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Full text of "The ministry of the Christian Church"

The Leonard Library 

OTpcltffe College 



Toronto 



shelf No...B.Y.4-.fi..l o.....6.6 

Register No. I. .8... .4:.! 



19 



THE MINISTRY 



CHRISTIAN CHURCH 




THE MINISTRY 



OF THE 



CHRISTIAN CHURCH 



BY 

CHARLES GORE, M.A. 

PRINCIPAL OF THE PUSEY HOUSB ; FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD 
AND EXAMINING CHAPLAIN TO THE LORD BISHOP OF LINCOLN 



SECOND EDITION 




JAMES POTT & CO. 

14 AND l6 ASTOR PLACE 

gorfe 
1889 



f5 



PREFACE. 

THERE are two large questions having reference to Christianity 
which it is important to keep distinct. There is the question ./, ></ 

? 

whether Christianity is true, and there is the question what, 
as a fact in history, Christianity has been ? It is an indis 
pensable preliminary to all effective dealings with the practical 
problems, which arise in the attempt to apply and adapt 
Christianity to current needs and circumstances, that we 
should study profoundly the genius of Christianity as a con 
tinuous historical fact that we should have a clear answer to 
the question, what Christianity has been and is. This book, 
then (assuming broadly the truth of Christianity), attempts to 
give a partial answer to this second question. It maintains 
that Christianity is essentially the life of an actual visible 
society, and that at least one necessary link of connection in 
this society is the apostolic succession of the ministry. In a 

. ; J ,..-< 4*. 

word, this book claims on behalf of the apostolic succession 
that it must be reckoned with as a permanent and essential 






element of Christianity. It is an apology for the principle 
of the apostolic succession. 

As being an apology for one clause in the Church s prac 
tical and theoretical creed, it will be subject to the usual 
suspicions of prejudice and want of free criticism to which 
apologetic literature is exposed, and from which the literature 



vi Preface. 

of free thought is supposed to be by comparison exempt. 
But it is, perhaps, only while we are very young that we are 
inclined to believe dissent from orthodox conclusions to afford 
any guarantee for a just and critical judgment; in fact, the 
ambition to form or propagate a new theory gives as strong a 
bias to the mind as the desire to maintain an old one. At any 
rate, I have tried to do with my prejudices all that a man can 
do with those inevitable accompaniments alike of his birth into 
a continuous society and of the first activities of his own 
individuality ; I have tried to subject them to an exact and free 
examination in the light of reason and history, and to let it 
correct or verify them. 

A word must be said in explanation of the order and con 
tents of this book. The principle of the apostolic succession 
has been a formative principle in church history. It seemed, 
therefore, the best course, after making good the preliminary 
grounds of this investigation (chap, i), and explaining the idea 
of the ministry (chap, u), to exhibit the extent to which in 
church history the principle of the apostolic succession has 
been postulated and acted upon since the time when the con 
tinuous record begins i.e. the latter half of the second century 
(chap. in). The principle is then examined in the light of the 
Gospels (chap, iv), of the apostolic documents (chap, v), and 
of the links of evidence which connect the apostolic age with 
the continuous history (chap. vi). After this nothing remains 
but to draw conclusions and make applications (chap. vn). 
This order treats the question What has the Church in fact 
believed about her ministry ? as a preliminary to the investi 
gation of her title-deeds, and it was hardly possible for the 
present writer to treat the question in any other order. 
Whether or no Mi 1 . Darwin is ricrht in maintaining; " that the 



Preface. vii 

only object in writing a book is a proof of earnestness, and 
that you do not form your opinions without undergoing 
labour" (Life and Letters, i. p. 334), it is, at any rate, true 
that a book had better represent that process of labour by 
which its writer s opinions have in fact been formed. 

The purpose of this book not being primarily or simply 
archaeological, it has been possible to leave out of discussion 
a good many elements in the history of the ministry which do 
not, or so far as they do not, affect the principle. It has been 
necessary to deal largely in quotations from ancient authors, 
but it has been possible to omit almost all that bears, e.g. upon 
the growth of the metropolitan and patriarchal systems, the 
relations of the later episcopate to secular society, the history 
of ecclesiastical discipline or canon law in detail. On all these 
subjects the student will find a great deal of very valuable 
material in Dr. Hatch s published works, and in his articles in 
the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities. I very much regret 
that what seems to me his extraordinary, his most unhistorical, 
under-estimate of the permanent element of belief and practice 
in the Christian Church has led to his being mentioned in 
these pages generally with criticism. I also regret that I had 
not read till it was too late his article on Paul the Apostle, in 
the Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. xviii. If I had done so, I 
could not have complained, as I have in reference to his 
Bampton Lectures, of his not plainly stating his position as 
to certain disputed New Testament documents. In that 
article he speaks of the Pastoral Epistles as " probably even 
less defensible," i.e. from the point of view of authenticity, 
than those to the Ephesians and Colossians (p. 422, col. 2 ; cf. 
also the remark at the head of the column on the Acts of the 
Apostles). I might also have noticed that he had already 



viii Preface. 

(Diet. Chr. Ant. ii. p. 1481) spoken of the Epistle of Polycarp 
as " almost contemporary " with the Pastoral Epistles. 

I had intended to conclude this book with a discussion of 
the validity of the episcopal succession in the English Church, 
but it has seemed better to reserve this, appealing as it would 
to a different class of readers, for another opportunity. 

It remains for me only to express my gratitude for advice 
and help given me by my friend the Kev. Dr. Paget, and my 
colleague the Eev. F. E. Brightman but especially I have to 
thank another colleague, Mr. R. B. Eackham, who has given 
ungrudging and continuous labour to preparing this book for 
publication, and rescuing it from many mistakes. He has also 
compiled the Table of Contents and the Index of Authors, 
etc., which will, I hope, render the book more useful for refer 
ence. Vallarsius edition of Jerome has been used throughout, 
and Hartel s Cyprian, which however follows the Oxford 
edition in the numbering of the Epistles. 



PUSEY HOUSE, 
St. Peter s Day, 18S8. 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

IF there are almost uo alterations, except verbal corrections, 
in this Edition, it is not because I have not received valuable 
suggestions. For instance, I have been advised to enlarge 
the argument on pp. 34-36, as to the fundamental indepen 
dence of the Church and the Collegia, and in doing so I should 
have had an opportunity of noticing Professor Kamsay s 
remarks in the Expositor of Dec. 1888, pp. 415 ff., on the 
use to which he supposes the Church in Phrygia to have put 
the guild organization, for purposes of concealment. But I 
have thought that I should do better to wait, before acting 
on any suggestions that I have received, till I have had the 
advantage of more criticisms, and till I can myself consider 
matters again with a fresher mind. Meanwhile, there are 
three points confirmatory of my argument, by mentioning 
which, I may perhaps forestall criticism. 

1. The newly discovered writings of the Spaniard Priscillian 1 
give us, as the sentiment of bishops contemporary with him 
in Spain, about A.D. 380, a view of the consecration and election 
of bishops, which falls in with the argument of pp. 100 ff. ; 
"Kescribitur . . . sicut dedicationem sacerdotis in sacerdote, 
sic electionem consistere petitionis in plebe" (Tract, ii. p. 40). 
The context makes the meaning tolerably plain, viz. that it 
belongs to a bishop to consecrate a bishop, but to the people 
to choose and ask for him. 

1 Just edited by their discoverer, Georg Schepps, in the Vienna Corona 
Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum. 



x Preface to the Second Edition. 

2. Dr. Salmon has kindly pointed out to me that the argu 
ment about Colluthus on p. 139 admits of being strengthened 
by calling attention to the fact that Colluthus claimed to be 
a bishop when he ordained. This appears in the letter of 
the Mareotic clergy, quoted by Athanasius, Apol. c. Ar. c. 76 : 
"He [Ischyras] was appointed by Colluthus, the presbyter 
who pretended to the episcopate and was afterwards ordered 
by the synod of Hosius, and the bishops with him, to be a 
presbyter as he was before." Thus Colluthus did not even 
claim to ordain as a presbyter. 

3. Besides that mentioned on p. 371 of this book, there is 
another Syriac version of the Canons of Ancyra given by 
Cardinal Pitrain Analecta Sacra Spicilegio Solesmensi iv. 219. 
The 13th canon in this version is, I am told, inaccurately 
rendered by the Abb6 Martin (p. 447). Translated literally 
it runs thus : " To chorepiscopi it is not allowed that they 
should ordain [make ordination] priests and deacons : but 
again also not that they should consecrate priests of the city, 
without the permission of the bishop with writings in every 
one place." I am informed that there is no doubt that 
priests of the city must be the object of the verb conse 
crate and not its subject, i.e. that it represents Trpea-ftvTepov? 
not Trpeafivrepois. This information I owe to Mr. C. H. Turner 
of St. John s College, Oxford. 

C. G. 

Epiphany, 1SS9. 



CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER I. THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH. 

PAGE 

Preliminary assumptions 

(1) The genuineness of New Testament documents . 1 

(2) The truth of the Incarnation ... 6 

Preliminary inquiry : Did Christ found a visible Church ? . 9 

The reasonableness of the idea in itself . . 9 

(1) Witness of the early Christian belief in a visible 

Church ...... 12 

(unanimous in spite of differences in point of view) 1 3 
in the West Tertullian, Cyprian, Irenaeus, 
(holding nulla sal us extra ecclesiam together 
with belief in God s wider dealings), the 
Roman Church . . . .13 

in the East Ignatius, Alexandrian writers . 23 

the Apologists Aristides, Justin, Theophilus . 28 

confirmed by the pagan conception of Christianity 30 

(2) The social form of Christianity not due to the 

secular influence of the collegia, for . . 31 

(a) Christian writers show no trace of such 

influence .... 34 

(b) Christian terminology was derived from 

Judaism . . . . .35 

(3) Witness of the New Testament . . .36 

(a) The Gospels 

(i) Christ s method, . . 37 

(ii) His institution of social sacraments 40 



xii Contents. 



PAOR 



(iii) His Messianic claim . . .41 

(relation of the Church to the kingdom of God ) 42 
(the Church not exclusive, though it makes an 

exclusive claim) . .44 

(b) The Acts .... 45 

(c) St. Paul s Epistles . . . .46 

This doctrine is not inconsistent with the doctrines of faith 

and liberty ...... 49 

but agreeable to the principle of all human society . 51 
(Heaven in the Apocalypse a city) . . .52 

Two misconceptions as to the origin of the visible Church 

(1) That it arose out of a previous condition of in 

dividualism . . . . .52 

(2) That it was due to Roman influence : difference 

between the Roman and Catholic conceptions 

of church unity . . . . .56 

Notes on The idea of an invisible Church pp. 19, 49. 



CH. II. APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION. 

The method of the inquiry . . . .65 

The principle of Apostolic Succession expounded . . 69 

It corresponds to the Incarnation, Sacraments, etc. . 71 
The principle more important than the form in which 

it is embodied . . . . .72 

Its importance as 

(a) a bond of union for a universal spiritual society 76 

(b) emphasizing men s dependence on God s gifts . 77 

(c) satisfying the moral needs of those who minister 81 

Answers to objections that 

(1) It is sacerdotal : true and false sacerdotalism . 83 

(2) Unspiritual men are thus made to mediate spiri 

tual gifts : distinction of character and office . 95 



Contents. xiii 

PACE 

(3) It is opposed to liberty : but liberty is opposed 

to absolutism, not to authority ; the Church not 

at first or necessarily an imperialist institution . 97 

(4) It cannot be true in fact : this objection not tenable 107 

(5) It unchurches presbyterian bodies : but results 

must not prevent our facing principles . 109 

Note on Morinus de sacris ordinalionibus . p. 68 
Sacramental teaching of the early Fathers 79 
Doctrine of lay-priesthood in catholic theology 89 



CH. III. THE WITNESS OF CHUECH HISTORY. 

Church history bears witness to certain fixed principles 
1. The principle of apostolic succession through the 
episcopate (with the requirement for the ministry 
of episcopal ordination) . . . .116 

appealed to by Irenaeus . . . .116 

accepted by Tertullian . , . .125 

anticipated by Hegesippus . . . .127 

A. Further evidence for the East 

The episcopal successions 

in Palestine, Syria, Asia, Greece, Macedonia, 

Thrace, Crete . . . .128 

the supposed exceptional constitution of the 

Alexandrian Church . ,, . . 134 

(a) very doubtful in fact . . .138 

(6) not opposed to the principle of succession 142 
The conception of the ministry in 

(i) liturgical writings V Xp NVJW^ 144 
(ii) canons of councils k & uioitoi . 152 
(iii) Greek Fathers Athanasius, Gregory 

Nazianzen, Chrysostom, Epiphanius . 154 

B. Further evidence for the West 

The episcopal successions undoubted - 1 V" . 161 



xiv Contents. 

PAGE 

The conception of the ministry in 

(i) Latin Fathers Cyprian, Lucifer, writers 
who minimize the distinction of bishop 
and presbyter, i.e. Ambrosiaster, Jerome, 
etc. . . . . .164 

(ii) canons of councils . . . 176 

(iii) liturgies . . . . .177 

2. Ordination was regarded sacramentally . . 183 

and conferred by laying-on of hands . .185 

3. It was believed to impose an indelible character 187 

though the distinction of valid and canonical 

was slowly formulated . . .191 

4. The conception of the ministry from the first in 

volved a sacerdotal principle, though the use of 
sacerdotal terms was of gradual growth . 196 

5. The ministry possessed exclusive powers, e.g. only 

a priest could celebrate the Eucharist . . 200 

Tertullian s statement to the contrary due to 

Montanist views .... 204 

Montanism its characteristics . . 207 

not a conservative movement . 211 

Summary ...... 213 

Note on The conception of tlie ministry in tJie Clementines p. 1 30 
Clem. Alex. 135 

,, Origen . 140 

The language of Firmilian . . .155 

The early Irish episcopate . . .162 

One bishop in a community . . .165 

The primacy of Peter s see . . .169 

Functions of the presbyterate . . .181 

Morinus on the tradition of the instruments . 186 
Signification of laying-on of hands . .187 

Eeordination . . pp. 189, 192, 193 

Sources of sacerdotal language . .199 



Contents. xv 

CH. IV. THE INSTITUTION OF THE APOSTOLATE. 

PAGE 

The postulates of church history to be verified by an 

appeal to Christ s intention . . . .216 

The Gospels generally suggest the institution of a per 
manent apostolate . . . . .219 
especially in the commissions to 

(1) St. Peter his relation to (a) the other Apostles, 

(6) the whole Church . . . .222 

(2) All the Apostles after the resurrection . .226 

(the commission in St. John xx to the Apostles 

rather than the whole Church) . .229 

Note on Sacrificial aspect of the Eucharist p. 226 

CH. V. THE MINISTRY IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 

Evidence of St. Paul s Epistles : 

(a) The office of an apostle . . . .231 

(6) The Church an organism with differentiated gifts 

and functions . . . . .238 

Cc) The Pastoral Epistles their importance ; they show 242 

(1) a ministry of presbyter-bishops and deacons, 

not the chief ministry . . .244 

(ii) an extension of the apostolate to apostolic 

men ... .246 

(iii) St. Paul s idea of ordination by the laying- 

on of hands .... 249 

Evidence of the other Epistles . . . .251 

Evidence of the Acts : 

(a) The apostolate ..... 253 
(6) A ministry of prophets and teachers . . 260 

(c) A local ministry of presbyter-bishops and deacons . 262 

Summary : (1) The apostolate .... 265 

(2) A subapostolic ministry . . . 266 

(3) Presbyter-bishops . 267 

(4) Deacons . . . . .268 

(5) Ordination by laying-on of hands . . 268 



xvi Contents. 

PAGE 

Evidence is lacking as to 

(a) details in the division of functions . .269 

(6) the form of the future ministry . . .269 

Note on The Angels of the Apocalypse p. 254 



CH. VI. THE MINISTRY IN THE SUBAPOSTOLIC AGE. 

Links connecting this apostolic ministry with the epis 
copate of church history . . . .270 

In the East 

I. St. James originates the episcopate in Jerusalem . 273 
II. The Didache shows 

(a) a general ministry of apostles and prophets 

and teachers ; 
(i) a local ministry of bishops and deacons . 276 

III. St. John (with other Apostles) develops episco 

pacy in Asia ... . . . 286 

This is confirmed by the testimony of Ignatius to 
the threefold ministry of bishops, presbyters, and 
deacons ...... 288 

(in what sense the presbyterate represents the 

Apostles) . . . . .302 

In the West 

IV. Clement s Epistle 

(a) shows a differentiated ministry having suc 
cession from the Apostles ; 

(5) postulates an order above the presbyter- 
bishops and deacons . . . 308 

V. Polycarp s Epistle 

implies absence of a bishop at Philippi ; 

but this is not inconsistent with a superior 

ministry not localized there . . . 326 



Contents. xvii 

PACK 

VI. The Shepherd of Hermas 

suggests a third order above presbyters and 

deacons ..... 331 

Summary of possible theories : 

1. A college of equal presbyters . . . 333 

2. The bishop hidden in the presbyterate . . 334 

3. What alone seems to satisfy the evidence the 

episcopate derived from a gradual localization of 

prophets, teachers, and apostolic men . 335 

Note on A second apostolic council . p. 274 
The office of reader . . 284 

The Ignatian controversy . 289 



CH. VII. CONCLUSION AND APPLICATIONS. 

The verdict of history as to (a) the Church, (b) sacer 
dotalism, (c) episcopal ordination . . . 337 

Is confirmed by the witness of (a) the Gospels, (6) the apo 
stolic, and (c) subapostolic documents . . 340 

The cogency of the evidence : it can only be satisfied by 

the doctrine of the apostolic succession . . 343 

This doctrine in its application 

(a) invalidates non-episcopal ministries . . 344 

(6) recalls episcopal Churches to their true principles . 348 



APPENDED NOTES. 

A. Dr. Lightfoot s Dissertation on " The Christian Ministry " 353 

B. The early history of the Alexandrian ministry . . 357 

C. Rites and prayers of ordination . . . .363 

D. (i) Canon xiii of Ancyra . . . .370 
(ii) Chore piscopi . . . . .372 



xviii Contents. 



PACK 



E. Supposed ordinations by presbyters in East and West . 374 

F. The theory of the ministry held by Ambrosiaster, 

Jerome, etc. ...... 378 

G. Laying-on of hands ..... 383 
H. Montanism ...... 390 

I. Prophecy in the Christian Church . . . 394 

K. The origin of the titles bishop, presbyter, and deacon, 

with reference to recent criticism . . . 399 

L. The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles . . . .411 

Addendum on de Aleatorilms . . .420 



CHAPTER I. 

THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH. 

THE reader of the history of Christendom cannot 






fail to be conscious, at each stage of his subject, of the in( i uir y- 
prominent position held in the Church by a Ministry, 
which is regarded as having a divine authority for 
its stewardship of Christian mysteries an authority 
which is indeed limited in sphere by varying political 
and ecclesiastical arrangements, but which in itself is 
believed to be derived not from below but from above, 
and to represent and perpetuate, by due succession 
from the Apostles, the institution of Christ. It is 
this Christian ministry which is to be the subject of 
the present inquiry. We shall endeavour to ascertain 
its history, to trace it back through its series of 
changes to the fountain-head. More than this, we 
shall endeavour to investigate its authority and search 
into its title-deeds. Is this ministry, with its claim 

of an apostolic succession, the mere product of cir-_ 

i /^tA ^ 

cumstances valuable just so far as it is found spiritu 
ally convenient ? As claiming to be a priesthood, 
does it represent a temporary accommodation of the 
Christian ideal, more or less necessitated by circum 
stances, to the Jewish or pagan ideas amidst which the^ 

Church spread? Is it a temporary restriction of the / 

A 



2 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

free Christian spirit dangerous, however necessary ? 
Or, on the contrary, is it an original portion of Christ s 
foundation? Is the episcopal succession, as it meets 
us in history, simply the fulfilment of Christ s inten 
tion, an essential and inviolable element of Christianity 
till the end ? 

These are the main questions before us ques 
tions much controverted, yet not on that account 
incapable of yielding satisfactory solutions. But, like 
other controverted questions, these which concern the 
Christian ministry have a tendency to run off their 
own field and get upon territory foreign to themselves 
in one direction or another. It will therefore promote 
preiim. as- clearness if at the beginning the area of the present 

sumptions. 

discussion is carefully marked out. 
(i)The 1. As an historical inquiry, the investigation of the 

genuineness 

T origines of the Christian ministry involves conclusions 
as to the date and authorship of a number of docu 
ments. In regard to the great majority of these 
there is no division of opinion which is of serious 
moment for the present inquiry. But this is not the 
case with regard to some of the documents contained 
in the New Testament. The genuineness of the 
Epistles of St. Peter and St. James and of the Epistle 
of St. Paul to the Ephesians, still more the historical 
character of the Evangelical records and of the Acts 
of the Apostles, and the genuineness of St. Paul s 
Pastoral Epistles, are questions of vital moment in 
dealing with the history of the ministry. It is well 
then, in order to narrow the field of inquiry, to make 
it plain at starting that the genuineness of these 



I.] The Foundation of the Church. 3 

Epistles and the historical character of these records 
are here generally assumed. True, a considerable part 
of the inquiry is not affected by the decision in one 
sense or another of these critical questions. But in 
the discussion of the ministry in the apostolic age it 
has great weight. 1 If a certain set of conclusions is 
here in the main taken for granted, this is not at all 
because it is desired to exempt the books of Scripture 
from free criticism. It is done, because no investiga 
tion is satisfactory which does not at starting make 
plain the basis on which it rests, while a discussion of 
so large a number of critical questions would occupy 
too much space in preliminaries. It is done, then, to 
limit the area of inquiry ; but, it must be added, with 
the clearest conviction that the conclusions assumed 
are those which the facts warrant. There does not 
seem to the present writer to be any reasonable 
ground for doubting, for instance, the unity or the 
genuineness of the Epistles of St. Paul to the 
Ephesians, to Timothy, and to Titus. The authorship 
of the Epistle to the Ephesians is guaranteed, not 
only by the external evidence, not only by its con- 

1 Thus Professor Harnack (Expositor, May 1887) discusses the origin of the 
Christian ministry on the assumption that not only the Pastoral Epistles but 
also the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle of St. James are second century 
documents (pp. 334 n. 6 , 335 n. J ), and that the Epistle to the Ephesians 
was written " a considerable time after the Apostle s death " (p. 331). As he 
truly says when he is proceeding "to set forth the chronological data which 
we possess for the origin and the earliest development of the ecclesiastical 
constitution" "This problem would receive the most diverse solutions from 
those occupying different standpoints regarding the origin of certain New 
Testament and post-apostolic writings. Any one, for example, who admits 
the genuineness of the Pastoral Epistles will reach quite different con 
clusions from one who regards them as non-Pauline, and relegates them to 
the second century " (p. 322). 



4 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

nection with the more personal Epistles to the 
Colossians and to Philemon, but also by the lofty 
power and richness of thought with which it developes 
and unifies the fundamental conceptions of predestina 
tion and of the Church, which St. Paul had already 
presented in the Epistles to the Romans and the 
Corinthians. The Pastoral Epistles are linked to 
gether by intense coherence of subject and tone ; and 
there is hardly any writing which can be more certainly 
pronounced genuine by internal evidence than the 
second Epistle to Timothy. 1 When we pass to the 
Acts of the Apostles, there would seem to be scarcely 
any bit of literary controversy in which, within recent 
years, we have experienced more completely the re 
assuring effect of thorough inquiry. The remark 
able Christology of the early chapters : the position 
assigned to the prophets in the earliest Church : 2 
the accurate knowledge, as tested by recently- 
published inscriptions, which the author displays of 
the titles of local magistrates and the details of local 
sentiment : 3 the reiterated evidence, which the book 
affords in its later portions, that the author was 
an eye-witness of what he records all this taken 
together goes to guarantee the substantial accuracy 



1 Professor Salmon s vindication of the genuineness of these Epistles will, 
I think, be considered adequate by a fair-minded and impartial reader. See 
his Introduction to the New Testament, lecture xx. Cf. also Professor Godet 
on the Pastoral Epistles in the Expositor, January 1888. 

2 Harnack selects Acts xiii. i f. with vi. r f. as passages ill which the 
reader " enters at once upon historical ground . . . which bears the marks 
of higher credibility." 

3 See Dr. Lightfoot s "Illustrations of the Acts from Recent Discoveries," 
Contemp. Revieio (May 1878), and Dr. Salmon s Introd. p. 339 f. 



I.] The Foundation of the Chtirch. 5 

of the whole record. 1 Further, the position assigned 
to the Apostles in St. Paul s Epistles and in the Acts 
suggests or presupposes some such dealings of Christ 
with them in particular as the Gospels record. Once 
again, then (for this reason and in virtue of all the 
body of considerations which make for the trust 
worthiness of the evangelic records), it is here taken 
for granted without scruple that Jesus Christ did 
really give in substance those instructions and com 
missions to His Apostles and to His Church, both 
before and after His Resurrection, which He is recorded 
to have given in the narratives of St. Matthew, St. 
Mark, St. Luke, and St. John. 2 It is then from no 

1 While we wait for an article on the subject of the Acts by the man who 
perhaps in all Europe is best qualified for the task, I may refer (1) to Dr. 
Salmon s Introd. lect. xviii ; (2) to the discussions on the relation of the 
Acts to the Epistle to the Galatians in Dr. Lightfoot s Commentary on 
the latter Epistle, and the appended essay on " St. Paul and the Three " ; (3) 
to the remarkable admissions of one of the last critics amongst those who pay 
honour to the name of Baur Dr. Pfleiderer (see his Hibbert Lectures, lect. i). 
Cf. Harnack Dogmengesch. i. pp. 62, 63, etc. 

2 The authenticity of St. John s Gospel has been sufficiently vindicated 
of recent years by Professor Godet and Dr. Westcott. 

With reference to a point of some importance for the subject of the 
ministry in St. Matthew s Gospel our Lord s commission to St. Peter 
Prof. Harnack has recently argued (Contemp. Review, Aug. 1886, " The Present 
State of Research in Early Church History," p. 230) that an earlier version 
of the narrative is preserved in the text of Tatian s Diatessaron. We have 
in Armenian St. Ephraem s Commentary on this Harmony of the Gospels. 
In the Latin translation of this (Evangelii Concordantis Expositio facia a 
S. Ephraemo, in Lat. trans, a R. P. Aucher, Mechitarista, pp. 153, 154) 
the words run: Beatus es Simon, et portse inferi te non vincent. 
Afterwards the words Tu es petra are quoted. Here it appears that 
it is against St. Peter that the gates of death are not to prevail, and 
nothing is said of the foundation of the Church. But we have not the 
whole text of the Diatessaron ; St. Ephraem only quotes it to comment 
on it. Nor does he always quote it fully. In this case he gives no hint 
of the words Tu es petra till afterwards, out of their order. Elsewhere 
it is manifest that he does not quote the whole text ; see his comments on St. 
John, as incorporated in the Harmony (pp. 145-153); and again (p. 66) on 
the Sermon on the Mount, where the quoted text of St. Matt. v. 22-32 



6 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

fear of free criticism that the authenticity and trust 
worthiness of these New Testament documents is here 
assumed. 
(2) The truth 2. It will also be taken for granted that the apostolic 

of the In- m 

carnation, interpretation of the Person of Christ is the true one 
that He was the Incarnate Son of God. It is impor 
tant to make this plain, because, though little stress 
will be laid upon this doctrine, yet our rational attitude 
towards the development of Christian institutions 
depends to a certain extent upon our relation to it. 1 
The Incarnation represents necessarily a climax in the 
divine self-revelation. It represents this necessarily, 
because no closer relation of God to man is conceivable 
than that involved in the " Word Who is God 
made flesh " in the historical Person, Christ Jesus, in 
such sense that " he who hath seen Him hath seen the 

runs thus: " Sed ego dico vobis : qui dicit fratri suo, fatue . . . qui dicit 
fratri suo, vilis aut stulte. . . . Audistis quia dictum est : non adulterabis, 
sed ego dico vobis : quicunque aspicit et concupiscit, adulterat. Si manus 
tua vel pes tua scandalizet te . . . " St. Ephraem does not by any means 
quote the whole text ; but he refers to more than he quotes. Thus in the 
passage under discussion, if we reconstruct his text from his commentary 
(Dominus cum ecclesiam suam aedificaret etc., p. 154), it must have run to 
this effect : " Blessed art thou, Simon. Thou art Peter, and on this rock I 
will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against thee." 
The "thee" may be due simply to the " it " (O.VTTJS) being referred to irtrpa 
and not to ^KKX?7<na, a reference which Origen in loc. discusses. Probably 
St. Ephraem accepts this reference and, interpreting the rock of St. Peter, 
glosses O.VTTJS as equivalent to <rov. There are no traces of any such reading 
as Harnack imagines to have existed in the Greek or in the Syriac versions 
(either Cureton s or the Peshitto), which have our text. See Zahn s Diates- 
saron p. 163. 

1 For example, it seems a grave critical defect in Dr. Hatch s Bampton 
Lectures, The Organization of the Early Christian Churches, that, as he has not 
explained his relation to certain most significant New Testament documents, 
so also he has not made it plain whether he really believes the super 
natural character of the Person of Christ. If he does, then his propositions 
about the merely natural development of Christian institutions will surely 
want correcting (lecture i. p. 18). 



I.] The Foundation of the Church. 7 

Father." God cannot come any nearer to man, man 
cannot come any nearer to God than is effected in Him, 
in Whom " dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead 
bodily." This is "the end of the days." As M. Godet 
strikingly observes : " The history of the world (from 
the Christian point of view) is summarized in its 
essence in these three words : He is coming : He is 
come : He is coming again." 1 The development then of 
God s revelation of Himself comes to its climax in the 
Incarnation. Henceforth another sort of development 
begins. All institutions, all races, all individuals are 
gradually brought into the light of Christ and judged 
by their relation to Him. Christ developes Himself 
as the Second Adam, realizing the capacities of all 
humanity by bringing it all, age by age, race by race, 
individual by individual, into relation to Himself, till 
He can come again/ in the revelation of the glory 
of the sons of God, as the acknowledged centre and 
head of humanity and of the universe. 

It is not here proposed to inquire whether analogies 
will be found in other departments of evolution to 
what has taken place in the history of religion. This 
is a large question, which does not belong to our pre 
sent subject. But the general theory of evolution 
must, of course, like every other generalization, mould 
itself to the facts. It must take account, among other 
things, of religious facts. Now in the history of 
religion a term has, in a certain sense, been reached in 
the past. The Christian moral standard, the Christian 
character claims to be essentially final. The Person- 

1 Etudes Bibliques, N. T. p. 291. 



8 Christian Ministry, [CHAP. 

ality of Christ, as it finds expression in His own lan 
guage and action and in the belief about Him of His 
earliest disciples, 1 represents finality. Thus also the 
grace of His Spirit is the fulness of grace, adequate for 
all ages and all men ; and the truth revealed in Him 
is a faith once for all delivered/ simple and universal, 
which is to mould human character to the end. 2 

Plainly, then, the rational acceptance of this 
position about Christ gives us certain premises or pre 
suppositions with reference to the institutions which 
perpetuate the presence, and represent the will and 
mind, of Christ. A once for all delivered faith and 
grace associates itself naturally with a once for all in 
stituted society and a once for all established ministry. 
The question whether " the Christian societies, and the 
confederation of those societies which we commonly 
speak of in a single phrase as the visible Church of 
Christ, were formed without any special interposition 
of that mysterious and extraordinary action of the 
divine volition, which, for want of a better term, we 
speak of as supernatural/ " 3 is rationally conditioned 
by the question whether the manifestation of the 
Christ is of this order. A supernatural cause sug- 

1 I may refer to Dr. Sanday s What the First Christians thought about 
Christ (Oxford House Papers) and to the argument in Mr. Stanton s Jewish 
and Christian Messiah p. 1 54 f . 

2 See Dr. Westcott s Christus Consummator pp. 124 f. 151 f. 

3 Hatch B. L. p. 18. On p. 20, the author says the Church "is divine 
as the solar system is divine." Now inasmuch as the Church is a human 
society, he must mean that it is divine, as the British constitution or the 
Roman empire is divine. But if Christ be personally God, if in virtue 
of a divine life He burst the tomb and rose the third day from the dead, 
the society to which He gave birth may presumably be divine in another 
sense not as exempted from "the universe of law," but because it belongs 
to that kingdom of law in which effects are relative to causes. JL e._^v> 

* 



L] The Foundation of the Church. 9 

gests supernatural effects. Nothing will be assumed 
here about the Church and the ministry. The 
conclusions shall be drawn strictly from the evidence. 
But belief in the Incarnation opens our eyes to give 
due weight to the evidence. 

Now on the basis of these assumptions a Preiim. 

inquiry. 

question arises, which must be determined before 
the proper subject of the present inquiry can be ap 
proached. Did Christ found a Church in the sense Did Christ 
of a visible society ? l gJSSL, 

That He should have done so is intelligible enough. > / 



As it has recently been said, 2 "it is only by becoming 
embodied in the undoubting convictions of a society, ^ 
by being, as it were, assimilated with its mind and 
motives that is to say, with living human minds and 
wills and informing all its actions, that ideas have 
reality, and possess power, and become more than dry /i - 
and lifeless thoughts." " As great moral and social 
and political ideas are preserved in life and force by 
being embodied in the common and living convictions 
of the society which we call the State, so great spiri 
tual ideas, which are the offspring of Christianity, are 
preserved in life and force by becoming the recognised 
beliefs and motives of the society which we call the 

1 " For although it is indisputable that our Lord founded a Church, it is an\ i / 
unproved assumption that that Church is an aggregation of visible or organ- 1 
ized societies ; and although it is clear that our Lord instituted the rite of 
Christian baptism, it is an unproved assumption that baptism was at the 
outset, as it has become since, not merely a sign of discipleship, but also a 
ceremony of initiation into a divine society " (Hatch B. L. pref. sec. cd. / 

p. xii). To the idea that the Church is "a visible society, or aggregation 
of societies," is opposed the idea that it is " synonymous with the elect." 

2 The Christian Church by R. W. Church, Dean of St. Paul s, (Oxford House 
Papers, No. xvii.) pp. 4, 5, 15. 



io Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

Church." Christianity would never have done what 
it has done in the world, if it had been a mere body of 
abstract truth, like a philosophy, to be apprehended 
by this or that individual. It would never have done 
what it has done, if it had been embodied only in 
a book or collection of books. It has lived on, and 
worked upon men, as a society or group of societies. 
This, of course, everybody would admit. The question 
is whether believers in Christ were left to organize 
themselves in societies by the natural attraction of 
sympathy in beliefs and aims, and are, therefore, 
still at liberty to organize themselves on any model 
which seems from time to time to promise the 
best results, or whether the divine Founder of the 
Christian religion Himself instituted a society, a 
brotherhood, to be the home of the grace and truth 
which He came to bring to men : so that becoming 
His disciple, meant from the first this in a real sense 
this only incorporation into His society. If this was 
the case, the Church was not created by men, nor can 
it be recreated from time to time in view of varying 
circumstances. It comes upon men from above. It 
makes the claim of a divine institution. It has the 
authority of Christ. Christ did not, according to this 
view, encourage His disciples to form societies ; He 
instituted a society for them to belong to as the means 
of belonging to Him. 1 

1 Of course this antithesis requires guarding. The supernatural influence 
in the genesis of the Church did not annihilate " the natural inclination 
which all men have unto sociable life : " but it controlled and intensified it. 
This consilience of the natural and supernatural is beautifully expressed by 
Hooker, E. P. i. 15. 2. 



L] The Foundation of the Church. \ \ 

Now, as we watch the history of Christendom, 
we discern "a great number of organized religious 
bodies owing their existence and their purpose to 
Christian belief and Christian ideas ; " but in the 
midst of these we discern also something incom 
parably more permanent and more universal one 
great continuous body the Catholic Church. There 
it is ; none can overlook its visible existence, let 
us say from the time when Christianity emerges out 
of the gloom of the sub-apostolic age down to the 
period of the Reformation. And all down this period 
of its continuous life this society makes a constant 
and unmistakeable claim. It claims to have been 
instituted as the home of the new covenant of salva 
tion by the Incarnate Son of God. Is the claim which 
this visible Catholic Church has made a just one ? 
This is our present question : we are not asking yet 
whether the Church has any particular form of polity 
by divine institution, but whether the thing itself 
the visible society is the handiwork of Christ. This probabilit 
much we premise : that it would be nothing extra 
ordinary if Christ did institute a Church. It is 
reasonable to think l that, if He came to leave among 

1 Cf. the measured words of Butler, Analogy pt. n. ch. i: "As Chris 
tianity served these ends and purposes, when it was first published, by the 
miraculous publication itself, so it was intended to serve the same purposes in 
future ages by means of the settlement of a visible Church ; of a society distin 
guished from common ones and from the rest of the world, by peculiar religious 
institutions, by an instituted method of instruction and an instituted form 
of external religion. Miraculous powers were given to the first preachers of 
Christianity, in order to their introducing it into the world : a visible 
Church was established in order to continue it, and carry it on successively 
throughout all ages. ... To prevent [Christianity being sunk and forgotten 
in a very few ages], appears to have been one reason why a visible Church 
was instituted ; to be like a city upon a hill, a standing memorial to the 



12 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

mankind the inestimable treasures of redemptive 
truth and grace, He would not have cast them abroad 
among men, but would have given them a stable home 
in a visible and duly constituted society a society 
simple enough in its principles to be capable of 
adaptation to the varying needs of ages and nations 
and individuals, simple enough to be catholic, but 
organized enough to take its place amidst the institu 
tions of the world with a recognisable and permanent 
character. 
witness of But, as a fact, does history record that He did act 

history. 

thus ? The affirmative answer to this question shall 






be given first by exhibiting the impressive unanimity 
with which the early Christians believed that He did : 
secondly, by making it plain that the existence of 
the visible Church was not due to external secular 
influences : lastly, by supporting the position from the 
evidence of the New Testament, especially of the 
Gospels, 
a) Early (l) It is plain that the visible society admits of 

Christian . 

belief - being differently represented, according as it is re 
garded as the home of divine grace, uniting men by the 
Spirit through Christ to God and to one another ; or as 
the kingdom of truth, maintaining the witness of 
i^rw., T*.*~ Jesus ; or as the organ of divine authority, guiding 
and disciplining the lives of men. But it is equally 
plain that such modes of representing the Church 

world of the duty which we owe our Maker, to call men continually . . . 
to attend to it, and by the form of religion ever before their eyes, remind 
them of the reality ; to be the repository of the oracles of God ; to hold up the 
light of revelation . . . and propagate it throughout all generations to the 
end of the world." Cf. also the general argument of his Charge, to the Clergy 
of Durham. 



I.] The Foundation of the Church. 13 

are not at all incompatible with one another, and all 
of them equally postulate the visibility of the Church. 

We proceed then to trace up the different lines of 
tradition in the Church so as to show that the differ 
ence of colour put upon Christian truth by the 
varieties of spiritual temperament and the varying 
claims of circumstance did not affect this central posi 
tion. And as, of recent years, considerable originality 
has been assigned to the " Augustinian theory " of 
the Church, 1 we will make a beginning with the m the west: 
Church of St. Augustin the Church of Africa. Now, 
whatever novelty there may have been in Augustin s 
presentation of the matter, 2 at least he did not origin 
ate the idea of a visible Church. Let us take our 
earliest representative of African Christianity, Ter- Tertuman. 
tullian (at the end of the second century), and listen 
to what he teaches on the subject, in argument with 
the Gnostics, giving it as the one thing certain, what 
ever may be matter for question. 

" Christ Jesus our Lord," he says, 8 " so long as He 

1 E.g. by Dr. Hatch I.e. pp. xii, xiii. 

3 St. Augustin s doctrine of the Church is thus stated by Mr. Cunningham 
(St. Austin p. 116): "The kingdom of God was not a mere hope, but a 
present reality, not a mere name for a divine idea, but an institution, duly 
organized among men, subsisting from one generation to another ; closely 
inter-connected with earthly rule, with definite guidance to give, and a 
definite part to take in all the affairs of actual life. To him the kingdom of 
God was an actual Polity, just as the Roman Empire was a Polity too : it 
was visible in just the same way as the earthly State, for it was a real 
institution with definite organization, with a recognised constitution, with a 
code of laws and means of enforcing them, with property for its uses, and 
officers to direct it." This would represent what is meant by "the Augus 
tinian theory." But in fact St. Augustin s relation to the idea of the 
Church is a complex one. On the whole he intended to spiritualize rather 
than materialize it : cf. Hermann Renter Augustinische Studien, esp. pp. 101, 
150-1, 485 ff. 

