XLII

The last point he would prove is this, “That our Saviour Christ has committed ecclesiastical jurisdiction immediately to none but the Pope.” Wherein he handleth not the question of supremacy between the Pope and Christian kings, but between the Pope and other bishops. And first, he says, it is agreed that the jurisdiction of bishops is at least in the general de jure divino , that is, in the right of God; for which he alleges St. Paul ( Eph. 4:11), where he says that Christ, after His ascension into heaven, “gave gifts to men, some apostles, some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors, and some teachers”; and thence infers they have indeed their jurisdiction in God’s right; but will not grant they have it immediately from God, but derived through the Pope. But if a man may be said to have his jurisdiction de jure divino , and yet not immediately; what lawful jurisdiction, though but civil, is there in a Christian commonwealth that is not also de jure divino ? For Christian kings have their civil power from God immediately; and the magistrates