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that among the seven orders reckoned by the Church of Rome as sacraments, the priesthood is the highest, and episcopacy is not named. And it is natural that those who exalt the powers of the priesthood as the official instrument of accomplishing a corporal presence of our Lord in, with, or under, the elements in the Eucharist and, as the depositary of the sacramental power of remitting sin in absolution, may be slow to acknowledge an episcopal virtue and efficacy yet greater than this, saving for the general purposes of government. It is equally natural, on the other hand, that this identification of the episcopal status with that of a presbyter, so far as regards the essential powers of the Christian ministry, should be used by persons desirous of establishing new Christian communities. Accordingly, Wesley, in his later years, maintained this view, and in accordance with it gave organisation to the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States, and ordination to the Wesleyan ministers in England.

This theory of Church government must not be confused with Presbyterianism. It holds that the Church is governed monarchically by a presbyter set apart for that purpose, and usually and properly (but not necessarily) consecrated by other bishops; though the designation and appointment of an ordained presbyter to that office, by the Church, will suffice to constitute him bishop. Presbyterianism, on the other hand, treats all presbyters on the same level, and governs the Church in a republican manner by representative bodies of presbyters and lay deputies. For further information on this view of the rightful position of a bishop, together with a copious discussion of authorities, reference may be made to Dean Goode's 'Divine Rule of Faith,' also to Field' Of the Church.'2 A dissertation by Professor Lightfoot in his recent commentary on the Epistle to the Philippians discusses a branch of the same subject.

A final caution may be added. The distinction is very important between what is irregular and what is invalid. An act may be irregular, and yet may be valid if done. Nay, in 1 'Divine Rule of Faith,' vol. ii. p. 259, 2nd ed.

2 Book III. c. 39, and Book V. c. 27.

some cases of necessity, it may be an absolute duty to act irregularly. Lay baptism is undoubtedly irregular, and yet it is acknowledged to be valid if duly administered as to essentials.

THE THREE ORDERS OF THE MINISTRY TRACED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.

ACTS I.-V.-The history of the Church is confined to Jerusalem, and the Apostles are the only order of ministers named.

ACTS VI.- The Seven' are ordained to a distinct office, bearing no name in Scripture, but subsequently identified with the Diaconate.

ACTS XIV. 23.-Presbyters are everywhere ordained by Paul and Barnabas.

ACTS XV. 6, 22.-Presbyters are spoken of as existing in the Church at Jerusalem, and meeting in council with the apostles.

ACTS XX. 17.-There were presbyters (plural) in the Church of Ephesus; the same men are called in v. 28 ἐπίσκοποι.

ACTS XXI. 18. The presbyters of Jerusalem, with St. James, receive St. Paul.

There were therefore, in the Church at Jerusalem, apostles, presbyters, and deacons. And towards the close of the history of the Acts of the Apostles (i.e. about A.D. 58) there was a president, St. James (probably not an apostle, see dissertation in Professor Lightfoot on the Galatians), presbyters, and (we presume) still deacons.

PHILIPPIANS I. 1.-There were έπiσко and deacons at Philippi. Some hold that Epaphroditus, then at Rome, (II. 25) and styled the ȧróσroλos of the Philippians, was (in modern language) their bishop.

1 TIM. III. 1.—The due qualifications of an TíσKOTOS.
1 TIM. III. 8.—The qualifications of a deacon.

1 TIM. V. 19.-Timothy may judge the presbyters.
1 TIM. V. 22.—Timothy has the power of ordination.

1 TIM. I. 3.-Timothy is to be watchful over the doctrine of the teachers.

TITUS I. 5.-Titus is to ordain presbyters, who are called also ἐπίσκοποι in v. 7.

TITUS III. 10.-Titus is to reject heretics after due admonition.

It is maintained that the two epistles last named contain the three orders, viz. that of Timothy and Titus corresponding to what has been since named a bishop, presbyters or ἐπίσκοποι, and deacons.

REV. II. 1, &c.—St. John is directed to write to the 'Angels' of the Seven Churches of Asia. These have been very generally interpreted as the presiding ministers of the Churches, and that not only by Episcopal divines, but by many others, as Beza, Bullinger, Grotius, &c.

ARTICLE XXIV.

Of speaking in the Congregation in such a tongue as the people understandeth.

It is a thing plainly repugnant to the word of God, and the custom of the Primitive Church, to have public Prayer in the Church, or to minister the Sacraments, in a tongue not understanded of the people.

De loquendo in Ecclesia lingua quam populus intelligit.

Lingua populo non intellecta, publicas in Ecclesia preces peragere aut Sacramenta administrare, verbo Dei, et primitivæ Ecclesiæ consuetudini plane repugnat.

NOTES ON THE TEXT OF ARTICLE XXIV.

No special comment is needed on either the Latin or English text of the Article. The twenty-fifth Article of 1552 was to the same effect, but less strongly worded. 'It is most seemly, and most agreeable to the word of God, that in the congregation nothing be openly read or spoken in a tongue unknown to the people, the which thing St. Paul did forbid, except some were present that should declare the

same.'

OBSERVATIONS ON ARTICLE XXIV.

The strangely irrational and unscriptural custom against which this Article protests belongs not only to the Roman Church. Several sections of the Christian Church persist in the use of service-books, or of translations of the Scriptures, in dialects long obsolete. But the use of Latin in the services of the Roman Church was the occasion of this Article. Little more can be needed than to show how this usage arose.

When the Western Roman Empire was broken up, Latin had superseded the native dialects throughout Italy, Gaul,

Spain, and probably Britain, excepting in the more remote and mountainous or less civilized provinces. The Church, therefore, through these regions was a Latin Church. In Italy, Gaul, and Spain the invading barbarians either professed or adopted Christianity, and merged their own language in the provincial Latin. Thus, throughout those countries, the Church as well as the people continued to use Latin. It is not necessary to go into the question how far the provincial Latin was already a corrupt patois. Hallam shows that Latin was still spoken in France in the sixth and seventh centuries; faulty in point of grammar, but still Latin, and intelligible to the people. In the eighth and ninth centuries we read of the 'rustic Roman,' and find that vulgar patois of broken Latin prevailed, out of which, in course of time, modern French arose. In Italy and Spain similar changes and developments of dialects were proceeding. But Hallam says that he does not find any express evidence of a vulgar Italian dialect different from the Latin earlier than the close of the tenth century.

From this sketch it will be manifest that the change of language was so very gradual that it was only by little and little that the Church services became unintelligible to the people. By the time that the new dialects had assumed a definite type, and had received some little literary culture, there was not sufficient enlightenment in the people to make them desire vernacular services.

This explanation will not apply to Germany, nor to England after the Saxon conquest. In both these countries Teutonic dialects prevailed. But they received Christianity so late, and chiefly through Latin sources, that the Latin service-books were everywhere introduced. The priesthood cherished Latin as the language of books, and of such learning and divinity as they possessed. It was also the instrument of intercourse with Rome and their foreign brethren. It was, therefore, prized as at once a pledge and means of learning, and a matter of ecclesiastical convenience. Subsequently it was found to be too valuable an instrument of ecclesiastical

History of Middle Ages,' chap. ix. Pt. I.

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