3 de Praescr. 20 : " Christus lesus, Dominus noster, permittat dicere 



14 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

was living on earth, spoke Himself either openly to the 
people or apart to His disciples. From amongst these 
he had attached to His person twelve especially, who 
were destined to be the teachers of the nations. 
Accordingly, when one of these had fallen away, the 
remaining eleven received His command, as He was 
departing to the Father after His Resurrection, to go 
and teach the nations, who were to be baptized into 
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. At 
once, then, the Apostles (whose mission this title in 
dicates), after adding Matthias to their number as the 
twelfth in the place of Judas on the authority of the 
prophecy in David s psalm, and after receiving the 
promised strength of the Holy Ghost to enable them 
to work miracles and preach, first of all bore witness 
to the faith in Judaea and established Churches, and 
afterwards going out into the world proclaimed the 
same teaching of the same faith to the nations, and 

interim, quisquis est, cuiuscunque dei filius, cuiuscunque materiae homo 
et deus, . . . quamdiu in terris agebat, ipse pronuntiabat sive populo 
palam sive discentibus seorsum, ex quibus duodecim praecipuos later! suo 
allegerat destinatos nationibus magistros. Itaque uno eorum decusso 
reliquos undecim digrediens ad Patrem post resurrectionem iussit ire et 
docere nationes tinguendas in Patrem et in Filium et in Spiritum sanctum. 
Statim igitur apostoli, quos haec appellatio missos interpretatur, assumpto per 
sortem duodecimo Matthia in locum ludae ex auctoritate prophetiae quae est 
in psalmo David, consecuti promissam vim Spiritus saucti ad virtutes et 
eloquium, primo per ludaeam contestata fide in lesum Christum ecclesiis 
institutis, dehinc in orbem profecti eandem doctrinam eiusdem fidei nationi 
bus promulgaverunt. Et proinde ecclesias apud unamquamque civitatem 
condiderunt, a quibus traducem fidei et semina doctrinae ceterae exinde 
ecclesiae mutuatae sunt, et quotidie mutuantur, ut ecclesiae fiant. Ac per 
hoc et ipsae apostoli cae deputabuntur, ut soboles apostolicarum ecclesiarum. 
Omne genus ad originem suam censeatur necesse est. Itaque tot ac tantae 
ecclesiae una est ilia ab apostolis prima, ex qua omnes. Sic omnes primae 
et omnes apostolicae, dum una omnes probant unitatem. Communicatio 
pacis et appellatio fraternitatis et contesseratio hospitalitatis, quae iura 
non alia ratio regit, quam eiusdem sacramenti una traditio." 






I.] The Foundation of the Church. 15 

forthwith founded Churches in every city, from which 
all other Churches in their turn have received the 
tradition of the faith and the seeds of doctrine ; yes, 
and are daily receiving, that they may become 
Churches ; and it is on this account that they too 
will be reckoned apostolic, as being the offspring of 
apostolic Churches. Every kind of thing must be 
referred to its origin. Accordingly, many and great as 
are the Churches, yet all is that one first Church 
which is from the Apostles, that one whence all are 
derived. So all are the first, and all are apostolic, 
while all together prove their unity : while the 
fellowship of peace and the title of brotherhood and 
the interchange of hospitality remain amongst them 
rights which are based on no other principle than the 
one handing down of the same faith." 

Here we have a perfectly clear conception of the 
one catholic Church, 1 founded in fulfilment of Christ s 
intentions by His immediate ambassadors, of which 
every local Church is the representative for a par 
ticular area. Behind " the Churches," and prior to 
them in idea is the one Church which each embodies. 2 



1 Second century writers apeak of the Church as actually catholic so 
strong is their sense that it is meant to be so i.e. they speak of the Church 
as having spread universally. Cf. irdvTO. TO. Zdv-rj TO. vwb rbv ovpavbv KO.T- 
oiKOvvra., aKotiffavra Kal TriffTetJcravTa . . . lK\-()dri<ra.v (Hermas Sim. ix. 17) ; 
}] KK\fiola . . . KO.T& rrjs & X??s olKOV^vf)S ews irepdruv TTJS yrjs 3ieffira.pfj.tvr) 
(Iren. i. 10. i) ; "expansa in universum mundum" (ib. iv. 36. 2); rj Kara 
TT\V oiKovfjLtvriv Ka.Oo\iK.T) tKK\i)ffla (Mart. Polyc. 8). 

2 The thought of salvation in the Church is so prominent in Tertullian s 
mind that he finds it in the Lord s Prayer. Speaking of the title " Father," 
he says (de Orat. 2) : " Appellatio ista et pietatis et potestatis est. Item in 
Patre Filius invocatur ; Ego enim, inquit, et Pater unum sumus. Ne mater 
quidem ecclesia praeteritur. Siquidem in filio et patre mater recognoscitur, 
de qua constat et patris et filii nomen." 



1 6 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

Thus the Church is to Tertullian s mind God s insti 
tution for man s education and salvation. To the 
Church belong the Scriptures ; so utterly in fact does 
he refuse to separate the books of the Church from 
herself that he declines, in theory at least, even to 
argue as to the meaning of the Scriptures with those 
outside the Church, because they do not belong to 
them. So little does he conceive of the Christian 
religion as an abstract doctrine written in a book ! l 

It was, then, through membership in this one 
apostolic Church, catholic and local, that African 
Christians believed themselves to inherit the grace 
of Christ. Communion with God depended on com 
munion with His Church. " He cannot have God 
cypnan__ for his father," Cyprian is fond of emphasizing, 2 " who 
has not the Church for his mother." " Dost thou 
believe " so runs the baptismal interrogation in St. 
Cyprian s day "(in) the remission of sins and eternal 
life through the holy Church ?" 3 

1 de Praescr. 19: " Ergo non ad scripturas provocandum est, nee in his 
constituendum certamen, in quibus aut nulla aut incerta victoria est, aut 
parum certa. Nam etsi non ita evaderet collatio scripturarum, ut utramque 
pattern parem sisteret, ordo rerum desiderabat illud prius proponi, quod nunc 
solum disputandum est : quibus competat fides ipsa, cuius sint scrip- 
turae." 

2 Ep. Ixxiv. 7 : " Ubi et ex qua et cui natus est, qui filius ecclesiae non 
est? ut habere quis possit Deum patrem, habeat ante ecclesiam matrem." 
Cf. Ep. Iv. 24 : " Quisque ille est et qualiscunque est, Christianus non est 
qui in Christi ecclesia non est." Ep. Ixxiii. 21 : " Salus extra ecclesiam 
non est." Cyprian s conception of the bishop constituting the Church will 
be brought out later. 

3 Ep. Ixix. 7 : " Credis remissionem peccatorum et vitam aeternam per 
sanctam ecclesiam ? " Ep. Ixx. 2 : " Credis in vitam aeternam et remissionem 
peccatorum per sanctam ecclesiam ? " 

Dr. Westcott (Historic Faith, Note iii. p. 186) does not notice the latter 
form. Previously (p. 1 16) he lays stress on the idea that " we do not say we 
believe in" the Church: we believe only "that it is." This distinction 



I.] The Foundation of the Church. 17 

There is no reason to think that such a question 
would have startled or shocked the faithful in any 
part of the Christian Church. Certainly Irenaeus, the irenaens 

J C. A.D. 175. 

bishop of Lyons, who represents the Church of Gaul 
and the Churches of Asia where he had been brought 
up, held the same belief in the Church and made the 
same exclusive claim for it. 

" In the Church," he says, " God placed apostles, 
prophets, doctors, and the whole operation of the 
Spirit, and all who do not have recourse to the Church 
do not participate in Him, but deprive themselves of 
life. . . . For where the Church is there is the Spirit 
of God, and where the Spirit of God is there is the 
Church and all grace." " God will judge all those who 
make schisms. . . . No reformation can be wrought 
by them which can compensate for the injury of the 
schism. God will judge all those who are outside the 
truth that is, who are outside the Church." " The 
Church has been planted as the paradise in this 
world : so then, of every tree of the paradise ye shall 
eat, says the Spirit of God that is, of every Scripture 
of the Lord." 1 

comes from Rufinus ; cf. his Commentary on the Creed 36: " hac itaque 
praepositionis syllaba Creator a creaturis secernitur et divina separantur 
ab humanis." Cf. St. Augustin de Fide et Symbolo 21. But this would 
apply neither to all the western Creeds (see, in Heurtley s Harmonia 
Symbolica, Creeds xix, xxvi, xxvii, xxx, xxxvii-viii, and the early Spanish 
Creed in Priscillian Tract, ii. p. 36), nor to the eastern form of the Con- 
stantinopolitan Creed (the form of most authority in the Church) with the 
earlier eastern Creeds (see Pearson On the Creed art. ix, notes 52, 53 ; and 
Westcott I.e. p. 195). It is therefore surely impossible to lay stress on it. 

1 Irenaeus conception of the organization of the Church is presented 
later. The passages here quoted are iii. 24. I (quoted below, p. 120) ; 

i y - 33- 7 : " AvaKptvei d TOI>J TO. a-)(La /J.O.TO. <?/xyafo/^four, Kevobs 6vras T^S 
TOV 0eov dyd.Tn)S /ecu TO ISiov XwrtTeX^s ffKoirovvras, dXXd jttTj njc fvuffiv TTJS fckXipfas 
(cat Sick fjuKpas Kal rets [Ti^oiVcw] airtas rb /j.tya KO.I tv5o$ov ff/*a. TOV Jipi<r<rov 

B 



i8 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

(recognition It might be asked how St. Irenaeus reconciles this 

also of God s 

exclusive claim which he makes for the Church with 
a truth to which he also gives expression namely, 
that God s revelation of Himself through His Son, 
Who is the Eternal Word, the Light which lighten- 
eth every man, is in a sense universal, and that in 
order to the apprehension of this universal revelation 
there is a universal capacity for faith which is exhi 
bited in all moral obedience to God wherever found. 1 
Irenaeus teaches this, with the Alexandrians and with 
Justin Martyr. 2 With the last-named father he would, 



/cai StatpoDj Tas KOI ocrov TO e^r auTOis dvaipovvras . . . o{i$e/j.la 5t 
dijvarat 7rp6s afiruv Ka.rbpduxn s yevttrOai, T)\IKT>) TOU <rxioymr6s tanv 77 
ludicabit autem et omnes eos qui sunt extra veritatem, id est qui 
aunt extra ecclesiam." 

v. 20. 2: "Fugere igitur oportet sententias ipsorum [haereticorum] . . . 
confugere autem ad ecclesiam, et in eius sinu educari, et dominicis scrip- 
turis enutriri. Plantata est enim ecclesia paradisus in hoc mundo. Ab 
omni ergo ligno paradisi escas manducabitis, ait Spiritus Dei ; id est, ab 
omni scriptura dominica manducate." 

The connection in the mind of the early Church between schism and heresy 
is very close. The fundamental idea of heresy is that of self-willed separatism 
or particularism. Cf. Rothe Anfange dar christlichen Kirche 53 p. 563 f. 
and pseudo-Athan. Diet, et Interpret. Parabol. Evang. qu. 38 (quoted by 
Rothe I.e. p. 566) Hbdtv \4yerai atpeffis ; airb TOU alpeicrdai TI tdiov, /cat TOVTO 
taKd\ovdeiv, This expresses the primitive idea. 

1 Iren. iv. 6. 5, 7 : "Etadhoc Filium revelavitPater, ut per eum omnibus 
manifestetur et eos quidem, qui credunt ei iusti, in incorruptelam et in aeter- 
num refrigerium recipiat ; credere autem ei, est facere eius voluntatem. . . . 
Nemo cognoscit . . . Patrem, nisi Filius et quibuscunque Filius revelaverit. 
Revelaverit enim non solum in futurum dictum est, quasi tune inceperit 
Verbum manifestare 1 atrem, cum de Maria natus ; sed communiter per 
totum tempus positum est. Ab initio enim assistens Filius suo plasmati, 
revelat omnibus Patrem, quibus vult et quando vult et quemadmodum vult 
Pater ; et propter hoc in omnibus et per omnia unus Deus Pater et unum 
Verbum Filius et unus Spiritus et una salus omnibus credentibus in eum." 

" Justin Apol. i. 46 : TOP Xpurrbv TrpwroVo/cov TOU deou elvai ^diSdxO rifJifv 
Ka.i trpof/j.i)vvffa.fifv \6yov ovra, oC trav 7^0? &fOptim>f nertrxt. KOU. ol yttera \6yov 
fittoffavTes HpiffTtavoi eicrt, K&V &6eoi evojj.lffdtjcfa.v, olov ev "EXXijat fiv 2coAc/3aT7/s 
Kal "H.pdK\ciTos K<d ol 6 /ioiot ai/rots, ev [3ap/3dpois 6 AfipacLfJ. Kal Avavias KO.I 
Afap/at Kal MwavjX Kal HXlas /cat &\\oi TroXXoi, Siv rdy irpdj-fis i) ra 6t>6/mTa 
Kara\tytiv ft.a.Kpbv elvai ewia-Tdnevot ravvv irapaiTovfj-fffa. &<rre Kal ol 



I.] The Foundation of the Church. 19 

no doubt, recognise all who, even in heathen lands 
as well as among the Jews, " lived or live with 
right reason," as the " friends of Christ " the Eternal 
Reason, and even as " Christians." How would he 
reconcile such a position with the exclusive claim of 
the Church ? Probably by holding that all who had 
not had the opportunity of becoming members of the 
Church while on earth would, if they had been true 
to their light, be received into the Church in Paradise. 
At any rate the reconciliation was not effected by the 
idea of an invisible Church to which they belonged 
an invisible Church containing the true servants of 
God whether they belonged to the visible Church or 
not. Neither the existence of good men outside 
the Church, nor the presence of bad men inside it, 
ever drove the Christian Fathers, whether eastern or 
western, to this hypothesis. 1 



dvev \6yov /fcwcrewres &xP r l a " roL KC " xfy> T< ? X/)I<TT fj<rav icai tftovelt TUIV fiera, 
\6yov ^LO uvTtav ol d fiera \6yov (3t<ixrat>Tfs KOI fiiouvrts ~X.piffTta.voi KO.I d^o/Joi Kal 
drdpaxot virdpxovffiv. 

1 The Church on earth was regarded as subdivided into false and true 
members the latter constituting the Kvpius eKK\T]ffia. of Origen, the corpus 
Christ! verum of Jerome and Augustin. Neither of these (as Rothe, 
Anfdnge etc. p. 618 n. 44, remarks) "agrees with the invisible Church 
of the Protestants." The point of difference is specially this, that, whereas 
the members of the invisible Church are regarded as belonging indif 
ferently to any or no ecclesiastical unity, with Origen and Augustin the 
conception is the opposite. The membership iu the true Church depends 
upon membership in the one visible Church on earth. The true Church is 
a subdivision of the actual Church its genuine members. For "non 
omnes qui tenent ecclesiam, teuent et vitam actcniatn " (Augustin tie Bapt. 
v. 20); "multi . . . sunt in sacramentorum communione cum ecclesia, 
ct iam non sunt in ecclesia " (de Unit. Eccl. 74). See further Rothe Anfanye. 
61, esp. pp. 612 S. and Stanton s Jewish and Christian Messiah p. 230: 
"Let me premise that I think the distinction cannot be maintained, 
which was first introduced by the theology of the sixteenth century 
[ the idea appears pretty fully developed in Wiklif, footnote], between 
a visible and invisible Church in this world, the latter consisting only of the 
truly godly. Not only is such a distinction uncountenanced by Scripture, 



2O Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

The Roman From Africa and Gaul we come to the great west- 

Church 

ern centre Rome. Certainly the idea of the visible 

Church and its unity was prominent there at the time 

victor when Victor, the bishop, attempted to excommunicate 

C. A.D. 190. 

the Churches of Asia for keeping Easter after their own 
specially Johannine tradition. He endeavoured, says 
Eusebius, 1 " to cut them off from the common unity " 
and make them " utterly excommunicate. " He was 
reproved by Irenaeus for introducing into the 
Church the idea of a rigid uniformity, in place 
of the common faith, as the bond of union. He is 
reminded how, in the middle of the century, his pre 
decessor Anicetus had kept his fellowship with the 
Asiatic Polycarp, in spite of their difference as to this 

but the very idea of a Church is that of a Society which has its officers and 
its organisation. It ia a contradiction in terms to call a number of indivi 
duals a Church who are not united together in a body. The moment they do 
begin to iinite, by virtue of their common supposed characteristic of genuine 
godliness, they cease to be invisible. There have been such attempts to form 
a pure Church ; but history and the warnings of our Lord Himself have 
taught us what to think of them." Of course the greater part of the Church 
is to us invisible, but that is because its members are no longer on earth, and 
they enjoy "perfect fellowship with one another, as well as with their 
Lord." Cf. also William Law s Third Letter to the Bishop of Bangor, at 
the beginning a powerful and racy passage. Of course the truth that the 
Church is a visible society, containing evil as well as good, is involved in our 
Lord s language in the parables of the Net gathering of every kind and the 
Fiold of wheat and tares: it is involved also in St. Paul s whole conception 
of the Church and of the saints, that is the Christians as bound to holiness 
by the consecration laid upon them in virtue of being baptized members 
of Christ, but not necessarily actiially holy. Still it was only when the long 
repose of the last parts of the second century and the first half of the third 
made the Christian profession popular and easy, that the full weight of 
the problem came upon the Church. In part there was a disposition to 
meet it by rigorous discipline, passing into an impatient refusal to tolerate the 
mixed condition of the Church ; and this was a fruitful source of schism. 
In part stress was laid upon the Church on earth being only an outpost of a 
celestial society (cf. Tertull. de Bapt. 15 una ecclesia in caelis), an earthly 
image of it (cf. Clem. Alex. Strom, iv. 8. 66 eiKwv TTJS ovpaviov tKK\rj<ria.s >) 
eVryetoj), or a preparation-ground for it : and thus necessarily imperfect. 
1 Euseb. H. E. v. 2. 



i.] The Foundation of the Church. 21 

particular custom " those who observed it, and those 
who did not, keeping the peace of the whole Church." 

But we may go back in the same Church at least l Hennas. 
to the earlier part of the second century, to the days 
of Hernias, the seer of the Shepherd. In his visions 
the Church is represented as an aged lady, who 
appears to Hermas, and " through whom he receives 
visions and revelations." She is aged, it is explained 
to him, because " she is the first creation of God, on 
whose account the world was made."^ The Church is 
here thought of as in a way existing from the begin 
ning in the purpose of God, in the ideal world. But 
this divine Idea has become a fact. The actual ^- L 
Church, made up of those yet alive and of some who 
have departed in the faith of Christ, is represented to 
Hermas under the figure of a tower with a marvellous 
unity, which is being built by the angels of God upon 
the waters of baptism, the stones which are used for the 
tower, and those which are rejected, representing all 
sorts of men. 3 This actual Church which is in process 
of being constructed is declared to be identical with 
the ideal Church. What existed before in idea is now 
real. 4 And this real, visible Church is the only way 

1 See further on the date, in chap. vi. 

2 Vis. ii. 4 : TV irpefffivTpa.v, Trap 1 fy Xa/3es TO f3i@\idiov, riva. 3o/ceZj elvai ; 
716 <f>r]fju. TV 2i/3v\\av HXavaffat, <j>7]<riv, owe tffTiv. Tis olv ecrriv ; <pi)fj.L 
H tKK\T)ffia, (f>i]fflv. elirov atir^ Aiarl oSv irpeffjBvTtpa "On, tf>r]crli , TT&VTW irptirri 
fKTlaO r) Sia TOVTO TrpecrjBvTepa, Kal 8ia ra.^rf)v 6 /c6ay>s KaTripriffOrj. Cf. Vis. iv. 
I : al a.TTOKa\ij\f/fLs Kal rd opdfjutra & poi H5etev dia TTJS ayias eKK\r)<rias avrov. 

s Vis. iii. 2-8. 

4 The tower which is the visible Church on earth is the ideal Church which 
appeared to Hermas, fitv irvpyos 8i> /SXeTrets olKo5ofj.otifj.fvov, eyu elfj.i, 77 eKK\i}- 
trla, i) 6<f>6e tcrd ffoi Kal vvv Kal TO TrpbTtpov ( Vis. iii. 3). Cf. [pseudo] Clem, ad 
Cor. 14. If Hennas Church of the divine Idea is spoken of "as a sort of 
Aeon " (Rothe Anfdnge p. 612 n. 42) it must be remembered that the Idea is 



22 Christian Ministry, [CHAP. 

of salvation. " When the tower is finished, those who 
have not yet repented can no longer find place, but 
will be cast out." 1 There is another vision of the 
building of the tower to the same effect. 2 In this it 
is made plain that the Church in its present state is 
imperfect. Many, who had been gathered out of all 
nations " into the one body," have fallen away and 
been cast out for awhile or for ever. Those who are 
members of the Church at present are evil as well as 
good ; many will have to be cast out ; and thus the 
Church as a whole will at the last be purified into 
complete holiness and unity. Still, as it is, the Church 
represents God s will, God s purpose of redemption ; 
and those who separate themselves from it, separate 
themselves from the hope of salvation like the cove 
tous or the extortionate. They are represented as 
men diseased : "they who are covered with scabs are 
they who denied their Lord and turned not to Him, 
but have become dry and desert-like, and cleave not 
to the saints of God, but isolating themselves, lose 
their own souls. " ; How could imagery express more 
strongly the idea of salvation through the Church ? 4 
We may go back in the same Church to a yet 

actualized to Hernias, as the Word is made flesh. This differentiates the 
Church s system from the Gnostic ; the Valentinian Aeon fKK\rj<ria is (by 
contrast) only ideal. For the Jewish form of the doctrine of the eternal 
Church see Book of Enoch c. 39. 

1 Vis. iii. 5. There is, however, an inferior salvation implied for some 
who do not find place in the tower, if they repent, and after a purgatorial 
purification (ib. 7). 

3 Sim. ix. This tower is built upon the great Rock, Christ. 

3 Sim. ix. 26. 

4 The commission to Clement to send the book to the other cities (els ras 
Qw TroXeis) implies the sense that the local Churches are essentially connected 
( Vis. ii. 4). 



I.] The Foundation of the Church. 23 

earlier date, and still in the Epistle of Clement we element 
shall find, without poetry or vision, the sense of the 
Church as vivid as possible. The Church in that 
Epistle is a visible society, with the divine principle 
of order stamped upon her, as upon the Church of 
the old covenant, by God s authority, 1 and there is 
a common tradition over the different local Churches, 
for neglecting which that at Rome is bound to take 
her sister at Corinth to task. The western temper 
no doubt tended later (as will be seen) to colour the 
idea of the Church. As the Church at Rome became 
Latinized and came to inherit the secular preroga 
tives of the Roman name in addition to her own 
spiritual privileges, no doubt her influence gave a new 
tone the tone of secular empire to Christian insti 
tutions. Thus the doctrine of the Church becomes 
materialized, but it is a complete mistake to suppose 
that the conception of the Church, or of the visible 
unity of the Church, was at all western in origin. 

Ignatius of Antioch was a thorough oriental ; J* &* Eas 

Ignatius 

and he writes to Churches which inherit the fruits a A-D m 
of the last years of apostolic influence when that 
influence had its centre at Ephesus. Yet it is im 
possible to conceive a teaching about the Church as 
a visible society more intense, more passionate, than 
that of Ignatius. Christ s authority is perpetuated 
in visible societies with a visible organization, and 
each of these societies, each Church, with its bishop 

i Clem, ad Cor. 40-44 ; see further chap. vi. " The new law of the Church "\ ^ jj 
Clement most characteristically connected with the two models of the I 
political and military organization of the Roman state and the sacerdotal/ 
hierarchy of the Jewish theocracy " (Pfleiclerer Hibbert Lectures p. 232). 



24 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

and priests and deacons, is an embodiment of what 
is not local, but catholic. 1 " Where the bishop 
appears, there let the people be, as where is Christ 
Jesus, there is the catholic Church." " He who is 
within the sanctuary is pure, he who is outside is 
impure, that is to say, he who does anything apart 
from bishop and presbytery and deacons is not pure 
in his conscience." "If any one follows a separatist 
he does not inherit the kingdom of God. " 

The Church may be represented from different 
points of view. It may be emphasized, as was said 
above, as the home of a divine grace covenanted to its 
members alone ; this is perhaps the thought specially 
suggested by the scriptural metaphors of the body 
of Christ and the branches of the Vine. It may 
be emphasized from the side of authority, the Church 
being the mistress of men to subdue and to rule them ; 
and this is the thought specially dear to the Roman 
The Aiex. crenius. It may be emphasized also from the side of 

andrians ^ 

the revelation of truth, the Church being the school 
of truth to train human characters under its discip 
line ; and no doubt to the Alexandrians it is from this 
point of view that Christianity is mostly, though not 
of course exclusively, 3 thought of and loved. Christ 
is the Truth. It is on the Church s truth that 
the minds of Athanasius and Didymus are mainly 

1 ad Smyrn. 8. " The bishop is the centre of each individual Church, as 
Jesus Christ is the centre of the universal Church " (Lightfoot s note). For 
further quotations and discussion see chap. vi. 

" ad Trail. 7 : ad Philad. 3. 

3 See, e.g., a fine passage in Origen (c. Cels. vi. 48) where the Church 
is described as an organism, ensouled by the indwelling Word VTTO rov 
vlov TOV 6fov \f/vxovfi,^i T]v rfjv irdcrav TOV Oeov eKK\ri<7iai . 



I. J The Foundation of the Church. 25 

fixed ; l it is the divine philosophy superseding all the 
fragmentary truth possible to the world apart from 
Christ by including it in a completer, purer whole 
fchat Clement and Origen love. But it is quite an 
error to suppose that they were the less churchmen 
on this account. We have in St. Augustin s Confes 
sions an account of an old Platonic philosopher, 
Marius Victorinus, trying to induce a simple-hearted 
bishop to consider him a Christian on account of his 
convictions, without requiring him to come into the 
Church. Did walls, he asked, make Christians ? The 
question was one better left without a direct answer. 
But at any rate the philosopher was given to under 
stand that he could only become a Christian by being 
baptized into the Christian body. This ecclesiastical 
temper w T as as much that of Clement and Origen as 
of later Alexandrians. 

Clement may indeed have had an idea of a "Church ciement c . 

A.D. 190-200. 

within a Church," a Church of the men of knowledge 
who get beyond mere faith ; but men of faith and men 
of knowledge are at one in common church member 
ship, in common use of the sacraments, in common 
obedience to " the Church s rule," " the apostolic and 
ecclesiastical right rule of beliefs." 2 The faith is not 

1 This is very beautifully illustrated by Didymus commentary on the 
Psalms. The guidance and food of the soul is mainly the Church s truth, 
as expressed in her exact dogmas, and his feeling towards this truth is re 
peatedly expressed with the greatest genuineness and force. Later, in the 
fifth century, the theology of Cyril has a quite different tone from the 
theology of Leo. The first thought of the one is Truth, of the other 
Government. 

" Men of understanding are described as o<roi UTT O.VTOV [Xpiffrou] aa.fy-r\vt\Qciaa.v 
rSiv ypa<j>wi> f^riyTjfftv KO.TO. rbv fKK\r)<na<TTiKov KO.VOVO. e/c5ex6juevot oia.ffwfovau 
(Strom, vi. 15. 125); cf. 17 dTrotrr 0X1^77 ai iKK\i)ffMirruc^ 6p6oTo/j.ia rCjv 



26 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

a philosophy ; it is embodied in the one visible 
Church, true, ancient, catholic, and apostolic. This 
only, in contrast to all the late-devised "schools" of 
heresy which cannot be called Churches, is the home 
of the elect, the one true virgin mother of human 
souls. 1 " This being the case," he says, " it is plain 
that these later-born heresies and those yet subsequent 
to them are innovations, driven along distorted lines, 
upon the most ancient and true Church. It has also, 
I think, been made plain from what has been said that 
the Church which is true and really ancient is one, 
and into it the elect according to God s purpose are 
gathered. . . . The One Church is associated with the 
nature of the One God. In substance, in conception, 
in origin, in excellence, we say that the ancient and 
catholic Church is one only, having nothing like or 
equal to herself." 

Just in the same way the truth, which Origen set 
himself with such noble zeal to expound and to put 

(ib. vii. 16. 104). The heretic is a man who has "kicked at the tradition 
of the Church and leaped off to the opinions of human heresies" (ib. vii. 
1 6. 95) ; he neither enters the kingdom of heaven himself, nor allows those 
whom he deceives to arrive at the truth. 

1 Cf. Strom, vii. 17. (quoted below) ; vii. 15. 92 ; Paul. i. 6. 42 (on the 
one virgin mother). For further quotations see Rothe Anfdnge pp. 584 f., 
593, 601, etc. ; and Dr. Bigg s Bampton Lectures, The Christian Platonists of 
Alexandria, pp. 86, 153 n 2 , 98-100, etc. 

2 Strom, vii. 17. 107 : T f2^ OVTUS ^x^ VT<av <rvjj.<t>avts ex rrjs irpoyeveaT arris Kal 
dXijOfffTdr^s eKuXycrias TO.S fteTayfveffTepas ravras Kal ras eYi TOVTWV virofiefiriKvlas 
T< Xpt> vl i> KfKaivoTOfJiTJffdai irapax.apax.6dff as aipeVeis. eV rwv dp-rm&wv &pa <pavepbi> 
ol/xcu yeyevrjcrdai, /J.lav elvat rrjv d\r)6ij eKK\T)ffiai> TTJV ry SfTL dpxalav, et s 3\v oi 
Kara irpo6f(riv (k /catoi fyKaraXtyovTai evbs yap ovros rod deov Kal evbs rov Kvpiov. 
5ia TOVTO Kal rb &Kpws TI/MOV Kara rr)v /JLOVWCTLV firaiveirai /jLi/j.t]fj.a ov dpxrjs r^s /u.tas. 
rrj yovv rov evbs (ptiaei ffvyK\rjpovraL lKK\tf]<ria TJ /nia, ty els TroXXas KaTa.Tffj.veiv 
fiia^ovTai aiptffeis. Kara re ofo inr&ffTaffiv /card re firivoiav Kara re apxty Kard re 
ttoxty /J.6vriv elvat <j>a/jifv TTJV dpxaiav Kal Ka6o\tKT]i> tKK\f)Giav. . . . dXXa Koi 
T] tfcoXT] TW fKK\rjffias, Kaddirep i) apxij TTJS crwracrews, Kara Trjv fj.ovdda ecrrt 
TrdvTa TO. aXXa inrfp^d\\ovffa Kal fjn>]dv i?x ovffa oftoiov TJ itrov eavrfj. 



I.] The Foundation of the Church. 27 

into relation to the whole of knowledge, was no 
abstract truth to be thought out by the free action 
of the individual mind ; it was a truth committed to 
a society and, though the sanctified reason could ex 
plain, elucidate, accommodate it, it could not trans 
gress or neglect " the rule of faith " without being 
self-condemned. 1 " Let the preaching of the Church A.D. 223-231. 
be preserved," he says at the beginning of the book 
which most laid him open to accusations of heresy, 
"handed down through the order of succession from 
the Apostles, and remaining up to the present time in 
the Churches : that alone is to be believed as truth 
which is in no disagreement with the ecclesiastical and 
apostolical tradition." 2 Origen s teaching upon the 
Church is full and rich, and when he comments, for 
instance, on the red cord which marked Bahab s house 
for safety, he says with equal positiveness that there 
is no salvation except through the blood of Christ, 
and no salvation outside the Church. 3 Undoubtedly 

1 See Bigg B.L. lecture v. init. 

" de Princip. prooem. 2: "Servetur vero ecclesiastica praedicatio per 
successionis ordinem ab apostolis tradita et usque ad praesens in ecclesiis 
permaneus; ilia sola credenda est veritas, quae in nullo et ecclesiastica et 
tipostolica discordat traditione." 

3 in lesu Nave horn. iii. 5 : "Sciebat etenim quia nulli esset salus nisi in 
sanguine Christi. ... Si quis ergo salvari vult veniat in hanc domum. . . . 
Ad hanc veniat domum in qua Christi sanguis in signo redemptionis est . . . 
Nemo ergo sibi persuadeat, nemo semet ipsum decipiat : extra hanc domum, 
id est extra ecclesiam, nemo salvatur." in Matt. xii. n : ijre e/c/cXT/oio, ws 
XpHrrou oi /co5oyUi7, roO oiKo5o/J,ri<TavTOS eavTov TT\V oiKiav 0/>oct /iUtt eirt TTJV Tr^rpav, 
avewiSeKTos <TTI Trv\Civ aSov, KaTicrxvovffuiv fj.ev Travrbs dvOpilnrou TOV fw TTJJ 
ire Tpa.s /cat T?}S ^/c/cAijtn as, ovStv Se Swafjitvuv rrp6s avT-^v. Cf. his interpretation 
of St. John i. 29: "He taketh away the sin of the world," i.e. "the world 
of the Church," the world within the world the true KOCFUOS (in loann. vi. 
ad fin. ). It should be added that Origen, like Augustin, recognised that the 
Church had in some sense begun to exist from the beginning, cf. in Cant. 
i. u, 12: "prima etenim fundamenta congregationis ecclesiae statim ab 
initio sunt posita." 



28 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

Clement and Origen alike endeavoured to mitigate 
this doctrine of exclusive salvation within the Church, 
so as to bring it into harmony with God s universal 
purposes, with His recognised equity and good-will 
towards all, and with the universal presence of the 
Word to all men. 1 But with all this it is an un 
doubted truth that they did, like all the other Fathers, 
regard God s covenant in Christ as made with a visible 
society, membership in which was of universal obliga 
tion and alienation from which was death. 
The apoio- Nor can it be maintained that the more philosophic 

gists - 1 

apologists of the second century were inclined " to 
transform the Gospel into a monotheistic moral sys 
tem." It has been said that in the recently recovered 
Aruides. fragment of the Apology of the philosopher Aristides, 
presented to the Emperor Hadrian about A.D. 125, 
" Christianity is exhibited as the most absolutely 
certain philosophy." 2 But an important consideration 

1 E.g. (i) By generous recognition of the preparatory discipline of God 
leading up to the Incarnation all over the world : see above, p. 18. 

(2) By drawing a distinction between different points of Christian belief ; 
oZ dj T& Kvpiwrara irapa.Trlir-ovTes are distinguished from ol irepl T&V ev /j.tpei 
tr<t>a\\6(JLevoi. Only the former are ^eO<rrat r<p tivn (Clem. Strom, vi. 15. 124). 
Cf. Origen c. Cels. v. 63. 

(3) By distinguishing grades of salvation, and excluding virtuous disbe 
lievers in Christ only from the highest eternal life. Origen in Bom. ii. 7 : 
Iste licet alienus a vita videatur aeterna, quia non credit Christo, et intrare 
non possit in regnum caelorum, quia renatus non est ex aqua et Spiritu, vide- 
tur tamen quod per haec, quae dicuntur ab apostolo, bonorum operum 
gloriam et honorem et pacem perdere penitus non possit. . . . Sed tamen in 
arbitrio legentis sit, probare quae dicta sunt." 

- Harnack, Contemp. Review (Aug. 1886), p. 229. The fragments of two 
Sermones S. Arlstidis Philosophi have been edited from an early Armenian 
version, with a Latin translation, by the Mechitarist Fathers. The first 
Sermo has at least one interpolated word, corresponding to the Latin word 
deipara, but is otherwise apparently genuine. The Emperor Hadrian is 
assured that there are four stirpes (compertum est nobis quattuor esse 
humani generis stirpes) or four nationes of men: barbarians, Greeks, 



I.J The Foundation of the Church. 29 

is here left oat of account. Christians are spoken 
of as constituting a new "race" or "kind" of 
men ; side by side with Greeks and barbarians and 
Hebrews are Christians. The mere adherents of a 
philosophic school could not be so described ; Chris 
tians can be (however liable the expression is to be 
misunderstood), because Christianity is essentially a 
society, a body. To Justin Martyr Christians are " the J*t in 
genuine high-priestly race of God," and the account - A - D - 148 - 
of the sacraments which he gives the emperor in his 
Apology, shows us how completely he conceived of 
Christianity as a society. 1 There is, again, no more 
beautiful description of the Church than that given 
by another apologist, Theophilus of Antioch, when he Theopiuius 
compares the " holy Churches " to fertile and well- 
inhabited islands in the sea, which have fair harbours 
of truth to welcome and give security to storm- tossed 
souls. " To these they flee for refuge who wish to be 
saved, and who are lovers of the truth, wishing to 
escape the wrath and judgment of God." And there 
are other islands, barren and dry and uninhabited 

Hebrews, and Christians. Hadrian himself, some ten years later, uses simi 
lar language (if his letter to Servian is genuine ; see Lightfoot s Ignatius 
i. p. 464) : "hunc [nummum] Christiani, hunc ludaei, hunc omnes veneran- 
tur et gentes. " Cf. Melito s expression for the Christians rb rGiv OeovejScSv 
yevos (ap. Euseb. H.E. iv. 26), and the same word in the Ep. ad Diognet. i 
(referred to as used by him) KO.IVOV TOVTO yevos T) eiriT-fiSevfMi, also iroXireta 
(c. 5), though the author is explaining that Christians remain members of 
their own different races and are not a people apart. Cf. Justin s apxt-fpaTiKw 
TO &\T]0tvbv y^vos efffjtfv TOV 6eov (Dial. 116) and jug. ^vxfj ical ytup ywayuyrj /ecu 
/tug tKK\Tjcriq. (ib. 63). It becomes an expression of popular hatred against 
Christians that they are a genus tertium. See Tertull. Scorp. 10 : "genus 
tertium deputamur." ad. Nat. i.S: " Romani, ludaei, dehinc Christiani; 
ubi autem Graeci ? " Also Origen c. Gels. viii. 75 : ^/ue?y iv eK&ffrri ir6\ei &\\o 
afar-quo. -irarpLSos, KrurOtv \6yu Qeov, t-mffTd.fj.evoi. 
1 Apol. i. 65. 



30 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

save of wild beasts, on whose harbomiess coasts ships 
are only wrecked, and these " are the schools of error, 
that is of the heresies, which destroy those who 
approach them." 1 
The heathen Such being the Christian conception of their own 

idea of the 

Christians, body, it was inevitable that the world outside also 
should have regarded them as members of a society or 
brotherhood. As a matter of fact it was in this way 
that they became an object of suspicion. They seemed 
a sort of secret society, with an unintelligible free 
masonry of their own. Men suspected them of all 
sorts of secret iniquities. And all this was due to 
the closeness of their corporate life ; they seemed a 
"people of profane conspiracy," "a secret race, avoid 
ing the light, silent in public, chattering in corners," 
who "recognised one another by secret marks and 
signs, and loved almost before they knew one 
another," 2 calling one another by the suspicious name 
of " brother." 3 So, like any other guild or sodality, 
they appeared before the eyes of men as a body whose 
privileges were conditional on membership. Exact 
terms of membership were a special feature of contem- 

1 Theophilus ad Autolycum ii. 14. In order to carry back the evidence of 
the church conception to the earliest days, outside the area of Christian his 
tory covered by the New Testament, it should be mentioned that the Didachr 
conceives of Christians as constituting a visible society governed by a common 
law. The visible society, the Church, knit together by social sacraments 
(though these sacraments are conceived of in a Judaic, meagre spirit), is the 
home of the revelation of knowledge and immortality given in Christ, and the 
antechamber to the final kingdom. Cf. x. 5: "Remember Thy Church to 
deliver her from all evil, and perfect her in Thy love, and gather her from 
the four winds, the sanctified Church, into Thy kingdom which thou didst 
prepare for her." Cf. ix. 4. 

- This vivid picture is given in the Octavius of Miuucius Felix, cc. 8, 9. 

3 " Sic nos, quod invidetis, fratres vocamus" (Octav. 31). 



i.J The Foundation of the Church. 31 

porary guilds. Their members constituted a sort of 
republic apart. 1 Thus, though Christians might make 
public explanation of their rites and doctrines to 
avoid the misconceptions of the outside world, yet 
these rites and doctrines were admittedly the private 
property of their society, and no one could have 
the Christian s God for his father who had not the ^ 
Christian s Church for his mother. 

(2) But it has been suggested that Christianity grae social 



owed its existence as a visible society to the fact that SSfiSne to y 
in the age when it spread there was a special tendency awnwofti 
to association in the air. Undoubtedly it was an age 
of guilds. 2 " The need of association, of the strength 
which comes of association was, at any rate, as great 
in antiquity as to-day ; and among the peoples of 
antiquity it is the Romans, perhaps, who had the 
keenest sense of the need." 3 The religious associations 
and trade guilds (sodalitates, collegia) were indeed 
ancient institutions at Rome. But the principle of 
association had received a great development, beginning 
with the later years of the Republic and under the early 
Empire. Thus every trade, every interest, came to 
have its collegium with its organization more or less 
elaborate, its officers, its specified terms of member 
ship, its periodical feast. " But it was not necessary, 
in order to form an association, to be members of the 
same profession, to be neighbours even, or compatriots ; 

1 See esp. Boissier (as below) p. 261. 

2 See an admirable account Boissier La Religion Romaine bk. ii. ch. 3 : 
Mommsen de Collegiis et Sodaliciis Romanorum : Hatch B. L. p. 26 f. My 
quotations are from. Boissier. 

3 Boissier ii. p. 248. 



32 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

it was enough to experience isolation or weakness, to 
feel the need of union to fight against misery or ennui. 
This need was not rare, especially among the working 
classes." 1 The tendency to use this freedom of asso 
ciation for purposes of political faction led to its 
being put under restraint. No association might be 
formed without permission. 2 But notwithstanding- 
such prohibition, associations were formed and spread. 
" They filled Rome, they spread in the little towns, 
they penetrated into the country, they covered the 
richest provinces," they honeycombed all ranks of 
society. 3 They existed where the authority to re 
press should have been strongest even in the army. 
Contemporaneously with the early spread of Chris 
tianity they developed largely as burial societies in 
part, because association in this form was allowed. 4 
These burial guilds, in common with perhaps all col 
legia, had a religious basis more or less nominal, 
though the real purpose of association was of another 
sort. 5 With some of the associations the religious 
object, the promotion of some special cult, was the 
primary and real bond of union. This had been the 
case to a very great extent with the Greek guilds. 6 



1 Boissier ii. p. 260. 
- Hatch B. L. p. 27 n 2 . 

3 Boissier ii. p. 250. But the spread was unequal. 

4 This we know to have been the case in the first century. See Boissier ii. 
p. 280. The inscription from Lanuvium, which is the main evidence of this, 
is given at the end of Mommsen s de Collegiis. There were different classes 
of burial guilds, some not having the name collegium, but socictas 
(Boissier ii. p. 272). 

