie serued seuerally their owne shéepe that were com∣mitted to them, and not other mens shéepe, or in many pla∣ces at once: (for at the begynnyng, euery pastor had his slocke appointed and committed vnto him.) So also was done in the Church of Rome, which is named Apostolicke Sea or Chayre. I would not haue any man amased at the termes of Sea & Chayre, and surmyse and imagine any Po∣pishnesse by them. Men in old time gaue the termes of Sea and Chayre, not onely to the Church of Rome, but to any of the notable Churches, I meane which the Apostles them selues founded, and in which the traditions or the doctrine