CIHM Microfiche Series (l\1onographs) ICiVIH Collection de microfiches (monographies) Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques ■ }riques Technical and Bibliographic Notes / Notes techniques et bibliograph The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the '' '^^"'thlCil Christ makes dom, but still destitute of he ''be' >««••- ,^^^, ,, His people free. And ""'^."'"^^'^t various forms, hu. a false spiritualism, --"'f^^^^ ^ ™ "^ividualism, and sub- always tending '--•■''%"" "r.^'-rchuch government and of versive of constitu.iona ord , '" C^'^'^^J^ „„, ^„,^ .^esc harmony and --P^;^''™;,:,f,:^^;c„unteractive tenden- errors --■™.V''*;^erras been productive of such deplor- S^nlrrct^sch^f as ha^s been wrought by sacer- dotalism. . r^^rvprsions there is but one ^°r'we^::-arrr\T:nXorK^^^^^^^^^ remedy. We must laK Reformers to those fundamen- ar.d make our appeal as^d tl- Rejo m ^^^^ ^.^.^^ ^^^^^ tal Church prmaples which ^'\'^^^^ . . workings; an(i and illustrated and vindicated m the Divine worRi g smution „f the Cl.ris.ian Church Lt we I , 17Z1 '"" s.a^e,.e„,s are of,e„ affi„„ed i„ very diffelTl'e e.'" ""'^ liie Christian mm stry is Divine r^ \. .u -. ,• anc,e«e„t;::::u:::r.,,e';rerr,^^^^^^^^^^^^^ hesitate 'o assert f Imf fK^o^ u • '^'^'"8, and who do not and .•epudia::*;;;e''sr:r;ar '■"" "'- "-^'•^^'-'n- .ha. God has tde U ± "n"""*' '"^ """ °"'^ '" '"= '-' me.h„ds in which He Lnifrl, L"'"''"'*' '" ""' ™"'''""=<' in n,a„.s social a^d^T^tn: l^.TnTh-Tirr, \!;:: ^'^ '»d, bu. transformed by Chris.iani.v =. . . ""'"80"- feilowship which i. is on'e of .t'l;:^ ::;:;, VP;ri..a, to establish. In life itself hp i^ I^k , , ^^ ^°^P^^ there lies the necessitv n ^ ^"'^'' ""''''''"'' ""' ^P'^^ual, ever we pass beyond these we find ,f, j^"'"""'"- '*'" "h'n- organs .o discharge spec"' f^, 1 "'1^°""°" "' '"""'' sppn m tK» ^ , P^'^' ^"' - '"s- The same protrress is seen m the development of man s social and political life ! a the same law nrevailc in iu^ u , P"'iticai lite ; and of Christ ^' ^'^"'^'^ ^"^ P'-^^^*-^^^ °^ the Church con^trKiita:;rAnrnT!rs^ pares i, .o the frui.fu, i„„„eLes^f .he'rand't he 1:1; »1««»J —4— to maintain itself. Yei hookc *^^ r . ^ly gpir tual external form, but upon the vital --/^^^^ ^^^ 7, /neatest ministry. For an unspiritual mini.lry has been b curse and drawback to .he ^hurdv ,., whilewe --^^— - ^^ ^ ::;:::ull to its being, to the well-being of the Church . necessary It relates to the ^.vu- esse, not to the . ^ . l ^^.^^ ;. the sense that salvati^ upon the apart from it. It is ine in i ministry lust as in . . J ««. tliA rhnrch upon the minisiry- j"=^ Church, and not the ^h"«" J' common wealth is the human society, the whole body f,*=""™ while the latter basis and ground of all ""^"'-"J "^ X' „Lnce from its minister to its we'1-beinK he denve ^^^ ^^^^^^ .he Church dependent upon he n^™ "V- -^^^ , .^^ ^^^^^^^^^ constituted in one ^^^ '^J.^^ .„ become defunct the affirms, that weie the orde oi h miraculous Church itself would P'=";h, "f^^jj''™ ', d^,,io„ is in striking interposition, ■■«'"ff/''t'°' ""p VII 5, 8), that .he Church contrast to that of Hooker (E. P. \ n '' ; j,^,, has power to ^f^^:^ "^:L::^Z"^'.'''''?rL!r witness to His life and resurrecf.on. pointed by ""™"' •" "^it' "'"n^ed to twelve, Matthias taking Their number was defin.tely 1™'^«' ^^^^^ ,^ ,^^ '"^ f" "h "ht;:, vi'diclres t 'postolate a.ains. his Jew. number. He hm^eu ^^^^^ j^^ ^^^ ,.^„„ed ishaspersers upon *\'"° '°, .°„,„,f and neither from man his appointment from *e L^^ h.mse'U^^^^ ^„, ,^,, „e had r .r:r Serwt'Cd^peared unto him and made •■'"r^'Tll: clair-rriuested by the pecuHar powers The apostol.ccU.ms ^^^ ^„^ ^^ „, ,„ they Po^^f • *^./l"Le and intransmiss,l,le. The term, its essentta natme un,q ^^^ .^ ^ ^^^_,„ 3 e however, .s in tne iNew le j.ie>.ales of the Churches. „ those who were Apos""' *« ' ' ^„'^"= ^^.^ ,nd Andronic... SuchwereEpaphrod..usofPh,hpp.,andJ ^_^ ^^ ^^^^, of Rome. In th.s sense, too, the term PP in>i< -II — Church o? ZfT'°" '"'" "'™'"=''^' ="' *<> =»™.