5 Boissier ii. p. 268. 

6 Olaaoi, Zpavoi, opyeuves. See Foucart s Les Associations Reliyieuses chez 
les Grecs. 



i.l The Foundation of the Church. *-> 

* O <J 

They had come into existence in the days before and 
during the Macedonian supremacy, to cultivate some 
form of oriental worship with greater freedom than 
the State religion would tolerate. They had their 
terms of membership, their priests and officers of 
various sorts, generally elected annually, their sacred 
book, their immutable law, their assembly to pass 
decrees each one a microcosm of the State organiza 
tion. These Greek guilds had been much less in 
fluential, less respectable, and less prevalent than the 
Roman. However, they lasted on, and formed an 
element in that tendency to associate which (since 
the inscriptions have come to be studied) we know 
to have been a main characteristic of the otherwise 
somewhat monotonous life of the early empire. 

Such was the character of the period in which 
Christianity spread. No doubt the Christian Church 
appeared as one of these multifarious collegia. It 
was regarded by Pliny in Bithynia as a collegium 
illicitum whose very existence was illegal. Again, 
" the first form, in which any Christian body was 
recognised by the law, was as a benefit-club with 
special view to the interment of the dead." No 
doubt, again, the familiarity of the Greek and Roman 
world with societies, with the idea of incorporation, 
with terms of membership, its privileges and the 
loss of them, greatly facilitated the spread of the 
Christian Church. It was thus an element in what 

1 Lightfoot s Ignatius i. pp. 17-21. The Jewish communities were also 
classed with the Olaffoi ; cf. Joseph. Ant. hid. xiv. 10 : Tdios Katffap, 6 ^ue- 
repos ffTpaTijybs /cat vTraroy, iv T$ Siardynari KU\VUV 0idcrous ffwdyeffOai Kara. 
iro\iv, fnovovs TOIJTOVS QVK eKw\vffft> oirre xp r nt j - ara nfttf^iftUf ovre <rwdftirva troifiv. 

C 






34 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

we recognise as the divine preparation for the spread 
of the Gospel ; just as the Roman empire itself was 
another, and the general use of the Greek language, 
and the diffusion of the religion of the Jews through 
their dispersion, and the recognition in contemporary 
philosophy of the idea of the divine Reason or Word. 
But if the question be asked whether the influence 
of these contemporary guilds may not have modified 
the Christian religion in such a way as to be the cause 
of its assuming the form of an association or system 
of associations the Church and the Churches the 
answer is a decisive negative. 1 
(a) NO trace For, in the first place, any conception of real affi- 

of such in- * 

nity between the Church and the collegia was, as the 
quotations above will have shown sufficiently, quite 
foreign to the minds of the Christian writers. Ter- 
tullian indeed suggests a contrast between them based 
on the fact that Christians, and they alone, mutually 
supported one another and had all things common ; 
but there was no consciousness of resemblance. 2 

1 In some later developments Christianity may have borrowed in detail 
from contemporary clubs, e.g. the subdivision of monastic bodies into 
decuriae and centuriae probably (see Boissier ii. p. 264 with reference 
to Jerome s letter) ; again, some customs with reference to the dead and 
the use of the term memoria in this connection (cf. /j.efj.6piov, fie^oplr^), 
Boissier ii. p. 290. The term cnwoSos was used for the meetings of guildsmen : 
cf. (refJLVoT&TT) ffvvoSos Foucartp. 202, sancta synodus (of an actors guild with 
immoral reputation) Boissier ii. p. 267 f. But so obvious a term can hardly 
be said to have been borrowed to express the meetings of bishops. Also 
^KK\r]ffia, but (see next page, note 2 ) not in the Christian sense. 

2 The collegia were only very subordinately or slightly charitable asso 
ciations (see Boissier i. pp. 302, 303) ; the Greek fyavoi probably not at all. 
" Les Cranes," says Foucart (p. 145), " n e"taient pas des societes de secours 
mutuels." The stipes menstruae were contributions to benefit-clubs, not 
like the weekly alms of the Christians ; see Tertull. Apol. 39. The point of 
closest connection between the Church and the guilds lay in the common 
meal ; the love-feast of the Christians had shown very early its affinities 



I.] The Foundation of the Church. 35 

Nothing in fact was less characteristic of the Christian 
Church than those natural features of all association 
which it shared with the guilds, nothing less expressed 
the sentiments of its members towards their mother. 
"The resemblances" between the Church and the 
collegia, says M. Boissier, "are striking at the first 
glance ; as soon as one approaches, the differences 
are apparent." l 

Secondly, the nomenclature of the Christian com- (?,> Christian 

. . i n forms 

mumties suggests the minimum of connection. For Derive 

Judaism. 

in fact the Christian Church had its roots deep in 
Jewish soil. It derived from Judaism its charac- 

to the guild suppers (i Cor. xi. 17 f. ). But St. Paul meets this danger by 
marking the essential difference in origin and aim of the Lord s Supper. 
Historically, it was a development of the Paschal supper (St. Matt. xxvi. 7). 

1 Boissier ii. p. 302. 

- In the collegia and sodalicia we should hear of the album, or roll of mem 
bers: the magistri: the quinquennales: thepatroni: thegradns: the 
schola : the cena : theedituus : the quaestores. In the Greek Zpavoi or 
diaffoi we should have the TT/XXTT arris, the tipxavres, the eTTf/xeX^TTys, the a.Kopoi, the 
IfpoTTOioi, the ypafj.fj.aTe\js, the apxiepaviffrris, the ranlas. What an alien atmo 
sphere to this is suggested by the Christian nomenclature ! It is the pagan 
Lucian who speaks of Peregrinus as (tiacrapxTis of the Christian community. 

The characteristic Christian terms are derived from Jewish use; e.g. 
tKK\T]ffia has, primarily at least, the sense of the elect people as such the 
Church, rather than the classical sense of the assembly, i.e. the people gather 
ed together for a special purpose, and the former sense is based on Old 
Testament use. Cf. Acts.vii. 38. Thus Vitringa (quoted by Trench New 
Testament Synonyms p. 4): "^ fKK\rioia [ = ^np] designat multitudinem 
aliquam quae populum constituit, per leges et vincula inter se iunctam, etsi 
saepe fiat non sit coacta nee cogi possit." The Hebrew word Jjnp is explained 

T T 

thus (by contrast to niy> ffwaywyj, coetus congregatus): "universam all- 

T 

cuius populi multitudinem vinculis societatis unitam et rempublicam sive 
civitatem quandam constituentem. " Tulva-r-^piov again has (at first) the Old Tes 
tament meaning of a divine secret communicated, rather than the pagan sense 
of a mystery of initiation. So /3a7m<jyu6s, ei/xapiffria, Tpairefa Kvpiov, eiriOfais 
Xfip&v, tofj,o\6yriffts, xplfffjia, d5e\(f)ol, xaOfdpa, irpfffj3vTfpos, n-oi^v, TT/JO^TJT^J, 
fvayye\i<rT-fis, etc., are all terms of Jewish origin. So perhaps is eTrifficoiros, (see 
App. Note K). The prominent Christian functions of prayer, fasting and 
almsgiving descend from the Jewish stock, with the whole religious basis 
of Christianity. 



36 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

teristic nomenclature that is to say, from a source 
much more ancient than the Roman empire or 
Greek society. The origin of the social form of 
Christianity is to be sought in the Jewish conception 
of the Messianic kingdom and in the deliberate inten 
tion of Him, who founded the Church, in claiming to 
be the Messiah. 

(3) witness (3) Does, then, the New Testament bear out the 
Christ position that Christ appeared as the founder and 

fnnnntti *. * J. JL 



chinch. organizer of a visible society ? This question shall 
be answered from the evidence of (a) the Gospels, 
(ft) the Acts, (7) St. Paul s Epistles. 

(*> Evidence () The question may be approached with less alarm 

of the . . 111 

Gospels. because there is a remarkable unanimity among men 
of the keenest historical insight in seeing in Jesus one 
who above all things came to found a society, a king 
dom. " To deny/ says the author of Ecce Homo, 
" that Christ did undertake to found and to legislate 
for a new theocratic society, and that he did claim 
the office of judge of mankind, is indeed possible, but 
only to those who altogether deny the credibility of 
the extant biographies of Christ. If those bio 
graphies be admitted to be generally trustworthy, 
then Christ undertook to be what we have described ; 
if not, then of course this, but also every other, 
account of Him falls to the ground." " The city of 
God, of which the Stoics doubtfully and feebly spoke, 
was now set up before the eyes of man. It was no 
unsubstantial city such as we fancy in the clouds, no 
invisible pattern such as Plato thought might be laid 
up in heaven, but a visible corporation whose members 



I.] The Fottndation of the Church. 37 

met together to eat bread and drink wine, and into 
which they were initiated by bodily immersion in 
water." 1 There are three lines of evidence which 
seem to make the truth of this position clear : 

First, there is the method of Christ. Nothing is (0 The 

method of 

more remarkable than the refusal of Christ to commit Christ: 
Himself to men as He found them. There is some 
thing at first sight repellent in the solemn words of 
St. John : Jesus did not commit Himself to those who 
first believed in His name, when they saw the miracles, 
because He knew all men, and needed not that any 
should testify of man, for He knew what was in 
man. 2 That sad secret of human nature its lamen 
table untrustworthiness the secret which in slow, 
embittering experience has often turned enthusiasts 
into cynics and made philanthropists mad Jesus 
knew it to start with. And, knowing it, He would 
not build His spiritual edifice on the shifting sands of 
such a humanity. It was not that He distrusted the 
capacity of human nature for the highest life. On 
the contrary, He came to proclaim the brotherhood of 
all men under the realized fatherhood of God but 
not the brotherhood of men as they were. Except 

1 Ecce Homo [i8th ed.] pp. 39, 128. On this subject of Christ s insti 
tution of a visible Church, I should like to refer (among recent writers) 
to the Dean of St. Paul s Advent Sermons ii and iii, and his Oxford House 
Paper, No. xvii ; Mr. Stanton s Jewish and Christian Messiah ; Dr. West- 
cott s Essay on The Two Empires in his Epp. of St. John; Mr. Holland s 
Greed and Character ; and Dr. Milligan s Resurrection of our Lord lecture vi. 
See also Archbishop Whately Kingdom of Christ Essay ii. init. and F. D. 
Maurice Kingdom of Christ i. p. 285 f. These names represent (so far) a 
remarkable consensus. Among older English writers no one contends more 
powerfully for the church idea than William Law in his Letters to the Bishop 
of Bangor ; see esp. Letter iii. 

* St. John ii. 23-25. 



38 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

ye be converted, He said, ye shall not enter into the 
kingdom of heaven. Except a man be born again, he 
cannot see the kingdom of God. 1 Man must have a 
fresh start : he must be built upon a new foundation : 
he must be regenerated, converted, if he is to be fit for 
sonship and for brotherhood. So Jesus Christ set 
Himself to give humanity a fresh start from a new 
centre, and that centre Himself. To do this He with 
draws from the many upon the few. To the multi 
tude He speaks in parables, that seeing they may 
not see, and hearing they may not understand. Only 
a few, whom He sees capable of earnest self-sacrifice, of 
perseverance, of enlightenment, are gradually initiated 
into His secrets. These are the disciples. These 
He trains with slow and patient care to appreciate 
His Person. From the most ready of these He elicits, 
after a time, by solemn questioning a formal confes 
sion of His Messiahship a formal confession that He, 
the Son of Man, is also the Christ, the Son of the 
living God. 2 This thorough recognition of His claim 
gives Him something to depend upon. He has got 
down to the rock ; He can begin to build. 3 Blessed 
art thou, Simon Bar- Jona ; and I say unto thee that 
thou art B/ock-Man, and on this rock (the rock of this 
human character acknowledging My Divine Sonship 

1 St. John iii. 3 f . ; St. Matt, xviii. 3. 

2 St. Matt. xvi. 1 6. 

3 Holland Creed and Character pp. 46-49. All the idea of this para 
graph is admirably expressed in the sermon The Rock of the Church. 
" Pity, infinite pity, He gave [the crowds] but Himself He never gave ; He 
could not commit Himself unto them. His work, His mission, His purpose 
on earth how could they receive it ? how could they understand it ? ... How 
can He build [the new house of God] on that loose and shifting rubble, on 
that blind movement of the crowd, so vague and so undetermined ? " 



I.] The Foundation of the Ctmrch. 39 

and Mission) I will build My Church/ This gives us the 
clue to His method. All along Christ had had in view 
this foundation of the Church, and we see now what 
He had been waiting for. It was till He had won out 
of the hearts of His disciples that absolute devotion 
to His own Person, that complete acknowledgment 
of His claim, which would enable them to look away 
from all else and become the stable nucleus of a new 
society which was to represent His Name. Indeed, 
the more we study the Gospels, the more clearly we 
shall recognise that Christ did not cast His Gospel 
loose upon the world the world which was so incap 
able of appreciating it ; that would have been indeed 
to cast His pearls before swine ; but He directed all 
His efforts to making a home for it, and that by organ 
izing a band of men called out of the world/ and 
consecrated into a holy unity, who were destined to 
draw others in time after them out of all ages and 
nations. 1 On this little flock He fixed all His hopes. 
He prayed not for the world, but for these whom God 
had given Him out of the world. These in wonderful 
ways He meant to link to Himself in an indissoluble 
unity, as the branches to the vine, that they might 
live as an organized body in the world, yet distinct 
from it alive with His life, sanctified through His 
truth, enlightened by His Spirit. Christ then by His 
whole method declared His intention to found a 
Church, a visible society of men which should be 
distinct from the world and independent of it, even 
while it should present before the eyes of all men 

1 St. John xvii, and the whole of these last discourses. 



4O Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

the spectacle of what their common life might be 
come. 
sti- Secondly, the intention of Christ to found a 

tution of 

mentsf cra " social organization is apparent in the solemn cere 
monies which He instituted as tokens of discipleship 
as well as channels of grace. The sacraments are 
social ceremonies. Baptism had been in Jewish tradi 
tion the ceremony of initiation into the ancient 
Church. As used by John the Baptist, it had been 
used in distinct relation to the coming of the king 
dom/ As adopted by Christ, it was no doubt meant 
to admit into His society, the kingdom which had 
come, the Church of the new covenant. 1 And what 
ever possible ambiguity attends the conception of 
baptism in this respect, is removed by the other 
sacrament. The Eucharist is nothing if not social. 
Its whole natural basis as a common meal implies a 
community. Christ, then, in making baptism and the 
Eucharist the sacraments of His kingdom, just as 
in making love of the brethren the characteristic of 
His disciples, emphasized His intention to attach men 
to Himself not as individuals but as members of a 
brotherhood. 

1 Dr. Hatch calls this an "unproved assumption" (B. L. pref. sec. ed. 
p. xii). I should have thought that all possible doubt was set at rest by 
the parallel institution of the Eucharist. That at least is the sacrament 
of a society. But I cannot understand Dr. Hatch expressing a doubt that 
baptism had the social significance. It was never an individual purification 
amongst the Jews (see Edersheim s Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah 
i. pp. 272-274) ; it was always in connection with the covenant which was 
with a race. The baptism of a Jewish proselyte was his incorporation 
with the race his new birth. See Sabatier La Didache p. 84 f . (an 
excellent passage on the relation of Christian to Jewish baptism) ; Taylor 
Teaching of the Twelve Apostles p. 55 f.; and Edersheim ii. app. xii (on the 
antiquity of the practice). Cf. also I Cor. x. 2. 



I.] The Foundation of the Church. 41 

Lastly, and perhaps most conspicuously, the inten- () His 
tion of Christ to found a society is prominent in the Messiah - 
His whole claim to be the Messiah. The Messianic 
king of the Old Testament is the centre of a Messianic 
kingdom ; the suffering Servant of Jehovah, by whose 
stripes men are healed, is no mere individual, but 
also the embodiment and representative of the chosen 
race. 1 Christ, then, when He came as the Messiah, 
brought the kingdom. The kingdom of heaven is 
at hand that is John the Baptist s message, that is 
the first word of Christ s preaching. 2 But in Him it 
was more than at hand. It had come upon men ; 
it was among them. 3 John the Baptist had been 
outside it, but now there were those who were inside 
it, and who, though they were but little, were 
greater* than John the Baptist on that very ac 
count. 4 The kingdom had thus a definite limit in 
time because it was to be a visible institution and 
not a mere invisible association of good men. Christ 
had indeed to purify and elevate the conceptions of 
His disciples so that they might understand its 
spiritual nature and object ; but though it was 
spiritual, though it was not adapted to the carnal 
wants of the Jews, though it was not of this 

1 Stanton Jewish and Christian Messiah p. 122 f. 

" But only the Jirst word, and then, too, with the addition given by 
St. Mark TreirX^pwrai 6 Kaip6s (Stanton I.e. p. 218). 

3 St. Matt. xii. 28; cf. St. Luke xvii. 21. Mr. Stanton seems to be right ia 
interpreting ^PTOS vfj.uv, in the midst of you. The kingdom of heaven, 
our Lord tells the Pharisees, is not to be found by close watching (irapa- 
T-fip-rjffis). It will not be manifest to those who wait merely on external 
observation. (Lo, here ! or Lo, there !) For it is among you and ye know it 
not. 

" St. Matt. xi. 11, 12. 



42 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

world, 1 yet it was to be in the world a net to 
gather of every kind till the end of the world/ a 
visible society, that is, in which evil and good should 
be mixed. 2 Christ then came to establish a king 
dom of heaven or a kingdom of God. What 
does this expression mean ? It means an organized 
society of men in which the old barrier which sin 
had interposed between heaven and earth has been 
. done away, in which Jacob s ancient dream is a dream 
no longer, for the angels of God ascend and 
descend upon the new humanity, and God and 
man are at one again. It is because Christ s new 
society is thus heavenly that a divine sanction can 
attach to its legislative decisions : thus what they 
bind or loose on earth is to be bound or loosed in 
heaven, and whose sins they forgive are to be for- 
(The relation given, whose sins they retain to be retained. 3 Is 

of the f J 

wle kingdom then Christ s new society, the Church, simply identi 
cal with the kingdom of God or of heaven ? To 

1 St. Jolm xviii. 36. 

2 St. Matt. xiii. 47. Cf. Stanton I.e. p. 220 f. Add Matt. xxii. 2 (the 
Marriage of the Kiiig s Son). "Let us suppose," says William Law (Letter 
iii. pp. 8, 9), "that the Church of Christ was this invisible number of people 
united to Christ by such internal invisible graces, is it possible that a 
kingdom consisting of this one particular sort of people invisibly good should 
be like a net that gathers of every kind of fish ? If it was to be compared to 
a net it ought to be compared to such a net as gathers only of one kind, viz. , 
good fish, and then it might represent to us a Church that has but one sort of 
members. ... If any one should tell us that we are to believe invisible 
scriptures and observe invisible sacraments, he would have just as much 
reason and Scripture on his side as your Lordship has for this doctrine. And 
it would be of the same service to the world to talk of these invisibilities 
if the canon of Scripture was in dispute, as to describe this invisible Church, 
when the case is with what visible Church we ought to unite." 

3 St. Matt, xviii. 17-20 ; St. John xx. 22, 23. I am not raising the question 
yet whether the gift in this latter passage is not given to the ministry. See 
later, chap. iv. 



I.] The Foundation of the Church. 43 

answer this question a distinction must be drawn in 
view of the double sense in which the kingdom 
is said to come. In one sense the kingdom is 
already come ; that is, it is established in spiritual 
power and all its forces are at work. But, as St. 
Augustin has expressed it, "non adhuc regnat hoc 
regnum ; " for it has yet to grow like the mustard r 
seed, to work its way like the leaven through all 
the institutions of the world, it has yet to bear 
its universal witness to all the nations ; * only 
so at last can the kingdom come in glory. Thus 
in one sense the kingdom already exists, in another 
sense it has yet to appear. 2 In the first sense, then, 
the Church is the kingdom of heaven, and St. 
Peter has promised to him the keys not of the 
Church/ but of the kingdom of heaven, which the 
Church is ; in the second sense, the Church prepares 
for the kingdom rather than is it. It represents 
it in this age, and passes into it with the dawning 
of the age to come. 3 

1 St. Matt. xiii. 31-34 ; St. Luke xix. u ; St. Mark xiii. 10, etc. 

- All this is expressed in the double use of all the characteristic Gospel 
terms, as (1) of things already being enjoyed; (2) of things hoped for. We 
are sows, yet we " wait for the adoption " ; we are redeemed, yet we wait for 
"the redemption of our bodies" ; we are saved, yet only in the future will 
our salvation draw nigh " ; it is now only nearer than when we believed. " 
Here in fact the kingdom is in power not in glory or final fulfilment. But it 
is because the present Church is a simple anticipation of the Church as it is 
to be the same society at an earlier stage that even now it is called 
heavenly. We have been " made to sit in heavenly places " : we have 
" tasted the powers of the world to come " : the institutions of the Church 
are "the heavenly things": and we "are come unto the heavenly Jeru 
salem " (Eph. i. 3, 20 ; Heb. vi. 5, ix. 23, xii. 22). So Tertullian has been 
quoted as speaking of the Church on earth as "in heaven." 

3 Cf. Didache ix. 4 : " Let Thy Church be gathered together from the 
ends of the earth into Thy kingdom. " Clem, ad Cor. 42 : oi dTnWoXot . . . 
eva.yye\iv/J.fvo<. rrjv /SafftXet ac rov Beov fj.e\\eii> epxevQai- Cf. Church s 



44 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

Christ, then, according to the evidence of the 
Gospels, founded a community of men, a Church, to 
be the pillar and ground of the truth which He came 
to bring, to be the household in which His stewards 
should dispense the food of God until He came again ; x 
and in the great forty days, when He spoke to His 
disciples of the things concerning the kingdom of 
God, He spoke to them as the first representatives of 
that visible society which was to be its earthly 
counterpart. 
(The church We must not suppose that the institution by 

not exclu- 

Christ of a Church with a definite limit and an ex 
clusive claim is a narrowing of His love. 2 The claim 
which the Church makes on every man simply cor 
responds to his moral needs as Christ interprets them. 
It is because He loves all that He established a Civitas 
Dei, wide enough for all, in order to their spiritual 
recovery. The Church would indeed represent a 
narrowing of the divine love if any were by Christ s 
will excluded from it. But it is open to all. And as 
there are those to whom the gospel of the kingdom 
has never come, or never come with its true appeal, 
so we are assured that God s purpose is larger than 

Advent Sermons p. 70: The kingdom of God "has its witness, its repre 
sentatives in the universal Church of Christ. Nothing can be an adequate 
representation" of that invisible kingdom of God ; it extends, even on earth, 
beyond even the bounds of the universal Church. But His Church is the 
designated and appointed recognition of His kingdom." Ib. p. 72 : The 
Church is the religious body which He has called into being, to be the 
shadow and instrument of His kingdom." 

1 St. Luke xii. 41, 42. 

3 See Holland Creed and Character serm. iv. The Secret of the Church, 
esp. pp. 59, 60. " God s love in Christ found itself limited. . . . How? Not 
by the Church, but by the crowd, by the block of blind and heedless 
ignorance." 



I.] The Foundation of the Church. 45 

His Church on earth. 1 There are last in the know 
ledge of God who shall be first in His acceptance, 
because they practised all they knew. 

(ft) When Christ speaks to St. Peter of the founda- (?) Eviden 
tion of the Church, it is still in the future. The 
Church only receives its commission to all nations 
after His Resurrection. It comes into actual cor 
porate life only with the Pentecostal gift. Thus, in 
the Acts of the Apostles, the Church goes forth for 
the first time a visible community, vitalized by 
Christ s Spirit, to be the representative on earth of 
the risen and ascended Lord. 2 

That Christianity in the Acts is represented by 
a community, there can surely be no doubt. The 
souls "who were added" at Jerusalem "continued 
steadfast in the Apostles teaching and fellowship." 
They were members of a society more or less organ- 

1 See esp. St. Matt. xxv. 31 f. Cf. Dr. Pusey s Responsibility of Intellect 
in Matters of Faith p. 44 [ed. 1879] : "In those ever open portals there 
enter that countless multitude whom the Church knew not how to win . . . 
or, alas ! neglected to win them. ... In whatever hatred, or contempt, or 
blasphemy of Christ nurtured, God has His own elect, who ignorantly worship 
Him, whose ignorant fear or longing He Who inspired it will accept." 

- "To [the Church] alone," says Prof. Milligan (Resurrection of our Lord, 
second thousand, p. 218), "as the representative of the Risen Lord, is the 
power entrusted by which [His] work may be successfully accomplished. We 
know that this can be done by no other means than the agency of the Spirit ; 
and it would seem that the gift of the Spirit is bestowed only through the 
Church as the organ upon earth of the Risen and Glorified Lord in heaven. 
We dare not indeed restrain the power of the Almighty ; but what we have 
to do with is His plan ; and of that plan what has now been said appears to 
be one of the most striking characteristics. ... It appears to be the teach 
ing of the New Testament that, as it is the prerogative of Christ in His 
glorified humanity to bestow the Spirit, so it is only through the Church, 
as the representative of that glorified humanity, that the influences of the 
Spirit are communicated to the world. " He emphasizes earlier the visible 
unity which the Church was meant to have as the representative of the Risen 
Christ (p. 204). 



46 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

ized. They had all things common. Salvation was 
in the community ; " the Lord added " to them " day 
by day those who were being saved." l As the new 
religion spread over Galilee and Samaria it was still 
"the Church." 2 "The Church at Antioch," where 
Christians got their new name, 3 is the same society 
extending itself to a new city. So when St. Paul 
went abroad, he founded " Churches " to prepare 
men for the kingdom. 4 And the local Churches are 
but branches of one stock. Behind the Churches is 
the Church represented by the Apostles. This is 
the truth which is impressed on the narrative of the 
Apostolic Conference with its authoritative direction 
to the Churches " It seemed good to the Holy Ghost 
and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than 
these necessary things." 5 This is only the exhibition 
in act of the authority given by Jesus Christ to His 
society over its members, to bind and to loose with 
heavenly sanction. 
vidence (7) The picture presented in the Acts is the same 

of St. Paul s v r m r 

Epistles. as that of which we become spectators in St. Paul s 
Epistles. He writes to " the Church of God which is 
at Corinth," and that Church is undoubtedly a visible 
body, containing good and bad members alike. It is 
a "temple of God," but a temple which sin can 

1 Acts ii. 41-47. 

2 Acts ix. 31 : " The Church through the whole of Judaea and Galilee and 
Samaria had peace. " The baptism of the eunuch is an act of an exceptional 
character. 

8 Acts xiii. I ; xi. 26. On the significance of the exact form Christian! 
see Simcox s Early Church History p. 62: on the analogy of Herodiani, 
Pompeiani, etc., it suggests, not the disciples of a school, but the ad 
herents of a leader or king. 

4 Acts xiv. 22, 23 ; xv. 41 ; xvi. 5. 5 Acts xv. 28. 



I.] The Foundation of the Church. 47 

destroy ; * a chosen people, but one like that of the 
old covenant, capable of like failure ; 2 it is " the body 
of Christ " through sacramental participation in His 
life, but there may be " schism in the body." 3 
St. Paul then conceives of the local Church as a 
visible community of mixed character, but with un- 
mistakeable limits. The distinction between those 
within and those without is very marked.* But 
each local Church is only one representative of the 
Church which is general. St. Paul governs each 
particular Church in accordance with the evangelical 
tradition of truth and life, which is common to all 
and to which he is himself subject. 5 He passes back 
imperceptibly, without any break in thought, from the 
Churches to the Church ; 6 the Church in fact simply 
(as far as this world is concerned) consists of the 
Churches. Thus, when in the Epistle to the Ephe- 
sians he is drawing out the spiritual significance of 
the Church as " the body of Christ, the fulness of 
Him who filleth all in all " when he is declaring it 
to be one, in virtue alike of the one life which it 

1 i Cor. iii. 17. - i Cor. x. 1-13. 

3 i Cor. x. 16 ; xii. 12-28 It is of course plain why the imperfections of 
the Church are dwelt on in connection with the local societies : they are 
naturally matters of specially local concern and local treatment. 

4 I Cor. v. 9-13 ; cf. xiv. 23 ; 2 Cor. vi. 14 f. Of course the brethren at a 
particular place, as at Rome, when St. Paul wrote his Epistle to the saints 
there, may not yet have been completely organized into a local Church. That 
was, as it is now, a work of time. But a Christian, as such, is a member of 
the Christian society, and, unless in exceptional circumstances, of an organ 
ized local Church. 

5 i Cor. xi. 2 " the traditions " ; i Cor. xv. 3 ; 2 Thess. iii. 6 ; i Cor. 
vii. 17 "So ordain I in all the Churches" ; Gal. i. 7, 8 "Though we, or 
an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any other gospel ... let him 
be anathema." 

6 i Cor. xii. 28, xv. 9; Gal. i. 13. 



48 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

derives from Christ by the communication of the 
Spirit, and of the one truth which apostles and 
prophets delivered from Christ, and of the love 
which binds, or ought to bind, its members in one 1 
he is indeed describing the Christian society "from 
an ideal point of view ; " that is to say, he is de 
scribing all that the Church potentially is, as when 
we too proclaim the Church one, holy, and 
catholic. 2 Nevertheless it is the visible, actual 
Church of which he is speaking, 3 the Church to 
which Christ gave visible officers " some apostles, 
some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and 
teachers," for the building up of the body of Christ 
into an ever more perfect unity. This visible organi 
zation or hierarchy belongs plainly to a visible society, 
exactly that same society which St. Paul similarly 
describes in his Epistle to the Corinthians as " the 
body of Christ," even as part of Christ, 4 the Church in 
which "God set first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly 
teachers," 5 that is the general community which is 

1 Eph. iv. 3-16: It is one body in virtue of the one Spirit whose 
indwelling is Christ s indwelling ; it holds one faith (the one faith 
mentioned in between the one Lord and the one baptism, both 
objective, must be objective too). It ought to live, therefore, in the unity of 
love (ver. 3), but the bond of love is a duty which may be neglected. 
The inward unity of life, though dependent on outward facts (e.g. one 
baptism ), is a reality, whether recognised in practice or not. 

2 The Church has never yet so developed all the fulness within her as 
to exhibit herself in her full catholic glory and holiness as the bride of 
Christ. She is potentially more than she is actually. Potentially catholic, 
for example, she still leaves outside her fold the mass of Oriental peoples. 

3 See Pfleiderer s account of the Epistle to the Ephesians (Paulinism. ii. 
pp. 190-193). 

4 The Christ consists of the head and the members (i Cor. xii. 12). 

5 i Cor. xii. 27-28. This passage (vv. 12-28) about the body of Christ, 
taken with such passages as Gal. iii. 27 ("baptized into Christ") and 
i Cor. x. 16,17 (about the Eucharist), seems to me to contain all the truth that 



I.] The Foundation of the Church. 49 

locally represented in the Churches of Corinth and 
Ephesus. 1 St. Paul then means by the Church " a 
visible society or aggregation of societies." 

It is sometimes argued that St. Paul could not Clnm , h 
have believed in salvation through the Church, because Inconsistent 

withjustifi- 

this contradicts his doctrine of the justifying effect of^,"" 1 * 
individual faith. 2 But in fact there is no such con 
tradiction. The Christian life is a correspondence 
between the grace communicated from without and 
the inward faith which, justifying us before God, opens 
out the avenues of communication between man and 
God, and enables man to appropriate and to use the 
grace which he receives in Christ. There is thus no 
antagonism, though there is a distinction, between 
grace and faith. Now grace comes to Christians 
through social sacraments, as members of one spirit- 
bearing body. " By one Spirit are we all baptized 
into one body " ; " we being many are one bread 

/*. > 

is developed in the Epistle to the Ephesians ; nor can I see that there is any 
thing in the expression "the Church, the pillar and ground of the truth " 
( i Tim. iii. 1 5), which might not have occurred in the Epistles to the Ephe 
sians or to the Corinthians. 

1 Dr. Hatch calls it an unproved assumption that "the Church of which 
St. Paul speaks as the body of Christ, the fulness of Him which filleth all 
in all, be really, as the Augustinian theory assumes it to be, a visible society, 
or aggregation of societies " (B. L. pref. sec. ed. p. xii). His view appears to 
coincide with that of Bishop Hoadley, who was Law s opponent. The Bishop 
held " as the only true account of the Church of Christ," in general, that it 
was " the number of men, whether small or great," who were sincere Chris 
tians i.e. the invisible society of the elect. This, he held, is what St. Paul 
calls the Church. "It cannot be supposed," he pleads, "that a man s being 
of the invisible Church of Christ is inconsistent with his joining himself with 
any visible Church ; " but the first is essential, the second is voluntary. 
Law deals with trenchant power with this utterly unscriptural distinction 
between the universal invisible and particular visible Churches (Letter 
iii. p. 6 f.). 

- Pfleiderer Hibbert Lectures lect. vi. 

D 



5O Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

and one body, for we are all partakers of that one 
bread." Thus the doctrine of the Church as the 
household of grace is the complement, not the con 
tradiction, of the doctrine of faith. Faith is no faith 
if it isolates a man from the fellowship of the one body, 
and the one body has no salvation except for the sons 
of faith. Ignatius then with his strenuous insistence 
on churchmanship can rightly, so far, " claim to be a 
good Paulinist." 1 In fact St. Paul s teaching about the 
Church is given nowhere with more practical force 
than in the Epistles to the Corinthians, which belong 
to that very group of Epistles in which he fights the 
battle of faith. And both principles are brought 
into play by him to vindicate against Judaism the 
catholicity of the Gospel. Christianity is a catholic 
religion, he argues in his earlier Epistles, because it 
appeals to a faculty as universal as human nature 
the faculty of faith : men are justified by nothing 
of national or local observance like the Law ; " it 
is one God Who will justify the circumcision by faith 
and the uncircumcision through faith." Christianity 
is catholic, he argues again in effect, in the Epistles 
of the first captivity, because the Person of Christ is 
a catholic, a universal Personality ; "by Him were all 
things created by Him and for Him and in Him 
all things have their consistence." Therefore also 
His redemptive power transcends all local, national 
distinctions ; "He hath made both (Jews and Gentiles) 
one ... in one body." For the unity of that body, 
in which on the basis of faith the Gospel offers sancti- 

1 Pfleiderer I.e. p. 262 ; Ignatius ad Phil. 8. 



i. ] The Foundation of the Church. 5 1 

fication to mankind, is by its very essence as the body 
of Christ universal in its capacity. But these two 
grounds of catholicity are correlative, not antagonistic. 

Once again, if there be such a thing as liberty in nor with the 

freedom of 

law or a " law of liberty," T the obligations of church the "? * ; 
membership and the authority of a common rule of 
truth are not in any way antagonistic to the freedom 
of the spirit. The good citizen, whether of the earthly 
or heavenly city, is free in the law by being at one 
with the spirit of the law. Here again the same 
St. Paul held to both sides of the antithesis, which 
is represented by authority and freedom, by fellow 
ship and individuality. 

The doctrine of the Church is indeed only one i>t agree- 

able to the 

expression of a principle as broad as human society ai r nmman 0f 
the principle that man realizes his true self only bC 
by relation to a community, that " he is what he is 
only as a member of society." Aristotle said of old 
that " the society (the city) is prior to the individual " 
prior, that is, in idea, because it is essential to his 
being really man, because man is by his very essence 
" a social animal." 2 By isolating himself he hinders, 
he narrows himself, he perishes : by merging himself 
in the larger whole, he realizes his true individuality 
and his true freedom. So when God sent redemption 
upon the earth, He sent it in a community or kingdom. 
Fellowship with God is to be won through fellowship 
with His Son, but that not otherwise than through 

1 St. James i. 25. 

- On the Greek idea of the TroXis see Newman Politics of Aristotle i. p. 
560: "a strongly individualized unity, which impresses its dominant ideas 
upon its members; etc." 



52 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

fellowship with His Church. "That ye may have 
fellowship with us " that is why St. John writes his 
Epistle l " and truly our fellowship is with the Father, 
and with His Son Jesus Christ." Nor are we to sup 
pose that this association is only a temporary and 
painful expedient that we are to submit to be one 
body for a while in order to live a more separate and 
isolated life hereafter. No, as the life of perfected 
humanity 2 is presented to us in the vision of the 
Apocalypse, it is the life of a city indissolubly one. It 
is the life of the one bride of Christ, the one humanity, 
whose white robes are the distinctive, yet coincident, 
"righteousnesses of the saints." ; 
TWO miscon- Now that we have brought this investigation to a 

ceptions of 

of the wth conclusion, we are in a position to repudiate two ways 



Church. 



of conceiving the development of Christianity. 



i. That it i. It has been represented 4 as if at the first stage 

developed 

v?onf indi- we must conceive of Christians rather as individual 
believers who were led to unite in local associations. 
This is accounted for by the "tendency to associa 
tion," characteristic of the Roman empire of that 
date. But association was not at first " a fixed 
habit ;" it was not " universally recognised as a 
primary duty;" it did not "invariably follow belief." 

1 1 St. John i. 3. " Manifesto ostendit B. Johannes quia quicunque societa- 
tem cum Deo habere desiderant primo ecclesiae societati debent adunari 
(Bede, quoted by Westcott in loc.). 

2 I am not wishing to deny that St. John is representing the Church as 
she now is. Cf. Milligan The Revelation of St. John p. 228. But it is 
certainly a picture of what she will not only be, but be wholly and manifestly, 
hereafter. 

3 Rev. xix. 8. 

1 By Dr. Hatch (B. L. p. 29 f.), if I can understand him rightly. Dr. 
Sanday interprets him otherwise (Expositor, Jan. 1887, p. 10 n 1 ). 



I.] The Foundation of the Church. 53 

Afterwards the local associations succeed in so assert 
ing themselves over individual Christians that adhesion 
to a community ceases to be voluntary ; a man is no 
Christian unless he belongs to one. This is the state 
of things which the Ignatian letters were intended to 
promote. Still, however, Christians might be supposed 
to unite in Churches how and where they pleased. 
But later " this free right of association " vanishes ; l 
each Church with its bishop and presbytery asserts 
itself as the exclusive local " ark of the covenant." 
All who would be within the pale must belong to this 
one and none other. This is the successful conten 
tion of Cyprian. Still later these authoritative local 
Churches grow into closer and closer combination. 
The idea of the Catholic and Apostolic Faith, due 
to St. Irenaeus, 2 had already formed a bond of union 
under a common authoritative Creed. Now, the 
Churches become one great confederation of societies 
in a unity which found expression in ecumenical 
councils with their common authority. 3 Gradually, 
meanwhile, the hierarchical gradations amongst the 
various bishops develop on the lines of the imperial 
system. 

Now this mode of conceiving the progress of Chris- - tteor y 

contrary to 

tianity is in direct violation of the evidence. The th 
only evidence produced for the supposed first stage 
which preceded obligatory association consists in the 
fact that the earliest church teachers found it neces- 

1 Hatch B. L. pp. 103-106. 

3 Ib. p. 96 : " Its first elaboration and setting forth was due to one mail s 
genins." 

3 Ib. pp. 97, I75-189- 



54 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

sary to preach the duty of association, " if not as an 
article of the Christian faith, at least as an element 
of Christian practice." This is evidenced by the 
warning in the Epistle to the Hebrews against forsak 
ing the Christian assemblies ; 2 by St. Jude s denun 
ciation of those who " separate themselves" ; 3 by the 
passages in the Shepherd of Hennas 4 about those who 
" have separated themselves " and so " lose their own 
souls." What do such utterances really go to prove ? 
A separatist tendency on the part of those who had 
been Christians 5 a sin of schism, denounced like any 
other sin. But the idea is nowhere discernible that 
every Christian was not, as such, a member of the 
Church, bound to the obligations of membership. 
Schism is a sin in Scripture 7 as really as in Ignatius 
letters. Next, the supposed right of free association 
into Churches never existed. No doubt the tendency 
to association in the Roman empire made (as has been 
said) for the spread of the Christian Church. It made 
the idea of a Church easier to men s minds. But 
more than this the facts of the case will not allow us 
to grant. Christ Himself constituted the Church and 
gave it its authority, so that it came upon men as a 
divine gift, with a divine claim, through the apostolic 
preaching. " Jesus," says Mr. Stanton, "never speaks 



1 Hatch B. L. p. 29. - Hebrews x. 25. 

8 St. Jude 19. 4 See above, p. 22. 

5 That they had been members of the Church is quite plain in the passages 
quoted from Hennas. 

6 Of course he might find himself in an isolated position away from 
church privileges, as may happen to-day. 

7 The heretic is the man of self-willed, separatist tendencies (Tit. 
iii. 10). Cf. St. Jude 19 ; St. Matt, xviii. 17. 



I.] The Foundation of the Church 55 

of the kingdom as something which men could con 
stitute for themselves; it must come to them." 1 
From the beginning of Christianity it came to men 
and took them up, one by one, out of their isolation 
and alienation from God into its holy and blessed 
fellowship. It was never a creation of their own by 
free association. The idea is a figment. From the 
first each local Church with its organization repre 
sented the Divine will for man s salvation in one 
body. Those who would share what Christ came to 
give must be added to it. Once added to it, they 
must remain in it, obedient children of the divine 
mother, loyal citizens of the city of the saints. Thus 
Cyprian s vigorous condemnation of schismatics who 
broke off from the Church at Carthage or in Home in 
volved no new principle at all, 2 nothing that was not 
implied in Ignatius cry "one altar, one Eucharist, 
one bishop " or in Clement of Rome s remonstrance 
with the schismatical party at Corinth. Nor was 
the Catholic Apostolic Faith an idea originated or 
substantially developed by Irenaeus, though he gave 
it a new and powerful application. Irenaeus is any 
thing rather than a genius who originates. This idea of 
the universal authoritative tradition of the Christian 
faith, as it made possible in a later epoch the general 
councils, as it inspired Clement in Alexandria quite 
as much as Irenaeus in the West, so in earlier days 

1 Jewish and Christian Messiah p. 218. 

2 The Eastern Churches which were at first inclined to accept Novatian 
would have accepted him as the bishop of Rome, not as one among a number. 
The question was simply who was the bishop. See further in chap. iii. 

