ordained apostles ;" and particularly he instances in Epaphroditus, from the authority of this instance, adding also, that by the apostles themselves, Judas and Silas were called 'apostles.'

4. Thus Titus, and some other with him, who came to Jerusalem with the Corinthian benevolence, are called ̓Απόστολοι Ἐκκλησιῶν, “ the apostles of the churches m:” Apostles, I say, in the episcopal sense. They were none of the twelve, they were not of immediate Divine mission, but of apostolic ordination; they were actually bishops, as I shall show hereafter. Titus was bishop of Crete, and Epaphroditus of Philippi; and these were the apostles; for Titus came with the Corinthian, Epaphroditus with the Colossian liberality. Now these men were not 'Awóro, called 'messengers' in respect of these churches sending them with their contributions. 1. Because they are not called the 'apostles of these churches,' to wit, whose alms they carried, but simply 'Exxλnov, "of the churches," viz. of their own, of which they were bishops. For if the title of apostle had related to their mission from these churches, it is unimaginable that there should be no term of relation expressed. 2. It is very clear that, although they did indeed carry the benevolence of the several churches, yet St. Paul, not those churches, sent them: "And we have sent with them our brother "," &c. 3. They are called 'apostles of the churches,' not going from Corinth with the money, but before they came thither, from whence they were to be despatched in legation to Jerusalem: "If any inquire of Titus, or the brethren, they are the apostles of the church, and the glory of Christ"." So they were apostles' before they went to Corinth, not for their being employed in the transportation of their charity. So that it is plain, that their apostolate being not relative to the churches, whose benevolence they carried, and they having churches of their own, as Titus had Crete, Epaphroditus had Philippi, their apostolate was a fixed residence, and superintendency of their several churches.

m2 Cor. viii. 23.

n Verse 22.

• Verse 25.

SECTION V.

And Office.

BUT in holy Scripture, the identity of the ordinary office of apostleship and episcopacy is clearer yet. For when the Holy Spirit had sent seven letters to the seven Asian bishops, the angel of the church of Ephesus is commended for trying them, which say they are apostles and are not, and hath found them liars. This angel of the church of Ephesus, as antiquity hath taught us, was at that time Timothy, or Gaius; the first a disciple, the other had been an entertainer of the apostles, and either of them knew them well enough: it could not be, that any man should dissemble their persons, and counterfeit himself St. Paul or St. Peter. And if they had, yet little trying was needful to discover their folly in such a case; and whether it was Timothy or Gaius, he could deserve but small commendations for the mere believing of his own eyes and memory. Besides, the apostles, except St. John, all were then dead, and he known to live in Patmos; known by the public attestation of the sentence of relegation

ad insulam.' These men, therefore, dissembling themselves to be apostles, must dissemble an ordinary function, not an extraordinary person. And, indeed, by the concourse of story, place, and time; Diotrephes was the man St. John chiefly pointed at. For he, seeing that at Ephesus there had been an episcopal chair placed, and Timothy a long while possessed of it, and perhaps Gaius after him, if we may trust Dorotheus, and the like in some other churches; and that St. John had not constituted bishops in all other churches of the lesser Asia, but kept the jurisdiction to be ministered by himself, would arrogantly take upon him to be a bishop without apostolical ordination, obtruding himself upon the church of Ephesus; so becoming ἀλλοτριο-επίσκοπος, "a busy man in another's diocese." This, and such impostors as this, the angel of the church of Ephesus did try, and discover, and convict; and in it he was assisted by St. John

a Apocal. ii.

b Doroth. Synops.

c Vide Constit. Apost. per Clement. ubi quidam Johannes in Epheso Episc. post. Timoth. collocatur.

himself, as is intimated in St. John's third epistle, written to his Gaius, (v. 9,) "I wrote unto the church," to wit, of Asia, "but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the pre-eminence among them, receiveth us not." Clearly this eudoaπóσTOOS ψευδοαπόστολος would have been a bishop. It was a matter of ambition, a quarrel for superintendence and pre-eminence, that troubled him; and this also appears further, in that he exercised jurisdiction and excommunication, where he had nothing to do; (v. 10.) "He forbids them that would receive the brethren, and casteth them out of the church." So that here it is clear, this false apostolate was his ambitious seeking of episcopal pre-eminence and jurisdiction, without lawful ordination. DoçWTEúwv Aloтgeons, that was his design; he loved to be the first in the church, "esse apostolum, esse episco-. pum;"" to be an apostle, or a bishop."

SECTION VI.

Which Christ himself hath made distinct from Presbyters. BUT this office of the ordinary apostleship or episcopacy, derives its fountain from a rock; Christ's own distinguishing the apostolate from the function of presbyters. For when our blessed Saviour had gathered many disciples, who believed him at his first preaching, "Vocavit discipulos suos, et elegit duodecim ex ipsis quos et apostolos nominavit," saith St. Luke: "He called his disciples, and out of them chose twelve, and called them apostles." That was the first election. "Post hæc autem designavit Dominus et alios septuaginta-duos." That was his second election; the first were called 'apostles,' the second were not, and yet he sent them by two and two.

