But if every Christian sovereign be the supreme pastor of his own subjects, it seemeth that he hath also the authority not only to preach, which perhaps no man will deny, but also to baptize and to administer the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and to consecrate both temples and pastors to God’s service, which most men deny; partly because they use not to do it, and partly because the administration of sacraments, and consecration of persons and places to holy uses, requireth the imposition of such men’s hands as by the like imposition successively from the time of the apostles have been ordained to the like ministry. For proof therefore that Christian kings have power to baptize, and to consecrate, I am to render a reason, both why they use not to do it, and how, without the ordinary ceremony of imposition of hands, they are made capable of doing it when they will.