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gation by any man in his senses, wherein there was no more notice taken of the bishop, who was then, in a manner, every thing in his own church, than if he were nothing at all. And that there was so great a difference, in less than two centuries, in people's style and sentiments on this article, is an uncontrovertible proof that, in that period, things came to stand on a very different foot. This epistle of Clement, who was a disciple of Paul, appears indeed, from one passage, to have been written so early as before the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem, and, consequently, before the seventy-second year of Christ, according to the vulgar computation. And if so, it was written before the Apocalypse, and, perhaps, some other parts of the sacred canon. Nothing, therefore, that is not scripture, can be of greater authority in determining a point of fact, as is the question about the constitution of the apostolical church.

The other testimony I shall produce is that of Polycarp,, who had been a disciple of the apostle John, and must certainly have written his epistle to the Philippians a considerable time before the middle of the second century. He also takes notice only of two orders of ministers in the church, enjoining the people, chap. v. to be subject to their presbyters and deacons, as to God and Christ. He could go no higher for a similitude; nor could he decently have gone so high, had he known of a higher order in the church. Not a syllable of the bishop, who, in less than a hundred and fifty years after, would have been the principal, if not the only person, to whom their subjection would have been enjoined by any Christian writer. Let it be observed further, that though in chap. v. he lays down the duties and qualifications of deacons, and in chap. vi. those of presbyters, wherein every thing befitting judges and governors is included, and, through the whole epistle, those of the people, there is no mention of what is proper in the character and conduct of a bishop.

I shall remark here, by the way, that there is one very ancient author, Ignatius, who also comes within the denomination of the apostolic fathers, whose writings are supposed to have intervened between those of Clement and those of Polycarp, and whose authority is strongly urged on the opposite side. Of him I shall have occasion to take notice afterwards.

I shall here only add, in regard to Polycarp, that what has been now observed of his epistle to the Philippians, is a full confutation of that hasty assertion of Dodwell,* that the Christian writers, posterior to Ignatius, most accurately observe even the distinction of the names; to wit, of bishop and presbyter, of which he had been speaking. His words are, "Juniores autem Ignatio scriptores Christiani et nominum distinctionem observant accuratissimam." It is evident from the above quotation, that Polycarp knew of no Christian minister superior to the presbyters. If the bishop was of a different order, and yet included in the term, he has been as little observant of accuracy in the distinction of the names, as of propriety and decency in his injunctions on this head.

But there are other topics from which the episcopate has, by its warmest patrons, been supported, and which it will be proper to examine particularly in the following lectures. I shall in these also endeavour to trace (as far as at this distance of time it is practicable) the outline of the apostolic church, and inquire into the origin and progress of subordination in the pastors. It will be observed by the judicious and the candid, that what has been advanced does not affect the lawfulness, or even, in certain circumstances, the expediency of the episcopal model; it only exposes the arrogance of pretending to a jus divinum. I am satisfied that no form of polity can plead such an exclusive charter as that phrase, in its present acceptation, is understood to imply. The claim is clearly the offspring of sectarian bigotry and ignorance. In regard to those polities which obtain at present in the different Christian sects, I own ingenuously, that I have not found one, of all that I have examined, which can be said perfectly to coincide with the model of the apostolic church. Some indeed are nearer, and some are more remote; but this we may say with freedom, that, if a particular form of polity had been essential to the church, it had been laid down in another manner in the sacred books. The very hypothesis is, in my opinion, repugnant to the spiritual nature of the evangelical economy. It savours grossly of the conceit with which the Jews were intoxicated of the Messiah's secular kingdom—a conceit with which many like-minded Christians are intoxicated still.

* Paræn. 27.
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LECTURE V.

AFTER some considerations on the nature and consequence of the question about the polity originally established in the church, I discussed in the former lecture the principal topics relating to the equality of the pastors, at least in point of function and official duties. I observed also, in the conclusion of that discourse, that there were other topics, from which those who maintain a subordination among them have endeavoured to defend their sentiments. Many, indeed, convinced by such arguments as were then adduced, that it is in vain to search for the office of bishop, as the word is understood by moderns, in those ministers ordained by the apostles in the churches which they founded, have referred us for its origin to the apostolate itself. I have passingly observed already, that this was one of those extraordinary offices, which were in their nature temporary, and did not admit succession. But this point, as so much stress is laid upon it, will deserve to be examined more particularly.

