“This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.”
He speaketh not here of ambitious seeking, than the which there cannot be a worse fault in the Church, but general of the mind, and disposition of man, framed and disposed to help and edify the Church of God, when and wheresoever it shall please the Lord. Having dispatched the treatise, as well of doctrine and of the manner of handling of it, as also of public prayer, he now in the third place cometh to the persons themselves, speaking first of Pastors and afterward of Deacons, and he useth a preface, that the Church may know that these be certain and sure rulers. A Bishopric or the ministry of the word is not an idle dignity, but a work and that an excellent work: and therefore a Bishop must be furnished with many virtues both at home and abroad. Wherefore it be requisite before he be chosen, to examine well his learning, his gifts, and ableness, and his life.