- <" '"- Church of Ant.och, ,ts missionaries to the heathen (See a ntroduct on to his comntentary on the Galatians.) In iHustra- D.dacbe, the oldest extant Christian writing, the term applied o wanaenng evangelists, who are not to remain longe^^han sta^;^ H r'' "™ '''' '" " P'^'^- To remain thfee days stamped such an one as an impostor ; a significant indication that even already the evangelistic office was abused for thrpur S:^:'! f T""" - "- ">^ ^postdate in its s ec , It a 1 «„' fti"''',''' "'"'"'>''"« ='"" '^'^■"«l characteristic »as a l,v,ng faith m Jesus. The special fellowship with Christ and faith through this special fellowship they acquired their unique and indispensable mission. Under the inspired guidance of the Apostles, the external lorm as he need arose. It was developed out of materials pre "Ih Tif Vu '"' 1 '"^ P"P'=' «=-• - Lechler Z^Z the law holds good that creative power lives within, in spir rm''::^'"'" '"' "■^' *^ '^'"-' ^^ P™'"'-'' -"i ^"»' "P alllrrr *'" f "''"P"™' '™"W far exceed the limits now allotted to me It must suffice simply to point out its nature and order, and to emphasize the conclusion which the who e tendency of critical study and research confirms and elucidates Thus, no only is ministerial service in its basal principle iden hed with all Christian life and service, but also ?he very firms r.„H H ' r"™" "'S-"'"^''""' in which that service" endered, are derived from the social and political life of th tl 12- antv of life in Him. iniu ^ , q^^ of the purely the complaints o he Hel en-ts -^.^ by administration of the gifts ot love sp ^g^^blished was the Church for its needy members J^e ^ffi^^^^^^ ^^,^^^ ,^,,,. simply a transference to the Churc^ of ^^^'^ZLs Schurev, tution, as Professor Lumby, of Oxford, "^.^"^^ ' ^"^^^ , ,;,, in his'learned investigations mto ^^^ ^ \t^even nation, has demonstrated The ^ ™ . ^^^.^ od men," leading men of the city, called frequently ^^e seven g i:r °" V:;::.* bLTara' ndispenLle cuaUBcion appears upon the forefront of this first step in organ.zat.on. Jin i I ~i3— This analysis brings out very emphatically the two points I have already referred to. First, that the origin of the diaconate a to Its essential nature lies in the receptive faith and the LMfts of service bestowed by Christ himself, and secondly, that the c haconate, as far as its external form, originated in pre-existing elements m the hfe of the people. An analysis of the presby terate, or of the episcopate, would yield the same results. Now another remarkable element is pressed upon our notice. The people were called upon to look out seven men of good report And so the seven were chosen and attested by the people. Two things are here distinctly indicated-attestation and election he same attestation is asserted in the case of the Presbyters 1 imothy, for example, was " well reported of by the brethren '"' those qualified and endowed by the Head of the Church for the work of the ministry, the visible Church gives outward and formal recognition and authorization. When our own Church Inrr?- A'''','Pf '"^ °"' ^" '^' i^inistry, she assumes that Christ has already called and endowed him by His spirit and upon his profession that he has been so called she solemnly ordams h.m to the work. The spiritual gifts of ministry are from Christ h,mself,the visibleChurch only attests their existence and regulates the external order in which thay are to be exercised. Ordination is not the impartation, but the recognition of mnmtenal gifts, and the conferring of authority to use them for the edification of the. Church. Thus Hooker (E P V 78) says : -'Out of men thus endued with the gifts of the Spirit upon their conversion to the Christian faith, the Church had her m.ni.ters chosen, unto whom is given ecclesiastical power by ordination." But upon the attestation of the Church there Uean Alford observes in his comments upon Acts xiv. 23, that —14— 1 • ^ nc Prpsbvters those whom the Church the Apostles ordamed as Presbyters i l^elm, ;"/«*.: S aua:n to the hi.he.t position. r:.t..p.f^.veH..o-^^^^^^^^^ '^^^:fl^^^ a voice and vote ,n the choice ""kVtl^e'rXlllTwf^St was .e.assenec,,a,thot,,hin outirChutch O.SCU.. ^V'h- s^.. pa..