sores eorum nimirum episcopos transit:" "A power of anathematizing delinquents is derived from the apostles to their successors, even to bishops."

"h

6

St. Ambrose, upon that of St. Paul, Ephes. iv. "Quosdam dedit apostolos, apostoli episcopi sunt :" "He hath given apostles, that is, he hath given some bishops." That is downright, and this came not by chance from him; he doubles his assertion. Caput itaque in ecclesiâ apostolis posuit, qui legati Christi sunt, sicut dicit idem apostolus, pro quo legatione fungimur.' Ipsi sunt episcopi, firmante istud Petro apostolo, et dicente inter cætera de Judâ, Et episcopatum ejus accipiat alter."i And a third time: "Numquid omnes apostoli? verum est; quia in ecclesiâ unus est episcopus." Bishop and apostle was all one with St. Ambrose, when he spake of their ordinary offices; which puts me in mind of the fragment of Polycrates, of the martyrdom of Timothy in Photius, ὅτι ὁ ̓Απόστολος, Τιμόθεος ὑπὸ τοῦ μεγάλου Παύλου καὶ χειροτονεῖται τῆς Ἐφησίων μητροπόλεως ἐπίσκοπος καὶ ἐνθρονίζεται.κ "The apostle Timothy was ordained bishop in the metropolis of Ephesus, by St. Paul, and there enthroned." To this purpose are those compellations and titles of bishoprics usually in antiquity. St. Basil calls «a bishoprie, προεδρίαν τῶν ̓Αποστόλων, and προεδρίαν ̓Αποστολικήν. So Theodoret. "An apostolical presidency." The sum is the same which St. Peter himself taught the church, as St. Clement, his scholar, or some other primitive man in his name, reports of him. Episcopos ergo vicem apostolorum gerere Dominum docuisse dicebat, et reliquorum discipulorum vicem tenere presbyteros debere insinuabat:" "He [Peter] said that our Lord taught, that bishops were to succeed in the place of the apostles, and presbyters in the place of the disciples."

Who desires to be farther satisfied concerning catholic consent, for bishops' succession to apostles in their order and ordinary office, he may see it in Pacianus, the renowned bishop of Barcinona,m in St. Gregory," St. John Damascen,° in St. Sextus the First, his second decretal epistle, and most, plentifully in St. Cœlestine writing to the Ephesine council,P in the epistle of Anacletus de Patriarchis et Primatibus, &c. In Isidore, and in venerable Bede.s His words are these; "Sicut duodecim apostolos formam episcoporum exhibere simul et demonstrare nemo est qui dubitet: sic et 72 figuram presbyterorum gessisse sciendum est, tametsi primis ecclesiæ temporibus, ut apostolica Scriptura testis est, utrique presbyteri, et utrique vocabantur episcopi, quorum unum scientiæ maturitatem, aliud industriam curæ pastoralis significat.

Sunt ergo

jure Divino episcopi à presbyteris prælatione distincti:" "As no man doubts but apostles were the order of bishops; so the seventy-two of presbyters,

SECTION XI.

And particularly of St. Peter.

To the same issue drive all those testimonies of antiquity, that call all bishops, "ex æquo," successors of St. Peter. So St. Cyprian: "Dominus noster, cujus præcepta metuere et observare debemus, episcopi honorem et ecclesiæ suæ rationem disponens in evangelio, loquitur et dicit Petro, Ego tibi dico, quia tu est Petrus, &c. Inde per temporum et successionum vices, episcoporum ordinatio et ecclesiæ ratio decurrit, ut ecclesia super episcopos constituatur," &c. "When our blessed Saviour was ordering his church, and instituting episcopal dignity, he said to Peter: 'Thou art Peter, and on this rock will I build my church.' Hence comes the order of bishops, and the constitution or being of the church, that the church be founded upon " a &c. bishops."