3 ad Phil 4. 



56 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

it made possible the Catholic Epistles, l and was 
present in the Church since men first rallied to 
the apostolic doctrine. Whatever development there 
was, then, from the day of Pentecost till the Council 
of Chalcedon did not touch the truth of the visible 
Church or aggregation of Churches, which it always 
presupposed, nor the corresponding obligation of mem 
bership in it : it presupposed the doctrine of the visible 
Church with its threefold unity in the life which it 
derived from its Head, Christ, in the truth of the 
apostolic tradition, and in the fellowship and inter 
course of love. 
2 u T H t .!i he 2. It remains to point out that this idea of the 

church idea 

de a v s eiop man Church, known as Catholicism, was not the creation 
of western influences and cannot historically be 
identified (as is sometimes 2 done) with Romanism. 
Was there, then, nothing new in that western concep 
tion of the Church which was finally expressed in the 
mediaeval papacy ? Novelty there undoubtedly was, 
but it was not in any sense the doctrine of the 
visible Church. What then do the facts of history 
allow us to describe as Catholicism and what as 
Romanism ? 

imt there is Church unity in the New Testament is expressed 

an original 

thfriilibif primarily in such metaphors as those of the body 

Church 

1 Harnack Texte u. Untersuch. ii band, heft 2. p. 105. 

2 See for this idea, in a curiously unhistorical shape, Allen s Continuity of 
Christian Thought pp. 100-105. Cf. Harnack s Dogmengesch. i. pp. 362-371 
(Katholisch u. Romisch) ; also Kenan s Hibbert Lectures. The latter 
assumes in support of his theory that St. Luke s writings (p. 132), the 
Preaching of Peter the basis of the Clementine Homilies and Recognitions 
(p. 134) and probably the Pastoral Epistles (p. 163) derive from the Roman 
Church and represent its ideas. At least the Pastoral Epistles, like the 
Ignatian (p. 1 70), exhibit what is characteristically the Roman temper ! 



I.] The Foundation of the Church. 57 

of Christ or the Vine with its branches. What 
primarily constitutes the unity of the Church is the 
life of Christ derived to its members by His Spirit. 
The Church is one on account of the spiritual presence \ 
which makes her the temple of God or the * Christ- / 
bearer. None the less the Church is an external 
reality, a visible society ; for the principle of the 
Incarnation, which governs the Church, links the 
inward to the outward, the spiritual to the material 
there is one body as well as one Spirit. 
Spiritual gifts are given by sacraments, and sacra 
ments are visible and social ceremonies of incorpora 
tion, or benediction, or feeding. Thus the Christian s 
spiritual privileges depend on membership of a visible 
society ; but the visible society exists not as an instru 
ment of external secular authority, but as the divine 
home of spiritual edification, for the building up of 

* * 

the body of Christ, for the perfecting of men into , 
one into the unity of the life of God. 1 ^ Therefore 
the instrument of unity is the Spirit ; the basis of 
the unity is Christ, the Mediator ; the centre of the 
unity is in the heavens, where the Church s exalted 
Head lives in eternal majesty human, yet glorified. 
If it be the case, as Ignatius taught (and of course 
that is still an open question in this discussion), that a 

1 St. John xvii. 23. It is characteristic of the scriptural and fundamental 
idea of church unity that it should be a progressive thing, progressing with a 
spiritual advance ; not an external thing once for all imposed. See St. John 
as above, St. Paul s Epistle to the Ephesians iv. 13 et s difdpartXeiov. See also 
on the Shepherd of Hermas, above p. 2 1 . The unity of the Church becomes 
constantly closer as the barriers which sin interposes between man and God, 
and so between man and his fellows, are removed. Sin, on the other hand, 
tends to mar the unity by schisms which may be more or less pronounced. 



58 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

bishop is an essential element of the organization of 
each visible Church, then he will be the centre and 
symbol of local unity ; but, as the local Church exists 
only in order to bring men into relation to Christ and 
to the redeemed humanity which Christ is gathering 
to Himself in the unseen world, so the catholic 
Church, the society which each local Church repre 
sents, has its centre of unity in Christ. 1 Only (so to 
speak) the lower limbs of the body of Christ are on 
earth. The Church is a society in the world, but not 
wholly in the world, nor existing for the world s ends. 
Thus the primary importance of its organization is 
local. Each local Church exists to keep open (so to 
speak) the connection of earth and heaven ; to keep 
the streams of the water of life flowing ; to maintain 
and teach and protect the creed which moulds the 
Christian character. Of course the Christian Churches 
have a necessary relation to one another. They con 
stitute together one body ; they maintain one tradi 
tion, and the test of it is found in their consent ; they 
exhibited, they ought still to exhibit, an unbroken 
fellowship. At the same time each has a relative 
independence, 2 for the authority over all is that of a 
common tradition, of which the witness lies in the 
general consent (as expressed most fully in a general 
council), coupled with the canon of Scripture. 3 Such 
is the conception of the Church as existing for the 

1 See the passage from Ignatius quoted before (p. 24) with the Bishop of 
Durham s comment. 

As St. Cyprian emphasized. See in chap. iii. 

3 So the rule of faith is formulated by Irenaeus, i. 10. I, 2, and iii. 1-5, 
Tertull. de Praescr. 27-36, Vincent. Commonit. 2, 9, 20, 23, 29. 



i.J The Foundation of the Church. 59 

ends of grace and truth, - which can be justly 
described as Catholic. 1 

Enough has been said to enable us to indicate by distinct from 

. the Roman 

contrast what may historically be called its Roman ^ 
development. The scriptural and catholic concep 
tion admitted of development in this sense, that, 
saving the original principle, the relations between 
the different Churches admitted of elaboration as 
facilities for communication increased under imperial 
recognition, or as the authority of the common tradi 
tion was forced into prominence by the disintegrating 
effects of Gnosticism and other heresies. But the 
Roman development gave a new colour to the idea of 
the Church, not indeed by the introduction of any 
wholly novel element, but by distorting the idea of 
its function and unity. It has been already noticed 
how the Roman Church inherited the imperial con 
ceptions of empire and government. The injunction 

" Tu regere imperio populos, Bomane, memento, 
Parcere subiectis et debellare super bos"- 

might have been spoken to the popes as well as to 
the emperors. At Rome, then, to a slight extent 

1 On this conception of the Church see a typical passage in St. Augustin 
Enarr. in Psalm. Ps. Ivi. I : " Quoniam totus Christus caput est et corpus 
. . . caput est ipse salvator noster, passus sub Pontio Pilato, qui nunc postea 
quam resurrexit a mortuis, sedet ad dexteram Patris : corpus autem eius est 
ecclesia ; non ista aut ilia, sed toto orbe diffusa ; nee ea quae nunc est in 
hominibus qui praesentem vitam agunt, sed ad earn pertinentibus etiam his 
qui fuerunt ante nos et his qui futuri sunt post nos usque in finem saeculi. 
Tota enim ecclesia constans ex omnibus fidelibus, quia fideles omnes membra 
sunt Christi, habet illud caput positum in caelis quod gubernat corpus suum ; 
etsi separatum est visione, sed annectitur caritate." Cf. the excellent 
account of the Church in Mr. Mason s The, Faith of the Gospel ch. vii. 9, 
10 and ch. viii. 



60 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

perhaps even from Victor s days to a more palpable 
extent from the fifth century, the idea of the Church 
becomes in a measure secularized. The Church be 
comes a great world-empire for purposes of spiritual 
government and administration. The primary con 
ception of her unity becomes that of unity of govern 
ment, the sort of unity which most readily submits 
itself to secular tests and most naturally postulates a 
visible centre and head : the dominant idea becomes 
that of authority. All the needs of the early mediaeval 
period tended to add strength to this tendency, for 
what the world wanted was above all things order, 
discipline, rule. Thus the conception of government 
tends to overshadow earlier conceptions of the Church s 
function even in relation to the truth. Compare the 
Roman Leo s view of the truth with that of the 
Alexandrian Didymus or Athanasius, and the con 
trast is marked. Both the western and eastern 
writers insist equally on the truth of the Church 
dogma ; but to the eastern it is the guide to the 
knowledge of God, to the western it is the instru 
ment of authority and of discipline. Once again, the 
over-authoritativeness of tone which becomes charac 
teristic of the Roman Church makes her impatient 
of the more slow and laborious and complex methods 
of arriving at the truth on disputed questions which 
belonged to the earlier idea of the rule of faith. 
The comparison of traditions, the elaborate appeal to 
Scripture, these methods are too slow and sometimes 
(as the revelation in this world is incomplete x ) yield no 

1 Of. I Cor. xiii. 9-12. 



I.] The Foundation of the Church. 61 

decisive result : something is wanted more rapid, more 
imperious. It is no longer enough to conceive of the 
Church as the catholic witness to the faith once for 
all delivered. She must be the living voice of God, 
the oracle of the Divine will. Now, as the strength 
and security of witness lies in the consent of indepen 
dent testimonies, so the strength of authoritative, 
oracular utterance lies in unimpeded, unqualified 
centrality, and Christendom needs a central shrine 
where divine authority speaks. 

Thus an essentially different idea of the Church s 
function finds expression in the general councils and 
in the papacy. At least a differently balanced idea 
of the function of the episcopate finds expression in 
the catholic conception of the bishop as securing the 
channels of grace and truth and representing the 
divine presence, and in the Roman conception of an 
external hierarchy of government centering in the 
papacy. The conflict between the two conceptions 
begins perhaps even in the days of Victor or Stephen ; 
it bears fruit in the Great Schism and in the further 
schisms of the Reformation. 1 Of course the Roman 
doctrine of church unity does not annihilate the other 
and older conception. The bishop remains still in the 
Roman Church what he was from the beginning, but 
another idea has been superadded, and it is this 
superadded idea which differentiates the Romanized 
from the primitive and undivided Church. With 
this superadded conception we shall not be further 

1 It is not suggested that the Roman claims were more than one among 
several causes of these schisms. 



62 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. I. 

concerned in this argument. We have only to do 
with the fundamental doctrine of the visible Church 
as the body of Christ, which is inseparably associated 
with the doctrine of the faith and the sacraments, and 
which we are now in a position to assume was a con 
ception held from the first, and which runs up for its 
primary authority to the will of Christ the King. 



CHAPTER II. 

APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION. 

JESUS CHRIST, we are now in a position to assume. Did Christ 

institute a 

founded a visible society, which, as embodying God s ministr * ? 
new covenant with men and representing His good 
will towards them, was intended to embrace all 
mankind. As that society has existed in history, it 
has exhibited a more or less broad and marked dis 
tinction between clergy and laity, priests and people, 
pastors and their flocks. Such a distinction would, 
it may be argued, inevitably grow up on the same 
principles which regulate the division of labour in 
other departments of human life. The question then 
arises : Is the Christian ministry simply, like a police 
force, a body which it has been found advantageous 
to organize and may be found advantageous to re 
organize ? Did Christ in instituting His society leave 
it to itself to find out its need of a differentiation 
of functions and develop a ministry, or did He, on 
the other hand, when He constituted His society, 
constitute its ministry also in the germ ? Did He 
establish not only a body, but an organized body, with 
a differentiation of functions impressed upon it from 
the beginning ? 

It may be urged that the former alternative is ^ ^we 



64 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

more in accordance with what we should expect, 1 for 
it will exhibit the Christian ministry as of a piece with 
the ordinary products of social evolution. Such a 
presumption might be met in a measure, antecedently 
to the question of historical evidence, by the considera 
tion that founders of great institutions, where they 
successfully observe and correspond to the conditions 
of their time, are able, to a certain degree at least, to 
anticipate the results of evolution and impress upon 
their foundations from the first an abiding form. 2 
But it is a more satisfactory consideration that the 
Church is naturally of a piece with the Incarnation, 
the fruits of which it perpetuates, and that, as was 
pointed out in the last chapter, has a finality which 
belongs to its very essence. It is not that the re 
ligion of Christ, as final and supernatural, has no 
progress or development in it ; it is not a code of 
rules covering all possible occasions of the future. 
But it is a religion which in its principles and essence 
is final, which contains in itself all the forces which 
the future will need; so that there is not!) ing to be 
looked for in the department of religion beyond or 
outside it, while there is everything to be looked for 
from within. This essential finality is expressed in 
the once for all delivered faith, in the fulness of 

1 As by Hatch B. L. pp. 17-20. 

- This is conspicuously the case with Islam. Mahommed incorporated 
pre-existing elements of Arab and Jewish belief of the Christian faith also 
in a debased form; it may be said with truth that there was no originality 
in the theology of Islam. But its founder incorporated the elements that 
came to hand into a book, and on the basis of his book founded a religion 
which with its motives, its institutions, its obligations was a new thing in 
the world and yet had a remarkable completeness ab ovo. That is to say, 
it was as complete as its fundamental idea would allow of its being. 



if.] Apostolic Succession. 65 

the once for all given grace, in the visible society 
once for all instituted ; and it is at least therefore a 
tenable proposition * that it should have been ex 
pressed in a once for all empowered and commissioned 
ministry. 

That it is much more than a tenable proposi 
tion that it is a proposition which states a fact of 
history it will be the business of succeeding chapters 
to show. What it is proposed to do now is to clear but the P rm. 

ciple of the 

up the idea of the Christian ministry to explain ^ 



what is meant by it, and why it is a reasonable idea pilmed" 
before we go on to test, with as rigorous a criticism 
as can be applied, its basis in history. 

Why adopt such a method ? it will be said. Why 
explain first what you are going to look for, and then 
proceed to look for it ? Why not let the principle, 
whatever it may be, emerge simply from the facts ? 
The answer is perhaps a twofold one. First, that 
the method here proposed corresponds to the method 
by which we actually in most cases arrive at convic 
tions. We do not start afresh ; we take the tradi 
tional belief, the traditional position, and test it. 
This is the normal method of human progress. If 
the traditional belief will not bear the light of facts, 
it has to be modified, or even reversed ; we have to 
go through the process which a modern writer calls 
the correction of our premises. But we give, and 
rightly give, a prerogative to an accepted position, so 
far at least as to start from it. Secondly, it may 

1 See Hatch B. L. [sec. ed.] pref. p. xii, where the coherence of ideas it 
recognised. 

E 



66 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

be answered that the method of hypothesis is one of 
the most normal methods of scientific inquiry. The 
scientific investigator is not asked to approach the 
facts without antecedent ideas, without anticipations, 
without desires ; to ask this of him in the field of 
nature or of history is, in most cases, to ask an impos 
sibility. What we have a right to expect is that the 
facts shall be looked at with severe impartiality and 
be allowed their legitimate weight to support, or con 
travene, or modify the original hypothesis. And 
further, the scientific investigator, when he makes 
public demonstration of the results of his investiga 
tions, is not expected to re-enact all the process he has 
himself gone through. He asks the right question at 
once ; he propounds at once the right hypothesis, and 
proceeds to verify it. That is what it is proposed to 
do here. There have been several theories or, to 
speak more accurately, modifications of one theory of 
the Christian ministry, which, as having more or less 
authority in tradition, have some prerogative claims to 
be examined, but which will not, as they are, stand 
the verifying test of facts. Underlying them there is 
a theory that will. There is, that is to say, a number 
of more or less perverted conceptions of what the 
Christian ministry has always essentially meant, as 
well as a true one. In what follows an attempt will be 
made to distinguish the true idea from its perversions. 
Any one who undertakes to vindicate for any 
Christian truth or institution its claim to perman 
ence or authority its claim, that is, to be an integral 
part of the Christian revelation is confronted on the 



II.] Apostolic Succession. 67 

threshold of his undertaking with a difficulty. The 
idea or institution has been abused, or overlaid with 
what exaggerates or disfigures it. He has to attempt 
what makes a considerable claim on mental patience, 
to draw distinctions between the abuse of a thing and 
its use, between the permanence of a thing in its 
fundamental principle and its permanence with the 
particular set of associations which in this or that 
epoch have clustered round it. This is remarkably 
true of the institution of the Christian ministry and 
the associated idea of the apostolic succession. It is because its 

* perversions 

maintained, though not perhaps with very much truth, SMer- e 
that superseded elements of Judaism survived and 
discoloured more or less the conception of the ministry 
in the Church : it is much more certain that in the 
early Middle Ages this, with every other Christian 
institution, ran a great risk of becoming incrusted 
with associations left by the dying forms of paganism. 
Again, the ambition of the clergy and the spiritual 
apathy and ignorance of the mass of the laity have 
led to its assuming false claims and a false prominence. 
Feudal and other passing forms of political society 
have adopted it and more or less perverted it to their 
own ends, so that, when their day was over or their 
support withdrawn, it has been left with its hold on 
human life weakened, because its true nature was 
overlaid and forgotten. Once again, it has lived in 
the security of uncritical epochs and based its claims 
on careless statements, and the steady rise of an 
exacter examination of facts has seemed to shake its 
foundations. 



68 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

Thus the conception of the ministry needs purging 
before it can be vindicated. 1 " There is a short way," 
says St. Cyprian, "for religious and simple minds to 
lay aside error, or to find and elicit the truth. For, 
if we go back to the head and origin of the divine 
tradition, human error ceases : the real nature of the 

1 The learned Oratorian Morinus, in his work de Sacris Ordinationibu* 
(A.D. 1686), offers a good example of a Christian student purging an idea in 
order to vindicate it. At the time when he wrote there were several false 
conceptions current on his subject. Notably, it was held that the essential 
matter (or rite) of ordination lay in the tradition of the instruments, 
i.e. the giving to the ordinand the characteristic vessels of his ministry. This 
scholastic doctrine had gained expression in a formal papal decree, though 
Morinus does not mention this. Eugenius iv. had written thus in his De- 
cretum de Unione Armeniorum (the decree which affirmed the doctrinal 
basis of union with the see of Rome for the benefit of the Armenians, who 
were seeking reunion at the time of the Council of Florence A.D. 1439) : 
" Sextum sacramentum est ordinis, cuius materia est illud per cuius tra- 
ditionem confertur ordo, sicut presbyteratus traditur per calicis cum vino 
et patenae cum pane porrectionem. Diaconatus vero per libri evangeliorum 
dationem. . . . Formasacerdotii talis est : Accipe potestatem offer endi sacri- 
ficium in ecclesia pro vivis et mortuis, in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus 
sancti : et sic de aliorum ordinum formis prout in pontifical! Romano late 
continetur" (Labbe Collect. Condi, xviii. p. 550). Here, it will be seen, 
there is no mention at all of the laying-on of hands, and this represented 
for some centuries the authoritative doctrine. The absence of the porre ctio 
instrumentorum, with the accompanying words, from our ordination of 
priests had been made the standing objection against the validity of our 
orders (cf. Estcourt Question of Angl. Ord. pp. 260-1). This was due, 
as Morinus remarks (p. iii. ex. i. i. i), to the fact that the " doctores 
scholastici" were "Graecarum ordinationum ignari et antiquae Latinorum 
traditionis incuriosi." He was at pains to make an appeal to antiquity. He 
investigated and reproduced in his work types of early Oriental ordinations 
from ancient Greek and other Eastern MSS, and demonstrated the absence 
of the ceremony in question from these rites. Yet Oriental ordinations were 
confessedly valid. He then reproduced the earliest types of Western ordi 
nations from Latin MSS, and demonstrated that in the West the ceremony 
with its accompanying words was a later addition unknown in the first 
thousand years of the Church s history. He then asserted the principle that 
only that could be essential which had been the practice both in East and 
West and the constant practice from the first, i.e. the laying-on of hands 
with accompanying prayer. Thus he purged the tradition. It is the frank 
inquiry which characterizes his work, and his genuine belief in historical 
evidence and its value as a corrective of current teaching, which has given 
his work the high place among works on ecclesiastical subjects which it 
deservedly holds. 



II. J Apostolic Succession. 69 

heavenly mysteries is seen, and whatever was hid in 
darkness and under a cloud is opened out into the 
light of truth. If a canal which used to give a copious 
supply of water suddenly fails, men go to the fount to 
find the reason of the failure whether the water has 
dried up at the spring, or has been intercepted in mid- 
course ; so that, if this happened through a defect in 
the canal preventing the flow of the water, it may be 
repaired and the water gathered for the supply of the 
city s wants may reach them in the abundance and 
purity with which it left the fount. This is what, on 
the present occasion, the priests of God should do, 
keeping the divine precepts, so that, if the truth in 
any matter has been weakened or impaired, we may go 
back to the original of our Lord and His Gospel or to 
the apostolic tradition, and let the principles of our 
action take their rise there, where our order has its 
origin. " * 

Whether the idea, now to be expounded repre 
sents the original of our Lord and the apostolic 
tradition, will be the question afterwards. We take 
it now only as an hypothesis, and it is this. Let it be The idea of 

the apostolic 

supposed that Christ, in founding His Church, founded t s e c 
also a ministry in the Church in the persons of His 
Apostles. 2 These Apostles must be supposed to have 

1 Ep. Ixxiv. jo. 

2 "By the Church on earth," says Mohler (Symbolism pt. i. ch. 5 
36), " Catholics understand the visible community of believers, founded by 
Christ, in which, by means of an enduring apostleship, established by Him and 
appointed to conduct all nations, in the course of ages, back to God, the works 
wrought by Him during His earthly life for the redemption and sanctifica- 
tion of mankind are, under the guidance of His Spirit, continued unto the 
end of the world." 



70 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

had a temporary function in their capacity as founders 
under Christ. In this capacity they held an office by 
its very nature not perpetual the office of bearing 
the original witness to Christ s resurrection and mak 
ing the original proclamation of the Gospel. 1 But 
underlying this was another a pastorate of souls, a 
stewardship of divine mysteries. This office insti 
tuted in their persons was intended to become per 
petual, and that by being transmitted from its first 
depositaries. It was thus intended that there should 
be in every Church, in each generation, an authorita 
tive stewardship of the grace and truth which came 
by Jesus Christ and a recognised power to transmit 
it, derived from above by apostolic descent. The men, 

1 See Pearson Determinatio Theol. i (in his Minor Tkeol. Works i. 
pp. 283, 284, and quoted by Dr. Liddon in A Father in Christ [sec. ed.] 
pref. pp. x-xii) : " Ordinem episcopalem fuisse in ipsis apostolis institutum 
ac per successionem ab ipsis propagatum. Ad hanc assertionem explicandam 
sciendum est, concessam fuisse apostolis duplicem potestatem, temporariam 
unam et extraordinariain, ordinariam alteram diuque permansuram. Prior 
potestas duplicem respectum habuit, ad Christum et ad ecclesiam. Respectu 
Christi facti sunt apostoli peculiares testes resurrectionis eius : respectu 
domus Dei facti sunt lapides in fundamento, h.e. ad praedicandam fidem 
haud pruis, re velatam, ad fundandas ecclesias, ad colligeiidum populum Deo 
instituti et instruct!. Posterior potestas erat regendi ecclesias iam fundatas, 
praedicandi verbum fidelibus collectis, administrandi sacramenta populo Dei, 
ordinandi ministros ad ecclesiastica munia, peragendi omnia ad salutem Chris- 
tianorum necessaria. Quod erat in iis temporarium, id erat pure et peculia- 
riter apostolicum ; quod autem erat ordinarium et perpetuum, idem erat in 
eisdem prqprie episcopale. Acceperunt totam potestatem a Christo : quie- 
quid erat in eis personale, cum ipsis mortuum est ; quicquid erat omnibus 
ecclesiae temporibus necessarium, ipsorum, dum viverent, manibus transmis- 
sum est. Dixit Christus apostolis Sicut misit me Pater, ita et ego mitto 
vos. Sicut ipse habuit a Patre mandatum docendi populum et ministros 
ad hoc necessaries necessaria auctoritate instructos deputandi, ita et apo 
stoli habuerunt idem officium et mandatum cum eadem potestate ministros 
eligendi et ita successive usque ad consummationem saeculi continuata suc- 
cessione. Est itaque apostolus episcopus extraordinarius, est episcopus 
apostolus ordinarius ; atque ita episcopatus fuit in apostolis a Christo insti- 
tutus, in successoribus apostolorum ab apostolis derivatus." 



ii. J Apostolic Succession. 71 

who from time to time were to hold the various offices 
involved in the ministry and the transmitting power 
necessary for its continuance, might, indeed, fitly he 
elected by those to whom they were to minister. In 
this way the ministry would express the representative 
principle. 1 But their authority to minister in what 
ever capacity, their qualifying consecration, was to 
come from above, in such sense that no ministerial act 
could be regarded as valid that is, as having the 
security of the divine covenant about it unless it 

was performed under the shelter of a commission, 

. 
received by the transmission of the original pastoral 

authority which had been delegated by Christ Him 
self to His Apostles. 

This is ^what is understood by the apostolic suc 
cession of the ministry. /""It will be seen how, thus con- it com* 

spends to the 

sk ceived, the ministry corresponds in principle to the incarnation, 

Incarnation and the sacraments, and, indeed, to the 
original creation of man. In all .these cases the 

.. material comes from below. Christ s humanity is of 
" 4*.\ i 

real physical origin of the -stock of Adam. The 

material of the sacraments is common water, " bread 



of the earth," common wine. " Of the dust of the 
ground the Lord God formed man." But this material, 
which is of the earth, is in each case assumed (though 
. not in each case in the same sense) by the Spirit 
from above. The Divine Son assumes the humanity, 
and makes it redemptive. A consecration from above 
comes upon the sacrament; "the bread which is of 

1 Proper election was requisite, " not for the authority itself but for the 
success of the exercise of it : " cf. Denton s Grace of the Ministry p. 183. 




> 



72 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

the earth," which man offers for the divine accept 
ance, " receiving the invocation of God, is no longer 
common bread, but Eucharist made up of two things, 
an earthly and a heavenly." 1 "God breathed into 
man s nostrils the breath of life." In each of these 
cases we have the material offered from below and 
the empowering consecration from above. It is just 
these two elements, then, that are present to con 
stitute the ministry. Those who are to be ordained 
are, like the Levites, the offering of the people ; but 
they receive, like Aaron and his sons, their consecra 
tion from above. 2 
eipie It is a matter of very great importance as will 

of succession < 

unt e than 01 " appear further on to exalt the principle of the 
leministry. apostolic succession above the question of the exact 
(6 

1 Iren. iv. 18. 5. 

2 In the Dissertation on the Christian Ministry, appended to his com 
mentary on the Philippians, (on which see Appended Note A,) Dr. Light- 
foot maintains that the priests of the Old Testament were only the "dele 
gates of the people " "the nation thus deputes to a single tribe the priestly 
functions which belong to itself as a whole" (Dissert, pp. 182, 183). Surely 
dormitat Homerus. His reference is to the ]aying-on of hands by the 
people upon the Levites (Numb. viii. 10). But whatever significance this act 
had, it had surely nothing to do with the ordination of the priests, the sons 
of Aaron. These had been consecrated to their office " before this laying-on 
of hands upon the Levites took place, and with far different ceremonies, by 
Moses himself, without any intervention of the people whatever" (Willis 
Worship of the Old Covenant p. 112). Thus, if the Levites represent the 
self-consecration of the people, the lay -priesthood, (Numb. viii. 10-20,) 
Aaron, who is to " offer the Levites before the Lord" (ver. n) Aaron, to 
whom, with his sons, God is said to have " given the Levites as a gift to do 
the service of the children of Israel" (ver. 19) Aaron, and his sons the priests, 
represent the ministers of the covenant instituted by God Himself, whose 
prerogative was so jealously guarded, even against the sons of Levi, in the 
matter of Korah (Numb. xvi). " Moses himself, as the representative of the 
unseen King, is the consecrator" (Diet. Bible, s.v. PRIEST, ii. p. 917). [I am 
speaking of the whole Old Testament, as the writers of the New Testament 
knew it, without discussing the question of the date of different portions of 
the Law.] 



Apostolic Succession. 



73 



form of the ministry, in which the principle has 
expressed itself, even though it be by apostolic order 
ing. What is meant is this : the apostolic succession 
has taken shape how uniformly the next chapter 
will show in a threefold ministry, consisting of a 
single bishop in each community or diocese with 
presbyters and deacons, the bishop alone having the 
power of ordaining or conferring ministerial authority 
on others, the presbyters constituting a co-opera 
tive order which shares with him a common priest 
hood, and the deacons holding a subordinate and 
supplementary position. But this is rather the out 
come of a rjrinciple than itself a principle, at any rate 
a primary or essential principle. 1 No one, of whatever 
part of the Church, can maintain that the existence 
of what may be called, for lack of a distinctive term, 
monepiscopacy is essential to the continuity of 
the Church. Such monepiscopacy may be the best 
mode of government, it may most aptly symbolize 
the divine monarchy, it may have all spiritual expe 
diency and historical precedent on its side nay, more, 
it may be of apostolic institution : but nobody could 
maintain that the continuity of the Church would be 
broken if in any given diocese all the presbyters were 
consecrated to the episcopal office, and governed as a 
co-ordinate college of bishops without presbyters or 
presbyter-bishops. 2 A state of things quite as abnor- 

1 See Church Principles, by W. E. Gladstone, pp. 244, 245, 252, 253. 

2 "The things proper to bishops," says Bishop Bilson (Perpet. Govt. of Christ s 
Church ch. xiii), " which might not be common to presbyters, were singularity 
in succeeding and superiority in ordaining." But of these two things the 
latter is really that which forms the vital distinction between the orders. 



74 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

mal as this existed for many centuries in the Celtic 
Church of Ireland. Something equivalent to this 
very arrangement has been commonly believed in the 
West to have existed in the early Church. 

Why was the violation of the ordinary arrange 
ment of the ministry regarded in these cases as a 
matter of only secondary importance ? Because the 
principle of the apostolic succession was not violated. 
There have always (it is here supposed) existed in 
the Church ministers, who, besides the ordinary 
exercise of their ministry, possess the power of trans 
mitting it ; they may, so far, be one or many in each 
community ; but, when they ordain men to the holy 
offices of the Church, they are only fulfilling the func 
tion intrusted to them out of the apostolic fount of 
authority. There are other ministers, again, who 
have certain clearly understood functions committed 
to them, but not that of transmitting their office. 
Should these ever attempt to transmit it, their 
act would be considered invalid. For this is the 
church principle : that no ministry is valid which is 
assumed, which a man takes upon himself, or which 
is merely delegated to him from below. That 
ministerial act alone is valid which is covered by a 
ministerial commission received from above by suc 
cession from the Apostles. This is part of the great 
principle of tradition. " Hold the traditions," reiter 
ates the Apostle. The whole of what constitutes 
Christianity is a transmitted trust a tradition which 
may need purging, but never admits of innovation, 
for nihil innovandum nisi quod traditum is a 



II.] Apostolic Succession. 75 

fundamental Christian principle. For instance, the 
truth revealed in Christ is adequate to all time. 
It is fruitful of innumerable applications and adap 
tations to the new wants of each age. It may need 
setting free and purifying from accretions from time 
to time, but not more. What breaks the tradition 
is heresy the intrusion, that is, of a new and alien 
element into the deposit, having its origin in personal 
self-assertion. This conception of heresy is involved 
in the very idea of a revelation once for all made. 
Now, what heresy is in the sphere of truth, a viola 
tion of the apostolic succession is in the tradition 
of the ministry. Here too there is a deposit handed 
down, an ecclesiastical trust transmitted ; and its 
continuity is violated, whenever a man takes any 
honour to himself and assumes a function not com 
mitted to him. Judged in the light of the Church s 
mind as to the relation of the individual to the whole 
body, such an act takes a moral discolouring. The 
individual, of course, who is guilty of the act may 
not incur the responsibility in any particular case 
through the absence of right knowledge, or from other 
causes which exempt from responsibility in whole or 
in part ; but judged by an objective standard, the 
act has the moral discolouring of self-assertion. The 
Church s doctrine of succession is thus of a piece with 
the whole idea of the Gospel revelation, as being the 
communication of a divine gift which must be received 
and cannot be originated, received, moreover, through 
the channels of a visible and organic society ; and 
the principle (this is what is here emphasized) lies at 



76 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

the last resort in the idea of succession rather than in 
the continuous existence of episcopal government 
even though it should appear that this too is of apo 
stolic origin, and that the Church, since the Apostles, 
has never conceived of itself as having any power to 
originate or interpolate a new office. 1 
its import- It will be easy to see that the existence of an 

a nee 

apostolic succession serves several important ends. 
(0 as a bond (i) It forms a link of historical continuity in a 

of union i i 

soc1e s t pi - itual society intended to be universal and permanent. 
Nations have many bonds of union. There is the 
unity of blood and language and common customs : 
there is the unity of a common government over men 
inhabiting a common territory. Such bonds of union 
are lacking to a universal spiritual society such as 
the Church claims to be. Embracing all peoples and 
languages, admitting and consecrating the greatest 
varieties of local custom and taste, inhabiting no com 
mon territory but spread over all the earth, 2 how 
should the Church preserve or exhibit its identity and 
continuity as a visible society without some such 

1 The words of the Anglican Art. xxm. are : " Non licet cuiquam sumere 
sibi munus publice praedicandi aut administrandi sacramenta in ecclesia, nisi 
prius fuerit ad haec obeunda legitime vocatus et missus. Atque illos legitime 
vocatos et missos existimare debemus, qui per homines, quibus potestas 
vocandi ministros atque mittendi in vineam Domini publice 
concessa est, in ecclesia cooptati fuerint et asciti in hoc opus." 

2 We know how familiar a boast this is with early Christian writers. 
Cf. e.g. Ep. ad Diognet. 5 : " Christians (of the new race which has just 
come into the world, c. i) are distinguished from the rest of mankind 
neither by land, nor by language, nor by custom-,. They have neither 
cities of their own, nor exceptional language, nor remarkable mode of life. 
But inhabiting Greek or barbarian cities as the lot of each determined, and 
obeying the local customs in dress and food and general conduct of life, the 
character of their own polity which they exhibit is everywhere wonderful and 
confessedly strange." Cf. Iren. i. 10. 2. 



ri.] Apostolic Succession. 77 

instrument and evidence of succession as is afforded 
by the ministry as traditionally conceived ? No 
doubt it may be urged, and with partial truth, that 
the real unity of the Church lies in the Spirit, which 
lives in her, and the truth she holds and teaches ; but 
that truth was committed to a society, as what Iren- 
aeus calls "its rich depository," 1 and that Spirit 
has a body and how can the outward organization, 
which enshrines and perpetuates the inner life, main 
tain or exhibit its identity without some such bond as 
the apostolic succession of the ministry affords ? 2 

(ii) The ministerial succession serves the end of oo as declar 
ing men s 

impressing upon Christians that their new life is aJ^gjfSS 
communicated gift, and from this point of view it is f 
naturally associated with the sacraments. A Chris 
tian of apostolic days was taught by St. Paul to 
look back to the day of baptism as the moment of 
his incorporation into the life of Christ. 3 He had 
received the gift of the Spirit by the laying on of 
apostolic hands. 4 He was fed with the Body and 
Blood of Christ through the effectual signs of 
bread and wine. 5 This sacramental method went to 

1 Iren. iii. 4. i : "quasi in depositorium dives." 

3 For an interesting statement of the function of the episcopal succession 
from this point of view, see F. D. Maurice s Kingdom of Christ pt. ii. 
ch. iv. 5 ; also Gladstone Church Principles ch. v. esp. pp. 193, 194 : "If 
it were attempted to insist on succession in doctrine as the sole condition of 
the essence of a Church, any such proposition would be self-contradictory, 
inasmuch as that which would be thus perpetuated would not be a society at 
all, but a creed or body of tenets." What is required is "succession of 
persons," as well as " continuous identity of doctrine." 

3 Gal. iii. 27 ; Rom. vi. 3 ; i Cor. xii. 13. 

4 Acts viii. 17-20, xix. 6; cf. Rom. i. n. 

5 i Cor. x. 16, 17. I do not see how it is possible to deny that the New 
Testament does attach inward gifts to external channels, i.e. is sacramental. 



78 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

impress upon his mind the idea of his dependence 
upon grace given from without. True, this grace 
given from without could only be appropriated, 
incorporated, used, by the inward faculty of faith. 
This is the Christian principle of correspondence. 
As, when Christ was on earth healing men s sickness, 
the virtue which went out of Him could only be 
liberated to act in effective power on those who had 
faith to be healed, and thus men s faith made 
them whole, though the means of their healing was 
the virtue of Christ s body which came from without ; 
so is it with His permanent spiritual agency. He 
saves in virtue of an inward faith but by the instru 
mentality of a gift given from outside. This outward 
bestowal of grace was no peculiarity of the apostolic 
age, though the symbolic miracles which at first called 
attention to it passed away. It is impossible to deny 
that the early Christians, in East and West, believed 
in the sacraments as the covenanted channels of 
grace. 1 It is, indeed, part of God s condescending 

1 I may refer, in confirmation of what is said above, to the way in which 
the Fathers, at the end of the second century, emphasize the sacramental 
principle as of a piece with the principle of the Incarnation against the 
Gnostic depreciation of what is material. See a vigorous passage of Tertul- 
lian (de Resurr. Cam. 8), emphasizing how, at each stage of the spiritual 
life, the inward gift is mediated through the material body and that, of 
course, implies through a material sacrament. "As the soul is attached 
to God, it is the flesh which enables it to be united. The flesh is washed 
that the soul may be cleansed : the flesh is anointed that the soul may be 
consecrated : the flesh is marked with the Cross that the soul may be pro 
tected : the flesh is shadowed with the imposition of hands that the soul may 
be illuminated by the Spirit : the flesh is fed with the Body and Blood of 
Christ that the soul may feed upon the fatness of God." Cf. de Bapt. 2, 
quoted on p. 179. This is no advance upon the principle of Irenaeus. To 
Irenaeus the bread and wine are consecrated to become the Body and Blood 
of Christ, and so to impart eternal life even to man s body (iv. 18. 5) : "the 
mixed cup and the bread which has been made receives the word of God, 



ii.] Apostolic Succession. 79 

compassion that He should thus embody in visible 
form His divine gift. So is it made most easily intel 
ligible and accessible to the ignorant. 1 So was it 
most easily and forcibly impressed on men that Christ 
had come, not merely to show them what in any case 
they are if they will be true to themselves, but to 
make them what apart from Him they cannot be. 

and the Eucharist becomes the Body [and Blood] of Christ, and the substance 
of our flesh grows and gains consistence from these. How, then, can they 
say that our flesh is not susceptible of the gift of God, which is eternal life 
our flesh, which is nourished by the Body and Blood of the Lord, and 
which is His member " (v. 2. 3). Irenaeus contemporary at Alexandria, 
Clement (as there can, I think, be no doubt, though his exact view of the 
Eucharist is hard to grasp or state) certainly believed that the sacraments 
convey to us the life and being of Christ ; cf. Paed. i. 6. This would appear 
in Dr. Bigg s references B. L. pp. 105, 106. But we may go back earlier. 
The simple account, which, earlier in the second century, Justin Martyr 
gives of the meaning of the Christian sacraments (Apol. i. 61, 65-67), 
carries conviction that Irenaeus and Tertullian are stating no new doctrine. 
We go back to the beginning of the century, to Ignatius, and we find the 
same stress on the sacraments in the earliest stage of controversy with 
Gnosticism. "The heretics," he writes (ad Smyrn. 7), "abstain from the 
Eucharist and prayer, because they confess not that the Eucharist is the 
Flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, which by His 
goodness the Father raised up. They, therefore, who speak against the gift 
of God die by their disputing." [Dr. Lightfoot would interpret this in the 
light of Tertullian s "Hoc est corpus meum : id est figura mei corporis." 
But Tertulliaii s language about the Eucharist as a whole makes it quite 
certain that he believed it to be a real gift of the Flesh and Blood of Christ, 
and not merely a figure. The sacraments are figures, symbols, types, 
signs, but they are effectual signs, they effect what they symbolize. ] The 
earliest language about baptism also is very emphatic in making it the instru 
ment of the new birth and its accompanying purification. See Hennas Vis. 
iii. 3, Sim. ix. 16, aud Barnabas Ep. n. The only early Christian writings 
which seem to take a low view of the sacraments are very Judaic, e.g. the 
(Ebionite) Clementines and the Didache, which, though not Ebionite, has 
no hold on the doctrine of the Incarnation and of the grace which flows 
from it. 

1 It is instructive to contrast in this respect Christianity with Neo- 
Platonism. Communion with God oneness with God was regarded by 
the philosophers as attainable only through intellectual self-abstraction from 
the things of sense and an ecstatic rapture possible but to a very few 
select natures. In the Church it was believed to depend upon a simple 
act, possible to the most ignorant. "Take, eat; this is My Body." "He 
that eateth My Flesh dwelleth in Me, and I in him. " 



8o Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

" Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, and 
drink His Blood, ye have no life in you." 

Aristotle represented man as self-sufficient 
not indeed as an individual, but as a member of an 
organized society, the city of Greek civilization. If 
he needed to come into contact with God, that was 
rather at the circumference of his life and as the 
remote goal of its highest efforts. Christianity, on 
the contrary, represents man as fundamentally and 
from the first dependent upon God. It proclaims 
that man s initial step of true progress is to know his 
utter, his complete dependence, that the essence 
and secret of all sin is his claim to be independent, 
to be sufficient for himself. Thus Christ, when He 
came to restore men to their true selves and to God, 
did all that was necessary to emphasize that their 
restoration must be by the communication of a gift 
from outside, which they had not and could not have 
of themselves. This is the essential message of Chris 
tianity, and is what differentiates its whole moral 
scheme from its very foundations. But in the second 
part of the Aristotelian position Christianity recog 
nises a divine truth, of which man had never lost his 
hold : man still must realize his true being in a 
society, the city of God. Only in the divine house 
hold of the Church can he be fed with his necessary 
portion, the bread of life. 