The apostles may be considered in a twofold view-either in their general character as the first pastors of the church, and teachers of the Christian faith, or in what is implied in their special character, of apostles of Jesus Christ.--In the first general view, they are doubtless the predecessors of all those who, to the end of the world, shall preach the same gospel, and administer the same sacraments, by whatever name we distinguish them, bishops, priests, or deacons, overseers, elders, or ministers. But the question still recurs, Whether, agreeably to the primitive institution, their successors, in respect of the more common character of teachers and directors of the churches, should be divided into three orders, or only into two? To presume, without evidence, that the first, and not the second, was the fact, is merely what logicians call a petitio principii, taking that for granted which is the very point in debate. But if it be alleged, that not in the general character of teachers, but in their special function as apostles, the bishops are their proper successors,

the presbyters and deacons being only the successors of those who were, in the beginning, ordained by the apostles, this point will require a separate discussion. And for this purpose, your attention is entreated to the following remarks.

First, The indispensable requisites in an apostle sufficiently demonstrate, that the office could be but temporary. It was necessary that he should be one who had seen Jesus Christ in the flesh, after his resurrection. Accordingly they were all specially destined to serve as eye-witnesses to the world of this great event, the hinge on which the truth of Christianity depended. The character of apostle is briefly described by Peter, who was himself the first of the apostolical college, as one ordained to be a witness of Christ's resurrection, Acts i. 22.; a circumstance of which he often makes mention in his speeches both to the rulers and to the people. See Acts ii. 32. iii. 15. v. 32. x. 41. xiii. 31. And if so, the office, from its nature and design, could not have an existence after the extinction of that generation.

Secondly, The apostles were distinguished by prerogatives which did not descend to any after them. Of this kind was, first, their receiving their mission immediately from the Lord Jesus Christ, not mediately through any human ordination or appointment: of this kind also was, secondly, the power of conferring, by imposition of hands, the miraculous gifts of the Spirit on whomsoever they would; and thirdly, the knowledge they had by inspiration of the whole doctrine of Christ. It was for this reason they were commanded to wait the fulfilment of the promise which their Master had given them, that they should be baptized with the Holy Ghost. What pains does not Paul take to show, that the above-mentioned marks of an apostle belonged to him as well as to any of them? That he had seen Christ after his resurrection, and was consequently qualified, as an eye-witness, to attest that memorable event, he observes, 1 Cor. ix. 1. xv. 8.: that his commission came directly from Jesus Christ and God the Father, without the intervention of any human creature, he acquaints us, Gal. i. 1. ii. 6. To his conferring miraculous powers as the signs of an apostle, he alludes, 2 Cor. xii. 12.; and that he received the knowledge of the gospel not from any other apostle, but by immediate inspiration, Gal. i. 11. &c.

Thirdly, Their mission was of quite a different kind from that of any ordinary pastor. It was to propagate the gospel throughout the world, both among Jews and Pagans, and not to take the charge of a particular flock. The terms of their commission are, "Go and teach all nations." Again: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." No doubt they may be styled bishops or overseers, but in a sense very different from that in which it is applied to the inspector over the inhabitants of a particular district. They were universal bishops; the whole church, or rather the whole earth was their charge, and they were all colleagues one of another. Or to give the same sentiment in the words of Chrysostom, Εισιν ὑπο θες χειροτονηθέντες αποστολοι άρχοντες, εκ έθνη και πόλεις διαφορές λαμβάνοντες, αλλα παντες κοινη την οικεμενην SISENDENTES: "The apostles were constituted of God, rulers, not each over a separate nation or city, but all were entrusted with the world in common.” If so, to have limited themselves to any thing less, would have been disobedience to the express command they had received from their Master, to go into all nations, and to preach the gospel to every creature. If, in the latter part of the lives of any of them, they were, through age and infirmities, confined to one place, that place would naturally fall under the immediate inspection of such. And this, if even so much as this, is all that has given rise to the tradition, (for there is nothing like historical evidence in the case), that any of them were bishops or pastors of particular churches. Nay, in some instances, it is plain that the tradition has originated from this single circumstance, that the first pastors, in such a church, were appointed by such an apostle. Hence it has arisen, that the bishops of different churches have claimed (and, probably, with equal truth) to be the successors of the same apostle.

Fourthly and lastly, As a full proof that the matter was thus universally understood, both in their own age and in the times immediately succeeding, no one, on the death of an apostle, was ever substituted in his room; and when that original sacred college was extinct, the title became extinct with it. The election of Matthias by the apostles, in the room of Judas, is no exception, as it was previous to their

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