^^^^^^^^^^^ originated in the feudahsm '''^t^'J%\i\,^) maintains r i^h^ r.r^nrc;:" ^Engiatd aiy ..an, .V rdetoT. at possessed with pastota, ch-ge over any^P^^^^^^^^ but the people in effect do choose hnn theteto. '° '"= P people,! w,ll now "« '"° ' „f ,t,e character of the R„™e, not '';V;7,err:err ppe^ed *" -PP^^^ <>' "^^ '->' '" T'"T „7 Li tasTors to certain passages in the ancen. the choice of the.r pastors t° ^ Pontificale, posed to expunge the passages referred to f'°-" '^e s^r Lou. But *>-''= -rile f::^e"o"trt:st';n::;:nd°™n- purgation would add to the lorce u. liMv —15— tented itself with anathematizing the heresy, as it viewed it, that the people's consent was an inviolable right. ^ In the early part of the present century the French Bishop Gregoire, of Blois, in his able defence of the Gallican liberties, sums up his argument in these emphatic words : " Natural and Divine right, Apostolic traditions, the universal discipline of the primitive Church, the canons of councils, the decisions of the Popes, the maxims of the holy fathers, all proclaim as inalien- able the right of the faithful to have for their guides in the way of salvation none but those men whom they have chosen, or at least the choice of whom they have invited and ratified by their suffrages." The consensus of testimony to this primitive right is remark- able. The choice of their pastors is an inalienable prerogative of the laity, a fundamental principle of churchmanship. From three distinct points of view we have now regarded the origin of the ministry and of the pastoral relation. First, that of its inmost and essential nature ; secondly, the external form of its organization ; and thirdly, the direct 'connection of the minister with the congregation, as the result of its choice and election of him. From all these it is evident that the true character of the ministry is not that of a sacerdotal order upon whose mediation the Church is dependent for grace and life, but rather that of an organ of the body whence it emanates, and for whose welfare it performs the functions to which it is speci- fically devoted. The consideration of these functions will be found to corrob- orate the view here taken of the vital connection and interde- pendence which exists between clergy and laity. In our analysis of the functions of the three-fold ministry we must carefully distinguish between the essential idea and prin- ciple of each order, and the external form in which it is embod- i6— :«! the service of love and the witness to truth, r.vt-ry i, of help anc, healing, the ""-^.^.r^^rrc n,' U "^^^^^ ^.firenre devolve upon every Christian, accoraiuj, trorpo^unUies." None a. --^^ ---^^r^^^^^^^ Th word Ustlf simply means "service," and was emphat.cally loDlied to leorRaniJed office devoted to the services of char- r/ The draco'ate was in its conception and mtent.on an """^sTbC Lightfoot points out, " essen.iaiiy a serving of tab,::;" L distin^iLd f,om the higher fun-o,. of preach- i„g and instruction. Whenever deacons hke Stephen took part in the work of teaching, it is traceable rather to he capa city of tl>e individual than to the functions of 'I'^ffi"- " " corroborative of this conception of the essentia, 'de- of ' diaco„ate,thatinthe early church ,t P'-P=-f ^"J^i trl- was faithful to this work of love ; but as soon ^"^ *e m m, t, a Hons of charity passed from it to the hospitals and other chan :rofbeneaLLe,.he order, -U^Horn observe, began^to fall into decay. The same causes have been ai wui !*!„ Chtucrwhere the diacona.e has to a large e,te„t lost .ts in* ■■ — 17 - distinctive features and become merely a licentiate for the min- 'stry, or has been almost altogether identified in its position and duties with the presbyterate. In its distinctive and essential character of a ministry of Christian love the diaconate differs nothing in kind, but only in degree, from the ministry of love to which all Christians are called It possesses no monopoly of service, but simply a leadership. * ' Moreover, the conception of service which distinguishes the diaconate inheres in the whole ministry, whatever be the office or order. It is, as Beza said, not a muiristcrium but a ministef- uan.noi a magistry but a ministry. Its spirit is to be not that of self-assertion and self-exaltation, but of self-devotedness and selt-abandonment, the very spirit of Jesus, who declares that He came not to be ministered unto [diakomthvnai) but to minister .cluikom'sai) and who said, " whosever will be great among you, et him be your minister" {diakonos). And we find St. Paul re- buking the ambitious contentions of the Corinthians by em- phatic assertion of the same fundamental conception of office in the Church, " Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but min- isters (rt^^/ww/) through whom ye believed?" And St P«ter HKlignantly deprecates the "lording it over God's heritage." 