1 F. W. Robertson (Sermons, 2d series, pp. 55, 56) attempts to make 
baptism merely an announcement of what is, instead of a creative or re-creative 
act : but this is to do violence to the whole body of Scriptural and ecclesias 
tical language. The Church is the new creation, and the sacraments are 
practica or efficacia signa. 



ii.] Apostolic Succession. 81 

Yet if it be important to impress upon men s minds, 
permanently and persistently, as a part of a catholic 
system, their dependence upon gifts bestowed from 
outside, it must be admitted that there is no way of 
making, the impression more effective than by the 
institution in the Christian household of a steward 
ship, which should represent God, the giver, dis 
tributing to the members of the divine family their 
portion of meat in due season ; and it is quite essential 
that such stewards should receive their authorization 
by a commission which makes them the repre 
sentatives of God the giver, and not of men the 
receivers. " It is the doctrine of the ministerial suc 
cession by commission from the Apostles, which makes, 
and which alone makes, this required provision for 
representing to us, along with the matter of the 
revelation, and as needful to its due reception, 
this lively idea of its origin." * 

(iii) The apostolic succession seems to corre- ( Ui ) f meet- 

\ " ing the moral 

spond, as nothing else does, to the moral needs of the ?h e 
ministers of Christ s Church. 2 " How shall they 
preach," said St. Paul, " except they be sent ? " He 
himself had been sent by an immediate mission from 
Christ as direct, as visible (so he believed) as that 
which empowered the other Apostles. When he 
exhorts Timothy to make " full proof of his ministry," 
it is by recalling his mind to an actual external com 
mission received, with its actual and accompanying 
gift. " There is not in the world," says Bishop Taylor, 

1 Gladstone Church Principles p. 208. 

2 See Dr. Liddon s sermon The Moral Value of a Mission from Christ. 

F 



82 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

" a greater presumption than that any should think 
to convey a gift of God, unless by God he be 
appointed to do it." 1 Such appointment or com 
mission, to be valid, must be of an authority not 
unquestioned, indeed, for St. Paul s was questioned, 
but not justly open to question, as representative 
of Christ. Men are needed for Christ s ministry 
who have ready wills and clear convictions, men, 
that is, with a sense of vocation ; but they must be 
also men of humility, distrustful of their own impulses 
and powers, like the prophets of old. The very thing 
that such men need is the open and external com 
mission to support the internal sense of vocation 
through all the fiery trials of failure and disappoint 
ment, of weariness and weakness, to which it will 
be subjected nay, to be its substitute when God s 
inward voice seems even withdrawn maintaining in 
the man the simple conviction that, as a matter of 
fact, a dispensation has been committed to him. 

The idea of the apostolic succession is, then, we 
may claim, in natural harmony both with the moral 
needs of men and with the idea of the Church. Such 
a succession of ministers would serve, as nothing else 
could serve, both as a link of continuity in the society, 
and as an institution calculated to represent to men s 
imaginations the dependence of the Christian life 
upon God s gifts, and as a means for supplying a satis 
fying commission to those called to share the ministry, 
nntitis On the other hand, objections are raised against it 

objected to J 

*JS tol which may best be considered before we approach 

t rounds : 

1 Ductor Dubitant. in his Works [ed. 1822] xiv. p. 26. 



II.] Apostolic Succession. 83 

the discussion of the historical evidence, especially 
as the consideration of them will serve to put 
more clearly before our minds what the exact concep 
tion is which is to be subjected to the test of history. 
The most important of them may be summarized 
under five heads : 

(1) the doctrine of the apostolic succession is 

sacerdotal : 

(2) it postulates what is so incredible that bad 

or unspiritual men can impart spiritual gifts 
to others : 

(3) it is incompatible with the true ideal of liberty : 

(4) the chances against its having been actually 

preserved are overwhelming : 

(5) it is exclusive in such a sense as to be fatal to 

its claim. 
(1) The doctrine of the apostolic succession is or it is 

sacerdoUL 

sacerdotal. This we admit in one sense and deny in 
another. It is necessary for us in fact to draw a dis 
tinction between what we regard as legitimate and 
what as illegitimate sacerdotalism. 1 For the term is 
associated historically with much that is worst, as well 
as much that is best, in human character. Priesthood 
has been greatly abused. But must not the same be 
said of liberty or of State authority ? Must not it be 
said of religion itself, in common with all the greatest 
and most ennobling truths ? What would become of 
us if we should agree to abandon every idea and 

1 Dr. Liddon University Sermons, 2nd series, p. 191 : "A formidable 
word, harmless in itself, but surrounded with very invidious associations." 
See the whole passage. 



84 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

institution which has become corrupt, or been exagger 
ated, or made to minister to ambition and worldli- 
ness ? Life would be a barren thing indeed ! There 
is surely no better task for the wise man than to set 
himself to vindicate the truths which lie behind per 
sistent and popular errors and abuses to the reality 
and power of which, indeed, the very popularity and 
persistence of the abuses bear witness. 
The minis- The chief of the ideas commonly associated with 

terial priest- 

everSsn ot sacerdotalism, which it is important to repudiate, is 
that of a vicarious priesthood. 1 It is contrary to the 
true spirit of the Christian religion to introduce the 
notion of a class inside the Church who are in a closer 
spiritual relationship to God than their fellows. " If 
a monk falls," says St. Jerome, " a priest shall pray for 
him ; but who shall pray for a priest who has fallen?" 
Such an expression, construed literally, would imply 
a closer relation to God in the priest than in the 
consecrated layman, and such a conception is beyond 
a doubt alien to the spirit of Christianity. There 
is " no sacrificial tribe or class between God and 
man." " Each individual member [of the Christian 
body] holds personal communion with the Divine 
Head." 2 The difference between clergy and laity 
" is not a difference in kind" 3 but in function. Thus 
the completest freedom of access to God in prayer 
and intercession, the closest personal relation to Him, 
belongs to all. So far as there is gradation in the 

1 See Maurice Kingdom of Christ ii. p. 216. 

- Dr. Lightfoot Dissert, on the Christian Ministry p. 181. 

3 Liddon I.e. p. 198. 



IL] Apostolic Succession. 85 

efficacy of prayers, it is the result not of official 
position but of growing sanctity and strengthening 
faith. It is an abuse of the sacerdotal conception, 
if it is supposed that the priesthood exists to cele 
brate sacrifices or acts of worship in the place of the 
body of the people or as their substitute. This con 
ception had, no doubt, attached itself to the massing 
priests of the Middle Ages. The priest had come to 
be regarded as an individual who held, in virtue of 
his ordination, the prerogative of offering sacrifices 
which could win God s gifts. Thus spiritual advan 
tages could be secured for the living and the dead by 
paying him to say a mass, and greater advantages by 
a greater number of masses. Now this distorted sort 
of conception is one which the religious indolence of 
most men, in co-operation with the ambition for 
power in spiritual persons, is always tending to 
make possible. It is not only possible to believe 
in a vicarious priesthood of sacrifice, but also in 
a vicarious office of preaching, which releases the 
laity from the obligation to make efforts of spiritual 
apprehension on their own account. But in either 
case the conception is an unchristian one. The 
ministry is no more one of vicarious action than 
it is one of exclusive knowledge or exclusive spiritual 

relation to God. What is the truth then ? It is that but repre 
sentative ; 

the Church is one body : the free approach to God in 
the Sonship and Priesthood of Christ belongs to men 
as members of one body, and this one body has 
different organs through which the functions of its life 
find expression, as it was differentiated by the act 



86 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

and appointment of Him who created it. The recep 
tion, for instance, of Eucharistic grace, the approach 
to God in Eucharistic sacrifice, are functions of the 
whole body. " We bless the cup of blessing," "we 
break the bread," says St. Paul, speaking for the 
community : "we offer," " we present," is the language 
of the liturgies. 1 But the ministry is the organ the 
necessary organ of these functions. It is the hand 
which offers and distributes ; it is the voice which 
consecrates and pleads. And the whole body can 
no more dispense with its services than the natural 
body can grasp or speak without the instrumentality 
of hand and tongue. Thus the ministry is the instru 
ment as well as the symbol of the Church s unity, 
and no man can share her fellowship except in accept 
ance of its offices. 

1 i Cor. x. 16. It is remarkable that Hugh of St. Victor (Summ. Sen tent. 
tract, vi. c. 9, quoted by Morinus de Sacr. Ord. p. iii. ex. v. 1.4) gives as the 
current reason for denying that heretics or schismatics could consecrate the 
Eucharist the fact that in the Eucharist the priest speaks for the whole 
Church : " Aliis videtur quod nee excommunicati nee manifesto haeretici con- 
ficiunt [corpus Christi]. Nullus enim in ipsa consecratione dicit offero, sed 
offerimus, ex persona totius ecclesiae. Cum autem alia sacramenta extra 
ecclesiam possint fieri, haec nunquam extra, et istis magis videtur assenti- 
endum." The idea of the representative character of the priesthood in 
the ministry of the eucharistic sacrifice finds beautiful expression in the 
prayers (ascribed traditionally to St. Ambrose) which are used in the West as 
a Preparatio ad Missam: " Profero etiam," the celebrant prays, "(sidigneris 
propitius intueri) tribulationes plebium, pericula populorum, captivorum 
gemitus, miserias orphanorum, necessitates peregrinorum, inopiam debilium, 
desperationes languentium, defectus senum, suspiria iuvenum, vota virginum, 
lamenta viduarum. " He is the mouthpiece of the needs of all sorts and 
conditions of men. As the necessary mouthpiece for the expression of 
these needs in the eucharistic celebration, the representative priest is in 
a certain sense a go-between, a mediator. Thus this same prayer has earlier 
these words: "quoniam me peccatorem inter te et eundem populum tuum 
medium esse voluisti, licet in me aliquodboni operis testimonium non agnos- 
cas, officium saltern dispensationis creditae non recuses, nee per me indignum 
eorum salutis pereat pretium, pro quibtis victima salutaris dignatus es esse et 
redemptio. " 



II.] Apostolic Succession. 87 

Why is this conception unreasonable ? The people on the 

analogy of 

of Israel of old were " a kingdom of priests, and anJJ^jj^ 
holy nation " (Exod. xix. 6). But that priestliness 
which inhered in the race had its expression in the 
divinely ordained ministry of the Aaronic priesthood. 1 
The Christian Church is in an infinitely higher sense 
" a royal priesthood, a holy nation." : But why should 
that priesthood exclude, and not rather involve, a it is not 

inconsistent 

ministry through which it finds official and formal ex- ^^ e 
pression and that not by mere expediential arrange- L 
rnent, but by divine ordering ? 3 Take the notion 
of the general priesthood of all Christians as it finds 
expression, for example, in Justin Martyr in the 
earlier part of the second century. 4 

" Just," he says, " as that Joshua, who is called by p taught 

f by Justin, 

the prophet (Zech. iii. 1) a priest, was seen wearing 
filthy garments . . . and was called a brand plucked out 
of the burning because he received remission of sins, the 
devil also, his adversary, receiving rebuke, so we, who 
through the name of Jesus have believed as one man 

1 It is maintained without any adequate ground (Diet. Bible s. v. PRIEST 
HOOD) that the Levitical priesthood was the substitute in a sense for the 
general priesthood, instead of its expression that the special priesthood 
was appointed because the people refused to realize the priesthood which 
belonged to them all so that it was in this sense a pis aller, a 5ei/re/>os TrXoPs. 
There is no evidence for this. The same chapter which recognises the general, 
recognises also a special priesthood (? of the first-born), Exod. xix. 22-24. 

- /3a<Ti\eioi> lepdrev/jia, I Pet. ii. 9. pacriXeia, tepe?s T$ Of$, Rev. i. 6. St. 
Peter is quoting and St. John referring to the words in Exodus. 

3 I do not wish to press the argument too far. Single Christians are often 
spoken of as priests, and not merely as belonging to a priestly race. This 
is natural enough. For undoubtedly all Christians have an individual union 
with God and freedom of approach to God, which (so to speak) individualizes 
that in them which can be rightly called priesthood. I only use the argument 
to prove this that a ministerial priesthood is in no contradictory relation to 
a general priesthood. 

4 Dial. c. Tryph. 116, 117. 



88 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

in God, the Maker of all, have been stripped through 
the name of His First-begotten Son of the filthy gar 
ments of our sins ; and being set on fire by the word 
of his calling are the genuine high-priestly race of 
God, as God beareth witness Himself, saying that 
in every place amongst the Gentiles men are offer 
ing sacrifices acceptable to Him and pure, and God 
receives from no man sacrifices, except through His 
priests. So, then, of all the sacrifices through this 
name, which Jesus the Christ delivered to be made, 
that is (the sacrifices) at the Eucharist of the bread 
and of the cup, which in every place of the earth are 
made by the Christians, God by anticipation beareth 
witness that they are acceptable to Him." 

Here is indeed a vivid consciousness of the priest 
hood, which belongs to the Church as a whole 1 but 
finds expression in a great ceremonial action the 
Eucharist an action which belongs not to the in 
dividual but to the whole body, and is celebrated by 
the " president of the brethren." : How, then, is this 
priesthood interfered with, if we should find reason to 
believe that Christ Himself ordained ministers of this 
mystical action such as did actually exist in Justin 

1 It should be noticed that the idea of priesthood always seems to involve 
that of approach to God on behalf of others. The Christians are high 
priests on behalf of the world. They are the "soul of the world" (Ep. 
ad Diognet. 6). They can plead effectually, so the apologists urged, for the 
empire and mankind (Tertull. Apol. 30). This function of the Church St. 
Paul presses on St. Timothy. The Church is not to confine her intercessions 
to her own body "I exhort that prayer, etc. be made for all men," "for 
God will have all men to be saved ; " " He is the Saviour of all men," though 
"specially of them that believe" (i Tim. ii. 1-4 ; iv. 10). 

2 irpoff<t>tpTa.t rip TrpoeffTuiTL TWV d8e\<f>wv &pros xal Tror-fipiov (Apol. i. 65). He 
offers the prayer and Eucharist, and the people say Amen. This president 
is no doubt the bishop. So Harnack (Expositor, May 1887, p. 336). 



ii.] Apostolic Succession 89 

Martyr s days to be the mouthpieces of the Church 
in its celebration ? 

No one, again, is more identified than Irenaeus irenaeu*, 
with the principle of the apostolic succession. He 
regards it undoubtedly as of the essence of the Church. 
Her mark, her character, is " according to the suc 
cessions of the bishops." 1 Yet he does not hesitate to 
say that in some sense " every just man is of the 
priestly order," and " all the disciples of the Lord are 
priests and Levites " that is, they have the freedom 
of the old priesthood, not its ministry. 2 If it be said 
that Irenaeus is admittedly unsacerdotal/ that is, 
that he does not apply the term priesthood to the 
Christian ministry, 3 it may be pointed out, further, 
that writers, who confessedly are sacerdotal in their and late 

writers. 

conception of the ministry, still continue down into 
the Middle Ages to speak also without hesitation of 
the general priesthood. 4 For the official hierarchy 

1 iv. 33. 8 : " character corporis Christ! secundum siiccessiones episco- 
porum. " 

2 iv. 8. 5 and v. 34. 3 ; see Lightfoot Dissert, p. 252. The point in both 
passages is that our Lord in justifying the conduct of His disciples when they 
broke the Sabbath (St. Matt. xii. 1-5) claimed for them and for David in 
virtue of their righteousness the freedom of priests, who profane the 
Sabbath and are blameless. Again, inasmuch as, like the Levites, our 
Lord s disciples had no inheritance, they could, like the Levites, claim 
support. Thus " they were allowed when hungry to take food of the grains." 
In both cases the priesthood which belongs to good men or disciples lies in a 
certain freedom, not in any power of ministry. 

3 See further in chap. iii. I have endeavoured there to point out that the 
idea of a gradual growth in sacerdotalism in the early Church hardly corre 
sponds to the facts. There is a change rather in language than in principle. 

4 Thus Origen (for whose admittedly sacerdotal view of the ministry see 
further in chap, iii.) in some passages " takes spiritual enlightenment and not 
sacerdotal office to be the Christian counterpart to the Aaronic priesthood " 
(Lightfoot Dissert, p. 255); cf. in loann. i. 3: "Those who are devoted to 
the divine word, and are dedicated sincerely to the sole worship of God, 
may not unreasonably be called priests and Levites according to the differ- 



go Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

offered no bar to its recognition, provided that the 
general priesthood was not supposed by those church- 

ence in this respect of their impulses tending thereto. . . . Those that excel 
the men of their own generation perchance will be high-priests " (Light- 
foot s trans. ); see also in Lev. iv. 6, vi. 5, ix. i, 8, xiii. 5. He uses such 
language, however, with qualifications " secundum moralem locum, " " secun- 
dum spiritalem intelligentiam, " (in Lev. i. 5, ii. 4, ix. 6, xv. 3) i.e. he 
draws a distinction between the moral and ministerial sense of priesthood ; 
see Dr. Bigg s note, B. L. p. 215 note 1 . He adds that "in Num. ii. i 
. . . priests, virgins, ascetics are said to be in professione religionis. 
in Ie*u Nave xvii. 2 shows that there was a strong tendency in Origen s 
mind to restrict the language concerning the priesthood of the Christian to 
those religious. " So also among the scholia on the Apocalypse ascribed to 
Victorinus of Petau (but not by him in their present form) occurs the fol 
lowing on c. xx : " Qui enim virginitatis integrum servaverit propositum et 
decalogi fideliter praecepta impleverit . . . iste vere sacerdos est Christ! et 
millenarium numerum perficiens integre creditur regnare cum Christo et apud 
eum recte ligatus est diabolus." 

For a recognition of the general priesthood among later sacerdotal 
writers, cf. Leo the Great Serm. iii. i: "ut in populo adoptionis Dei, 
cuius universitas sacerdotalis atque regalis est, non praerogativa 
terrenae originis obtineat unctionem, sed dignatio caelestis gratiae gignat 
antistitem." Serm. iv. i: " In imitate igitur fidei atque baptismatis indis- 
creta nobis societas et generalis est dignitas, secundum illud beatis- 
simi Petri. . . . Vos autem genus electum, regale sacerdotium." August. 
de Civ. Dei xvii. 5. 5: "Sacerdotium quippe hie ipsam plebem dicit, 
cuius plebis ille sacerdos est mediator Dei et hominum homo Christus lesus. " 
Quaest. Evan;/, ii. 40. 3 : " Sacerdotium vero ludaeorum nemo fere fidelium 
dubitat figurain fuisse futuri sacerdotii regalis, quod est in ecclesia, 
quo consecrantur omnes pertinentes ad corpus Christi summi et 
veri principis sacerdotum. Nam nunc et omnes unguuntur quod tune regibus 
tantum et sacerdotibus fiebat, . . . ipsi nondum accepto baptismatis sacra- 
mento nondum spiritaliter ad sacerdotes pervenerant. " See the same idea in 
a collect of the Gelasian Sacramentary (Bright Ancient Collects p. 99). Hence 
we get a priesthood ascribed, as by St. Irenaeus, to each Christian (though 
of course as a member of the one body) in virtue of baptism and unction. St. 
Jerome (adv. Lucifer. 4) writes : "sacerdotium laici id est baptisma." 
So Isidore of Seville (de Ecd. Off. ii. 25) writes : "Postquam Dominus noster 
verus rex et sacerdos aeternus, a Deo Patre caelesti mystico unguento est 
delibutus, iam non soli pontifices et reges sed omnis ecclesia unctione 
chrismatis consecratur, pro eo quod membrum est aeterni sacerdotis 
et regis. Ergo quia genus regale et sacerdotale sumus, ideo post lavacrum 
ungimur, ut Christi nomine censeamur. " Cf . Alcuin [Albinus Flaccus] Ep. 
ad Oduinum, ap. Hittorp. de Div. Cath. Ecd. Offic. [Colon. 1568] p. 100 : 
" Sacro chrismate caput pungitur . . . ut intelligat se diadema regni et 
sacerdotii dignitatem portaturum. " Rabanus Maurus de Inst. Cler. i. 29, 
ap. Hittorp. p. 322 ; Walafrid Strabo de Reb. Ecd. 16, ap. Hittorp. p. 401 of 
the common pi iesthood of all in the Eucharist, the generate sacerdotium ; 



ii.] Apostolic Succession. 91 

men who recognised it (as in fact it was not) to carry 
with it the power of ministry. It may be worth 
while to quote a passage which seems to push to its 
extremest point the right of the priesthood, which is 
common to all in virtue of their baptism and confir 
mation. 

" From that day and that hour in which thou 
earnest out of the font thou art become to thyself a 
continual fountain, a daily remission. Thou hast no 
need of a doctor, or of the priest s right hand. As 
soon as thou descendedst from the sacred font thou 
wast clothed in a white robe and anointed with the 
mystic ointment ; the invocation was made over thee, 
and the threefold power came upon thee, which filled 
the new vessel (that thou wert) with this new doc 
trine. Thenceforth it made thee a judge and arbiter 
to thyself; it gave thee knowledge to be able of thy 
self to learn good and evil to discern, that is, between 
merit and sin. And because thou couldest not, whilst 
thou art in the body, remain free from sin, it placed 
thy remedy after baptism in thyself, it placed re 
mission in thine own judgment, that thou shouldest 
not, if necessity was urgent, seek a priest ; but thyself, 

Ivo Carnot. ap. Hittorp. p. 469. St. Thomas Aquinas Sum. iii. q. 82. art. r : 
"laicus iustus unitus est Christo unione spiritali per fidem et charitatein 
non autem per sacramentalem potestatem : et ideo habet spiritale sacer- 
dotium ad offerendum spiritales hostias." 

The consideration of such passages as these will serve to show that sacer 
dotalism is not incompatible with an even zealous recognition of a lay priest 
hood. The only form of expression which seems to have passed away was that 
by which all Christians were called in some sense priests and Levites, and even 
"high-priests" (Origen). But th^y were not so called, either by Origen or 
Irenacus, in any sense which suggests ministerial powers. The point of 
comparison lies in nearness to God and constant service (Origen), or in a 
certain sort of freedom and privilege (Irenaeus). 



92 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

as a cunning and clear-sighted master, migiitest 
correct thine error within thee and wash away thy 
sin in penitence, and so hardness might cease, despair 
be over, apathy at an end. The fountain never fails ; 
the water is within, the washing is in thine own judg 
ment, sanctification is in activity, remission in the 
dew of tears." 1 

Such language sounds unsacerdotal, but it comes 
out of the sacerdotal Church of the West in the sixth 
century, as it would seem. It could have been used in 
any age previous to the time when confession was 
made compulsory. But the writer of these words would 
not have dreamt of admitting that this freedom of the 
Gospel belonged to a man, except as a member of the 
Church, baptized and anointed and a communicant, 
and therefore dependent on the ministry of her clergy. 

Thus the principle of the ministry must not be 
assailed either on the ground that it " interposes a 
sacerdotal caste between the soul and God," or on the 
ground that it connives at the spiritual indolence of 
men, by offering them official substitutes to do their 
religion at second hand. 2 

1 S. Laurentii Horn, i de Poenit. in BiU. Max. Vet. Pair. ix. p. 466 h. This 
and the following sermon of Laurentius (probably of Novera, c. A.D. 507 ; see 
Diet. Chr. Biog., s. v. LAURENTIUS (15) surnamed Mellifiuus) are full of 
the thought of various activities of the will as opening the way of restoration 
from sin and making despair foolish : " Homo, noli dimdere : res in promptu 
est, vita in manu est : virtus in voluntate est : victoria in arbitrio est : si 
voluisti, vicisti" (I.e. pp. 468-9). The activity emphasized is sometimes 
penitence and tears ; sometimes almsgiving, "aqua et ablutio et remissio in 
eleemosyna largientis est"(ib.); sometimes fasting (p. 474 g). These avail 
against any abundance of sins. 

2 A word must be said to vindicate the true sacerdotalism from interfering 
with the unique Priesthood or High-Priesthood of Christ. Surely the 
representatives of a king do not interfere with his monarchy, and a Christian 



ii.] Apostolic Succession. 93 

The ministerial principle, then,- the sacerdotalism me true 
which cannot be disparaged or repudiated means just 
this : that Christianity is the life of an organized 
society in which a graduated body of ordained minis 
ters is made the instrument of unity. The religious 
life, so far as it concerns the relations of man to God, 
has two aspects. It is first an approach of man to 
God. And in this relation each Christian has in his 
own personal life a perfect freedom of access. But he 
has this because he belongs to the one body, and this 
one body has its central act of approach to God in the 
great memorial oblation of the Death of Christ. Here 
it approaches in due and consecrated order ; all are 
offerers, but they offer through one who is empowered 
to this high charge, to offer the gifts for God s 
acceptance and the consecration of His Spirit. In 
the second place, religion is a gift of God to man a 
gift of Himself. What man receives in Christ is the 
very life of God. Here again, each Christian receives 
the gift as an endowment of his own personal life ; his 



minister is in a relation to Christ infinitely more dependent than that of any 
representative of an absent king to him who sends him. If we were con 
sistent, such a notion of the jealousy of Christ as militates against a 
ministerial priesthood would make us fifth-monarchy men, because kings 
as much interfere with His unique Kingship as ministers do with His Ministry. 
Nor is it very consistent to accuse the ministerial priesthood at once of inter 
fering with the incommunicable Priesthood of Christ and also with the 
priesthood which He has communicated to all His members. The Church 
indeed must have a priesthood, not although Christ has one, but because He 
has. What He is, the Church is in Him. All He is in His Human Nature, 
the Church is ; in Him the Church has a priesthood therefore, because Christ 
is High Priest. The only question is as to the distribution of functions in 
the Church, and whether Christ has willed to delegate a special sort of 
authority to a special class of men to be exercised in His name for the good 
of the whole body and this is a question of evidence, with which we are 
not here dealing. 



94 Christian Ministry. LCHAP. 

whole life may become a life of grace, a life of drink 
ing in the Divine Spirit, of eating the Flesh of Christ, 
and drinking His Blood. But the individual life 
can receive this fellowship with God only through 
membership in the one body and by dependence upon 
social sacraments of regeneration, of confirmation, of 
communion, of absolution, of which ordained mini 
sters are the appointed instruments. A fundamental 
principle of Christianity is that of social dependence. 

In all departments of life we are dependent one on 
another. There is a priesthood of science minister 
ing the mysteries of nature, exercising a very real 
authority and claiming, very justly, a large measure 
of deference. There is a priesthood of art, ministering 
and interpreting to men that beauty which is one of 
the modes of God s revelation of Himself in mate 
rial forms. There is a priesthood of political influ 
ence, and that not exercised at will, but organized 

* o 

and made authoritative in offices of state. 1 There is a 
natural priesthood of spiritual influence belonging 
(whether they will it or not) to men of spiritual power. 
It is to this natural priesthood that God offers the 
support of a visible authoritative commission in sacred 
things to feed His sheep. The Christian ministry 
is at once, under normal circumstances, God s provi- 

1 "If it be granted, as it well maybe, that proper qualifications are a 
hundredfold more requisite for the Christian ministry than for any other 
office, this would not remove nor lessen the obligation not to dispense with a 
divine commission, supposing it to have been granted and still attainable, 
any more than the highest legal knowledge or perfect integrity of character 
would dispense with the necessity of a commission from the source of 
temporal power to render the decisions of a magistrate of state binding and 
effectual " (Denton Grace of the Ministry p. 23). 



II."] Apostolic Succession. 95 

sion to strengthen the hands of the spiritual men, the 
natural guides of souls, by giving them the support 
which comes of the consciousness of an irreversible 
and authoritative commission : and it is also God s 
provision for days when prophets are few or want 
ing, that even then there may be the bread of life 
ministered to hungering souls, and at least the simple 
proclamation of the revealed truth, so that even then 
* men s eyes may see their teachers. 

(2) But it will be said : Such a doctrine would be( 2 > Unspint. 

v ual men 

credible enough if the priests of the Gospel had been, ^pa?t 
or were at present, in the main men of spiritual gifts.-" 
power, or even universally good men. But how is it 
conceivable that men of evil or utterly unspiritual 
lives, such as too many of the clergy have been, can 
be God s instruments to impart His spiritual gifts to 
others ? Surely spiritual gifts must come from 
spiritual persons. 

Church history records how strongly this obiec- But we are 

f o > forced to 

tion has often appealed to men, but it is one which ^twefn sh 
rather admits of being strongly felt than consistently and office 
argued. It would have of course much more force if 
it were possible reasonably to deny that, on the whole, 
in Christian history spiritual office and spiritual char 
acter have tended to converge ; that, on the whole, the 
ministry has been a spiritualizing force in society. 
As it is, it may be briefly met with a threefold 
answer. First, we reply, with Pope Stephen and 
St. Augustin of old, 1 that the unworthiness of the 

1 See Diet. Chr. Biog. s.v. CYPRIAN i. p. 752. Of course the force of this 
argument depends on the recognition that there are such things as Scicra- 



96 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

ministers hinders not the grace of the sacrament, 
because the Holy Spirit, and not they, is the giver of 
the grace ; they neither give it being nor add force 
to it. Secondly and so far as the argument relates 
to the intention of Christ in founding His Church 
we reply that He clearly recognised that moral un- 
worthiness does not interfere with official authority. 
The Scribes and Pharisees who sat in Moses seat 
who held, that is, the succession from Moses were to 
be obeyed, even where they were least to be imitated ; 
and all the twelve had equally the authority and 
powers of the apostolate, though one of them was 
a devil. Thirdly, we reply that the possibility of 
ministers unworthy of their office is involved in the 
very idea of a visible society in which good and bad 
are to be mixed together. There is really no more 
difficulty in believing that bad men can share the 
functions of the ministerial priesthood than that 
bad men share the priesthood which belongs to all 
Christians and which differs from the other, as has 
been said, not in kind but in application and 
degree. Yet the whole method of appeal used by the 
apostolic writers to unworthy Christians, is to address 
them not as men who lack the prerogatives and 
spiritual powers of the Christian life, but as men who 
do not walk worthily of the vocation with which 
they were called. There is really again no more 
difficulty in recognising in a bad priest a steward of 

mental channels of grace. The personal defects of the minister gain a wholly 
new importance in religious bodies where sacraments, creeds, and liturgies 
are unrecognised, i.e. where all his usefulness depends on his personal char 
acter and capacities. 



II.] Apostolic Succession. 97 

divine mysteries than in a bad magistrate a steward 
of the divine justice, a minister of God for good. 1 
" There is this difference," says an old writer, 2 " be 
twixt the ecclesiastical ministers or magistrates and 
ministers or magistrates of state ; if these offend, the 
whole world can distinguish between their persons 
and their functions ; no disparagement falleth upon 
any but the offenders. But if ecclesiastical persons 
become obnoxious, then they confound their persons 
and their functions, and transfer the shame of the 
faults of some even upon all, yea upon the whole order 
itself." 

(3) Now we approach another objection: The (3) it is 

inconsistent 

apostolical succession is associated with bygone ideas m odern e ideai 
of authority, with the divine right of kings, and a 
state of society which is gone for ever ; it is incom 
patible with the true ideal of liberty. 

It is astonishing how frequently, and from what But the. 

Church is 



. . . 

opposite quarters, we meet with the identification of j 1 ^* 



Christianity with that phase of Christianity which is mediaeval 

* * m absolutism, 

characteristic of the Middle Ages. At that period 
we become witnesses of a process which is at least of 
absorbing interest. The untamed, undisciplined races 
which formed the material of modern nations are sub 
jected to the yoke of the Church (mostly at the will 
of kings or chiefs), as to an external law which is 
to train, mould, restrain them. The one need of such 
an age is authority, discipline, rule. The Church 
becomes largely a schoolmaster to bring men to 

1 Eom. xiii. 3-6. 

2 Isidore of Pelusium Epist. ii. 52 (paraphrased by Hickes Dignity ofEpiac. 
Order in his Treatises [Oxon. 1847] " P- 288). 

G 



98 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

Christ a law preparing for a Gospel. She has, 
under these circumstances, to do with children in 
mind. The one faculty which is in full exercise is 
faith, in the form of a great readiness to accept 
revelations of the supernatural world and to respect 
their ministers the sort of faith which wants nothing 
but dogmatic clearness and a sufficiently firm voice of 
authority. 1 Christianity thus becomes, by a one-sided 
development, a great imperial and hierarchical system. 
Such a state of things is not permanent. Men s 
faculties develop into free exercise, and constitute 
their separate departments according to an inevitable 
law, as knowledge grows and life becomes more com 
plex. Other natural priesthoods arise in art, in 
science, in medicine, in politics, in trade, in law 
and become the successful rivals, in their own spheres, 
of the spiritual hierarchy. The Church, to all ap 
pearance, suffers loss, though in regions which were 
not properly her own at all, at least in such sense as 
to justify her in dictating terms to the pioneers in 
each on their own subject-matter. Thus the area in 
which religious authority speaks and faith accepts 
becomes limited. More than this : authority itself 
tends to change its character ; it ceases to be absolute 
in religion no less than in politics ; and this change 
affects the Church, not only as a dogmatic authority, 
but as a government. It affects her hierarchical 

1 The saintly writers, like St. Bernard, who lived in these vaunted ages 
of faith, do not suggest a too favourable view of them. They help us to 
see that an unspiritual credulity, such as characterized those times, is no 
nearer Christian faith, in its full sense, than a good deal of modern scep 
ticism. 



IT.] Apostolic Succession. 99 

system. Mere imperialism will no longer suffice, at 
least for the most vigorous or intelligent races, in the 
Church, any more than in the State. Democracy, the 
representative system, is in the air as much as free 
inquiry and has to be reckoned with. 

But in politics this transition does not mean a and true 

liberty is 

repudiation of the principle of authority. " What ESLn 
the world thirsts for at present," said Joseph Mazzini, authority. 
who was surely no friend to despotism, " is autho 
rity." 1 What has come about is a change in the con 
ditions of authority, in the character which it must 
assume. This holds true in the Church also ; there, 
too, authority must cease to be absolutism and faith 
mere acceptance. Authority, however, is not less real 
because it is limited, or faith less zealous because it is 
rational and inquiring. 2 But then it is said : You are 
really abandoning the principle ; you are only trying 
to cloak your surrender by keeping a name, emptied 
of its power. The authority of a Church or hierarchy 
really ceases when it cannot dictate its own terms, 
when it has to submit to criticism. To this objection 
there seems to be a complete answer, and one which 

1 See his Thoughts upon Democracy in Europe, cf. " On the Duties of Man," 
chap, viii : " Liberty is not the negation of all authority : it is the negation of 
every authority which fails to represent the Collective Aim of the nation." 

2 " Is a limited, conditional government in the State such a wise, excellent, 
and glorious constitution ? And is the same authority in the Church such 
absurdity, nonsense, and nothing at all, as to any actual power ? If there be 
such a thing as obedience upon rational motives, there must be such a thing 
as authority that is not absolute, or that does not require a blind, implicit 
obedience. Indeed, rational creatures can obey no other authority; they 
must have reasons for what they do. And yet because the Church claims 
only this rational obedience, your Lordship explodes such authority as none 
at all" (Law s First Letter to the Bishop nf Banyor in his Works [ed. 1762] 
i. pp. 30, 31). 



ioo Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

needs to be forced on the consideration of men. 
Christianity did not come into existence in the West 
or just in time for the Middle Ages. Christianity 
spread in a Greek world in a society of the most 
developed sort, containing all the elements of intellec 
tual development in free activity. If we want to 
know the original character of Christian authority and 
Christian faith, we should study Greek church life 
from St. Paul to the fifth century, or, at any rate, 
early church life before Western Christianity took 
the peculiar colour of Romanism. 
Government We are concerned here, however, not with Chris- 

in the early . . i i i i r* 

represent^ 3 tianity as a dogma, but with the social life and 
government of the Church. In this department 
then, when we look back to the life of the early 
Christian communities, what a beautiful picture of 
freedom, of representative institutions, of the corre 
lation of rights and duties, we find for our contempla 
tion. The sacred ministry receives indeed its autho 
rity from above, and acts in God s name, as God s 
representative ; but the man who is to minister is 
the elect of the people, and is their representative 
also. Thus the Apostles ordained the first deacons, 
but the Church elected them. " Look ye out, 
brethren, from among you seven men of good report, 
whom we may appoint over this business/ So spoke 
the Apostles to the first Christians. " And the 
saying pleased the whole multitude : and they chose 
seven men : whom they set before the Apostles : and 
when they had prayed, they laid their hands upon 
them." So in the subapostolic age Clement speaks of 



n. J Apostolic Succession. 101 

the presbyter-bishops as ordained from above, 1 but 
with the, consent of the, whole Church, and in such a way 
as to suggest that, under certain circumstances, they 
were not exempt from the judgment of the Church. 
Other documents of the first age speak in the same 
way of the election of bishops by the community. 2 
Nor does this method of popular election, or control 
over election, appear only in the dim shadow of the 
subapostolic age : counteracted at all times by other 
influences, 3 it yet lasted on as the ideal of the Church 
for centuries. The emperor Alexander Severus " was 
fond of praising the careful way in which the 
Church posted the names of all whom she destined 
for the priesthood, so that any, who knew evil 
of them, might object." 4 He would have it made 
a model in the appointment of provincial governors. 
We know, again, that the bishop to be elected over 
any Church was to be thoroughly known in the 
Church one who had passed through the inferior 
grades of the ministry. " That custom is to be dili 
gently observed," says Cyprian, "as of divine tradi 
tion and apostolic observance, which is maintained 
amongst us also and almost over all provinces, that, 

1 Clem, ad Cor. 40 and 44. More will be said on this. 

2 Didache xv. I : -xfipoTOv-qtraTe odv eavrois tiruTKOTrovs Kal SLdKAvovs. Of. 
also the curious and very ancient Apost. Ch. Ordinances 16 : "If there be 
a paucity of men, and in any place there be a number less than twelve of 
those who can vote for a bishop. " 

3 As in the first period by prophetic nomination ; see Clem. Alex. Quis 
Dives 42 : " St. John would go about here to appoint bishops, . . . there to 
ordain to the clergy some one of those pointed out by the Spirit." 

4 Mason Diocletian Persecution pp. 84, and Ssn. 1 "dicebatque grave esse, 
cum id Christian! et ludaei facerent in praedicandis sacerdotibus qui ordi- 
nandi sunt, non fieri in provinciarum rectoribus quibus et fortunae hominum 
committerentur et capita " (Ael. Lampr. Alex. xlv. 7). 



IO2 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

with a view to the due celebration of ordinations, the 
neighbouring bishops of the same province should 
come together to the community for which a ruler is 
to be ordained, and the bishop should be chosen in 
the presence of the people who have complete 
knowledge of each man s life and conduct by his 
conversation among them." 1 This popular check on 
ordinations he requires no less for the presbyterate 
and the diaconate. So, again, it is regarded by Pope 
Julius as monstrous that " Gregory, a stranger to 
the city, who had not been baptized there and was 
not known to the community in general and had not 
been asked for by presbyters or bishops or people," 
should be obtruded on the Church of Alexandria, 
"whereas the ordination of a bishop ought not to 
have taken place thus lawlessly and contrary to the 
ecclesiastical canon, but he should have been ordained 
in the Church itself (over which he is to rule), out of 
the priesthood, out of the actual body of the clergy, 
and not, as now, in violation of the canons which come 
from the Apostles." 2 Again Leo the Great, the 
founder of the papacy, writes : " He who is to pre 
side over all must be elected by all." " Before a 
consecration must go the suffrages of the citizens, 
the approbation of the people, the judgment of persons 
of distinction, the choice of the clergy that the rule 
of apostolic authority may be in all respects observed, 
which enjoins that a priest to govern the Church 
should be supported not only by the approval of the 

1 Ep. Ixvii. 5 ; see Bingham Ant. ii. 10. 2. 

2 ap. Athan. Apol, c. Ar. 30. 



II.] Apostolic Succession. 103 

faithful, but also by the testimony of those without." 
" No metropolitan should we allow to ordain a priest 
(bishop) on his own judgment without the consent of 
clergy and people : the consent of the whole com 
munity must elect the president of the Church:" 
only where division makes unanimity impossible the 
metropolitan may decide the election in favour of the 
man who has the best support. "No reason can 
tolerate that persons should be held to be bishops" 
(so he says on another occasion to the African clergy) 
" who were neither chosen by the clergy, nor demanded 
by the laity, nor ordained by the provincial bishops 
with the consent of the metropolitan." 1 Quotations 
to this effect might be greatly multiplied, and from 
later sources. The Latin rites of ordination are 
framed in recognition of this representative system. 2 
This then was undoubtedly the ideal of the bishop s 
election in the early Church. 3 The bishop was to be 
really the persona of the Church he ruled. 

This, moreover, he was enabled to be in some real 
sense in virtue of the very small community over 
which he presided. Through the greater part at 
least of the Roman empire each town community had 
its bishop, and the country-bishop supplemented his 
authority in the surrounding district, first in the 
East and later in the West. The bishop of Rome 

1 Leo Epp. x. 4-6; xiii. 3 ; xiv. 5 ; clxvii. I. 

2 See App. Note C. Cf. also Bp. Woodford The Oreat Commission, 
pp. 126-132. 

3 On the extent and limits of its observance see Bingham Ant. ii. 10. 3-7 ; 
also Diet. Chr. Ant. s.v. BISHOP. Mr. Haddan, the author, remarks how 
vaguely the words suffragium testimonium iudicium consensus art 
used (i. p. 214). Vague unformulated rights are more easily overridden. 



