If ever Vincentius Lirinensis's rule could be used in any question, it is in this: "Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus;" that bishops are the successors of the apostles in this stewardship, and that they did always rule the family, was taught and acknowledged "always, and every where, and by all men that were of the church of God: and if these evidences be not sufficient to convince modest and sober persons in this question, we shall find our faith to fail in many other articles, of which we yet are very confident: for the observation of the Lord's day, the consecration of the holy eucharist by priests, the baptizing infants, the communicating of women, and the very canon of the Scripture itself, rely but upon the same probation; and, therefore, the denying of articles thus proved, is a way, I do not say, to bring in all sects and heresies, that is but little;—but a plain path and inlet to atheism and irreligion; for by this means it will not only be impossible to agree concerning the meaning of Scripture, but the Scripture itself, and all the records of religion, will become useless, and of no efficacy or persuasion. I am entered into a sea of matter; but I will break it off abruptly, and sum up this inquiry with the words of the council of Chalcedon, which is one of the four generals, by our laws made the measures of judging heresies: 'ExiσHOTOV εἰς πρεσβυτέρου βαθμὸν ἀναφέρειν, ἱεροσυλία ἐστίν, “ It is sacrilege to bring back a bishop to the degree and order of a presbyter." It is indeed a rifling the order, and entangling the gifts, and confounding the method of the Holy Ghost; it is a dishonouring them whom God would honour, and a robbing them of those spiritual eminences with which the Spirit of God does anoint the consecrated heads of bishops. And I shall say one thing more, which indeed is a great truth, that the diminution of episcopacy was first introduced by popery; and the popes of Rome, by communicating to abbots, and other mere priests, special graces to exercise some essential offices of episcopacy, have made this sacred order to be cheap, and apt to be invaded. But then add this: if Simon Magus was in so damnable a condition for offering to buy the gifts and powers of the apostolical order, what shall we think of them that snatch them away, and pretend to wear them, whether the apostles and their successors will or no? This is ψεύσασθαι τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, ' to belie the Holy Ghost;' that is the least of it: it is rapine and sacrilege, besides the heresy and schism, and the spiritual lie. For the government episcopal, as it was exemplified in the synagogue, and practised by the same measures in the temple, so it was transcribed by the eternal Son of God, who translated it into a Gospel ordinance: it was sanctified by the Holy Spirit, who named some of the persons, and gave to them all power and graces from above: it was subjected in the apostles first, and by them transmitted to a distinct order of ecclesiastics: it was received into all churches, consigned in the records of the holy Scriptures, preached by the universal voice of all the Christian world, delivered by notorious and uninterrupted practice, and derived to further and unquestionable issue by perpetual succession. I have done with the hardest part of the text, by finding out the persons intrusted, "the stewards of Christ's family;" which though Christ only intimated in this place, yet he plainly enough manifested in others: the apostles, and their successors the bishops, are the men intrusted with this great charge; God grant they may all discharge it well. And so I pass from the officers to a consideration of the office itself, in the next words; "whom the Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their meat in due season." 2. The office itself is the stewardship, that is episcopacy, the office of the bishop: the name signifies an office of the ruler indefinitely, but the word was chosen, and by the church appropriated to those whom it now signifies, both because the word itself is a monition of duty, and also because the faithful were used to it in the days of Moses and the prophets. The word is in the prophecy of the church: “ I will give to thee princes in peace, καὶ ἐπισκόπους ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ, and bishops in righteousness ';" upon which place St. Jerome says, "Principes ecclesiæ vocat futuros episcopos ";""The Spirit of God calls them who were to be Christian bishops, 'principes,' or 'chief rulers,"" and this was no new thing; for the chief of the priests who were set over the rest, are called bishops by all the Hellenist Jews. Thus Joel is called ¿пíσxoños Eπ' avтoùs, the bishop over the priests;' and the "Hunc locum etiam citat S. Clemens, Ep. ad Cor. Isa. Ix. 17. x Neh. xi. 9. son of Bani, ἐπίσκοπος Λευιτῶν, “ the bishop and visitor over the Levites;' and we find at the purging of the land from idolatry, the high priest placed ἐπισκόπους εἰς οἶκον Κυρίου, 'bishops over the house of God'.' Nay, it was the appellative of the high priest himself, ἐπίσκοπος Ἐλεάζας, • bishop Eleazar,' the son of Aaron the priest, to whom is committed the care of lamps, and the daily sacrifice, and the holy unction. Now this word the church retained, choosing the same name to her superior ministers, because of the likeness of the ecclesiastical government between the Old and New Testament. For Christ made no change but what was necessary: baptism was a rite among the Jews, and the Lord's Supper was but the post-conium' of the Hebrews changed into a mystery, from a type to a more real exhibition; and the Lord's Prayer was a collection of the most eminent devotions of the prophets and holy men before Christ, who prayed by the same Spirit; and the censures ecclesiastical were but an imitation of the proceedings of the