time. St. Paul in his directions to Timothy says (1 Tim. iii., 8), The deacons must be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre: holding the mystery of the faith in pure conscience. And let these first be proved; then being found blameless, let them use the office of a deacon. And the office has come down uninterruptedly to our own time, as the first stage of the Christian ministry ; although the different condition of the Christian community has materially altered its business in most places. Such an alteration has, however, taken place gradually, under the guidance of due ecclesiastical authority.

817. We also find in the New Testament Bishops mentioned, as the governors and teachers of Christian churches. They are joined with Deacons. (Phil. i., 1.), Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons. The term means Overseers; and in Acts xx., 28, is so translated where St. Paul applies it to the Presbyters of Miletus: Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers (èxiσKóпovs) to feed the Church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. He appears also to apply the term to presbyters in writing to Titus. (Tit. i., 5), I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain presbyters in every city, as I had appointed thee: if any be blameless...For a bishop must be blameless. Here the qualities requisite in a Bishop are also demanded for a Presbyter. Nearly the same requisites for a Bishop are enumerated 1 Tim. iii., 1; where it is also said, This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. But in a short time this name, Bishop, became a fixed title of those who, after the Apostles, exercised the chief power in the Church; and the

authority of each Bishop was limited to a special district or Diocese (διοίκησις, παροικία). "We are able to number up them," says Irenæus (lib. III., c. 3), "who by the Apostles were made bishops." James, "the brother of our Lord," was bishop of Jerusalem; Timothy, of Ephesus; Titus, of Crete. Irenæus says that the Apostles made Linus the first bishop of Rome, and Polycarp of Smyrna. Ignatius testifies that the Apostles made Evodius bishop of Antioch. "Nulla ecclesia sine Episcopo, has been," says Gibbon (c. xv., § 5, note), "a fact as well as a maxim, since the time of Tertullian and Irenæus." "After we have passed the difficulties of the first century," he adds, "we find the Episcopal government universally established till it was interrupted by the republican genius of the Swiss and German reformers." This being the case, it appears to be not too much to assert the Authority of Bishops, and the necessity of the office in the Church, to be a Catholic and Apostolic Institution.

818. Since we thus accept Episcopal Authority, as necessary by Catholic and Apostolic tradition, we are bound to the Duty of establishing and upholding it in our own Church. We are also bound to the Duty of obeying and reverencing the persons who are invested with this Dignity; and of spiritually profiting by their ministrations, according to their place and ours in the Church.

Ordination.

819. It has already been shown that the selection of a special body of persons, for the ministry of Christian worship and instruction, is an institution of primitive authority and uninterrupted usage in the Church. It is proper to make some remarks on the character which belonged to persons thus selected, and the Ordinances by which they were invested with it.

According to the religious views of many nations, the Priest does not merely pray with, but also in an especial sense for, the People. He not merely directs and gives form and utterance to the devotional emotions of the Laity, but he is an intermediate person between them and the Deity whom they address. Through him prayers find a more ready access; and by him, religious ministrations are performed, which the laity cannot perform without an offence against religion. This was the case also in the Jewish Church. The Priests and Levites alone were allowed to perform the sacrifices and other rites of religion. But the High Priest was in a more especial manner the intercessor for the People. (Heb. v., 1), The High Priest is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer the gifts and sacrifices to God...He ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. And no man taketh this honour to himself, except he that is called of God, as was Aaron.

820. But from this same Epistle to the Hebrews, we learn that the Jewish High Priest is, in the Christian dispensation, represented, not by the Christian Priest, but by Jesus Christ himself-who (Heb. x., 14) by one offering hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. The Christian minister is never called ispsis, sacerdos, the proper designation of a priest who offers sacrifices; but тpeσßórepos, presbyter (elder), which has been, in the progress of modern languages, abbreviated. The Spanish word is presbitero, the Old French prestre, the German priester, the Anglo-Saxon preost, from whence the English priest. Christians in general, indeed, without distinction of Laity and Clergy, are called (1 Pet. ii., 5 and 9), a holy priesthood (iepárevpa), to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ; and a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. But this contradicts, rather than confirms,

the notion of an anology between the Jewish priesthood and the Christian ministry. The Christian ministers are, by learned writers, considered as corresponding rather to the ministers of the Jewish Synagogues, than to the Levitical order.

821. Christian ministers derive their special character and authority from the presumed Commission of Christ and of the Church which he established. He himself chose of his disciples twelve, called them Apostles, and gave them extraordinary powers, as well as a special Mission (Matth. x., 1. Mark iii., 13. Luke vi., 12). After his Resurrection, and shortly before his Ascension, he repeated his Commission to them, and his promises of Divine Assistance. (Matth. xxviii., 16. Mark xvi., 15. Luke xxiv., 44. John xx., 22). He breathed on them, and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted: and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained. And in parting with them, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. But in the time of the Apostles, others also had special Divine gifts. The persons who had special religious functions in the early Church are described by St. Paul (1 Cor. xii., 28), as, first, Apostles; second, Prophets; third, Teachers; fourth, Workers of Miracles; fifth, those who had gifts of healing; sixth, those who spoke with tongues; seventh, those who interpret. In these cases, the Divine gift at once marked the appointment of the person, and his special office: but these cannot be considered as examples of the manner in which it was intended that Christian ministers should be, in all ages of the Church, invested with the ministry, and directed to their proper business.

822. The first example of the appointment, or Ordination of persons to a religious office, in a manner which can be followed by succeeding ages, is the selection and ordination of the seven Deacons

described Acts vi., 6: They were set before the Apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid their hands upon them. In Acts xiv., 23, it is said of Paul and Barnabas that they ordained presbyters in every Church, and prayed with fasting, and commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed. The word here and elsewhere translated "ordained, " is χειροτονήσαντες, which is understood to imply the laying on of hands, as in the case of the deacons. The laying on of hands as a mark of blessing was a very ancient Jewish custom. Jacob laid his hands upon Ephraim and Manasseh, when he blessed them (Gen. xlviii., 14). Which custom Jesus Christ followed, when he blessed the little children (Matth. xix., 15). It was also the action used when the Holy Ghost was communicated to persons baptized (Acts viii., 17, and xix. 6). Timothy was ordained to the ministry in an especial manner by St. Paul laying his hands upon him (2 Tim. i., 6): Stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands (diù Tūs ἐπιθεσέως τῶν χειρῶν μου). But the presbyters also laid on their hands. (1 Tim. iv., 14), Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery (διὰ προφητείας μετὰ ἐπιθεσέως τῶν χειρῶν τοῦ πρεσβυτερίου). Accordingly, St. Paul, after giving directions to Timothy concerning Elders, adds (1 Tim. v., 22), Lay hands suddenly on no man. To Titus he gave

commission to ordain presbyters in every city; but here, the word translated ordain, is karaorńoņs, appoint. The practice of laying on hands, in the Ordination of Presbyters, continued in the early Church. Not only the Bishop, who was the principal person in the performance of the ordinance, but the other Presbyters who were present, laid their hands on the head of the person to be ordained. But the term xsɩporovia was applied to the bishop only (Constit, Apostol. VIII., 28, πρεσβυτέρος χειροθετεῖ οὐ χειροτονεῖ).