1 he history of the word here rendered "heritage." furnishes a curious Illustration of the perversions of true Church order Here it is the laity who are God's clerus, His portion and in- lientance. But in time as the Church became identified with tie clergy (and we have a curious relic of this misconception in the phrase " to enter the Church," applied to admission to the C linstian ministry), the term was transferred from the congre- gation to the ministers, who were supposed to be in some iniique and special sense the clerisy of God, and hence the later use of the term " clergy." f .8— Of hisraduiUy anliChristian conception the growll. was I'nntHU overspre» it. In its administration .1 can as 1 ttle be tti. _ lailvasthe laity without the clergy. ■" 'I'' C.jrch, beore rdo alL, oLterated its liberties, in addition 'o the r^^- ,he latty in the choice of pastors they possessed two other prtm II l« 'y ittve prerogatives. One was their fret admission to the delib- erative assemblies of the Church, a rirhi which even Cyprian, the chief promoter of episcopal absolutism, conceded. The other was the exercise of discipline, the power of inflictinf Church censures, which was vested not in the clergy alone, bu' in the whole Church. For "in truth," as Hooker declares, "the whole body of the Church is the first original subject of all mandatory and coercive power within itself." Let us now turn to the second form in which the Christian confession of faith is embodied, that of witness to the truth. The Church is made up of those " who believe and know the truth." And he who believes with the heart must, as St. laul declares, make confession with the mouth. It is the bound en duty of every one who knows the truth to bear witness to it both in word and in deed, both in speech and in character. In the early Church in the fervour of its first love, we find that this witness bearing was not limited as it now very generally is, so fa. as its lay members, to the silent testimony of the life, or the quiet word of exhortation or of sympathy spoken as by friend to friend. It is of the brethren that it is said, they went every- where preaching the Word. As. with the Bereans and Thessa- lonians, they were called upon to test all teaching, so also they not only held fast what was true, but actively propagated it. The liberty of prophesying which prevailed in the synagogue, continued in the Church. Laymen freely taught and preached. The ministers of Christ possessed no monopoly in this respect Yet their office was distinctively and pre-eminently a ministry oftiieWord. To this corresponds St. Paul's definition of it, ' Stewards of the mysteries of God." They were those who in a special and pre-eminent sense were put n trust with re- vealed truth, the Gospel of Truth, for such is the force of the word "mystery " in the Pauline epistles. Just as in the case of -20 . I the diaconate, we find a correspondence between its specific ctlon and Ihe service of charity to which "^C'.nst.ans are called ■ so in the case of the presbyte. ae, there ,s a snii.lar cor e plden e between its functions of teaching and preach.ng and' the witness-bearing which is the privilege of every one who 'T: IsuliTtonsistent with the fact that the presbyters were rulers as well as instructors. As Ilishop L.ghtfoot says, Al- •houRh gover,>ment was probably the first conception of the office yet the work of teaching must have fallen to the office torn he very firs, and have assumed greater prominence as t,me en on ■■ The ruling itself was but the applicatton of the truth "he onscience. It was effected partly by direct teaching and exhortation, and partly by the -"-""-"--l^f; , '.