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The same also St. Jerome intimates, "Non est facile stare loco Pauli, tenere gradum Petri:" "It is not a small thing to stand in the place of Paul, to obtain the degree of Peter." b So he, while he dissuades Heliodorus from taking on him the great burden of the episcopal office. "Pasce oves meas," said Christ to Peter and "Feed the flock of God, which is amongst you," said St. Peter to the bishops of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. "Similia enim successoribus suis Petrus scripsit præcepta," saith Theodoret : "St. Peter gave the same precepts to his successors, which Christ gave to him." And St. Ephrem speaking of St. Basil, the Bishop of Cæsarea Cappadocia, "Et sicut rursus Petrus Ananiam et Sapphiram fraudantes de pretio agri enecavit: ita et Basilius, locum Petri obtinens ejusque pariter authoritatem libertatemque participans, suam ipsius promissionem fraudantem Valentem redarguit, ejusque filium morte mulctavit:" "As St. Peter did to Ananias and Sapphira, so Basil did to Valens and his son, for the same delinquency; for he had the place, liberty, and authority of St. Peter."

C

Thus Gaudentius, of Brixia, calls St. Ambrose the successor of St. Peter; and Gildas, surnamed the Wise, saith, "that all evil bishops whatsoever, do, with unhallowed and unclean feet, usurp the seat of St. Peter." But this thing is of catholic belief, and of this use. If the order and office of the apostolate be eternal, and to be succeeded in, and this office superior to presbyters; and not only of Divine institution, but, indeed, the only order

which can clearly show an immediate Divine commission for its power and authority (as I have proved of the function apostolical); then those which do succeed the apostles in the ordinary office of apostolate, have the same institution and authority the apostles had; as much as the successors of the presbyters have with the first presbyters, and perhaps more.

For in the apostolical ordinations, they did not proceed as the church since hath done. Themselves had the whole priesthood, the whole commission of the ecclesiastical power, and all the offices. Now they, in their ordaining assistant ministers, did not in every ordination give a distinct order, as the church hath done since the apostles. For they ordained some to distinct offices, some to particular places; some to one part, some to another part, of clerical employment; as St. Paul, who was an apostle, yet was ordained by imposition of hands, to go to the churches of the uncircumcision; so was Barnabas, St. John, and James, and Cephas, to the circumcision; and there was scarce any public design or grand employment, but the apostolic men had a new ordination to it, a new imposition of hands; as is evident in the Acts of the Apostles. So that the apostolical ordinations of the inferior clergy, were only a giving of particular commissions to particular men, to officiate such parts of the apostolical calling as they would please to employ them in. Nay, sometimes their ordinations were only a delivering of jurisdiction, when the persons ordained had the order before; as it is evident in the case of Paul and Barnabas. Of the same consideration is the institution of deacons to spiritual offices; and it is very pertinent to this question. For there is no Divine institution for these rising higher than apostolical ordinance; and so much there is for presbyters, as they are now authorized; for such power the apostles gave to presbyters as they have now, and sometimes more, as to Judas and Silas, and divers others; who, therefore, were more than mere presbyters, as the word is now used.

The result is this: The office and order of a presbyter is but part of the office and order of an apostle; so is a deacon, a lesser part; so is an evangelist; so is a prophet; so is a doctor; so is a helper, or a surrogate in government. But these will not be called orders; every one of them will not, I am sure; at least, not made distinct orders by Christ. For it was in the apostles' power to give any one, or all these powers, to any one man; or to distinguish them into so many men as there are offices, or to unite more or fewer of them. All these, I say, clearly make not distinct orders; and why are not all of them of the same consideration? I would be answered from grounds of Scripture; for there we fix, as yet.

Indeed the apostles did ordain such men, and scattered their power at first; for there was so much employment in any one of them, as to require one man for one office. But a while after, they united all the lesser parts of power into two

e Acts xiii.

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sorts of men, whom the church hath since distinguished by the names of presbyters and deacons, and called them two distinct orders. But yet, if we speak properly and according to the exigence of Divine institution, there is "unum sacerdotium," one priesthood" appointed by Christ; and that was the commission given by Christ to his apostles, and to their successors precisely; and those other offices of presbyter and deacon are but members of the great priesthood; and although the power of it is all of Divine institution, as the power to baptize, to preach, to consecrate, to absolve, to minister; yet that so much of it should be given to one sort of men, so much less to another, that is only of apostolical ordinance. For the apostles might have given to some only a power to absolve, to some only to consecrate, to some only to baptize. We see, that to deacons they did so. They had only a power to baptize and preach; whether all evangelists had so much or no, Scripture doth not tell us.