We hear but of one commission granted them, which when they had performed, and returned joyful at their power over devils, we hear no more of them in the Gospel, but that their names were written in heaven. We are likely, therefore, to hear of them after the passion, if they can but hold their own. And so we do. For after the passion, the

2 Luke, x.

apostles gathered them together, and joined them in clerical commission, by virtue of Christ's first ordination of them; for a new ordination we find none in holy Scripture recorded, before we find them doing clerical offices. Ananias, we read, baptizing of Saul; Philip, the evangelist, we find preaching in Samaria, and baptizing his converts; 'others also, we find, presbyters at Jerusalem, especially at the first council; for there was Judas, surnamed Justus; and Silas, and St. Mark; and John (a presbyter, not an apostle, as Eusebius reports him ); and Simeon Cleophas, who tarried there till he was made bishop of Jerusalem. These, and divers others, are reckoned to be of the number of the seventy-two, by Eusebius and Dorotheus.

Here are plainly two offices of ecclesiastical ministries, apostles and presbyters: so the Scripture calls them. These were distinct, and not temporary, but succeeded to; and if so, then here is clearly a Divine institution of two orders, and yet deacons neither of them. Here let us fix awhile.

SECTION VII.

Giving to Apostles a Power to do some Offices perpetually necessary, which to others he gave not.

THEN, it is clear in Scripture, that the apostles did some acts of ministry, which were necessary to be done for ever in the church, and, therefore, to be committed to their successors; which acts the seventy disciples or presbyters could not do. Ἐγκρίτως δὲ αὐτῇ παρὰ τὰς λοιπὰς τάξεις εἰς λειτουργίαν ὁ θεῖος θεσμὸς ἀπονενέμηκε τὰς θειοτέρας ἱερουργίας, saith St. Denis, of the highest order of the hierarchy: "The law of God hath reserved the greater and diviner offices to the highest order."

First: The apostles imposed hands in ordinations, which the seventy-two did not. The case is known, Acts, vi. The apostles called the disciples, willing them to choose seven men, whom they might constitute in the ministration and oversight of the poor. They did so, and set them before the twelve apostles; so they are specified and numbered, verse 2

Lib. iii. c. 3.

a Eccles. Hierarch. c. 5. As of Ordination.

cum 6, "and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them." They, not the disciples, not the seventy-two, who were there actually present, and seven of them were then ordained to this ministry; for they were not now ordained to be διάκονοι μυστηρίων, but τραπέζων, as the council of Constantinople calls them"; and that these were the number of the seventy-two disciples, Epiphanius bears witness. He sent other seventy-two to preach, ἐξ ὧν ἦσαν οἱ ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ τῶν χηρῶν Tetayμévol, “of which number were those seven ordained and set over the widows." And the same is intimated by St. Chrysostom, if I understand him right; Ποῖον δὲ ἄρα ἀξίωμα εἶχον οὗτοι, καὶ ποίαν ἐδέξαντο χειροτονίαν ἀναγκαῖον μαθεῖν· ἄρα τὴν τῶν διακόνων; καὶ μὴν τοῦτο ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις οὐκ ἔστιν, ἀλλὰ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων ἐστιν ἡ οἰκονομία 4. What dignity had these seven here ordained? Of deacons? No; for this dispensation is made by priests, not deacons; and Theophylact, more clearly repeating the words of St. Chrysostom, pro more suo,' adds this: Τῶν πρεσβυτέρων οἶμαι τὸ ὄνομα εἶναι, καὶ τὸ ἀξίωμα αὐτῶν· ἀλλὰ τέως εἰς τοῦτο διακονεῖν τοῖς πιστοῖς τὰ πρὸς τὴν χρείαν ἐχειροτοvnave. The name and dignity of these seven was no less, but even the dignity of presbyters, only for the time they were appointed to dispense the goods of the church for the good of the faithful people. Presbyters they were, say St. Chrysostom and Theophylact; of the number of the seventytwo, saith Epiphanius. But, however, it is clear, that the seventy-two were present; for the whole multitude of the disciples were as yet there resident; they were not yet sent abroad, they were not scattered with persecution, till the martyrdom of St. Stephen; but the twelve called the whole multitude of the disciples to them about this affair (verse 2). But yet themselves only did ordain them.

Secondly: An instance parallel to this, is in the imposition of hands upon St. Paul and Barnabas, in the first ordination that was held at Antioch f. "Now there were in the church that were at Antioch, certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon, and Lucius, and Manaen, and Saul. Λειτουργούντων δὲ αὐτῶν, while these men were ministering, the Holy Ghost said to them, Separate me Barnabas and

In Trullo, can. 16. d Homil. 14. in Act. vi.

c Hæres. xx.

e In hunc locum.

Acts, xiii.