^^ example The rulers were pastors and guides, and the sheep ™e at once led and fed. It was by the presentation of h ruth and not by the assertion of authority that they directed le flock 1 wL ,0 the truth and to Christ Himself who is the Iruth, and not to themselves nor to any mere external authority that they sought to bring men into subjection. The term " hierarchy" embodies two errors. The one makes the ministry a magistracy, the other makes it a ruling and medi- ating priesthood. The first, as we have se™, is m <" -ct oppo i^ tion to the conception of the ministry as a ^^rviceof love, f e Ither is in opposition to the second fundamental 'dea of the ministry as a teaching pastorate, bearing ""'""^ «• *, "u h In support of this sacerdotal conception two remarkable pas- .ages Tn the Gospels are frec,uently misapplied. I refer to the Lord's words in Matt. xvi. ,9, "Whatsoever "-Y"^'' tlooTe earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shal loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." And again in John xx. ,3 ■■ Whosoever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them. mil ■■ 21 its Specific istians are iimilar cor- [ preaching ry one who ayters were says, "Al- ition of the Lo the ofifice ;nce as time of the truth :ct teaching dership and id the sheep ition of the ley directed If who is the lal authority e one makes ig and medi- irect opposi- if love. The idea of the to the truth, larkable pas- ; refer to the ihalt bind on DU shalt loose n in John xx. n unto them, whosoever sins ye retain they are retained." Yet no passages of Holy Writ could be more decisively opposed lo sacerdotal- ism. They confer no peculiar prerogatives upon any one class in the Church, be they apostles or bishops or presby- ters. The powers, prerogatives and privileges they set forth are those of the whole body of Christian people. The first was spoken primarily to St. Peter, but to him as the representative believer in Christ, and we find it repeated in Matt, xviii. i8, and applied to all the brethren, those whom St. Peter himself des- cribes as " them that have obtained like precious faith." So the words in St. John were spoken not to the apostles alone, but also to othe.-s assembled with them, as St. Luke informs us. Accordingly Canon Westcott affirms, "The commission and the promise were given to the Christian society and not to any special order in it." " Thus the words are," he repeats, "the charter of the Christian Church, and not simply the charter of the Christian ministry." Whatever be the powers and privileges here dealt with, they belong to the whole Church, and not to any particu- lar class or ord^r within it. And not only so, these powers and privileges are conditioned upon certain necessary qualifications which inhere in the Christian character. Those to whom is given the power to bind and to loose are believers. It was Peter's faith which was the fundamental matter in Christ's mind. The key entrusted to him, as Neander says, was " the truth to which he had first testified and which he was afterwards to pro- claim." And it was by faith he received this truth, and to all who possess the same faith the same truth is entrusted. Faith, the receptive spiritual faculty, is ever accompanied by the great gift for whose bestowal it is the one condition : " He that believeth hath eternal life." Those to whom the power of remitting and retaining is given are those who are partakers cf the life. When Christ appeared in the midst of the assembled DM ■* SSSi^SBme^ -22 disciples on the evening of the ResurrecUon Day, He brea bed upon them. It was the symbol of the communication o the new life, the gilt of the Spirit, a gift which proceeds to us from the person of Jesus Himself. Following the unpartat.on of this new being, came the forgiveness and the retention of sms^ Thus we see that the power set forth in both announcements of Christ are bestowed upon the same persons, the living members of Christ's Church, the believers in Hiin. "Peter,' says St Augustine, " represents all good men, and the promise m St. John is addressed to all believers everywhere." The powers themselves are strikingly analogous. Fhey a.e in both cases powers of discrimination and judgment, but in the one case regard is had to the principles of right and wrong, and in the other case, to actions, transgressions of these principles. To "bind" and to " loose" were phrases in constant use in the Jewish synagogues and Rabbinical schools, and as such were jcw 3 y b b meant simolv to " forbid " and familiar to the disciples. 