But if to some men they had only given a power to use the keys, or made them officers spiritual, to "restore such as are overtaken in a fault," and not to consecrate the eucharist; (for we see these powers are distinct, and not relative and of necessary conjunction, no more than baptizing and consecrating;) whether or no have those men, who have only a power of absolving or consecrating respectively; whether (I say) have they the order of a presbyter? If yea, then now every priest hath two orders, besides the order of deacon; for, by the power of consecration, he hath the power of a presbyter; and what is he, then, by his other power? But if such a man, ordained with but one of these powers, have not the order of a presbyter; then let any man show me, where it is ordained by Christ, or indeed by the apostles, that an order of clerks should be constituted with both these powers, and that these were called presbyters. I only leave this to be considered.

But all the apostolical power we find instituted by Christ; and we also find a necessity, that all that power should be succeeded in, and that all that power should be united in one order; for he that hath the highest, viz. a power of ordination, must needs have all the other, else he cannot give them to any else; but a power of ordination I have proved to be necessary and perpetual.

So that we have clear evidence of the Divine institution of the perpetual order of apostleship; marry, for the presbyterate, I have not so much either reason or confidence for it, as now it is in the church; but for the apostolate, it is beyond exception. And to this bishops do succeed. For that it is so, I have proved from Scripture; and because "no Scripture is of private interpretation," I have attested it with the catholic testimony of the primitive fathers,-calling episcopacy, the apostolate; and bishops, successors of St. Peter in particular; and of all the apostles in general, in their ordinary offices, in which they were superior to the seventytwo, the antecessors of the presbyterate.

One objection I must clear. For sometimes

presbyters are also called apostles, and successors of the apostles; as in Ignatius, in Irenæus, in St. Jerome. I answer:

1. They are not called "successores apostolorum," by any dogmatical resolution or interpretation of Scripture, as the bishops are, in the examples above alleged; but by illusion and participation, at the most. For true it is, that they succeed the apostles in the offices of baptizing, consecrating, and absolving, "in privato foro;" but this is but part of the apostolical power, and no part of their office, as apostles were superior to presbyters.

2. It is observable, that presbyters are never affirmed to succeed in the power and regiment of the church, but in subordination and derivation from the bishop; and, therefore, they are never said to succeed, "in cathedris apostolorum," in the apostolic

sees.

3. The places which I have specified, and they are all I could ever meet with, are of peculiar answer. For as for Ignatius, in his epistle to the church of Trallis, he calls the presbytery, or company of priests, “the college," or "combination of apostles." But here St. Ignatius, as he lifts up the presbyters to a comparison with apostles, so he also raises the bishop to the similitude and resemblance with God. "Episcopus typum Dei Patris omnium gerit; presbyteri verò sunt conjunctus apostolorum . cœtus." So that, although presbyters grow high, yet they do not overtake the bishops, or apostles; who also, in the same proportion, grow higher than their first station. This, then, will do no hurt.

h

66

As for St. Irenæus, he indeed does say, that presbyters succeed the apostles; but what presbyters he means, he tells us; even such presbyters as were also bishops, such as St. Peter and St. John were, who call themselves presbyters. His words are these: Proptereà eis qui in ecclesiâ sunt presbyteris obaudire oportet, his qui successionem habent ab apostolis, qui cum episcopatûs successione charisma veritatis certum secundùm placitum Patris acceperunt." And a little after: "Tales presbyteros nutrit ecclesia, de quibus et propheta ait, Et dabo principes tuos in pace, et episcopos tuos in justitia." So that he gives testimony for us, not against us. As for St. Jerome, the third man, he, in the succession to the honour of the apostolate, joins presbyters with bishops; and that is right enough; for if the bishop alone does succeed, “ in | plenitudinem potestatis apostolica ordinariæ, as I have proved he does, then, also, it is as true of the bishop, together with his "consessus presbyterorum." "Episcopi presbyteri habeant in exemplum apostolos et apostolicos viros; quorum honorem possidentes, habere nitantur et meritum:” these are his words, and enforce not so much as may be safely granted; for “ reddendo singula singulis,” bishops succeed apostles, and presbyters apostolic men; and such were many that had not at first any power apostolical: and that is all that can be inferred from this place of St. Jerome. I know nothing else to stay me, or to hinder our assent to those authorities f Idem fere habet in Epist. ad Magnes. et Smyrnens. 8 Lib. iv. c. 43. h Cap. xliv.

i

Epist. 13.

of Scripture I have alleged, and the full voice of traditive interpretation.