1O4 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

was in an extraordinary position in the middle of the 
third century, because he had under him as many as 
forty-six presbyters, seven deacons, and seven sub- 
deacons, besides those of minor orders. 1 Ordinarily 
the numbers would have been very much smaller. 
Thus the bishop, according to the early ideal, was 
by no means the great prelate ; he was the pastor of 
a flock, like the vicar of a modern town, in intimate 
relations with all his people. 2 
and not Nor was he in theory absolute even within the 

absolute. 

limits of his parish or diocese. For, in the first 
place, he was himself subject to the laws which he 
administered. When St. Chrysostom is referring to 
the custom of holding the Gospel over the head of 
the bishop who is being ordained, he says that it is 
to remind him that "if he is the head of all, yet he 
acts under these laws (of the Gospel), ruling all and 
ruled by the law, ordering all and himself ordered :" 
it is a symbol of the fact that he is " under authority." 3 
At first indeed this authority had no visible sanction; 
St. Cyprian claims repeatedly for the bishop that he 
is " responsible to none but God." Later it came to 
be embodied in provincial and ecumenical councils. 
Secondly, within his own diocese he shared his rule 
with others. No doubt his power was not subject to 
formal limitations ; but round him there was the 
council of his presbyters, "the Church s senate;" 4 
and St. Cyprian tells us that he made it a fixed rule 

1 Euseb. H.E. vi. 43. 

2 The facts are well known: see Bingham Ant. ii. 12, Hatch B.L. lect. 
viii. The principle is exemplified in the Apost. Ch. Ordinances 16. 

3 Bingham Ant. ii. n. 8. 4 Bingham Ant. ii. 19. 7. 



IL] Apostolic Succession. 105 

from his consecration " to do nothing on his own 
private judgment, but everything with the counsel of 
his clergy and the consent of his laity." * The whole 
conception indeed of the diocesan synod was the basis 
of a great representative system which culminated at 
last in the ecumenical council. 2 Thus the ideal of 
church government in early days was not at all 
absolute. If the guilds of the Roman empire repre 
sented, as they did, the elements of free life and 
spontaneous movement through all the classes of 
non-Christian society down to the lowest, the prin 
ciple of liberty and spontaneity was at least as pro 
minent and real in the supernatural society of the 
Church. It was by no means necessarily an im 
perialist institution, though its officers were of divine 
authority and apostolic descent. 

But the effect of establishment in the East was 
to tend to assimilate the Church to the empire inP erialism - 
ideas and methods no less than in gradation of digni 
ties. In the West the essentially imperialist temper 
of Home moulded the institutions of Christendom, and 
gave them a new direction and new characteristics. 
Thus in the fifth century Socrates remarks that "the 
episcopate of the Romans, like that of the Alexan 
drians, had already for some time advanced beyond 
the limits proper to the priesthood to the point of 
despotism." 3 So it was that episcopacy passed into 

1 Ep. xiv. 4. See other references in Bingham Ant. ii. 19. 7, 8. 

" Cf. art. CYPRIAN in Diet. Chr. Biog. i. p. 753 : "the assembly repre 
sentative : each bishop the elect of his flock." 

3 irtpa TTJS lf>uffvvi}S eiri SwacrTfiav ijdr} Trd\ai Trpoe\dou<rrjs (H.E. vii. II). 
He is speaking of Celestine suppressing the Novatian body in Rome. Cf. 
vii. 7. 



to im- 



io6 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

a new phase. The authority of kings and popes over 
whelmed the democratic elements in the Christian 
polity. If they survived, they survived rather as 
names and forms than as realities. But names and 
forms still bear witness beyond their present power to 
a principle which is not dead. 

Thus the mediaeval and modern prelate, Anglican 
or Roman, is not the only, or the original, type of 
bishop. He differs a good deal from the bishop of 
the earliest period not indeed in fundamental, 
spiritual principle, but in outward appearance and 
rank. 1 We need not necessarily deplore the change. 
The age of barbarism and the age of feudalism had 
each its own needs, and the Church adapted herself 
to them. But there is a protest, based on the facts 
of church history, which it is essential to make : 
it is against all language such as would imply that 
Christianity had no history before it became domi 
nated by imperialism and embedded in feudalism. 
The catholic principle is not Romanism merely or 
Byzantinism, nor is it identified with the Anglican 
episcopate of monarchical and aristocratic days. It 
has its roots deeper down in human nature than any 
notneces- o f these. If, then, the imperialism which coloured 
church theology and church organization is becoming 
a thing of the past, there is nothing in church prin 
ciples to prevent our saying : Let it die. The 
powers that be the actually existing authorities 
of the new age are ordained of God. Meanwhile 

1 Dr. Hatch describes the change in B.L. lect. viii and Growth of Ck. 
Instit. See also Rosmini Five Wounds of the Holy Church ch. v. 



II.] Apostolic Succession. 107 

let us disentangle the essential and permanent creed, 
the essential and permanent organization, from the 
passing phase of civilization in which it has become 
embedded ; let us make clear what church principles 
essentially are. We shall not be afraid of the * de 
mocratic temper within the Church, so far as it is a 
return upon the Church s earliest spirit or an appli 
cation of it. There is however one essential principle 
of all politics, secular and spiritual, which must be 
kept steadily in view : political rights are only the 
correlative of political duties done. This is always 
the church principle. Whatever rights the Christian 
layman should have, it must be as a Christian lay 
man, i.e. as subject himself to the divine authority 
of the Gospel and to the Church, the common mother 
of clergy and of laity. For it is only as subject to 
discipline that we can take any part in the exercise 
of it, and the lesson which Chrysostom finds in the 
ceremony of episcopal consecration applies to the 
layman in his degree, at least as much as to the 
bishop in his : the layman is bound by the layman s 
ordinances. 

(4) It has been contended by Lord Macaulay wit can- 

\ / <f J not have 

and the contention was not a new one that, how- maintained 

. . , unbroken. 

ever much the Church may nave insisted on apo 
stolic succession, as a matter of fact the chances are 
overwhelming against its having been preserved. 
" Whether a given clergyman be really a successor of 
the Apostles depends on an immense number of such 
contingencies as these ; whether, under King Ethel- 
wolf, a stupid priest might not, while baptizing 



io8 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

several scores of Danish prisoners who had just made 
their option between the font and the gallows, inad 
vertently omit to perform the rite on one of these 
graceless proselytes ; whether, in the seventh cen 
tury, an impostor, who had never received consecra 
tion, might not have passed himself off as a bishop on 
a rude tribe of Scots ; whether a lad of twelve did 
really, by a ceremony huddled over when he was 
too drunk to know what he was about, convey the 
episcopal character to a lad often." 1 

Such an argument has nothing to recommend it 
>ld; except the vigour of Lord Macaulay s style. Indeed, 
if we take it on its own level, its force is gone when 
once it is borne in mind that failures of baptism do not 
enter into the question of the permanent succession, 
except where the person whose baptism was omitted 
or irregular subsequently became a bishop ; and that 
invalidating irregularities in episcopal ordinations, 
when they exist, would not have the effect which the 
objection supposes, because succession comes of 
interlacing lines, each bishop having as a rule been 
consecrated by three of his order. 2 In fact it has 

1 Essay on Gladstone on Church and State. Chillingworth cannot be 
quoted in this sense, because in his argument (Relig. of Prot. ch. ii. 67) he 
is taking into account that "very dungeon of uncertainty," the Romanist 
doctrine of intention. 

3 The three consecrators were required originally not to secure validity (in 
case one of the bishops was, by some accidental omission of a necessary rite, 
no real bishop at all), but as a guarantee of general provincial recognition. 
The other consideration is perhaps too materialistic to have entered into the 
mind of the early Church. When things were duly done according to 
Christ s ordinance, they were regarded as certainly having His certificate. 
But when validity came to be conceived under more materialistic conditions 
at a later period of theology, it was natural to suppose that each bishop who 
joined in the act of consecration gave additional security that it was valid. 
They were cooperatores and not merely testes. The point is, however, 



IL] Apostolic Succession. 109 

been mathematically argued that, even if we make the 
absurd supposition of one consecrator in twenty at 
any particular moment in history having been, through 
some accident, himself not validly consecrated, the 
chances will be 8000 : 1 against all three consecrators 
in any given case being in a like position, and the 
chances against a bishop consecrated under such cir 
cumstances, who would thus be no bishop, being com 
bined with coadjutors similarly incapacitated to con 
tinue the succession, are "as 512,000,000,000 to 
unity." x 

But a much better answer to such a suggested and we are 

responsible 

difficulty lies in the consideration that, if we have thanobe re 
reason to believe that Christ intended to institute a 
self-perpetuating ministry in His Church, He makes 
Himself responsible for its possibility, and His power 
is not limited by such material conditions. " Leaving, 
then, all hidden things to Him to whose sole cogni 
zance they belong, we may securely depend on His 
goodness and justice, that so long as His sacred 
appointments are maintained, as far as lies in our 
power, we shall never suffer through any secret 
blemish or incapacity of His ministers. " : 

(5) But, it will be exclaimed, however reason- w it would 

unchurch 

able the idea of a ministerial succession may be how- JSfiJSS? 
ever adaptable in principle to new conditions of society 
and thought in fact it has become so unreasonable 
and so stereotyped, so fatally conservative of what was 

discussed: see Estcourt Question of Angl. Orel. pp. 110-114. I do not pursue 
the question, because I do not lay stress on the argument in the text. 

1 Gladstone Ch. Princ. pp. 235, 236. 

2 Archbp. Potter : quoted by Denton Grace of the Ministry p. 258. 



no Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

shown to be false and corrupt, at epochs of past history 
that great Christian nations, or great bodies of Christian 
men, have broken away from its organization. Are 
these, then, which have no succession, or a succession 
which you declare invalid, to be " unchurched " to be 
declared outside the pale of the covenant and left in 
unrecognised isolation ? This question is always 
being asked in tones of passionate appeal or indignant 
remonstrance. As we shall have occasion to recur to 
Preliminary the problem the less need be said here. Suppose, 

answer. * * 

however, an impartial investigation to convince us 
that a ministerial succession was really part of 
Christ s intention and belongs only to the episcopal 
Churches in a legitimate sense, it will surely be our 
duty to maintain it and be faithful to it. Nor, if we 
are at all familiar with the disappointing side of 
church history, shall we be greatly surprised that 
its corruptions have bred revolt. These corruptions 
are, no doubt, so many apologies for the revolters. It 
is conceivable that they may reach the point of excus 
ing revolt in particular cases and throwing the blame 
of it on the representatives of authority. If that 
were so, or so far as it was so, we shall abstain from 
condemning individuals or races, but we shall not 
abandon principles. Men are dealt with according to 
their opportunities ; and as God s love is not limited 
by His covenant, so He can work through minis 
trations which are not valid that is, ministrations 
which have not the security of the covenant. But 
though God can do this, we have no right to claim it 
of Him. If He is not bound to His sacraments, we 



if.] Apostolic Succession. 1 1 1 

men, up to the limits of our knowledge, 1 certainly 
are. However excusable many may be in ignorance 
of divine institutions, we shall not be excusable if we 
are faithless to them for fear of hurting other men s 
feelings or disturbing existing arrangements. Such 
conduct would be most false charity, most real 
treachery. Bishop Butler 2 reminds us "how great 
presumption it is to make light of any institutions of 
divine appointment ; " and he emphasizes to us " the 
moral obligation, in the strictest and most proper 
sense," which attaches to any command "merely 
positive, admitted to be from God." And if anything 
could increase this obligation, it would be the sense 
that we are living through an age of change. It is 
when there is a general shaking of existing estab 
lishments of all that has been merely recognised and 
customary that religiously-minded men are likely to 
be driven back upon those institutions which can give 
the completest guarantee of security and permanence. 
With this much preface, giving (it may be hoped) 
a clearer idea of what the principle of the ministry 
and of the apostolic succession may really be said to 
mean, we turn to the witness of history. 

1 When we speak of essentials in religion, it is of course important to 
recall that God is a father and equitable, and that His action is not tied to His 
covenanted channels. There is a useful distinction drawn by Roman Catholic 
theologians between things necessary to salvation necessitate medii, i.e. 
absolutely and in all cases, and things necessary necessitate praecepti, i.e. 
obligatory upon all who are within the hearing of a divine ordinance. Only 
the right disposition of will is (we may say) essential in the first sense. 
This may exist under all conditions of ignorance. All else is necessary in 
proportion as we come vinder the responsibilities of nearness to God s revela 
tion of Himself (cf. Newman s Parochial Sermons vol. vi. pp. 170, 171 
Faith the Title for Justification ). 

2 A nalogy part II. ch. i. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE WITNESS OF CHURCH HISTORY. 

in h chnreL 8try ^ HE conception of the Christian ministry described in 
the last chapter is confessedly no mere ideal. It 
represents what has been, beyond a doubt, a fact of 
primary importance in the Christianity of history. 

In many respects, indeed, if we were to trace back 
the genealogy of the ministry in the Church, we should 
find that it has passed through strange vicissitudes, 
and from time to time has wonderfully changed its 
appearance. It may be well to call attention to this 
at once, so that variations of aspect, which are even 
startling, may serve to make more emphatic the prin 
ciples and facts which have been throughout per 
manent and unchanging. 1 

iariabi e e of -^ or exam pl e > the episcopate of the first period, 

when, speaking generally, every town Church had 
its independent episcopal organization and country 
bishops arose to superintend the scattered flocks of 
the rural districts, was a very different thing from the 
episcopate of the mediaeval epoch, when the great 
dioceses of Teutonic Europe were formed, when 
bishops became great feudal lords, and the feudal 
character at times almost superseded the spiritual, 

1 Cf. Dr. Liddon A Father in Christ p. 26 f. 



TIT.] The Witness of Church History. 113 

Very different again was the organization of the Celtic 
Church of Ireland (and thence of Scotland), where the 
presbyter-abbots were the real ecclesiastical rulers and 
the succession of abbots the important succession, while 
the episcopate, indefinitely multiplied, had its place 
only as the necessary instrument of spiritual genera 
tion, or the appropriate decoration of sanctity, in 
entire subordination to the monastic authority. 

Again, there have been vast changes in the relation 
of the bishops to secular society, and in their relation 
to one another. There has been the slow develop 
ment of the metropolitan system on the lines of the 
imperial organization ; the upgrowth of the papacy ; 
the rise of national Churches ; the schisms of the 
eleventh and sixteenth centuries. There have been 
Erastian epochs, whether under the Byzantine and 
Frankish emperors or under English kings, and 
epochs, on the other hand, when a king 1 could com 
plain that "absolutely the only persons who reign 
are the bishops," or when a pope could claim, as in 
the famous bull Unam Sanctam, to have the sword of 
secular authority committed to him as well as that 
of ecclesiastical government. 

Again, there have been days when bishops adminis 
tered, and submitted to, a rigorous discipline, such 
as finds expression in the early Spanish council of 
Elvira, and days of the collapse of discipline, such as 
gives the tone of something like despair to the lamen 
tations of Basil and Gregory of Nyssa in the Arian 

1 Chilperic (Greg. Tur. H. F. vi. 46) ; but the context, as well as the 
circumstances, take away from the force of this. 

H 



ii4 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

period in the East, or such as Isidore and Gregory of 
Tours describe in the West. 

There have been, once again, great changes in the 
idea of episcopal election, as it passes out of the 
primitive method which made the bishop the real 
representative of the community in the midst of 
which he had grown up, behaving himself well 
in the inferior offices/ to become the prerogative in 
fact, if not in name, of metropolitans, or popes, or 
kings. 
has been These have been immense changes. In part they 

governed 

S r fixe g <irrin have been inevitable and beneficial ; in part the re 
cognition of them should be a stimulus to the 
Church to recover in idea, and so at last in fact, a 
primitive standard which ought never to have been 
abandoned. But all through these changes there 
have been certain fixed principles 1 of supreme im 
portance, which have been uniformly maintained, and 
which all the changes in outward circumstance only 
serve to throw into stronger relief, and it is with 
these alone that we are here concerned. These fixed 
principles represent what the Church has continuously 
believed with reference to the ministry, and con 
sistently acted upon (let us say to start with) since 
the middle of the second century down to the period 
of the Reformation. They may be expressed 
thus : 

1 A sermon of Dean Stanley s "The Burning Bush" (quoted in Remarks on 
Dr. Light/oofs Essay on the Christian Ministry, by C. Wordsworth, Bishop of 
St. Andrews, pp. 2-6) illustrates how these fixed principles can be ignored. 
He describes, for instance, the mediaeval abbeys and the great universities 
as "fragments of presbyterianism imbedded in the midst of the episco 
pate " (p. 4). Their relation to the papacy is quite forgotten. 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 115 

( 1 ) that Christ instituted in His Church, by sue- such * 8 the 

* requirement 

cession from the Apostles, a permanent Ministry of gucc p es^n c 
truth and grace, of the word and sacraments, as e 
an indispensable part of her organization and con 
tinuous corporate life : 

(2) that while there are different offices in this 
ministry, especially an episcopate, a presbyterate, and 
a diaconate with functions and mutual relations 
fundamentally fixed, though containing also variable 
elements, there belongs to the order of Bishops, 1 and 
to them alone, the power to perpetuate the ministry 
in its several grades, by the transmission of the 
authority received from the Apostles, its original 
depositaries ; so that, as a consequence, no ministry 
except such as has been received by episcopal ordina 
tion can be legitimately or validly exercised in the 
Church : 

(3) that the transmission of ministerial authority, 
or Ordination, is an outward act, of a sacramental 

1 I reckon the bishops as a distinct order, discussing, however, such a 
position as that of Ambrosiaster or Jerome on the subject and such considera 
tions as are involved in the supposed peculiarities of the early Alexandrian 
ministry. The later tendency to reckon the episcopate as constituting with 
the presbyterate only one ordo sacerdotum (Catech. Cone. Trident, ii. 
7. 25) was due partly to the desire to emphasize the pre-eminent dignity of 
the sacerdotium; partly to the desire to reduce church orders to the mystical 
number of seven ; partly to the wide influence of Jerome in the West. It has 
its parallel in early days when the bishop was sometimes reckoned with the 
presbytery. But so long as bishops are regarded as having special functions 
of their own, which presbyters cannot validly perform, and are ordained 
with a special ordination (Catech. Cone. Trident. I.e.) the exact ordering 
of grades is rather a matter of nomenclature. See on the variations Diet. 
Chr. Ant. ii. pp. 1474-5 s.v. ORDERS, HOLY. Morinus, however, among more 
recent Roman theologians (A.D. 1686) says of those who reckon eight orders 
of the ministry, major and minor, by counting the episcopate as a distinct 
order: "huic sententiae plurimum favent rituales omnes tarn Graeci quam 
Latini et universa prope ecclesiae traditio " (de S. Ord. p. iii. ex. i. 2. 26), 
and his authority is deservedly very high. 



ii6 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

character, in which the laying-on of hands, with 
prayer, is the visible sign. It will appear also 

(4) that the Church, without change of principle, 
and merely by the clearing-up of ideas, came to reckon 
the effect of ordination as indelible, and to recognise 
as a Priesthood the ministry of bishops and pres 
byters, which it conferred. 

The general recognition of these principles during 
the period specified will hardly be matter of dispute. 
" In the latter part of the second century of the Chris 
tian era, the subject [of the apostolic succession] came 
into distinct and formal view ; and from that time 
forward it seems to have been considered by the great 
writers of the catholic body a fact too palpable to be 
doubted, and too simple to be misunderstood." The 
agreement, however, as to what has historically been 
accepted in the Church on the subject of the ministry 
is not nearly complete enough to render argument 
Evidence unnecessary. We proceed then, first of all, to review 



the evidence for the existence of the threefold ministry, 
fromTS after the middle of the second century, 2 with the ac 
companying principle of the apostolic succession, and 
the limitation to bishops of the right of ordination. 
as appealed I. The basis shall be laid in the testimony of Iren- 

to by Iren- 

aeus. Irenaeus had been born in Asia Minor not later 
than A.D. 130. 3 He tells us that in early youth he had 
sat at the feet of Polycarp, " who had been appointed by 

1 Gladstone Church Principles p. 189. 

2 The reason for not at first going back behind about A.D. 150 will appear 
afterwards. 

3 For this and other details of St. Irenaeus life see Diet. Chr. Biog. iii. 
p. 253 f. 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 117 

Apostles a bishop for Asia in the Church of Smyrna " 
a venerable old man, whose appearance and ways of life 
were, he assures us, indelibly imprinted on his memory 
and that he had listened to his discourses in public 
and private, 1 and that he had also had opportunities 
of instruction by Asiatic " elders," amongst whom 
some at least had been disciples of Apostles. Thus 
imbued with the traditions of the Asiatic Church, in 
which especially St. John s influence was a living 
reality, he passed as a young man, probably before 
Poly carp s martyrdom (c. A.D. 155), from Asia to 
Rome. How long he remained there we do not know ; 
but at the latest in the year 177, when the persecution 
fell upon the Churches of South Gaul and the aged 
bishop Pothinus was one of many victims, Irenaeus 
was a presbyter of Lyons, and he succeeded the martyr 
in his episcopal see. Previously, however, he had 
visited Rome, in order " to promote the peace of the 
Church " by bearing communications from the Galilean 
confessors to Eleutherus, the bishop, on the subject of 
the Montanist controversy. 2 True to his name of 
* peaceful, 3 he again intervened, as has been already 
mentioned, in the dispute between Victor of Rome 
and the Asiatic Churches in the matter of keeping 
Easter, to rebuke Victor for his hasty breach of 
ecclesiastical unity on the ground of an indifferent 
matter of custom, not of the faith. 

1 See his epistle to Florinus in Euseb. H. E. v. 20. 

2 Euseb. H. E. v. 3, 4 : Diet. Chr. Biog. Hi. p. 937 s.v. MONTANUS. It 
is possible that there was at this time no other episcopal see in Gaul than that 
of Lyons and that Irenaeus was consecrated at Rome. Eusebius speaks of 
the irapolmat Kara. Ta\\iav As Eiprji/atos (irecrKdirti. 



1 1 8 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

The value of Thus much account of the man has been given in 

his witness. 

order to emphasize his remarkable connection alike 
with the apostolic traditions which lingered in that 
last home of the apostolic band, the Churches of Asia, 
and with the sentiments of the contemporary Churches 
both of East and West. Irenaeus was fitted by circum 
stances, as well as by character, to be what he pre 
eminently claims to be, the staunch maintainer of 
apostolic tradition. Of course the " tradition of the 
elders " l to which he so frequently refers is not in 
fallible. 2 Elders may have made mistakes, or Irenaeus 
memory may have been treacherous as to this or that 
point of their record, in spite of his assertion that he 
recalled the scenes of his youth when he was in the 
company of Polycarp in all their details with more 
precision than recent events. The value of tradition 
depends very much on the exact point for which it is 
alleged. But a mistake or failure of memory, not hard 
to account for in details of tradition, cannot invalidate 
his testimony on matters of such primary importance 
as the character and traditional reputation of the 
church ministry, or, to take another example, the 
authority of the four Gospels during the period 
covered by his own eastern and western experience. 
On such matters a mistake is hardly possible. 

1 ap. Euseb. H. E. v. 20 (the epistle to Florinus). 

2 He gives us, on the authority not only of Papias but also of other 
"elders" who remembered St. John to have related it among our Lord s 
discourses, the fabulous prophecy ascribed to Him of the Millennium 
Vines (v. 33. 3, 4). He bases also on the authority of these same elders " all 
the elders who had intercourse with John, the disciple of the Lord, in 
Asia " as recording St. John s teaching, the statement that our Lord was 
over forty years old (ii. 22. 5). 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 119 

We take Irenaeus, then, for our primary witness as to 
the apostolic succession. He is combating Gnosticism 
in his great work Against the Heresies, written prob 
ably during his episcopate ; and in view of the imagina 
tive idealism of the Gnostic teachers, he rests his case 
in the main on the historical revelation. He is there 
fore not so much occupied in developing a Christian 
science over against the science falsely so called 
of his opponents this was rather the work of the 
Alexandrians as in emphasizing what the rule of 
faith has been in the Churches as derived from 
the apostolic preaching. 1 In the consent of all the 
Churches he finds the security of the tradition. The 
case was put by his more epigrammatic disciple 
Tertullian in the question : "Is it probable that so 
many Churches of such importance should have hit 
by an accident of error on an identical creed ? " 2 There 
is, then, ever before Irenaeus eye. the picture of the HIS appeal 

to the 

universal Church, spread over all the world, handing 
down in unbroken succession the apostolic truth : 
and the bond of unity, the link to connect the gene 
rations in the Church, is the episcopal succession. 
Irenaeus use of language, indeed, about the bishop 
is not quite determinate ; 8 the venerable title of 
presbyter, the ancient or elder/ is still used in 



* rVc2<n? dXij^Tjs i] rCiv djrocrT6\u;/ SiSct^T) KO.I rb apxaiov TTJS 
K0.ro, iravrbs TOV KdfffJLOv (iv. 33. 8). 

2 " Ecquid verisimile est, ut tot ac tantae [ecclesiae] in unam fidem errave- 
rint? " (de Praescr. 28.) 

3 That is, he calls the bishops also presbyters. See iii. 3. 2 (compared with 
iii. 2. 2) ; iv. 26. 2, 4, 5 ; Ep. ad Viet. ap. Euseb. H.E. v. 24. So the Anony 
mous Presbyter who writes against Montanism (ap. Euseb. H. E. v. 16) 
speaks of the church authorities at Ancyra, bishop no doubt included, as 
"the presbyters." So (as will appear) Clem. Alex., Origen, Firmilian. 



I2O Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

an inclusive sense for the Church s rulers. But the 
idea is quite determinate. He regards the bishops in 
every Church as succeeding in an especial sense to the 
Apostles. They represent in every place by apostolic 
succession the catholic faith; they have the "gift of 
the truth " and the apostolic authority of government ; l 
they are the guardians also no doubt of the grace by 
which Christians live, of which as much as of the truth 
the Church is the " rich treasury." 2 But it is mainly 
as preserving the catholic traditions that Irenaeus 
regards the apostolic succession. From this point of 
view he makes it without hesitation one of the 

i "Charisma veritatis certum " (iv. 26. 2) ; " quos et successores [apostoli] 
relinquebant suum ipsorum locum magisterii tradeutes " (iii. 3. i). 

a " Depositorium dives" (iii. 4. i). Cf. iii. 24. i, where he speaks of the 
Church as possessing "earn quae secundum salutem hominum est solitam 
operationem, quae est in fide nostra ; quam perceptam ab ecclesia custodimus 
et quae semper a Spiritu Dei, quasi in vase bono eximium quoddam depositum 
iuvenescens et iuvenescere faciens ipsum vas in quo est. Hoc enim ecclesiae 
creditum est Dei munus, quemadmodum ad inspiiationem plasmationi, ad hoc 
ut omnia membra percipientia vivificentur : et in eo disposita [? deposita] 
est communicatio Christi, id est Spiritus sanctus, arrha incorruptelae et 
confirmatio fidei nostrae et scala ascensionis ad eum. In ecclesia enim, 
inquit, posuit Deus apostolos, prophetas, doctores et universam reliquam 
operationem Spiritus, cuius non sunt participes cmnes qui non currunt ad 
ecclesiam. . . . Ubi enim ecclesia, ibi et Spirit s Dei, et ubi Spiritus Dei, 
illic ecclesia et omnis gratia ; Spiritus autein veritas. Quapropter qui non 
participant eum, neque a mammillis matris nutriuntur in vitam, neque 
percipiunt de corpore Christi procedentem nitidissimum fontem." We observe 
here in what close and inseparable connection he puts the gifts of grace and 
truth. The gifts of grace he connects specially with the sacraments, regenera 
tion with baptism (v. 15. 3), incorruption with the Eucharistic gifts (iv. 18. 5 : 
ws yap airb yfjs &pros, 7rpo<rXa;uj3aj 6/teJ os rr\v ?KK\rjffLV TOV 6eou, ofiK^ri KOIVOS 
Apros lerlv, d\\ evxapiffTia, e/c duo Trpay/j-dTuv crvveffrriKvIa, tiriyelov re /cat 
ovpaviov ourws /cat ra craj/aara -tip-Siv /j.eTa\afj.^dvovTa rijs euxa/HOT/aj /JLTIK^TI fit/at 
<0aprd). It cannot, I think, be reasonably doubted that Irenaeus would have 
regarded the episcopate as entrusted with the ministry of the sacraments, 
no less than of the truth, though it was not his present business to lay stress on 
this ; cf. his words to Victor (ap. Euseb. H. E. v. 24) : " Anicetus allowed 
Polycarp to celebrate the Eucharist in the Church at Rome " (ira.pex<*>pi)<rfv 
TTJV evxapurrlav). Already in Clement s epistle (c. 44) the "offering of the 
gifts " is the characteristic function of the bishop 



ill.] The Witness of C/mrck History. 121 

I rimary essentials of Christianity. " The true know 
ledge " (so he calls the Christian religion) " is the 
doctrine of the Apostles, and the ancient system of 
the Church in all the world : and the character of the 
body of Christ, according to the successions of the 
bishops, to whom they [the Apostles] delivered the 
Church in each separate place : the complete use 
(moreover) of the Scriptures which has come down to 
our time, preserved without corruption, receiving 
i either addition nor loss ; its public reading without 
falsification ; legitimate and careful exposition accord 
ing to the Scriptures, without peril and without 
blasphemy : and the pre-eminent gift of love." l Again, 
" The way of those who belong to the Church is encom 
passing the whole world, because it holds the tradition 
firm from the Apostles, and enables us to see that the 
faith of all is one and the same, while all teach one 
and the same God the Father, and believe the same 
dispensation of the Incarnation of the Son of God, and 
acknowledge the same gift of the Spirit, and meditate 
the same precepts, and preserve the same form of that 
ordination which belongs to the Church, and expect 
the same coming of the Lord, and await the same 
salvation of the whole man, both soul and body." 2 



33- 8: " rV<2<7is dX?j(?7)s i] rdv airoffr6\uv 

rias ffvffTr)fj.a /caret Travrbs rov /c6cr/iou : et character corporia Christi 
secundum successiones episcoporum, quibus illi earn, quae in unoquoque loco 
est, ecclesiam tradiderunt : quae pervenit usque ad nos custoditione sine 
fictione scripturarum tractatio plenissima, neque additamentum neque abla- 
tionem recipiens ; et lectio sine falsatione et secundum scripturas expositio 
legitima et diligens et sine periculo et sine blaspliemia : et praecipuum 
dilectionis munus. " Cf. i. n. I (itftos x a P aK7 "np) 5 2 4- 7> 2 %- l - 

2 v. 20. i : " Eorum autem, qui ab ecclesia sunt, semita circumiens 
mundum universum, quippe firmam habens ab apostolis traditionem, et videre 
nobis donans omnium unam et eandem esse fidem, omnibus unum et eundem 



122 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

These summary statements of what constitutes 
Christianity are valuable as showing that to Irenaeus 
Christianity is not an idea but an institution, a 
catholic Church, and in the Church the essential link 
of continuity is the apostolic succession. To it there 
fore he makes his great appeal against the Gnostics. 1 

Deum Patrem praecipientibus, et eandem d!spositionem inca.nationis Filii 
Dei credentibus, et eandem donationem Spiritus scientibus, et eadem medi- 
tantibus praecepta, et eandem figuram eius quae est erga ecclesiam ordina- 
tionis custodientibus et eundem exspectantibus adventum domini, et eandem 
salutem totius hominis, id est animae et corporis, sustinentibus." ( Ordi- 
natio translates r<fts, i.e. ecclesiastical order, in iii. 3. 3.) 

1 iii. 3. 1-3: " Traditionem itaque apostolorum in toto mundo manifesta- 
tam in omni ecclesia adest respicere omnibus qui vera velint videre ; et 
habemus annumerare eos qui ab apostolis instituti aunt episcopi in ecclesiis 
et successores eorum usque ad nos, qui nihil tale docuerunt neque cognoverunt, 
quale ab his deliratur. Etenim si recondita mysteria scissent apostoli, quae 
seorsim et latenter ab reliquis perfectos docebant, his vel maxime traderent 
ea quibus etiam ipsas ecclesias committebant. Valde enim perfectos et irre- 
prehensibiles in omnibus eos volebant esse, quos et successores relinquebant, 
suum ipsorum locum magisterii tradeutes ; quibus emendate agentibus fieret 
magna utilitas, lapsis autem summa calamitas. Sed quoniam valde longum 
est in hoc tali volumine omnium ecclesiarum enumerare successiones, 
maximae et antiquissimae et omnibus cognitae, a gloriosissimis duobus 
apostolis Petro et Paulo Romae fundatae et constitutae ecclesiae earn, quam 
habet ab apostolis traditionem et annuntiatam hominibus fidem, per succes 
siones episcoporum pervenientem usque ad nos, indicantes confundimus 
omnes eos, qui quoquo modo vel per sibiplacentiam vel vanam gloriam vel 
per caecitatem et malam sententiam praeterquam oportet colligunt. Ad 
hanc enim ecclesiam propter potentiorem [?potiorem] principalitatem necesse 
est omnem convenire ecclesiam, hoc est eos qui sunt undique fideles, in qua 
semper ab his, qui sunt undique, conservata est ea quae est ab apostolis 
traditio. 6e/j.(\iwcravTes o7v Kal olKoSonritravres ol fJLo.K6.pioi diro<TTO\oi TTJV 
fKK\T/fflav, Atvtf) TTJV Trjs firiffKOTrjs \eiTovpyiav tveytlptfflU TOVTOV TOV Mvov 
IlaOXos tv rats Trpbs T!i/j.69tov ^Trto-roXats fJtffivrjTai. StaSe xeTai 5 avrbv 
/xera TOVTOV 5 rplrui TOTTI? a.irb run dtrocrT6\uv TTJV finer KOirrjv /cXijpoOrai 
6 Kal fupaKws TOVS /ua/captovs dirocrT6\ovs /cat tri /x.jSe^X7?Ku)s ai)TotJ /cat (TI t-vav\ov 
T& Kripvyna rCiv diroffT6\uv Kal T^V irapdSocriv irpo 6<t>da.\/j.uv fyuv, ov pdvos en 
yap iro\\ol \nre\fiirovTo rbre a.ifb TWV airoaTbXbiv deSiday/j.^vot . . . rbv St 
KX-fi^evra TOVTOV 5ta5^x eTa * Ei/dpeoros* Kal rbv EvdpeffTOV AXefavS/soj* fid oCrws 
?KTOS dirb TWV diroffTbXuv Ka.OicrTa.Tcu. tZvffTos. /iera 5^ TOVTOV TeXe<r^>6/)os, 8s 
/cat ev56fws ffj-aprvprjcrev HireiTa Yyivos, elra Ilios, ped ov Avf/cijros. SiaSe^a^vov 
TOV AviKrjTOv Swr^poy, vvv 5uSfKaT<i> TOirtf Tbv T^S {irurKotrfjs dirb T&V 6.woaTb\ijiv 
car^x K\Tjpov EXciJ^epos. T^avry rdfci. Kalr^ avrfj StaSoxi? [Euseb. 5t5ax^, Lat. 
successions] rj TC dirb TUJV d7ro<rr6Xw^ ev rfj e/c/cX^cr/a TrapdSocns Kal rb TTJS d\ij&fias 
Kripvy/j.a KarrivTi]Ktv (I 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 123 

" All who wish to see the truth have it in their power both in west 

and East, 

to fix their eyes on the tradition of the Apostles, 
which is manifested in all the world ; and we can re 
count the number of those, who were appointed by the 
Apostles as bishops in the Churches, and their suc 
cessors down to our own time, who neither taught nor 
had any knowledge of the wild notions of these men. 
For had the Apostles known any mysteries which they 
taught to the perfect in private and unknown to the 
rest, they would have delivered them to those surely 
before all others to whom they intrusted the very 
Churches themselves. For they desired them to be 
eminently perfect and utterly without reproach, whom 
they left behind as their actual successors, handing on 
to them their own position of presidency." Thus he 
appeals to the successors of the Apostles. Then, 
" because it would be tedious in a volume like this 
to enumerate the successions of all the Churches," 
he gives that of the greatest of all, the Church of 
Rome a Church to which he attributes a specially 
representative character l and records how Peter and 
Paul intrusted the ministry of the episcopate there to 
Linus, and how he in turn was succeeded by Anencletus, 
Clement, Evarestus, Alexander, Xystus, Telesphorus 
the martyr, Hyginus, Pius, Anicetus, Soter, and 
finally in his own day Eleutherus. Thus " there has 
come down to us with the same order and the same 

1 It seems most probable that the words of disputed meaning should be 
translated "for to this Church, on account of its special pre-eminence 
all Churches must needs come together, that is the faithful from all sides j 
and in her the apostolic tradition has been always preserved by those who 
are from all parts." I think Langen (Gesch. der Romischen Kirche i. pp. 
170-174) has made this interpretation good. But it does not concern us here- 



124 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

succession the tradition from the Apostles in the 
Church and the preaching of the truth." With this 
tradition of truth " coming down to us through the 
succession of the bishops," Irenaeus proceeds to 
" confound " his opponents, corroborating, however, 
the tradition of the West, according to his essential 
principle, with the apostolic tradition of the Church 
of Smyrna and "all the Churches of Asia." 1 

What we have quoted will be enough to illustrate 
his method of appeal. The results of it he con 
stantly presses on the men of his time. " We must 
obey those who are the elders in the Church, those 
who, as we have shown, have the succession from the 
Apostles ; who, with the succession of the episcopate, 
have received also the sure gift of truth according to 
the will of the Father : but as for the rest, who leave 
the original succession and come together wherever 
it may be, them we must hold in suspicion, whether 
as heretics of a wrong opinion, or as men who make 
division through pride and self- pleasing, or again as 
hypocrites." 2 " Where one is to find [the true elders], 
Paul teaches, when he says, God set in the Church 
first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers/ 



1 iii. 3. 4 : KCU IIoXi;/cap?ros . . . virb d.TrooTiXwj KaraffTadds et s rrjv Aviav 
v rr) ev S/w/pi/r; eiCK\7)<ri<f. tTrlaKoiros . . . ravra StSa^ay del, & /cai irapa. rOiv 
d7ro<rr6Xu>f f/j.a6fv, 3. KO.I ij e/acX^crta Trapa5i5w(Tiv, & xa.1 /j.6va ecrrlv d\t}6ij. 
/uaprupoDcri TOUTOIS at Kara rrjv Afflav e/c/fX^crtat iracrai. 

2 iv. 26. 2 : "Quapropter eis qui in ecclesia sunt presbyteris oboedire 
oportet, his qui successionem habent ab apostolis, sicut ostendimus ; qui cum 
episcopatus successione charisma veritatis certum secundum placitum Patris 
acceperunt ; reliquos vero, qui absistunt a principali successione et quocunque 
loco colligunt, suspectos habere vel quasi haereticos et malae sententiae, vel 
quasi scindentes et elatos et sibi placentes, aut mrsus ut hypocritas quaestus 
gratia et vanae gloriae hoc operantes." 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 125 

Where, then, the gifts of God are placed, there he 
should learn, the truth, with those who have the 
Church s succession from the Apostles and maintain 
a sound and irreproachable mode of life and uncor- 
ruptness of speech." * 

The position of Irenaeus is thus very clear and accepted by 

Tertullian, 

definite. It is accepted by his more brilliant but less c- A D - 200; 
stable disciple, Tertullian, who reproduces his argument 
with striking vigour in his work, called Praescrip- 
tiones (or Preliminary Pleas ) against the Gnostic 
teachers. In it he has a double question to ask these 
pretenders to represent Christianity. First do they 
hold the rule of faith ? Secondly have they an apo 
stolic succession ? " Let them produce the account of 
the origins of their Churches ; let them unroll the line 
of their bishops, running down in such a way from 
the beginning that their first bishop shall have had 
for his authorizer and predecessor one of the Apostles, 
or of the apostolic men who continued to the end 
in their fellowship. This is the way in which the 
apostolic Churches hand in their registers : as the 
Church of the Smyrnaeans relates that Polycarp was 
installed by John, as the Church of the Romans 
relates that Clement was ordained by Peter. So 
in like manner the rest of the Churches exhibit the 
names of men appointed to the episcopate by Apostles, 
whom they possess as transmitters of the apostolic 

1 ib. 5 : " Ubi igitur tales inveniat aliquis, Paulus docens ait : PosuitDeus 
iii ecclesia primo apostolos, secundo prophetas, tertio doctores. Ubi igitur 
charismata domini posita sunt, ibi discere oportet veritatem, apud quos est ea 
quae est ab apostolis ecclesiae successio et id quod est sanum et irreprobabile 
conversationis et inadulteratum et incorruptibile sermonis constat." 