1 hey meant s mp.y to » permit." There is here assured to believers m Christ the exercise of a wise discrimination, a true spintual judgment to discern between good ^nd evil, right and wrong, and to permit or to forbid in accordance therewith. , ^^ . ,. _„ It is the judging power of an enlightened Christian con- science, the spiritual discernment bestowed upon believers in Christ, the insight into truth and ^^^^^f ;g7^;y^ "'? obey the Gospel and who are partakers of th. Spirit of Christ. This, Origen claims to be the true power of the keys, a power exer- cised not only by the Christian minister, but by the Christian man whoeverhemaybe. Thisit is that constitutes the power of a wholesome Christian opinion whenever such has been exercised in the condemnation of abuses and in the promotion of reform. Such a power has been exemplified in the p esent century in the abolition of slavery, the promotion of temperance and ot purity, II III i» js. They ate ent, but in the nd wrong, and ese principles, tant use in the [ as such were 1 " forbid " and 5 in Christ the .1 judgment to , and to permit Christian con- on believers in ven to all who Spirit of Christ. ys,apowerexer- y the Christian ;s the power of a 3 been exercised lotion of reform, nt century in the ;e and of purity, liut It may he asked, have the texts cited, especially that from St. John, no direct bearing upon the Christian ministry.? Doubtless they have upon the ministry as the outcome and em- bodiment in its essential nature of the life, and privileges and responsibilities of the Christian people ; but they in no wise be- long to the ministry in any exclusive sense, as investing it with prerogatives essentially different from those belonging to all b'^'lievers in Christ. Only upon the Evangelical ground can the use of the words m the ordinal be justified. And it must be borne in mind that their position there is a medieval interpolation, without any precedent in ancient and catholic usage. They were never used in the ordination of presbyters until the latter half of the 1 3th century, as Morinus the Roman canonist has shown. When our Reformers carefully excluded from the ordinal the rites and words which in the Roman use were supposed to confer the sacerdotal power ; when they expunged the word " altar " from the Prayer Book and commanded " altars " in the churches to be everywhere taken down, when they declared as Hooker does that " sacrifice is now no part of the Christian ministry," when II ni >■ ciarform, of the privileges and respons.bUities 7'^" ^^'""J ^^ all Chrisiians. Words addressed by our Lord to the whole body of believers may be very fittingly addressed to those who are called to represent them as well in the mner life of faith and in Christian character which springs from faith, as in the com- mon service of love and testimony to the truth,-a service and a testimony in which they cannot claim a monopoly, but simply a '"Mortver the words-" Receive the Holy Ghost" are, as Archbishop Whitgift observes, a prayer ; and this is in keeping with St. Augustine's explanation of the laying on of hands, «' What else is it," he asks, " but prayer over the man ? Absolution is but the application of the Gospel to the individ- ual. The outward and formal declaration of forgiveness is pro- perly made by those who are appointed officersof the Christian community, but its truthfulness and its efficacy depend not upon official position, but upon spiritual enlightenment. The clergy- man needs as much the advice and forgiveness of the layman, as the layman of the clergyman, and brother of brother through- out the Church. The apostle's injunction is, confess your faults one to tailed a sigi markable rel suffered to si sacerdotal a people and t uses when th How pla'n of the presby the ministry essential idei which would These two ivere distinct ived at a crii othe— the h letween the J on of heres ronger extei )ngregationj sveloped fn frees, not su Jt progressi\ evelopment. icured. As 1 ition so the s the presby as the leader lief pastor. their flocks. kind. Ther )rtedbyhisto -27- I the whole o those who of faith and in the com- ervice and a but simply a )st" are, as IS in keeping )n of hands, .an ?" 