Judaical tribunals; and the whole religion was but the law of Moses drawn out of its vail into clarity and manifestation; and to conclude in order to the present affair, the government which Christ left, was the same as he found it; for what Aaron and his sons, and the Levites, were, in the temple,—that bishops, priests, and deacons, are, in the church: it is affirmed by St. Jerome more than once; and the use he makes of it is this, "Esto 66 subjectus pontifici tuo, et quasi animæ parentem suscipe;" Obey your bishop, and receive him as the nursing-father of your soul." But above all, this appellation is made honourable by being taken by our blessed Lord himself; for he is called in Scripture the great Shepherd and Bishop of our souls.' But our inquiry is not after the name, but the office, and the dignity and duty of it: "Ecclesiæ gubernandæ sublimis ac Divina potestas," so St. Cyprian calls it; "A high and a Divine power from God of governing the church;" "rem magnam et pretiosam in conspectu Domini," so St. Cyril; y 2 Kings, xi. 18. Numb. iv. 16. a great and precious thing in the sight of God;"— twv iv ȧvegúπCIç εinтαíwv ogov, by Isidore Pelusiot; "the utmost limit ἀνθρώποις εὐκταίων of what is desirable among men:"- but the account upon which it is so desirable, is the same also that makes it formidable. They who have tried it, and did it conscientiously, have found the burden so great, as to make them stoop with care and labour; and they who do it ignorantly or carelessly, will find it will break their bones: for the bishop's office is all that duty which can be signified by those excellent words of St. Cyprian: "He is a bishop or overseer of the brotherhood, the ruler of the people, the shepherd of the flock, the governor of the church, the minister of Christ, and the priest of God." These are great titles, and yet less than what is said of them in Scripture, which calls them "salt of the earth, -lights upon a candlestick,- stars and angels, - fathers of our faith,-ambassadors of God,-dispensers of the mysteries of God, the apostles of the churches,—and the glory of Christ:"-but then they are great burdens too; for the bishop is πεπιστευμένος τὸν λαὸν τοῦ Κυρίου, “ intrusted with the Lord's people;' that is a great charge, but there is a worse matter that follows, καὶ τὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν ψυχῶν αὐτῶν λόγον ἀπαι Tnonooμevos the bishop is he, of whom God will require account for all their souls:" they are the words of St. Paul, and transcribed into the fortieth canon of the apostles, and the twenty-fourth canon of the council of Antioch. an And now I hope the envy is taken off; for the honour does not pay for the burden; and we can no sooner consider episcopacy in its dignity, as it is a rule; but the very nature of that rule does imply so severe a duty, that as the load of it is almost insufferable, so the event of it is very formidable, if we take not great care. For this stewardship is κυριότης καὶ dianovía, a principality and a ministry.' So it was in Christ; he is Lord of all, and yet he was the Servant of all: so it was in the apostles ; it was κλῆρος διακονίας καὶ ἀποστολῆς, • their lot was to be apostles, and yet to serve and minister;' and it is remarkable, that, in Isaiah, the Seventy use the word iniσxoños, or bishop';' but there they use it for the Hebrew word nechosheth,' which the Greeks usually render by igyodiwutns, φορολόγος, πράκτωρ, and the interlineary translation by ex Heb. xiii. 17. Acts, i. 25. * Isaiah, Ix. 17. 6 actores.' Bishops are only God's ministers and tributegatherers, requiring and overseeing them that they do their duty; and, therefore, here the case is so, and the burden so great, and the dignity so allayed, that the envious man hath no reason to be troubled that his brother hath so great a load, nor the proud man plainly to be delighted with so honourable a danger. It is indeed a rule, but it is paternal; it is a government, but it must be neither ἀναγκαστικὸν nor αἰσχροnepdes, it is neither a power to constrain,' nor a commission to get wealth,' for it must be without necessity, and not for filthy lucre sake; but it is a rule, és dianovoûvtos, so St. Luke, "as of him that ministers f;" is πávтwv doúrou, so St. Mark, "as of him that is servant of alls;" as rodas víтovтos, so St. John; such a principality as he hath that washes the feet' of the weary traveller; or if you please, take it in the words. of our blessed Lord himself, that "He that will be chief among you, let him be your minister;" meaning, that if under Christ's kingdom you desire rule, possibly you may have it; but all that rule under him, are servants to them that are ruled; and, therefore, you get nothing by it, but a great labour and a busy employment, a careful life, and a necessity of making severe accounts. But all this is nothing but the general measures; I cannot be useful or understood unless I be more particular. The particulars we shall best enumerate by recounting those great conjugations of worthy offices and actions, by which Christian bishops have blessed and built up Christendom; for because we must be followers of them, as they were of Christ, the recounting what they did worthily in their generations, will not only demonstrate how useful, how profitable, how necessary episcopacy is to the Christian church, but it will, at the same time, teach us our duty, by what services we are to benefit the church, in what works we are to be employed, and how to give an account of our stewardship with joy. 1. The Christian church was founded by bishops, not only because the apostles, who were bishops, were the first preachers of the Gospel, and planters of churches,—but because the apostolical men, whom the apostles used in planting and disseminating religion, were, by all antiquity, affirmed to e 1 Pet. v. 1, 3. Mark, x. 43. f Luke, xxii. 27. |