126 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

seed." 1 "So now," we resume after a few chapters, " you 
who wish to exercise your curiosity to better profit in 
the matter of your salvation, run through the apostolic 
Churches, where the very chairs of the Apostles still 
preside in their own places " Corinth, Philippi, Thes- 
salonica, Ephesus, Rome. Make it your business to 
inquire what they have learnt and taught ! This is 
his challenge. 2 The unchanging tradition goes hand in 
hand with the steadfast ministerial succession, just as 
on the contrary the novelties of heresy are associated 
with carelessness about order. " Their ordinations are 
heedless, capricious, changeable. At one time they 
appoint neophytes ; at another, men bound to secular 
employment ; at another, apostates from us so that 
official distinction may act as a bond to hold them 
where truth cannot. Nowhere is promotion so easy 

1 de Praescr. 32 : " Ceterum si quae [haereses] audent interserere se 
aetati apostolicae, ut ideo videantnr ab apostolis traditae, quia sub apostolis 
fuerunt, possumus dicere : Edant ergo origines ecclesiarum suarum, 
evolvant ordinem episcoporum suorum, ita per successiones ab initio 
decurrentem, ut primus ille episcopus aliquem ex apostolis vel aposto- 
licis viris, qui tamen cum apostolis perseveraverit, habuei it auctorem et 
antecessorem. Hoc enim modo ecclesiae apostolicae census suos deferunt, 
sicut Smyrnaeorum ecclesia Polycarpum ab loanne collocatum refert, sicut 
Romanorum Clementem a Petro ordinatum. Itidem proinde utique et 
ceterae exhibent, quos ab apostolis in episcopatum constitutes apostolici 
seminis traduces habeant. Confingant tale aliquid haeretici. Quid enim illis 
post blasphemias illicitum est ? " 

3 16. 36: "Age iam, qui voles curiositatem melius exercere in negotio 
salutis tuae, percurre ecclesias apostolicas, apud quas ipsae adhuc cathedrae 
apostolorum suis locis praesidentur, apud quas ipsae authenticae literae eorum 
recitantur, sonautes vocem et repraesentantes faciem uniuscuiusque. Proxima 
est tibi Achaia? habes Corinthum. Si non longe es a Macedonia, habes 
Philippos, habes Thessalonicenses. Si potes in Asiam tendere, habes Ephesum. 
Si autem Italiae adiaces, habes Romam, unde nobis quoque auctoritas praesto 
est . . . Videamus quid didicerit [ecclesia Romana], quid docuerit, quid 
cum Africanis quoque ecclesiis contesserarit." ib. 37: "Si haec ita se 
habent, ut veritas nobis adiudicetur, quicunque in ea regula incedimus, 
quam eccleaia ab apostolis, apostoli a Christo, Christus a Deo tradidit, 
conutat ratio propositi nostri." 



165. 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 127 

as in the camp ot rebels, where even one s presence is 
in itself a claim. And so one is a bishop to-day, 
another to-morrow; the reader of to-morrow is a deacon 
to-day ; the layman of to-morrow a presbyter to-day. 
For they impose even on laymen the functions of the 
priesthood." l 

The age of Irenaeus is to be for the present our anticipated 

by Hege- 

starting-point ; but it is important to emphasize that C! P A P D! 
there is no originality about his ecclesiastical concep 
tions. Not only does his own language exclude such a 
supposition, but we have external testimony to the same 
effect. Eusebius 2 has preserved for us some words of 
Hegesippus, the father of church history/ in which 
he is speaking of his journey to the West, made not 
later than A.D. 167 : "The Church of the Corinthians," 
he says, " remained in the right word down to Primus 
bishopric in Corinth. I had intercourse with them 
when I was sailing to Borne, and I passed some days 
with the Corinthians, in which we took comfort 
together in the right word. And when I was in Rome 
I made a succession [i.e., a list of the succession] 
down to Anicetus, whose deacon was Eleutherus. 



1 ib. 41: " Ordinationes eorum temerariae, leves, inconstautes. Nunc 
neophytos collocant, nunc saeculo obstrictos, mine apostatas nostros, ut gloria 
eos obligent, quia veritate non possunt. Nusquam facilius proficitur quam 
in castris rebellium, ubi ipsum esse illic promereri est. Itaque alius hodie 
episcopus, eras alius ; hodie diaconus, qui eras lector ; hodie presbyter, qui 
eras laicus ; nam et laicis sacerdotalia munera iniungunt." 

2 Hegesipp. ap. Euseb. H. E. iv. 22 : Kal fTTf/j.eve>> 17 fKK\ij<rla. ^ KopivOluv 
Iv r$ 6pO$ \6yifi FJ-txpi Ilpfyzou tiriffKOTreuovTos v Kopifffif ols criW/xtfri irX^ow efs 
Pu/j,7]v, Kal ffvvSitrpiijsa rols KopivBiois ^ufyos iKavas, i> als ffvvaveirdri/j.ei> rif 
6p9y \&yq>, yev&/jLfvo^ St ev Pw^tTj SiaSoxriv ^iroirjffii^v M^X/ 3 " Avi/c^rov, 08 
Sidxovos fy E\tv6fpos KO.I irapa AviKrjTov 5ia5^x erat SWTI}/), ped ov E\4udepos. 
tv ftcdffTri 8 SiaSoxy Kal tv e/axcn-Tj TriXet oCrws Hx ft > ( * >J c6/toj KTjptiffirfi Kal oi 
Trpo<f>TJTai Kal 6 Ki^ptoi. 



128 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

And from Anicetus, Soter succeeds, and after him 
Eleutherus. Now in each succession and in each 
city it is as the law proclaims and the prophets and 
the Lord." Hegesippus then had found a succes 
sion in each city. He made a list for the purpose of 
his history at Rome ; but there, as elsewhere, he had 
found the thing existing. Let Hegesippus testimony 
then reinforce that of Irenaeus. 

Starting thus from about the middle of the second 

century the episcopal succession is an undoubted fact 

Alienee in m ^ known Christian Churches. It is, however, 

desirable to review the evidence not only of the fact, 

but also of the importance attached to it. 

A - We begin with the East, and in the East with 
the cradle of our religion Palestine. "As early 
as the middle of the second century all parties concur 
in representing James [the Lord s brother] as a 
bishop in the strict sense of the term." l The episco 
pate, that is to say, was at that date an institution 
certainly believed to derive in Jerusalem from St. 
James. Eusebius has preserved to us a complete list 
of the successors of Symeon, who was chosen in his 
place first, thirteen Jewish bishops, and then, after 
the annihilation of Jerusalem and the foundation 
upon its site of Aelia Capitolina, thirteen Gentile 
bishops, 2 down to the accession of the venerable 
Narcissus, who was engaged in the Paschal contro- 

1 Lightfoot Dissert, p. 208. See Hegesipp. ap. Kuseb. H.E. iv. 22 ; the 
Clementine Ep. Petri, Ep. Clem. init. , Horn. xi. 35 ; and Clem. Alex. ap. 
Euseb. H.E. ii. i. In this review of second century episcopacy I am 
mainly following Dr. Lightfoot. 

- Euseb. H.E. iv. 5, v. 12. 



in.] The Witness of C kurch History. 129 

versy. 1 There can be at least no doubt of the exist 
ence in Jerusalem of an episcopal succession of im 
memorial antiquity at the date which is our starting- 
point for the present. In the Paschal controversy 
we find the bishop of Jerusalem associated with three A.D. 
other Palestinian bishops 2 (of Caesarea, Tyre, Ptole- 
mais), in writing an encyclical letter in favour 
of the western view. The testimony of the Clemen 
tines, 3 which may be taken to represent Ebionite 
ideas at the end of the second century, goes to 
assure us that at that date the episcopate at Caesarea, 
Tyre, Sidon, Berytus, Tripolis, and Laodicea could 
plausibly be represented as having been instituted 
by St. Peter. 4 It must be noticed that there is the 
same insistence upon the episcopal succession in the 
Ebionite Clementines as in the fragments of Hege- 

1 Euseb. H.E. v. 23. - Euseb. H. E. v. 25. 

3 The Clementine Homilies and Recognitions contain substantially the same 
narrative. They purport to contain an account given by Clement of his con 
nection with St. Peter and of St. Peter s journeyings, discourses, etc., in 
cluding his institution of bishops, presbyters, and deacons at various places 
in Syria. Both are Ebionite, though the Recognitions present Ebionite ideas 
in a very modified form. Both are based apparently on an earlier document, 
and are of Syrian origin. Dr. Salmon (Diet. Chr. Biog. CLEMENTINE LIT.) 
dates the Recogn. about A.D. 200 and the Homilies about A.D. 218. [Origen 
quotes the former about A.D. 230.] He thinks the document on which they are 
based may go back to A.D. 160. Dr. Lightfoot says : "the Homilies cannot 
well be placed later than the end, and should perhaps be placed before the 
middle of the second century" (Dissert, p. 211). There are also two 
letters to James from Peter and Clement, both now prefixed to the Homilies, 
but the latter probably served originally as preface to the Recognitions 
(Diet. Chr. Diog. i. p. 570). It describes St. Peter s ordination of Clement as 
bishop of Rome. 

4 See Recogn. vi. 15 : " [Peter] appointed as bishop over them [at Tripolis] 
Maro . . . and with him he ordained twelve presbyters and deacons at the 
same time." Cf. iii. 66 (Caesarea, bishop, twelve presbyters, and four 
deacons), x. 68 (Laodicea) ; Horn. iii. 72 (Caesarea), vii. 5 (Tyre), 8 (Sidou), 
12 (Berytus), xi. 36 (Tripolis, bishop, twelve presbyters, and deacons), xx. 23 
(Laodicea). See also Ep. Clem, ad lac. 

I 



130 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

sippus and in the writings of Irenaeus ; episcopacy, 
and episcopacy derived from the Apostles, was not, 
we perceive, a matter of dispute. 1 
Syria. The episcopal succession at Antioch is historical 

C. A.D. 110. 

at least from Ignatius. If we cannot fully rely upon 
the list of bishops given us by Eusebius, 2 at least 
bishop Theophilus, the apologist, and bishop Serapion 
come out into the light during the second century. 

1 It is worth while collecting the conception of the ministry given in 
the Clementine documents. 

(1) There is the idea of succession to the Apostles. Clement succeeds St. 
Peter (Ep. Clem. 2, 19). St. Peter, in his letter to James, emphasizes the idea 
of succession on the analogy of the seventy elders who succeeded to " the 
chair of Moses." Here the successors seem to be the whole presbyterate, 
but subordination to the bishop is strongly marked (Ep. Petr. 4. 2). 
The bishop s chair is also called "the chair of Christ" (Ep. Clem. 17, and 
Horn. iii. 70). 

(2) The idea of the episcopal succession is mainly that of succession to the 
teaching office, in order to keep the tradition (cf. Irenaeus) : see Ep. Petr. 
init. and Ep. Clem. 2, 6 : TJ TWV \6yuv tcaQedpa, 6 T??S dX-qdelas irpOKaOetfuevos, 
6 -rfjs d:\rjOelas irpeo^rTjs. But the bishop has intrusted to him " the authority 
to bind and loose " with divine sanction (ib. 2 : otirw neradlSw/ju TTJV Qovalav 
TOV Seff/J-efaiv Kal \ueiv, Iva. irepl Travrbs oC civ -xfLporov-f]ff^ tirlrTJs 717$ ftrrat Sfdoyfta- 
rtfffj^vov Iv otipavoii : cf. ib. 6, Horn. iii. 7 2 ) 5 ne i 8 the TrpoeoTtis (Ep. Clem. 
6) ; he has the general administration of the Church (5(o/K??<ns, ib. 3, etc.) ; 
and all is to be done by the presbyters with his knowledge (Ep. Petr. 
4. 2). He is to be kept clear from secular cares (Ep. Clem. 5, 6). St. 
Peter is represented as baptizing and breaking bread ; also the elders at 
Jerusalem as baptizing (Ep. Petr. 4. i). 

(3) Presbyters are to exercise moral discipline ; to administer charitable 
relief; to reconcile disputants (Ep. Clem. 7-10; Horn. iii. 67, 68). The 
deacons are " the eyes of the bishop," to assist his pastoral care in the dis 
tribution of alms, with considerable independence in the latter department 
(Ep. Clem. 12 ; Horn. iii. 67). There is also mention of catechists, but ^;he 
bishop is represented in one place as the catechist (Ep. Clem. 13, 14). The 
Ship of the Church is described elaborately with her full equipment of 
officers, etc. (ib. 14, 15). 4 

(4) Ordination is by laying on of hands (Ep. Clem. 19 ; Horn. iii. 72 ; 
Recogn. iii. 66), with accompanying prayer (Horn. iii. 72). 

In all this there is nothing specially Ebionil - ; but James is called "bishop 
of bishops," and has a universal authority ascribed to him (Ep. Clem. init.). 
Even Peter, though he is called "first of apostles" (ib. i), has to give 
an annual account to him of his doings (Recogn. i. 17), and is subject to him 
(ib. 72). This is Ebionite. 2 Euseb. H.E. iv. 20, 24; v. 22. 



IIL] The Witness of Church History. 131 

So much for the Church of Palestine and the 
Greek Church of Syria. Of the early " Syrian Church, 
strictly so called" the Syriac-speaking Church we 
have no authentic history. It is, however, worth 
while noticing that the early traditions of that Church 
represent the "ordination to the priesthood" as the 
means of the propagation of the Gospel, venerate the 
threefold ministry as of apostolic institution, and lay 
great stress on the episcopal succession deriving in 
each Church from an apostle through the laying 
on of hands. 1 

We pass from Syria to Asia to find the epis- Asia Minor. 
copal succession a very old established institution. 
It is enough to say that Ignatius had impressed A.D. no. 
upon the Churches of Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, 
Philadelphia, and Smyrna, that the bishop, with the 

1 See The Teaching of Addaeiis the Apostle and The Teaching of the 
Apostles ancient Syriac documents, trans, in Clark s Ante-Nicene Library, 
vol. xx esp. pp. 32, 48. See Tixeront Origines de Veglise d Edesse pp. 1 14 ff. 
The former is a retouched version, dating apparently from about 400 A.D., of 
the document quoted by Eusebius (H.E. i. 13), which existed in "the 
archives of Edessa, at that time a royal city." The latter document uses 
an old pre-Peshitto Syriac reading. As to their ecclesiastical ideas, it may 
be noted that the bishop is called by a word translated guide and ruler. " 
Addaeus, the apostle, ordains Aggaeus, and he "made priests and guides in 
the whole country of Mesopotamia." The authority of the guide is limited : 
"it is not lawful for him to transact the affairs of the Church apart from 
those who minister with him" (Teaching of the Apostles p. 41). Cf. Lightfoot 
Disseft. p. 211 n. 6 It should be noticed that the apostles who originate 
" ordination to the priesthood " (Teaching of the Apostles p. 48) are reckoned 
at seventy-two, and amongst them are Luke and Addaeus, whom Eusebius 
calls Thaddaeus and describes as "one of the seventy disciples of Christ" 
(ff. E. i. 13). The number seventy-two represents the older Curetonian 
Syriac reading of St. Luke x. i ; the Peshitto has " seventy." (On the rela 
tions of the Cur. Syr. to the Pesh. see Westcott and Hort Introd. to N. T. 
pp. 84, 85.) The Arab, El MCjfizi (who wrote a history of the Coptic Church 
in the fourteenth century, but drew upon earlier authors, such as Eutychius) 
speaks likewise of "seventy apostles " (in Malan Orig. Doc. of the Copt. Ch. 
iii. p. 23) ; this may represent some old Alexandrian statement, directly or 
indirectly. 



132 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

presbyters and deacons, represents the authority of 
God, and we are not allowed to doubt that at least 
they learned the lesson. Besides Polycarp of Smyrna, 
Onesimus of Ephesus, Damas of Magnesia, and Polybius 
of Tralles, whom Ignatius mentions, we hear during 
the second century of Papias, a contemporary of Poly- 
carp, and Claudius Apollinaris, bishops of Hierapolis, 1 
of Sagaris, bishop of Laodicea, and Melito, bishop of 
Sardis. 2 Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus at the end of 
the second century, speaks of himself as having had 
seven of his own family before him in the episcopate, 
whose traditions he followed. 3 If we pass from the 
proconsular province to Asia Minor, in the wider 
sense of the term, we have not much evidence bear 
ing on the subject ; but we hear of bishops in the 
second century at Sinope 4 and at Eumenia, 5 at 
Amastris, at Comana, at Apamea 6 ; and there is no 
indication such as would lead us to doubt the 
universal extension of the episcopate in the Churches 
of that country. Towards the end of the century 
episcopal synods become common ; at the time of 

1 The episcopate of Claudius, c. A.D. 171, rests on the authority of his 
contemporary, Serapion (ap. Euseb. H.E. v. 19); Papias on that of Eusebius 
representing the common account (H. E. ii. 15). 

2 c. A.D. 150-170, on the authority of Polycrates in Euseb. //. E. \. 24. 
8 Euseb. H. E. v. 24. 

4 Marcion of Sinope is described as " episcopi filius " in [adv. Omn. 
Haer. appended to] Tertull. de Praescr. 51. Marcion propagated his system 
before the middle of the second century. He was himself recognised as 
bishop by his sect and organized it oil the Church s model ; f aciunt favos 
et vespae, et faciunt ecclesias Marcionitae " (Tertull. adv. Marc. 5). 

6 Polycrates ap. Euseb. H. E. v. 24. 

6 Palmas of Amastris is mentioned by Dionysius of Corinth writing to the 
Churches of Pontus (Euseb. H. E. iv. 23). Zoticos of Comana and Julianus 
of Apamea are mentioned by the anonymous contemporary adversary of the 
Montanists (ap. Euseb. H. E. v. 16). 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 133 

the Paschal controversy there were a number of 
bishops in Pontus ; and Polycrates l speaks of " great 
crowds " of bishops whom he had summoned to con 
ference on that subject. 

If there is less evidence of the diffusion of episco- Greece. 
pacy in Greece in the latter half of the second century, 
this probably does not mean more than that the Church 
there was less prominent than the Church in Asia. 2 
Where we hear of church government it is episcopal. 
At Corinth, when Hegesippus visited it, there was not e. A.D. m 
only a bishop, Primus, but a succession ; 3 after him 
we hear of Dionysius, and at the time of the Paschal 
controversy of Bacchyllus. 4 In the mention which 
Eusebius makes of one of Dionysius letters " to the 
Athenians" (about A.D. 170), we hear of at least two 
bishops in the succession of Athens prior to that date 
Publius, who was martyred, and Quadratus, who had 
recalled their Church from something like " apostacy 
from the word," into which they had fallen. 5 If this 
bishop is that Quadratus who presented his Apology 
to Hadrian at Athens, this record carries back the 
Athenian succession at least very early in the 
century. The tradition of the earlier episcopate of 
Dionysius the Areopagite is not here in question. 

We have the names of no bishops on contemporary Macedonia. 
evidence during the second century in Macedonia, 
but when Tertullian is rhetorically bidding the 

1 Euseb. H. E. v. 24. 

2 The problems presented by the Epistles of Clement and Polycarp will 
be considered below. They do not fall within this period. 

3 Euseb. H. E. iv. 22. 

4 Euseb, H. E. iv. 23 ; v. 22, 23. 

5 Euseb. H. E. iv. 23. Publius is called 6 Trpoeorws avr&v. 



134 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

heretical teachers to take counsel of " the apostolic 
Churches, where the very chairs of the Apostles still 
preside," he goes on, " Is Achaia nearest to you ? you 
have Corinth ; if you are not far from Macedonia, you 
have Philippi, you have Thessalonica," showing that 
at the end of the century Macedonia had episcopal 
successions which were believed to derive from 
apostolic ordination. 1 

Thrace. If we pass from Macedonia to Thrace we pass to a 

district almost without Christian record, but towards 
the end of the century we find a bishop of Debeltum 
signing an encyclical letter, directed against the 
Montanists, 2 " and the existence of a see at a place so 
unimportant implies the wide spread of episcopacy in 
these regions." 3 

Crete. On our passage from Greece to Egypt we may take 

Crete by the way. There we know that at least two 
episcopal sees existed about A.D. 170, for Dionysius 
of Corinth wrote a letter " to the Cnossians," with 
words of advice to Pinytus their bishop, and another 
" to the Church at Gortyna, with the other parishes 
[i. e. dioceses] in Crete," specially commending Philip, 
the bishop of Gortyna, who is also known as the author 
of a work against Marc ion. 4 

Alexandria. On arriving at Alexandria we shall undoubtedly 
find ourselves in a Church of the three orders. It is 
true that we cannot trace to its source or verify the 

1 Tertull. de Praescr. 36. Cf. Origen on Rom. xvi. 23: "fertur sane 
traditione maiorum quod hie Gaius [St. Paul s host] primus episcopus fuerit 
Thessalonicensis ecclesiae. " 

- Euseb. H.E. v. 19. 

3 Lightfoot Dissert, p. 217. 4 Euseb. H.E. iv. 23, 25. 



tie exis 
tence of 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 135 

complete and dated list of Alexandrian bishops, which 
Eusebius gives us, reaching back to St. Mark as 
founder of the Church. We do not in fact know the 
name of any Alexandrian bishop on indisputable evi 
dence till we get to Demetrius, Origen s contemporary ; 
for "the Alexandrian succession, in which history is 
hitherto most interested, is not the succession of the 
bishops, but of the heads of the catechetical school." l 
But Clement s evidence gives us all that we want. He TI 
was born about the middle of the second century, and 
not only had the Church which he knew bishops, pres- abie? u 
byters, and deacons, 2 but it had even passed out of 

1 Lightfoot Dissert, p. 226. 

2 " The grades in the Church here of bishops, presbyters, deacons, I believe 
to be imitations of the angelic glory " (Strom, vi. 13. 107 : at frravffa Kara. 
TTJV KK\T]<rtav irpoKOTral firiffKbTTUp, TTpefffivrtpuv, SiaKOvuv, [ji.i/u.rifj.a.Ta ol/ucu dyyeKiKijs 
db&s). The whole chapter runs thus : The perfect Christian gnostic is even 
here equal to the angels : he may be made equal to the Apostles: "not 
that they became apostles because they were chosen for some special pecu 
liarity of nature, for Judas was chosen with them ; but they were capable of be 
coming apostles on being chosen by Him Who foresaw even how they would 
end. For Matthias, who was not chosen with them, on showing himself fit 
(<5ios) to become an apostle, is substituted for Judas. So now too, those who 
have exercised themselves in the Lord s commandments and have lived per 
fectly and with knowledge (yvua-TiK&s), according to the Gospel, may be en 
rolled (tyypatpfjvai) in the chosen body of the Apostles. Such an one is in reality 
a presbyter of the Church and a true deacon of the will of God, if he do and 
teach the things of the Lord, not being ordained (xfiporovo>j[ji.evos) by man, nor 
reckoned just because he is a presbyter, but counted (Kara\ey6fj.ei>os) in the 
presbyterate because he is just. And even if here upon earth he be not 
honoured with the chief seat (irpuroKadeSpia), he will sit on the four and 
twenty thrones judging the people, as John says in the Apocalypse." The 
four and twenty elders, he continues, are the chosen of the chosen, equally 
from Jews or Greeks. "Since I think the grades in the Church here of 
bishops, presbyters, deacons are imitations of the angelic glory and of that 
dispensation (olKovo^ias) which the Scriptures say await those who, following 
the footsteps of the Apostles, have lived in perfection of righteousness accord 
ing to. the Gospel. For these, the Apostle writes, lifted up in the clouds 
will serve their diaconate first (diaKovriffeiv), then be reckoned with the pres 
byterate in a higher grade of glory, for glory differeth from glory, until they 
grow up into a perfect man." Clement s meaning is apparently that moral 
excellence and gnostic enlightenment w r ere qualifications for the apostolate of 



136 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

memory that bishop and presbyter were interchange 
able titles in St. Paul s days. 1 We have additional 

old and make a man a true priest now (cf. the exclamation of the people in 
demanding Athanasius election &\rjdus tTrlvKoiros, Athan. Apol. c. Ar. 6); 
not, however, in the sense that they can enable a man to dispense with ordina 
tion or justify him in assuming ministerial functions without it, but only in 
the sense that, if he be not admitted to the clergy here, he will be hereafter 
raised to those grades of glory which the present distinctive offices in the 
Church adumbrate here below ; they are titles for a place in the hierarchy 
in heaven, if not here. It will be noticed that though Clement divides the 
hierarchy into three orders, he can still (like Origen and many others) speak 
of the presbyterate as the "chief seat " ( 106 above). The mam distinction 
with him, as with Irenaeus and many after them, is between presbyters and 
deacons. Thus in another passage (Strom, vii. I. 3), contrasting the two sorts 
of ministry to men the more menial service (inrrjpfTiKr}) and the higher ministry 
of improvement (/SeXriwrt/cT; depaireia) he finds the former exemplified in the 
Church s diaconate, the latter in the presbyterate, thus dividing the church 
ministry into two sorts (6/j.olw Kara rrjv ^KK\rjffLai> rriv ptv /SeXncoTucrji oi irpeff- 
/3frrepoi <r<j}ovffu> et /ciW, TT]V uTrrjpfTiKTjv d ol OIO.KOVOI) ; here the presbyterate 
must include the bishop. 

Clement s position on many points is somewhat hard to define. His line 
of thought is not one which, like that of Irenaeus, leads him to speak much 
about the ministry. At the same time there is an mtellectualism in his whole 
conception of religion, a recognition of a priesthood of knowledge (for reffs. 
see Bigg B.L. p. 101), which represents an opposite tendency to the priest 
hood of enthusiasm among the Montanists. This, we must acknowledge, 
whatever fascination Clement s gentle, pious, generous spirit has for us 
had in it dangerous elements of Gnosticism, and led him even to shrink 
from attributing to our Lord real human feelings, a real flesh and blood like 
ours (Bigg B.L. pp. 93, 71 n. s ) ; it makes him in a measure depreciate 
mere faith and desire to create a Church within a Church, a Church of 
the spiritually enlightened (Bigg p. 85 f.). Thus it may have tended to 
make him depreciate the ministry which comes of ordination by comparison 
with the priesthood of knowledge, but there is no evidence of this. His 
point of view is not at all unecclesiastical. Christianity is not by any means 
to him a mere idea or philosophy ; it is embodied in a visible society. Nor 
in the passage quoted* is there anything to lead us to suppose that he 
shrank from recognising the necessity for orders in the Church, or their 
exclusive rights, any more than he shrank from recognising the exclusive 
prerogative of the Church. Dr. Bigg says no more than is true when he 
says : " It is important to add . . . that Clement lays great stress upon the 
observance of the existing church discipline, the regular use of all the 
ordinary means of grace " (pp. 96, 97). He very likely, however, did not 
recognise fully that the unworthiness of the minister hinders not the grace 
of the sacraments, and he speaks of baptism administered by heretics as OVK 
oliceiov /cot yvfjffiov VSup (Strom, i. 19. 96). On this, and on his not using 
:=acerdotal language of the ministry, see below, p. 1 96 f . 

1 Paed. iii. 12. 97: "there are an infinite number of suggestions in the 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 1 3 7 

reason to believe that the episcopal office was recognised 
at Alexandria as distinct from the presbyterate very 
early in the century. The emperor Hadrian visited 
Alexandria in A.D. 130, and he gave an account of 
his visit in a letter to Servianus which is preserved. 
Amidst the motley crowd of the devotees of all sorts 
of religions and superstitions, whose fickle inconsist 
ency, as it appeared in his eyes, half amused and half 
disgusted him, he recognised the "bishops of Christ" 
as distinct figures from the Christian presbyters. 1 

There is thus no ground for doubting the ex 
istence of an episcopal succession at Alexandria long 
before the middle of the second century. But we but Jerome 
have it on Jerome s evidence that this succession had 
some peculiarity. He is writing 2 in a state of great 
indignation with the arrogance of deacons in the 
Church of Rome. He (like other patristic writers) 
wishes to emphasize, as a corrective to their self- 
assertion, the especial dignity of that priesthood, 
which, with some differences of function, presbyter 
and bishop share in common. His view will be con 
sidered later, but he illustrates it by a practice which 
he attributes to the Church of Alexandria in earlier 
days, and with this illustration we are now concerned. 

sacred books directed to select persons, some to presbyters, some to bishops, 
some to deacons, others to widows." 

1 See his letter to Servianus (ap. Vopisc., quoted by Lightfoot Ignatius 
i. 464; cf. Dissert, p. 225): "Illic qui Serapem colunt Christiani sunt, et 
devoti sunt Serapi qui Christi se episcopos dicunt. Nemo illic archisyn- 
agogus ludaeorum, nemo Samarites, nemo Christianorum presbyter, 
non mathematicus, non haruspex, non aliptes. Ipse ille patriarcha, cum 
Aegyptum venerit, ab aliis Serapidem adorare, ab aliis cogitur Christum. 
The patriarcha " is (no doubt) the Jewish patriarch. 

2 Ep. cxlvi ad Evangelum. 



138 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

that, down to Jerome then asserts that "from the days of St. Mark 

A.D. 233-249 

265, the 249 " the Evangelist down to the episcopates of Heraclas 
constftuted 6 and Dionysius the presbyters at Alexandria used 

by mere * 

election, always to appoint as bishop one chosen out of their 
number and placed upon the higher grade, just as if 
an army were making a general, or deacons were 
choosing one of themselves whose diligence they knew 
and calling him arch-deacon. For what" (he asks) 
"except ordination does a bishop do which a presbyter 
does not ? " l The language of this statement is 
ambiguous, but Jerome seems to mean, as he was 
certainly understood to mean by later Latin writers, 
that there was no fresh consecration or ordination re 
quired in earlier days at Alexandria to make a presbyter 
bishop, but that he became bishop simply in virtue of 
his election by the other presbyters. There would 
have been thus a substantial identity between the 
two orders. Jerome had of course resided at Alex 
andria, and had had opportunities of making himself 
acquainted with Alexandrian traditions ; but, if this 

His state- is his meaning, his statement is wholly without inde- 
pendent support in Latin or Greek literature. 2 Epi- 
phanius, for example, Jerome s older contemporary and 
bishop of Salamis in Cyprus, though he knew Egypt 

1 The Latin is quoted in Appended Note B, where there is some further 
discussion of the matter. 

2 His statement is copied by later Latin writers, and an Arab patriarch 
of the tenth cent., Eutychius, is quoted in support ; .on whom see App. Note 
B. Surely Dr. Lightfoot is mistaken (Dissert, p. 231 n. 2 ) when he quotes 
Ambrosiaster (in Eph. iv. 12) in support of Jerome: "denique," says 
Ambrosiaster, "apud Aegyptum presbyteri consignant si praesens 
non sit episcopus." The reference here is to confirmation, not ordina 
tion. Moreover Didymus, who lived and taught at Alexandria and was 
Jerome s teacher, says absolutely : ^TT/O-KOTTOJ /x6^os TT? &vudfv x-P tTl Te\e? T& 

(de Trin. ii. 15). 



in.] The Witness of Chiirch History. 139 

better than Jerome and was acquainted with the 
peculiar position of the Alexandrian presbyters, which 
anticipated that of the parish priests of later days 
was seemingly ignorant of any such fact as Jerome 
mentions. 1 There is no trace of it in any Alexandrian 
writer of the third or fourth centuries. Thus Athana- 
sius records how a council at Alexandria, in A.D. 324, 
had declared null and void a pretended ordination 
by a schismatical presbyter, Colluthus. It has been 
recently suggested that the mere fact of such an 
ordination having occurred is a sign that the older 
traditions of the substantial identity of the bishop 
and the presbyter still survived in the byways of 
the Alexandrian Church. But Athanasius language, 
or rather the language he quotes from the letter of a 
synod of Egyptian bishops held in A.D. 340, does not 
countenance this. " How then," they ask, " is Ischyras 
a presbyter ? Who appointed him ? Colluthus, was 
it not ? This is the only plea left. But that Col 
luthus died a presbyter, and that his every ordination 
is invalid and all who were appointed by him in his 
schism have come out laymen and are so treated, is 
plain, and nobody doubts it." 2 This is not the lan- 

1 Haer. Ixix. I. Had he been acquainted with the supposed fact, it 
probably would have appeared in his language against Aerius, which is re 
ferred to later. It would have needed explanation. 

2 Athan. Apol. c. Ar. n, 12 (quoting from a synodical letter of Egyptian 
bishops) : OUTOS 5^ earif 6 iro\vdpv\\T]Tos 10-%1/pas, 6 A"} 1 " 6 v^b rfjs tKK\Tj<rlas 
Xtiporov-r]8els /cat, Sre roi)s virb MeXeTtou KaraffraOevras irpeafivrtpovs A\t!;av8pos 
e5^x er > M 7 ?^ tKeivots <rvi>api6/*T]9fts ovrus ovd tKeWev Kareffrddt). irbOev oi<v 
irpeajSi/repos lo^i/pas ; rivos Karaffr^ffavros ; S,pa KoA\oi/0ov; rovro yap \OLTr6v. 
ctXV STI ~K6\\ovdos Trpeff^ijrfpos iav ^reXei/rrjcre, /cat Tratra x e ^P <*fo"<>0 y^yoftv 
&KVpos Kal irdvres ol Trap avroO /caraara^J Tes & T ^x^/taTi \aiKol yeydvacri 
/cat OVTW ffwdyovrai, dij\ov, Kal otdevi KaQffTT]Kev dfj.(f>i^o\ov. Cf. 74 (and 76) : 
oi)5^7TOTe \firovpybs rrjs eKTcXijat aj ytyovev . . . e/CTrecrwi /cai T^J i/ ei/SoCj inrovotas 
7ov Trpe<rj3vTfpiov. 



140 



Christian Ministry. 



[CHAP. 



ib)isnot 






guage which could have been used if there had been 
an appeal in the matter to any ancient tradition of 
the Church. 

The language and silence of Origen are also signi- 
ncant. Origen was thirty-eight years old when 
Heraclas became bishop, in whose time the gradual 
exaltation of the episcopate is supposed to have begun. 
Origen, besides giving us to understand that the 
method of ordaining bishops was by laying-on of hands, 1 
also speaks of them frequently as occupying a quite 
different grade to presbyters, and he uses language 
which implies that the position of bishops was one of 
immemorial antiquity. 2 It must also be remembered 

1 When Origen (in Num. xxii. 4) is rebuking the " priucipes ecclesiae " (i.e. 
bishops) for appointing their own relations or even their sons to succeed them 
in their sees, he quotes Num. xxvii. 18-20 (where Moses is directed to choose 
Joshua and lay hands upon him, etc.) and continues: "audis evidenter 
ordinationem principis populi tarn manifesto descriptam, ut paene expositione 
non egeat. " Just above he had distinguished the " princeps populi " from the 
"presbyteri" of Num. xi. 16. Cf. also in Exod. xi. 6. 

2 Origen s language about church offices is of this nature : 

(1) Bishops and presbyters are classed together as v tKK\t]criaffTiKrj doKovvres 
elvai vwepoxfj (in loann. xxxii. 7); cf. in Matt. xvL 22: ol 8t ras irpuTOKaOedplas 
irfTriffrev/j.{voi rov \aov fTriaKoiroi Kal 7rpe<r/3t/repot. 

(2) Much more frequently they are spoken of as constituting distinct 
classes ; cf . in Luc. xx : "Si lesus subiicitur Joseph et Mariae, ego non 
subiiciar episcopo qui mini a Deo ordinatus est pater ? non subiiciar pres- 
bytero qui mihi Domini dignatione praepositus est ? " Again, in the beautiful 
contrast which he draws (c. Cels. iii. 30) between the Christian and the 
pagan tKK\Tj<ria, he distinguishes the dpxuv of the Christian community from 
the fiovXevral the bishop from the presbyters in several typical Churches, 
of which Alexandria is one. Again, speaking (de Oral. 28) of the different 
"debts "which different classes of the community have to pay, he specifies 
the distinct debt of widow, deacon, presbyter, and continues : /ecu fwiffK6-irov 
5 6<pfi\T) J3apvr<irr) a.Trairov/j.^vrj i;7r6 rov TT}J 8X775 lKK\rjcrias crarrTjpos Kal ^KdiKov/j^vt) 
el pr] &iro5i8$ro. And in a similar strain in lerem. xi. 3 : ou iravrus 6 /cX^pos 
ff&fci . . . TrXelov yw &Trairov/j.ai Trapd rbv didKOvov (this was after he was 
ordained priest), TrXeiov 6 SICLKOVOS trapa. rbv \aiK6v 6 5 TTJV iravruv TJ/J.UV tyKf- 
Xetptov^cos &pX7]v O.VTTJV TTJV tKK\ r)<riao TiKT)v tirl ir\elov aTratretroi. Cf. in Ezech. 
v in Luc. xvii. 

(3) He puts the bishops alone in a remarkable way, as the Church s rulers : 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 141 

that Origen had suffered severely from specially epis 
copal authority at Alexandria. He had been ordained 
presbyter, as is well known, at Caesarea, without the 
consent of Demetrius, the bishop of Alexandria. Now, 
while a mixed synod of Egyptian bishops and pres 
byters had consented only to banish him for this 
breach of canonical discipline, a synod of bishops alone 
had gone further and deposed him from his presby- 
terate, as he and his friends thought, unjustly. 1 This 
severer treatment would make him quick, like Jerome, 
to notice the arrogance of bishops. 2 If then Heraclas, 
Demetrius successor, had deprived the presbyters of 
an ancient right, it would not have escaped his atten 
tion ; yet, writing at the end of Heraclas episcopate, 
he characterizes the Alexandrian Church among others 
as " a mild and stable" society, and speaks of want of 
zeal, not of rivalry, as the fault likely to be found in 

"per singulas ecclesias bini sunt episcopi, alius visibilis, alius invisibilis ; 
ille visui carnis, hie sensui patens " (in Luc. xiii). He is alluding to the 
Angel of the Apocalypse, whom he conceives of as the spiritual guardian of 
the Church and counterpart of the earthly bishop. This leads to the remark 
that 

(4) He conceives the bishop of his day to be the bishop of whose qualifica 
tions St. Paul instructs us (in Matt. xi. 15 ; c. Cels. iii. 48). Also he speaks 
of bishops as the immemorial tradition in the Church ; he speaks of people 
who have to boast of fathers and ancestors wpoedpias ^tw/i^ots fv rg fKuXijaiq. 
eiriffKOiriKOv dpbvov 1) irpefffivreplov rifj.rjs ^ diaKuvias ets TOV \abv (in Mutt. xv. 26). 
And as he singles out " stability " as a note of the Church, when he is con 
trasting it with the pagan societies (c. Ctls. iii. 30 : wpaeld TIS ical wrra0//s) 
and this when Alexandria is specially mentioned among other Churches he 
is clearly not conscious of any change in the Church s constitution which is 
going on. Nor does his language at all suggest that the episcopate at Alex 
andria was in a peculiar position. 

1 Diet. Chr. Biog. s.v. ORIGEN iv. p. 100. 

2 He does, as a fact, rebuke the bishops, especially those of great cities, 
for secularity and pride, but not as if their order was exalting itself at the 
expense of the presbyters ; cf. in Matt. xvi. 8, in Exod. xi. 6, and Diet. Chr. 
Biog. s.v. OKIGEN iv. p. 127. 



142 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

bishops and clergy. 1 So far then as Jerome s theory 
postulates at Alexandria an original lack of clear dis 
tinction between the orders of bishop and presbyter, 
followed by a gradual exaltation of the episcopate, 
during the period of Origen s life, it has all the testi 
mony of his language against it. 2 
( C ) if true, is It requires, then, a great effort of confidence to 

not incon- 

ffi*p n riMi$ie trust Jerome s witness, especially when we consider 
sion ucc that it is the witness of Jerome in a temper, 3 and that 
under such circumstances he is not too careful with 
his facts ; but it has been so generally accepted by 
western writers from the fourth to the twelfth 
century and by modern critics, that it will be the 
better course, as our object is not merely archaeological, 
to face what is at any rate the possibility of its being 
true. It should then be noticed that, when western 
church writers of the Middle Ages quote and accept 
Jerome s statement, it causes them no disquietude 
in view of the existing distinction of bishops and 
priests. They would maintain that no one can validly 

1 c. Gels. iii. 30. 

2 So far again as Jerome s words postulate that the elective authority for 
the episcopate lay simply with the presbytery, it has against it the evidence 
that the ancient mode of episcopal election at Alexandria gave great power 
to the vote of the whole people. It is not likely that the presbytery should 
have lost power and the people gained it. See Athan. Apol. c. Ar. 6 -irav 
rb irXrjOos /cai Traj 6 Xa6s ; Greg. Naz. Orat. xxi. 8. 

There were remarkable features about Alexandrian episcopal elections 
in later days. They were made rapidly to avoid disturbance (Epiphan. 
Haer. Ixix. n), and Liberatus speaks thus of the episcopal consecration 
(Breviar. 20) : " Consuetude quidem est Alexandriae ilium qui defuncto 
succedit excubias super defuncti corpus agere, manumque dexteram eius 
capiti suo imponere et, sepulto manibus suis, accipere collo suo beati 
Marci pallium et tune legitime sedere. " 

3 Dr. Bigg, in another case, makes short work of Jerome s unsupported 
testimony" (B. L. p. 214 n. 1 ). 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 143 

execute any ecclesiastical function which does not 
belong to him by the proper devolution of ecclesias 
tical authority. But this no one accuses the Alexan 
drian presbyters of having done. They were ordained, 
ex hypothesi^ on the understanding that under certain 
circumstances they might be called, by simple election, 
to execute the bishop s office. They were not only 
presbyters with the ordinary commission of the 
presbyter, but also bishops in posse. 1 Elsewhere 
there were two distinct ordinations, one making a 
man a bishop and another a presbyter ; at Alexan 
dria there was only one ordination, which made a 
man a presbyter and potential bishop. When this 
arrangement ceased and Alexandria was assimi 
lated to other Churches, the presbyters began 
to be ordained as mere presbyters ; and hence 
forward any assumption by one of them of episcopal 
powers, such as Colluthus was guilty of, was treated 
as a mere assumption, the results of which were 
simply invalid. It is unnecessary to do more than 
recall, in view of such an hypothetical situation, the 
contention of the last chapter, namely that the 
church principle of succession would never be violated 
by the existence in any Church of episcopal powers, 
whether free or conditional, in all the presbyters, 
supposing that those powers were not assumed by 
the individual for himself, but were understood to 
be conveyed to him by the ordination of the Church. 



1 Their position would not have been very unlike that of the chorepiscopi, 
who could only ordain validly (in the mind of the early Church) where they 
had the sanction of the town bishop. 