3 the individ- reness is pro- the Christian lend not upon The clergy- f the layman, )ther through- confess your faults one to another." In the Roman irissal itself there is con- tained a significant testimony to this primitive truth and a re- markable rebuke of the error in the midst of which it has been suffered to stand. There, in the Mass itself, the very climax of sacerdotal assumption, the priest first confesses his sins to the people and they absolve him in the very same words which he uses when they in their turn have confessed their sins to him How pla.n it is that the essentia! idea of the office and work ofthe presbyter is directly opposed to ihe error which makes the mm.stry a mediating and sacrificing priesthood, just as the essential idea ofthe diaconate is opposed to the kindred error which would make the ministry a lordship and a hierarchy 1 hese two orders, that of the diaconate and the presbyterate ivere distinct from their conception. But the Church earlv ar- -ved at a critical epoch. The situation is well described by othe-the loss of apostolic leadership, the growing dissensions etween the Jewish and Gentile brethren, the menacing opposi- on of heresy, continued to enforce the necessity for some ronger external organization to bind together the scattered )ngTegations. Out of the necessity arose the episcopate, eveloped from the presbyterate, and as IJishop Lightfooi n-ees, not suddenly and universally as by an apostolic edict Lit progressively and gradually as by a natural and inevitable evelopment. Thus centralization and superintendency were icured. As the presbyter was the embodiment of the congre- ition so the bishop was the embodiment of the presbyters s the presbyters were the leaders of the people, so the bishop as the leader ofthe presbyters. They are pasters : he is the lief pastor. His relation to them is similar to their relation their flocks. The difference throughout is that of degree, not kmd There is no idea of a sacerdotal caste, which is as unsup- )rted by history as it is opposed to the New Testament teaching —28— late, and not upwards from '"^^ ^if^^^' » u ,e divide there are only tii^o orders, viz., bishops or presbyters, a . for oastors of the first and second degrees exerc.se a mm- cons, for pastors oi me ordination alone do istry of the ^7 "^^ J^fi^r absolutely from the see- the ministers of the first aegiee an general as of the end, and therefore may be ---d^^^' '"J^^^^^ same order." In fact, Palmer here ^ut assent ^he .^ tic theory that bishops and P-sbyters differ in dg^^^^^^ order. This was the view held by the prmcp o, the Church «^^^ J^^ , r^w rtmr and divines it was the view ^^^ "J ^cenTury, and held among others until the beginning of the 17th ce^^ury ^^^^ ,y Cranmer HooUer, ^^^^^^^ .^^on to be ture and essential character ot ^^^e^ ^ sacerdotium, offices, to show that ,t is "^^^^^-^^^'^'^;;^^^;; 3pecial embodi- but a pastorate, whose characteristics ^^^^^^ e^P^^J ^^^.,.,, .ent,ltensification ^^ -^;:XirCh:^tr;^^arac. and attributes which he at the Dasis 01 a ter, and work. —29— The view I have briefly outlined of the origin and functions ot the Christian ministry is in complete harmony with its aim and object, which is not to keep the laity dependent upon the ministry but to make them more and more dependent upon Christ alone. Its aim is to bring the flock into all the com- pleteness of Christian character, and the maturity of Christian knowledge, in a word, as St. Paul expresses it, "to present every man perfect in Christ." And not only so, but in its own special work the ministry is ever seeking to enlist the whole congregation, so far as it has gifts and opportunities, to be co- workers in Chiistian service and Christian teaching. This St Paul expressly states, according to what I doubt not to be the correct rendering of Eph. iv. 12, "Himself gave some to be Apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, with a view to the equipment of the saints for their work of service, for the upbuilding of the Body of Christ." As Moule admirably states it, "The Divine gift of a Christian ministry is to have its effect above all things in the fitting of the saints (true believers in general), for active service for the common Lord." Thus the very purpose of the official ministry is the perfect- ing of the saints in the work of Christian service, the bringing of Christians into the maturity of Christian manhood ; while the aim and tendency of sacerdotalism is to keep the laity in a state of perpetual pupilage, of