SECTION XII.

And the Institution of Episcopacy, as well as the Apostolate, expressed to be Divine, by primitive Authority.

THE second argument from antiquity is the direct testimony of the fathers for a " Divine institution." In this St. Cyprian is most plentiful: "Dominus noster, episcopi honorem et ecclesiæ suæ rationem disponens in evangelio, dicit Petro, &c. Inde per temporum et successionum vices, episcoporum ordinatio et ecclesiæ ratio decurrit, ut ecclesia super episcopos constituatur, et omnis actus ecclesiæ per eosdem præpositos gubernetur. Cùm hoc itaque Divinâ lege fundatum sit," &c. "Our Lord did institute in the gospel the honour of a bishop. Hence comes the ordination of bishops; and the church is built upon them, and every action of the church is to be governed by them; and this is founded upon a Divine law." "Meminisse autem diaconi debent quoniam apostolos, i. e. episcopos, et præpositos Dominus elegit:" "Our Lord hath chosen apostles, that is, bishops and church governors.”▷ And a little after: "Quòd si nos aliquid audere contra Deum possumus qui episcopos facit, possunt et contra nos audere diaconi, à quibus fiunt:" "We must not attempt any thing against God, who hath instituted bishops." The same father, in his epistle to Magnus, disputes against Novatianus's being a bishop : "Novatianus in ecclesiâ non est, nec episcopus computari potest, qui evangelicâ et apostolicâ traditione contemptâ, nemini succedens à seipso ordinatus est." c If there was both an evangelical and an apostolic tradition, for the successive ordination of bishops by other bishops, (as St. Cyprian affirms there is, by saying "Novatianus contemned it,") then, certainly, the same evangelical power did institute that calling, for the modus of whose election it took such particular order.

St. Ignatius, long before him, speaking concerning his absent friend, Sotion, the deacon, où ¿yu ὀναίμην, ὅτι ὑποτάσσεται τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ καὶ τῷ πρεσβυτερίῳ χάριτι Θεοῦ, ἐν νόμῳ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. He wishes for the good man's company, because, “by the grace of God, and according to the law of Jesus Christ, he was obedient to the bishop and his clergy. And a little after: πρéñov ovv kori kai ὑμᾶς ὑπακούειν τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ ὑμῶν, κατὰ μηδὲν αὐτῷ ἀντιλέγειν. οὐ γὰρ τουτονὶ τὸν βλεπόμενον πλανᾷ τις, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἀόρατον παραλογίζεται, τὸν μὴ δυνάμενον παρὰ τίνος παραλογισθῆναι. τὸ δὲ τοιοῦτο, οὐ πρὸς ἄνθρωπον ἀλλὰ πρὸς Θεὸν, ἔχει τὴν ἀκαφοράν. Ιt is home enough. "Ye ought to obey your bishop, and to contradict him in nothing." It is a fearful thing to contradict him; for whosoever does so, Epist. 27. b Epist. 65. ad Rogatian. c Epist. 76. d Epist. ad Magnes.

a

"He

But it is a general resolve and no private opinion. For St. Austin is confident in the case with a "Nemo ignorat episcopos Salvatorem ecclesiis instituisse. Ipse enim priusquam in cœlos ascenderet, imponens manum apostolis, ordinavit eos episcopos ""No man is so ignorant but he knows that our blessed Saviour appointed bishops over churches; for before his ascension into heaven, he ordained the apostles to be bishops." But long before him, Hegisippus, going to Rome, and by the way calling in at Corinth, and divers other churches, discoursed with their several bishops, and found them catholic and holy, and then stayed at Rome three successions of bishops, Anicetus, Soter, and Eleutherius. "Sed in omnibus istis ordinationibus, vel in cæteris quas per reliquas urbes videram, ita omnia habebantur, sicut lex antiquitùs tradidit, et prophetæ indicaverunt, Et Dominus statuit:"""All things in these ordinations or successions were as our Lord had appointed." All things, therefore, both of doctrine and discipline, and therefore the ordinations themselves too. Further yet, and it is worth observing, there was never any bishop of Rome, from St. Peter to St. Sylvester, that ever writ a decretal epistle now extant and transmitted to us, but, either professedly or accidentally, he said or intimated, "that the order of bishops did come from God."