uncertainty as to their reconciliation with God and of dependence upon the priesthood. As Dorner has not a whit too strongly expressed it, the economy of salva- tion became in the Church of Rome, "a systematized arrange- ; int for keeping the individual in uncertainty about his salva- tion." Obedience to the hierarchy takes the place of obedience to the truth in its self-evidencing power. Dependence upon God is changed into bondage to men ; and a magical supersti- — 3°— tier s substituted for a reasonable religion. The Reformation n bringing men back into that direct dependence upon and immediate access to God, which is the P-^^}^^^ ^X^^]'^, tians, liberated them from the priestly despotism, and restored the doctrine of the ministry to its P""^'^'^\^"^P-'7;j. „ , ., And this revolution was as much ror the exaltation of the clergy as for the enfranchisement of the laUy. U conferred up?n them personally the same blessed liberty of truth that t conferred upon the laity. For both were equally m bondage to he ystem of external authority and sacerdotal uncertamty. The cleric was no more allowed to think for hm.self than the layman ; he could personally attain to no greater certamty of ruth o assurance of forgiveness. He was degraded mto a Tere functionary and a manipulator of rites. The eleva.on len to the priesthood was a spurious and worldly exaltation which was destructive both of moral and intellectual excedency. The Evangelical doctrine of the mm.stry gives to it the true and ennobling elevation of spiritual and intellectual leadership, fn re ation to'christian character, Christian truth, and Christian work. Such an ideal cannot indeed win the love, although it may compel the respect of the worldly. lluthow deep and sincere will be the voluntary tribute of gratitude and of affection which a truly spiritual ministry wins Lm the people whom it leads and feeds, and to whom it dis- penses the word of Life ; how ready and generous wdl be the p "vision such a people makes in ten.poral things for those wh minister unto them in spiritual things. If a ministry fails in those characteristics which ought to -ark .t according to tie Apostohc standard, we need not wonder if it forfeits the genu- ine love and reverence which such characteristics ever win. And on the other hand, we cannot be surprised u such a degen- erate ministry, just in proportion to its failure to reahze its true \ II in —31 — ideal puts forth pretentions to a spurious and anti-Christian priesthood which is the direct outcome of a low standard of Christian life and a low measure of Christian knowledge and enlightenment. ^ What a disastrous effect must such a conception of the minis- tenal office have, not only upon the office itself, but also upon the whole Church, and through the Church upon the common wealth, for sacerdotalism is as inimical to civil as to religious liberty On the other hand, the true ideal of the sacred minis- try will not only stimulate those who are called to the grandest of services, to seek after the highest attainments in Christ-like- ness of character and of work, but it will also bring the ministry into the most harmonious and efficient relations with the people And only where such harmony exists with its beauty of Chris- tian order and solidity of Christian unity, can any Church rightly fu fil Its mission to its own members, or to the sinful and sorrow- ful world into the midst of which Christ has sent it to carry on His mission, to bear witness to His truth, and to bring the perishing into the saving fellowship of His grace Only when both cl'^rgy and laity realize the import of what Canon Westcott calls "the universal Christian mission"-" As the Father hath sent me, even so I send you,"~only when all unite to fulfil it, neither forgetting the duties, and privileges and responsibilities of the ministry, nor ignoring the common priesthood of all believers; only then will the Church know all the fullness of the Life and the sufficiency of the Grace of her risen Lord and Head. ill STANDARD PUBLICATIONS — oi-— The J. E. Bryant Company (Limited). The Concise Imperial Dictionary, (r vol.) The Henry Irving Shakespeare. (8 vols.) The Imperial Edition of Burns. (5 vols.) The Imperial Bible Dictionary. (6 vols.) The Modern Cyclopedia (Blackie's). (8 vols.)