St. Irenæus, speaking of bishops successors to the apostles, saith, that, with their order of bishopric, they have received "charisma veritatis certum,” "a true, and certain or indelible character;" "secundum placitum Patris," "according to the will of God the Father." And this also is the doctrine of St. Ambrose: "Ideò quanquam melior apostolus aliquando tamen eget prophetis; et quia ab uno Deo Patre sunt omnia, singulos episcopos singulis ecclesiis præesse decrevit:" "God, from whom all good things do come, did decree that every church should be governed by a bishop." h And again: "Honor igitur, fratres, et sublimitas episcopalis, nullis poterit comparationibus adæquari; si regum fulgori❘ compares,' "i &c. And a little after; "Quid jam de plebeiâ dixerim multitudine, cui non solùm præferri à Domino meruit, sed ut eam quoque jure tueatur patrio, præceptis imperatum est evangelicis:" "The honour and sublimity of the bishop is an incompar

people; and it is commanded by the precept of the holy gospel, that he should guide them by a father's right." And in the close of his discourse: "Sic certè à Domino ad B. Petrum dicitur, Petre, amas me?'-repetitum est à Domino tertiò, 'Pasce oves meas. Quas oves, et quem gregem non solùm tunc B. suscepit Petrus, sed et cum illo nos suscepimus omnes:" "Our blessed Lord committed his sheep to St. Peter to be fed, and in him we (who have pastoral or episcopal authority) have received the same authority and commission." Thus also divers of the fathers, speaking of the ordination of St. Timothy to be bishop, and of St. Paul's intimation, that it was by prophecy, affirm it to be done by order of the Holy Ghost. Τὶ ἐστιν ἀπὸ προφητείας ; άπò πνεúμaroc ȧyíov, saith St. Chrysostom; "He was ordained by prophecy, that is, by the Holy Ghost." Ὁ Θεὸς σε ἐξελέξατο· οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνῃ yέyovas now, "Thou wert not made bishop by human constitution." Πνεύματος προστάξει, 30 Oecumenius. "By Divine revelation," saith Theodoret. "By the command of the Holy Ghost," so Theophylact; and indeed so St. Paul, to the assembly of elders and bishops met at Miletus, "Spiritus Sanctus posuit vos episcopos," "The Holy Ghost hath made you bishops :" and to be sure St. Timothy was amongst them, and he was a bishop, and so were divers others there present; therefore the order itself is a ray streaming from the Divine beauty, since a single person was made bishop by revelation. I might multiply authorities in this particular, which are very frequent and confident for the Divine institution of episcopacy, in Origen; m in the council of Carthage, recorded by St. Cyprian; in the collection of the Oriental canons by Martinus Bracarensis;" in the councils of Aquisgrane, and Toledo," and many more. The sum is that which was taught by St. Sextus: "Apostolorum dispositione, ordinante Domino, episcopi primitùs sunt constituti:" "The Lord did at first ordain, and the apostles did so order it, and so bishops at first had their original constitution."

These, and all the former who affirm bishops to be successors of the apostles, and by consequence to have the same institution, drive all to the same issue, and are sufficient to make faith, that it was the doctrine primitive and catholic that episcopacy is a Divine institution, which "Christ planted" in the first founding of christendom, which the "Holy Ghost watered" in his first descent on Pentecost, and to which we are confident that "God will give an increase" by a never-failing succession, unless where God removes the candlestick, or, which is all one, takes away the star, the angel of light, from it, that it may be enveloped in darkness," usque ad consummationem sæculi et aperturam tenebrarum.” The conclusion of all, I subjoin in the words of venerable Bede before quoted: "Sunt ergo jure Divino episcopi à presbyteris prælatione distincti : "