144 Christian Mimstry. [CHAP. 

The state of things, then, which is assumed to have 
existed at Alexandria violates the complete uniformity 
of the church ministry in the period we are consider 
ing it requires us to introduce qualifications into 
our generalization of results but it does not affect 
the principle. 1 

s ^ ^ ar we nave been going through the evidence 
as supplied by the history of Eastern Christianity on the 

conceived . J . ^ . . * 

existence of episcopal successions in every Church. 
It remains to seek additional light on the conception 
entertained of the ministry; and that from three 
sources 

(1) writings which are concerned with worship 

and church order : 

(2) the canons of councils : 

(3) some representative Fathers. 

a> Liturgies, (l) Besides the oriental offices of ordination, of 

KtfL. \ / 

ancient though uncertain date, 2 and some mediaeval 
commentaries on the ancient rites, such as that of 
Symeon of Thessalonica, we have older sources of 
evidence. There is the work of the (Syrian) pseudo- 
Dionysius, On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, a work 
probably of the end of the fifth century, elaborating 
the mystical significance of the Church s orders ; and, 
more ancient, the work which by gradual accretions 
took shape in the Apostolical Constitutions. We have 
reason to know that this book existed substantially 
as we have it about the middle of the fourth century, 3 

1 See Simcox Early Church History p. 359 n. 1 
3 Given in Morinus de S. Ord. p. ii. 

8 Dr. Lightfoot has shown (Ignatius i. p. 253) shown is not too strong a 
word even in face of Harnack that the interpolator of the Ignatian letters 



etc. 



III.] The Witness of Church History. 145 

and it undoubtedly embodies a great deal of a much 
earlier date. Now, all this body of writings puts 
before us the ministry of bishops, presbyters, and 
deacons as constituting without any possibility of 
doubt the Church s hierarchy. There are minor orders, 
but they are on a different level. 1 Nor is there any 
tendency, as in some similar western, works, to mini 
mize the original distinction of bishops and presbyters. 
There is a difference indeed between one document 
and another in respect of the dignity of the presby- 
terate. The earlier work makes the bishop the typi- 
cal priest, and, while it acknowledges the priestly 
character of the presbyter, tends to make him simply 
the bishop s assistant. In the later writings a more 
independent priesthood is recognised as belonging to 
the presbyter. This corresponds to the historical fact;\ 
for, while at first the bishop was the officiating priest | 
in. each community and the presbyters were his assist 
ants, the process of decentralizing which went on in 
the East as in the West, though not to the same 

plagiarized from the Apostolical Constitutions. "Moreover," he adds, "the 
plagiarisms are taken from the work as we have it now . . . The obligations 
to the two last books are hardly less considerable in comparison with their 
length than to the earlier and larger part of the work." But the date of the 
interpolated letters is fixed with great certainty by their doctrinal tone ; they 
were composed in the latter half of the fourth century perhaps soon after 
350. "There is nothing," says Dr. Lightfoot, "in the Apostolic Constitu 
tions, even in their present form, inconsistent with an earlier date thau this, 
while their silence on questions which interested the Church in the middle 
and latter half of the fourth century is in itself a strong presumption that 
they were written before that date. " This would still leave room for minor 
alterations such as must have occurred in v. 1 7 (on the keeping of Easter), 
since it was quoted by Epiphanius. 

1 Cf. Symeon ap. Morinus de S. 0. p. ii. p. 129. The orders treated of by 
Dionysius are three ; he lays great stress on their separate dignity (ap. 
Morinus de S. 0. p. ii. p. 53 f.). Cf. Apost. Const, viii. 46 : bishops, priests, 
and deacons were ordained by the Apostles. 

K 



146 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

extent, resulted in the presbyter gaining a more inde 
pendent ministry. So far as a change took place, it 
was in this direction rather than in the other. But 
it did not touch the distinction of orders ; the bishop 
has from the first, and retains, the exclusive power to 
consecrate the chrism for confirmation and to ordain 
to the several orders of the clergy. 1 Nor is it unim 
portant to notice that there is no growth in the 
sacerdotal conception. On the contrary, while the 
mediaeval rites of ordination are moderate 2 in their 
expression of it, there is an overstrained tone some 
times apparent in the sacerdotalism of the earliest of 
these writings, the Apostolical Constitutions. The 
general conception of the priesthood is, however, 
practically identical through all the literature now 
The apos- under discussion. 3 The earliest description of the 

tolical con 
stitutions, modes of ordaining a bishop and a presbyter will give 

us a clear impression of the way in which the ministry 
is regarded. 
Mode of At the ordination of a bishop, 4 there is first to be 

ordaining a m 

bishop. the gathering on the Sunday of the bishops, pres- 

1 See Apost. Const, vii. 42, viii. 28 ; cf. Dionysius (ap. Morinus de 8. 0. p. ii. 
p. 55) : ^ Qeia. 6eff/J-odfffia TTJV TUV lfpapx<-Kuv rd|ewv ayiaffreLav Kal rr/v rov Oeiov 
/jujpov TeXficiiffiv Kal TTJV iepav rov Ovaiaffrripiov TeXerovpyiav rcus TWV Iv6u>v lepapxuv 
[i.e. the bishops] reXeffiovpyois Svi>d/j,eaiv evialws d,irK\7]puffei>. So much later 
Symeon (ib. p. 129) reckons pvpov tvepyeiv among episcopal powers ; the pres 
byter has not the ^eraScm*?? xdpts, nor is he able to do anything reXetm/cdj r) 
<f>uriffTiK6i>, but he can consecrate the mysteries and baptize. 

2 It is noticeable how the phrase occurs in the ordination of a deacon 
(ap. Morinus de S. 0. p. ii. pp. 69, 79, 86) : "Not through the laying-on of my 
hands, but by the visitation (tv tirurKoirr)) of Thy rich mercies is grace given, 
that he may stand purged from all sin in the dreadful day of judgment." The 
distinction is thus emphasized between order and sanctity. 

3 The correlation of the high priest, priests, and Levites of the Old 
Testament with the bishops, presbyters, and deacons of the New appears in 
the Apost. Const. , only mingled with other comparisons. 

4 Apost. Const, viii. 4, 5. Dr. Hatch calls this ceremony of the ordina- 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 147 

byters, and people. Then the presiding bishop is 
solemnly to question the presbyters and laity as to 
their choice of the candidate, as to his worthiness and 
character. This is to be done thrice, and they are to 
reply as at the tribunal of God and of Christ, and 
in the presence of the Holy Spirit and of the angels. 
" Then, silence having been made, one of the first 
bishops, standing with two others near the altar 
the rest of the bishops and presbyters silently 
praying, and the deacons holding the Gospels open 
upon the head of him who is being ordained (x^t/oo- 
rovovpevov) shall address God." He invokes Him 
under His attributes of supremacy and as the gover 
nor of the Church, 1 " who through the coming 
of Thy Christ in the flesh didst give laws to Thy 
Church, with the testimony of the Paraclete through 
Thine Apostles and us Thy bishops here present by 
Thy grace : who didst foreordain priests from the 
beginning for the government of Thy people, first 
Abel, Seth, Enos, Enoch, Noah, Melchizedek, and 
Job : who didst appoint Abraham and the rest of 
the patriarchs, with Thy faithful servants Moses and 
Aaron, Eleazar and Phinehas : who of them didst 
ordain rulers and priests in the tabernacle of witness : 
who didst choose Samuel for priest and prophet : who 
hast never left Thy sanctuary without a ministry : 
who wast pleased to be glorified in those whom Thou 
didst choose :" he then goes on to pray " now also do 
Thou by the intercession of Thy Christ, pour down by 

tion of a bishop the earliest eastern form of what in later times would have 
been called the ritual of ordination or consecration " (B.L. pp. 131, 132). 
1 For the two forms of the prayer, see Pitra lur. Eccl. Or. i. p. 50. 



148 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

means of us the power of Thy ruling Spirit, who is 
ministered by Thy well-beloved Son Jesus Christ, 1 
whom He gave by Thy will, who art the eternal God. 
Grant in Thy name, God, who knowest the heart, to 
this Thy servant whom Thou hast chosen to be bishop, 
that he may rule (shepherd) Thy holy flock and ex 
ercise his high priesthood to Thee, blamelessly minis 
tering day and night, and, propitiating Thy face, 
gather together the number of those who are being 
saved and offer to Thee the gifts of Thy holy 
Church : give him, O Lord almighty, through Thy 
Christ the participation of the Holy Ghost, that he 
may have authority to remit sins according to Thy 
commandment, to ordain clergy (SiSomi /cXifpous) 
according to Thy ordinance, to loose every bond 
according to the authority which Thou hast given 
unto the Apostles, 2 arid to please Thee in meekness 
and a pure heart unchangeably, unblamably, unim- 
peachably, offering to Thee [a pure and unbloody 
sacrifice, which through Christ Thou didst institute 
as the mystery of the new covenant, for] a savour of 
sweetness through Thy holy Servant Jesus Christ, 
our God and Saviour, through whom to Thee, be 
glory, honour, and reverence in the Holy Ghost, now 
and ever a,nd for the ages of ages." "And when 
the bishop has thus prayed, the rest of the priests 
"vith the people shall respond Amen. And after 
the prayer one of the bishops shall lift up 



1 AUTOS KO.I vvv /jLeffirtiq. rov ^piffrov (rov Si TJ/JLWV eirl x.ee T-t]v 8uva/J.iv rov 
r)yf/j.ovtKov aov irvevfj-aros, Sirep SiaKoveirai ry Tjya.Tn ifj.frip crov iraiSl. 

2 Neither the power of ordination nor the power of binding and loosing ia 
specified in the later rites. See App. Note C. 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 149 

the sacrifice upon the hands of him who is ordained 
(xei/ooToz^eis). And in the morning he shall be 
enthroned." 

In the ordination of a priest, 1 the injunction is that Mode of 

ordaining 

the bishop lay his hand upon his head, with the presby- a priest- 
tery and deacons standing by, and offer a prayer, in 
which God is invoked as providing "for things im 
mortal by mere preservation, but for mortal things 
by a succession." He is implored " to look upon and 
increase the Church and multiply her rulers, ... to 
look upon this His servant raised to the presbytery 
by the vote and judgment of all the clergy, and to fill 
him with the Spirit of grace and counsel, that he 
may help and govern His people with a pure heart." 
As God did order Moses to elect elders and filled 
them with the Spirit, so now He is entreated " to 
supply and keep unfailing in us the Spirit of His 
grace, that he (the presbyter), filled with powers of 
healing 2 and the word of teaching, in meekness may 
instruct God s people and serve Him sincerely and 
accomplish unblamably the priestly ministries on 
behalf of His people." 

It is not necessary to quote the office for the General 

* doctrine of 

ordination of a deacon. But it must be pointed out {Jyf*** 1 
that what has been quoted above could easily be 
illustrated from different parts of this work. There 
is an intense insistence on the necessity for ordination 
to qualify a man for any ministerial work s : there 

1 Ajjost. Const, viii. 16. 

2 This expression seems to derive from very early days ; but similar ex 
pressions are found in the western prayers of ordination. See App. Note C. 

3 E.g. ii. 27 : IIws olov re frvdpuwov eavrbv els lepucrvvriv iiripplirreuf, /JLT) \a^f>vra 



1 50 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

is a reiterated magnifying of the office of bishops, 
whether as priests ministering the oblations of the new 
covenant, especially the eucharistic sacrifice, 1 or as 
prophets and kings ("he is your king and ruler," 
nay more, "he is your earthly god after God" 2 ), or as 
mediators between God and His people, 3 as, " after 
God, their fathers, begetting them to adoption through 
water and the Holy Ghost" : there is an emphatic 
distinction drawn between the powers of a bishop 
and those of a presbyter 4 (" the distinction of names 



TO dl<t)/M irapd KpeiTTOvos, Kal woie iv tKelva & (i.6vois TOIS lepevyiv QeaTiv. Cf. 
ii. 28, iii. 10 : OVTS XCUKOIS liTLTptwonev iroieiv TL T&V lepariKuv Zpyuv. It seems 
admitted (viii. 46) that God s supernatural or miraculous call, as in the case 
of Ananias (Acts ix), dispenses with the necessity for human ordination. 
But cf. viii. 26 : an exorcist with the gift of healing would require to be 
ordained to the regular ministry. 

1 E.g. ii. 25 : Tyuets ovv ffrj/j.epov, & tirlffKOiroi, ivT( ry Xay v/j.ui> lepets, Xeinrcu, 
01 \eiTovpyovvTes TTJ lepq. ffKrjvy, TTJ dyiq, Kal KaOoXiicfj KK\r}<ria, Kal irapeffT&Tes 
T<J> 6vfftaffTt]pL(f} Kvpiov TOV 6eov i^fj-Civ Kal irpotrdyovTes aury rots Xcryt/cas Kc.l dvaifJ-dK- 
TOVS dvcrias did Itjcrov TOV /J.eyd\ov a/>%ie/>^ws i)/ae?s rots Iv i>p.lv \aiKOis iark irpotpri- 
rai, apxovres Kal ijyovfj.evoi Kal /SatrtXets, ol /j-ffftrai Oeou Kal TUV iriffrwv airrov, oi 
doxeis TOV \6yov Kal dyye\T7Jpes, ol yv&ffTai TUV ypa<pwi> Kal tpdoyyot, TOV 6eov Kal 
ftdpTvpes rod ^eX^/xaros avTov, ol TtdvTuv ras dfj.aprias fiaffTd^ovTts Kal irepl irdvTUv 
&iro\oyov/j.evoi. Cf. ii. 27, 28. 

2 ii. 26 : OVTOS apxav Kal rtyovp.evos v/j,)i>. OVTOS V/JLWV /3acri\evs Kal dvvda Tijs 
OVTOS vn&v ^Triyfios Oebs p.tTa debv 8s 6<pei\ei, TTJS Trap vp-Qiv TI/J.TJS diro\aveiv. irepl 
yap TOVTOV Kal TUIV bp-oiuv avTbs 6 debs ZXeyev Eyw flwa 9eot ^crre Kal viol v\f/lcr- 
TOV irdvTts, Kal Qeovs ov KaKoXoy-rjffeis. 6 yap twiffKowos TrpoKaOeftcrOu v/j.wv 
cSs ^eoO dia TeTi/jnrjfjitvos, rj Kparei TOV K\T/pov Kal TOV \aov TravTos &pxt<~ Cf. ii. 33- 
This is surely rather overstrained language. 

3 ii. 25, 26 : The bishop is /xeutr^s deov Kal V/JLUV Iv Tats irpbs avTbv \aTpelais 
. . . OVTOS fj.erd dfbv iraT^p v/j-tLv, 5i vdaTos Kql irvevp-aTOS dvayevvi]ffas V/J.3.S eis 
vlodfo~iav. ii. 32 : Si ov [so. ^TriffK6irov] TO ayiov Trvev/j,a b Kvpios tv Vfuv HduKEV v 
TTJ xetpo0e<rg, 5: ov dyia 8byp.aTO, fJ.f/j.adriKaTe Kal debv lyv&KaTe Kal els XpiffTbv 
ireiriffTevKaTf, 5i ov eyvdcrdyTe inrb deov, 8t oC eatppayiaOriTf e\ai($ dya\\id<reus 
Kal /jLvpy ffvv^ffeus, Bi oC viol tpwTos dveSfi xOrjTe, SC ov Kvpios kv T< <f)WTi,ff/J.f v/j.ui>, 
T-fj TOV eiruTKbirov xf^podefflq. fJ-apTVpuv, i<f> f"Ka<nov vfj.ui TTJV lepdv e^eTetve (pufrjv 
Xtywv Ttos fJiov el ffv, tyd) ffrip-epov yeye vvrjKd ere. 

4 viii. 46 : "Icrre yap irdfTws ^TTIO-KOTTOVS Trap 7]/j.S>v dvop-affdevTas Kal irpeff- 
{tvre povs Kal 5ia/c<Wi/s evxy xal x et pvv eirtdecrei, TTJ OLatpopq. TUIV ovo/maTur Kal TTJV 
Sta<popdv TUV irpayiMaTUv SeiKVvovTas ov yap b flovKbp-cvos Trap TJ/JUV ^TrXiypoi; TTJV 
X.eipa, ucrirep tirl TTJS KijSSiJXow TUV 5afj.d\euv ^irl TOV Iepof3od/t irapaKeKou/j.e t rjs 
lepuffvvrjs, dXX 6 Ka\ov/jLevos virb TOV 6eov. iii. 10 : OVK ewiTpeirop-fv Trpe<r(3vTf pot.s 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 1 5 1 

is a distinction of realities " specially, only a bishop 
can ordain) : there is a strong and powerful assertion 
of the principle of order : finally, there is a striking 
passage on the apostolical succession, with special refer 
ence to the perpetuating of the eucharistic sacrifice. 
" Christ, the only-begotten, was the first high priest 
by His Nature, not having snatched the honour for Him 
self, but being appointed by the Father ; who became 
man for us, and, when offering His spiritual sacrifice to 
His God and Father before His passion, appointed us l 
only to do this, though there were with us others too 
who had believed on Him ; but a believer did not, 
as such, become a priest or obtain the high priestly 
honour ; but after His assumption, we, having offered 
according to His commandment a pure and blood 
less sacrifice, appointed bishops and presbyters and 
deacons, seven in number." 2 

The later writings to which we have alluded are 
without the exaggerated tone which sometimes appears 
in the Constitutions, and the thoughts connected with 
the various ordinations are often of great moral beauty 
and interest. It is tempting to dwell upon them. 3 
But, in spite of certain differences, the whole literature 

Xeiporoveiv. viii. 46 : E/cetVo Koivfj iravres Trapayyt\\o/Ji.ei>, ^Kaarov tpftirttr rdei 
rrj doOtlffy avr Kal /J.TJ virepfialvtiv rovs tipovs. 

1 The Apostles are supposed to be the speakers. 

2 viii. 46 : Hpwros rolvvv TIJ <(>ucrei dpxifpebs o [tovoyev^s X/3tor6y, oi>x eai/ry 
TTJV Tt/aV apvaaas, a\\cL irapd, rov Ilarpdj Karaffradeis 8s yev6fj.evos &v0pti)iros 5i 
i]/j.ds /cat rr]v Trvev/J,a.TiKT]v OvcrLav irpo<T<pp<av ry Of<$ airroO Kcd irarpl irpb TOV irdBovs, 
yfuv dierd^aro /J.6vois TOVTO ITCHC IV, KO.LTOI 6vTdiv ffiiv rifuv KO.I ertpuv ruv els airrbv 
ireirio-TevKortav ciX/V 01) Trdvrus 6 irurTeij(ras ijSr) Kal lepetis Ka.re<jrt\ TJ dpxiepaTiKTJs 
d^i as Irvx 6 M era ^ T V dvd\7)\f/iv avrov rj/j.e?s, Trpoffff^yKOvres Kara rrjc dtdra^iv 
aiiroC Overlay Kadapav Kal dvai/j.aKTOv, irpofx el P tff &/ J - e Q a eT CTK^irous Kal irpf 

Kal dia.K6vovs cirra rbv dpid/j.6v. 

3 Some of the chief passages are quoted in App. Note C. 



152 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

is pervaded by the same principles and it has been 
better for our purpose to exhibit them as they appear 
in the earliest documents. 

(2) Canons of (2) What is the witness of oriental councils ? It 
is very slight. For, as the principle of the ministry 
was little opposed, it was as little contended for ; and 
it is not till the fourth century that we begin to have 
the canons of councils. The canonical literature is 
occupied a good deal with clerical discipline, and the 
distinctive powers of bishops, priests, and deacons are 
throughout assumed and guarded. The earliest 

A.o.814. recorded canons are those of Ancyra. The council 
held here was of the nature of a "general council" of 
the Churches of Asia Minor and Syria, "to heal the 
wounds inflicted on the Church by the persecution 
under Maximin." l The language of its twenty-five 
canons implies throughout the threefold ministry : 
there is the general government of the bishop, 2 the 
priestly ministration of the presbyters, 3 and the 
assistant ministry of the deacons. 4 The thirteenth 
canon has been much quoted as (implicitly) giving 
not only country bishops but also town presbyters a 
power to ordain, with the leave of the bishop of each 
diocese ; but the reading which would give this 
meaning is not supported by the manuscripts. The 
true meaning seems to be represented in the Syriac 

1 Hefele Conciliengesch. 16. 

2 Cc. 2, 5, 10, 15. The clergy in general (c. 3) constitute a Tdu. 

C. I : presbyters rijs TI/J.IJS TTJS /card TTJV KaOtdpav fj.ertx 01 "* 11 J their func 
tions are irpocrfiepeiv, oyutAeu , \eirovpyelv ras te/jartKas Xeirovpylas. 

C. 2 : i) lepa \eirovpyla, r) TOV &prov T) irorfiptov dvafifpeu i.e. either the 
presenting the oblation to the presbyter who offers (irpovfopei, c. I ; cf. the 
use of ava<j>tpeiv in the account of the ordination of a bishop, Apost. Const. 
viii. 5) : or the communicating the people (see below, Can. Nicaen. 18). 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 153 

version : "It is not lawful for country bishops to 
create presbyters or deacons in the country, but also 
not in the city, without the permission of the bishop, 
which is everywhere granted by letters." 1 It has 
been mentioned already that a council at Alexandria 
(A.D. 324) declared the man who had been ordained by 
a presbyter to be a mere layman. The great Council 
of Nicaea, among other canons, 2 prohibits deacons 
" who have no power to offer " from " giving the body 
of Christ to the presbyters " who have the sacrificial 
authority ; 3 it also sternly rebukes a practice, which 
had come to the ears of the Fathers, of deacons com 
municating even before bishops. " Let all these 
things, then," the canon concludes, " be done away, 

1 On this see App. Note D. There were country priests as well as coun 
try bishops. Each class, having in some sense the same powers as the 
corresponding class of the town, had limited rights in the exercise of them. 
Thus only on an emergency could country priests celebrate in the town 
church (Can. Neo-Caes. 13) ; on the other hand country bishops could offer 
in the town freely (Can. Neo-Caes. 14), but not ordain without special permis 
sion. The council of Neo-Caesarea was almost contemporary with that of 
Ancyra. It may be mentioned that the canons of Neo-Caesarea mention a 
current idea that the imposition of hands in ordination carried with it the 
absolution from all sins except carnal ones. 

2 The legislation about the metropolitan sees, i.e. the distinction of rank 
amongst bishops, does not here concern us. Notice will hereafter be taken 
of the absence of clear distinction between a valid and a canonical ordination. 

3 C. 1 8 (Trpoa<j>{peiv, Sidovai rb ffuifj.a TOV xpiffTov) ; cf. Can. Laodic. 19. The 
practice here rebuked, of deacons communicating presbyters, may have some 
analogy with the western custom, which gave the deacons an independent 
authority to minister the consecrated elements. "As the consecration belongs 
to the priest, so the dispensation of the sacrament belongs to the minister 
(deacon) . . . the former sanctifies the oblations, the latter dispenses 
them when they are sanctified. Moreover, the priests themselves are not 
allowed for fear of presumption to take the chalice from the Lord s table, 
unless it have been given them by the deacon." Thus " without deacons a 
priest has his name but not his office." This comes from Isidore of Spain 
de Eccl. Off. ii. 8 (ap. Hittorp. p. 23) ; it is repeated by Rabanus Maurus de 
Inst. Cler. i. 7 (ap. Hittorp. p. 316), and Ivo, bishop of Carnot (ap. Hittorp. 
p. 472). At the same time the deacon s ministerium is carefully distin 
guished from the priesthood. Cf. Can. Ancyr. 2. 



154 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

and let the deacons remain within their proper limits, 
knowing that they are the servants of the bishop 
and inferior to the presbyters : and let them take the 
Eucharist according to their rank after the presbyters, 
when it is given them either by the bishop or the 
presbyter. And deacons must not even sit down in 
the midst of the presbyters, for this is contrary to 
rule [canon] and order. And if any one will not obey, 
even after these regulations, let him be deposed from 
his diaconate." At Nicaea, and in the synods which 
followed, we have a great multitude of canons bear 
ing on clerical discipline insisting on clergy passing 
gradually through the various grades of the hierarchy, 
prohibiting their passing from one diocese to another, 
limiting their respective rights, regulating the grada 
tions of rank but nothing more that concerns our 
present purpose. 
(3) Greek (3) What is the witness of the Greek Fathers? 

Fathers. 

2d century. The powerful testimony of Ignatius to the divine and 
exclusive authority of the bishop, as in each community 
the sole source of government and ministry, falls 
outside the period now under consideration and will 
be taken account of later. In the Clementines we have 
found a theory of the functions of the threefold min 
istry, in which the bishop has the supreme administra 
tion and the authority to bind and loose, but in which 
his teaching authority, as the successor to the "chair 
of the apostle," or " the chair of Christ," the great 
Prophet, is mainly emphasized. 1 Clement of Alex- 

1 See p. 130, n. 1 It must be remembered that the Clementines are 
Ebionite, and that their view of the Eucharist is a very low one. 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 155 

andria says but little of the ministry, as we have 
seen, but speaks of its three orders as representing 
ascending grades of spiritual dignity. 

In the third century almost all that we get on the 3d century. 
theory of the ministry 1 in the East consists of scat 
tered references in the writings of Origen. To him 
the ministry not only represents the divine authority 
of government, but is a priesthood, after the analogy 
of the Mosaic, and in application of the one priest 
hood of Christ. 2 

1 It should, however, be said that Firmilian of Caesarea, one of the most 
distinguished bishops of the third century, in his letter in reply to Cyprian, 
A.D. 256 (ap. Cypr. Ep. Ixxv), reproduces all Cyprian s language about the 
episcopate. See 16 : " Potestas ergo peccatorum remittendorum apostolis 
data est et ecclesiis quas illi a Christo missi constituerunt et episcopis qui eis 
ordinatione vicaria successerunt." 17: "Stephanus se successionem Petri 
tenere contendit." It may be noticed that he speaks of bishops as presbyters: 
"quando ornnis potestas et gratia in ecclesia constituta sit, ubi praesident 
maiores natu [i.e. oi irpea-pijTepoi] qui et baptizandi et manum imponendi et 
ordinandi possident potestatem " ( 7) ; yet he also ( 8) specifies bishops as 
claiming to give the Holy Ghost by laying on of hands : "ut hi quidem [i.e. 
episcopi qui nunc] possint per solam manus impositionein venientibus haerc- 
ticis dare Spiritum sanctum." Cf. 4: "seniores et praepositi." The word 
presbyter could still be used in such a sense as to cover the bishops. This 
letter must have been translated by Cyprian. The traces of a Greek original, 
however, are plain ; see Diet. Chr. Biog. s.v. CYPRIAN i. p. 751 n. x We can 
hardly be wrong so far in concluding that Firmilian accepted and repeated 
Cyprian s language about the episcopate, though he uses presbyter in a 
sense which leads to Cyprian translating it into maiornatu. 

2 See in Levit. v. 3 : Christ is the only sacrifice and the only priest ; but 
He has given His priesthood to His Church ; "consequens est ut secundum 
imaginem eius qui sacerdotium ecclesiae dedit, etiam ministri et sacerdotes 
ecclesiae peccata populi accipiant, et ipsi imitantes magistrum, remissionem 
peccatorum populo tribuant." The priests who preside in the Church are 
said repropitiare delicta ($ 4), but this is explained of the moral process 
by which they bring men back to God. There are strong exhortations to 
confession, which is to be private or public at the confessor s discretion, in 
Psalm, xxxvii. 6, horn. ii. ; in Levit. ii. 4. 

It should be mentioned at the same time that Origen seems to say that the 
unworthiness of the minister does affect the spiritual validity of his ministra 
tions ; cf. in Levit. v. 12 : the unworthy priest "non est sacerdos nee potest 
sacerdos nominari. " See Bigg B. L. p. 215 f . 

We have quoted from Origen above (p. 140 n. 2 ) on the threefold ministry. 



156 Christian Ministry. [CHAP 

4th century. In the fourth century the body of testimony grows 
with the mass of writings. There is, to quote some 

Athanasius. examples, the beautiful letter of Athanasius to Dracon- 
tius. Dracontius was a monk, who had been elected 
to a bishopric close to Alexandria and had received 
the "grace of the episcopate," but afterwards, moved 
by various fears, fled into concealment and left his 
high charge. Athanasius endeavours to recall him 
to his duty, in part by reminding him of monks who 
have made good bishops, but principally by recalling 
to his mind the dignity of the episcopate as insti 
tuted by Christ through His Apostles and having, 
therefore, not merely the authority of the Church 
but the authority of Christ Himself, and as being the 
essential condition of the continuous life of the Church 
and the handing down of grace; by reminding him 
also that he has received an actual grace in his ordina 
tion as real as the grace of baptism, for which he will 
be in any case responsible. 1 

There is a temptation to dwell on the spiritual 
beauty and power which is put into the patristic 
conception of the ministry. When is Gregory of 

1 Ep. ad Dracont. 3, 4 : Et 5 ruv KK\ricnu>v TJ Stdrafis OVK dpta/cei <roi, ov8 
vo(j.lfeis TO rijs tiriffKOTrijs \eLTOvpyrj/J.a [ucrdbv ^Xft-f, d\\d Kara^poveiv TOV TO.VTO. 
diara^afj^vov ffUT-?)pos weTroLriKas aavTov TrapctKaXw, fj,rj TotaOra \oylfov /mr)5 avfyov 
rwv roOra <rv/j.{3ov\ev6vTW ov yap fifta A/MUCorrfov TO.VTO. & yap 6 Kvpios dia TUV 
diroffTbhwv TerinruKe, ravra. /caXa /cai jltfiaia (J.evei ij S TUI> dSeX0wv dfi\ia irati- 
fferai. el yap TOV afirbv vovv ftxov Trdvres, dtov vvv i"x,ov<riv ol <rvfj./3ov\f)jovTs aoi, 
TTWJ av yvov <7i) xptffnai 6s, eTricrKdwiav fj.rj &VTUV ; tav d tcai ol fj,ed iifj.as ava\d- 
/3wcrt rbv TOIOVTOV vow, TTWS B.V ffvcrTTJvai dvvrjffuvTai al ^KK\r)(riai ; ^ vojj.l^ovffiv ol 
(rvfj-jSovXetiovrts croi fj.-r)dv fi\i]<t>tvai <re, 6 n Karafipovoviriv ; dXXd /cal TOVTO ^euSws. 
&pa yap avrovs vo/j.ifiv fj-rjdev elvai fj.i]8 rrjv TOV XourpoO x^P LV > ^ av Ttvej TOVTOV 
KO.Ta<t>poi>uxrv dXX ei XTj^as, & ayaTnjTt ApaK&VTie /j.rj avexov TUV ffVju.povXevdvTuv 
<roi, fj.rjd dirdra cravTbv diraiT rjdria eTat, yap TOVTO irapa TOV de8<aK&Tos Geov. ?i OVK 
fJKOvvas TOV dirooToXov \tyovTos Mr; d/i^Xet TOV iv aoi xaptf/taroj. The expression 
}) TTJS ^iricr/coTr^s x^P s occurs in 2. 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 1 5 7 

Nazianzus eloquence so high as in speaking of the 
priesthood ? There is the intense sense of the dignity 
of the priesthood, of the surpassing moral claim which 
it makes on those who share it ; l there is the clear 
and powerful realization of its connection with the 
whole purpose of the Incarnation ; of the dependence 
of the priesthood of the Christian ministry upon the 
unique priesthood of Christ, and of its relation to the 
Mosaic priesthood as being its spiritual counterpart and 
fulfilment 2 ; there is the unfailing spirituality of idea 
the outward sacrifice which it is the priest s high 
vocation to offer, always being kept in close connec- 



1 See especially Orat. ii. 94, 95 (on the occasion of his ordination as pres 
byter, A.D. 361): OlSa d ywye /J.rj5 robs ev TOIS <?<J!jfj.ao~i r&v iepeuv r) T&V dv/j-drui 
dve^eTdffTovs p.evovTas dXXa TeXeiovs rAeta irpocrdyeiv vevofJLUTfj.evov, cnj/nfioXov, olaai, 
TOVTO Trjs /card. ifivxT)v dpTioTrjTOS /jir)8 ffTO\r]s TTJS lepaTiKr}s ?) ffKevovs TWOS rwt> 
ayiwv \fsaveiv iravrl OefjUTbv ov jjLrjde rets Ovffias avras v<p &v Kal ore Kal ov /nj 
KaOrJKOv ?ii> dvaXiffKeaOcu fjnjSZ TO g\aiov dTro/Mfj-eiffOat TTJS x/aiVews /J.T)d TO 6v/j.iafjLa 
T^S ffwdtcreW /j.rj5 dsT& iepbv eiffdvai, Sorts r) ifsvxrjv r) crw/xa ov KaOapos, /uexP 
Kal TUV fUKpoTaTuv Toaovrov dei els TO, dyia. TUJV dyiuv irpo<j(j>Qt.Tq.v OappovvTa, &v 
evl KO.I airal; TOU evtavTov /n6vov eirifiaTby TjV TOffoijTov 5e? r6 /caraTreracr/aa ^ TO 
i\a(TTr]piov T) TTJV /ct/3wTW T) TO, Xepou/3i,u ^ irpoa pX^Treiv elvai TTO-VTOS r) TrpoffaTTTecrdat. 
TCLVTO. otv eiSws eyw, Kal OTI /j.r]8fis fi^toj TOV (j.eyd\ov /cat 6eou, Kal 6ti/j.aTos Kal 
dpxiepews, 6 crTts //.TJ TrpoTfpov eavrov irapfaTtjcre ry OeQ Bvcriav guxrav, dytai>, /J.f]d^ 
TTjv \oyiKT]i> XaTpeiav evdpeffTov eTredei^aTO, fjir)5 eOvye T 6e$ Overlay alvdfffus Kal 
TrvevfJia ffWTeTp(.p.p.evov, fjv fjLovrjv 6 irdvTa Sous aTratret Trap THJ.UV Ovfflav, TTWJ 
IweXXov Bappfjcrai 7rpoff<j>peiv avrii} TT^V f^wOev, TTJV T&V p.eya.\wv fjLvaTrjpitav avTiTwov, 
?! TTUJS tepew? o X ?A ta Ka ovofj.a VTrodueadai, trplv ocrt ots Zpyois reXetcDcrat rots %e7/3as. 

2 Orat. x. 4 : Atoi, TOVTO et s /j.tffov ayeis Kal inroxupovvros \a/j,j3dvri Kal Trapat 
ffeavTov Kadifeis TOVTO TO e/J,bv dSt /cij/xa, <pa.L^s av; Kal KOIVUVOV Troty TII> (fipovTlStav Kal 
TU3i> (jTe(f>a,vd}v StdroOroxptets dp%tep^a /cat Trepi/SaXXets TOV TroSrjpi) /cat TrepiTLdys T^V 
KlSapiv Kal TrpocrdyeLS T<$ 6v<naaT7jpiif TTJS Trvev/j.aTiKrjs oXo/cavraxrews /cat Oueis TOV 
fj,6ffX v T^S reXetwcrews /cat reXetors TOIS %etpas 7<J5 Trvfvp.aTi Kal eiadyei.s ets TO, iiyia TLOV 
dyiwv eTTOTTTeiiffovTa Kal jrotets XfiTovpybv TTJS O-KTJVTJS TTJS dXrjdivrjs ty %Trrjei> 6 Kvpios 
Kal OVK avdpwTTos fl 5 Kal aiov vp-Giv TST&V ^PLOVTUV Kal virep 08 Kal els ov TJ ^ptVtf, 
o!5e TOVTO b waTTjp TOV d\r]8ivov Kal OVTUS xpiffTov, ov ^xpiffev e\aiov dya\\id(reus irapb. 
Tofis fjieTo^ovs aurov, %pf<ras TTJV dvdpiairbTt]Ta Trj deoTTjTi, (acne iroirjffai TO. d/McpoTepa. 
ev, Kal avTos 6 debs Kal Kvpios i]/j.(ai> Irjffovs Xptcrros, 5t ov TTJV KaTaXXayrjv eo-x^Kafjief, 
Kal Tb irvevfj.a Tb ayiov, 8 e OeTO 7]fj.as els TTJV oiaKovlav TavTr/v ev rj Kal e0r?7/ca / aej 
Kal KavxufJ-eOa en eXrridi. TTJS do^rjs TOV Kvpiov r)/J.uv Irjcrov XpicrroO, y ij 56a eis 
TOVS alwvas T&V aluvuv. d/wjc. 



158 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

tion with its inward and spiritual correlative, " the 
sacrifice of praise and of a contrite heart, which is the 
only sacrifice which God asks of us ; " l there is the 
anxious sense of the difficulty of the pastoral cure, in 
view of all the perplexing varieties in men s disposi 
tions and necessities, capacities and states of life, all 
of which the pastor must have in constant and instinc 
tive view ; 2 there is, lastly, the strong belief in the 
reality of ordination grace conveyed through the 
laying on of hands. 3 

. A great deal which can be said of Gregory in this 
connection can be said of John Chrysostom also. Two 
points are specially worthy of notice. First, that 
alive as Chrysostom is to the spiritual dignity of the 
priesthood, in virtue alike of its sacrificial and of its 
judicial powers, 4 he is equally alive to its responsibility 
for individual souls laying immense stress on the 
necessity for considerateness, for gentle and patient self- 
adaptation to the different characters and needs and 
weaknesses of men, whether of high or low estate. 5 He 

1 See the quotation above from Orat. ii. On the true succession to the 
episcopate moral as well as actual see Orat. xxi on St. Athanasius. 

2 Orat. ii. 

3 Cf. the account of St. Basil on his death-bed (Orat. xliii. 78) : 6av/j.a- 
rovpyei: TWI> irpoeiprifiitvwv O&K ZXarTov waking his faculties of speech and action 
on the verge of death to ordain some of his disciples, rrjv xeipa 8ldu<rt ical rb 
weCpa. 

4 See especially his famous work de Sacerdotio iii. 4-7 ; vi. 4. 

5 Cf. de Sacerdot. ii. 3, 4 ; iii. 16 (on the case of the widows) ; iv. 
(latter part) ; vi. 8. This is a remarkable feature of the patristic concep 
tion of the ministry : for great orators, like Gregory and Chrysostom, 
are apt to be more alive to the common sensibilities of man than sympathetic 
with the differences of individual temperament. This insistence on the need 
of discerning men s different needs and characters appears equally in the 
western writers on the ministry. If it is not so prominent in St. Ambrose s de 
Officiis, it appears sometimes remarkably in St. Leo s conception of govern 
ment where we should not expect it, aud it is very prominent in St. Gregory 



III.] The Witness of Church History. 159 

is as impressive on the function of the pastor as on that 
of the priest. Secondly, while he, like Gregory, speaks 
of the common priesthood which belongs to bishops 
and presbyters and emphasizes (like some westerns) 
the closeness of the two orders to one another in 
dignity, he never fails to distinguish the unique 
privilege and power of ordaining which belongs to 
the bishop. 1 

This special power of the episcopate was empha- 
sized in the famous saying of Chrysostom s younger 
contemporary, Epiphanius, that while presbyters could 
beget children to the Church, i.e. by baptism, only 
bishops could beget fathers to the Church, i.e. by 
ordination. This passage in Epiphanius 2 is important 
(like the action of the Alexandrian council in the 
case of Colluthus), because it gives us an expression 

(de Cura Pastorali ii init. and iii. This work had immense recognition and 
authority in the West and even in the East ; see pref. to Mr. Bramley s 
translation). The same characteristic appears in the instructions to the 
penitentiary priest in the ancient Ordo Romanus (ap. Hittorp. p. 25 f.). 

1 Cf. Horn, in 1 Tim. xi. I : Oi) woXv p.t<rov avT&v [irpefffivrtpuv] /cat einffKO- 
iruv /cat yap /cat airrol di8a<TKa\lav elfflv avade5ey/j.tvoi Kalirpoaraffiav TTJS e/c/cX?;cras. 
Kal a irept einaKbiruv elwe, raOra /cai 7rpe<r/3irr^pots apfJ,6TTei T-fj yap xetporop/a fJ-ovrf 
inreppfpriKaffi, Kal TOVTQ /j.6vov doKovcrt TrXeovfKreiv robs irpefffivrtpovs. Hom. in 
Phil. i. I : OVK av 5 irpeafivTepoi IwlaKoirov fx fl P OTOV ^i ffav - Horn, in I Tim. 
xiii. I : 01) yap Sfy IT pea fibre pot rbv eirlaKoirov e"Xipor(>vow. Chrysostom (on Phil, 
i. i) admits that St. Paul uses the terms bishop and presbyter interchange 
ably. But so also, he adds, is the word diaicovia applied to the bishop s office. 
The language was not fixed, but the three offices were distinct : Sirep ot>v tyyv, 
Kal ol TrpecrjSuTepoi rb iraXaibv eKa\ovvro twlffKOiroi Kal diaKovoi TOV XpurroO, /cat 
ol tirlcTKOTroi TrpeapvTepoi Sdev /cat vvv 7r6XXw ffvu.Trpe<rl3vTtp({> eiriffKoiroi ypdfiovffi 
/cat ffwdiaKbvtp XOITTOV 5^ ~rb Idla^ov e/cdcrry airovv[J, r)Tai 8vo/J,a, 6 tTriffKcnros Kal 6 
irpefffiurepos. 

2 adv. Haer. Ixxv. 4 : "On /*& a.Qpoavvri s iffrl rb irav g/jnrXewv [sc. Aerius], 
TO ffiJVfffiv KeKrrjfJitvois TOVTO Srj\ov rb \tyeiv avrbv tTriaKoirov Kal Trpecr/Sirrepoj 
tffov elvai. Kal iru>s &rrat TOVTO Svvarbv ; rj n^v yap <TTI iraT^puv yevvrjTiKT] 
Tats irartpas yap yevvq. Trj tKK\rjffla i] 5 iraT^pas (J.T) 8vva/j,frr) yevvy.v 8ta TTJS 
TOV XovrpoO Tra\iyyev<rias TKVO. yevvq. Trj lKK\7i<rLa, ov /JLTJV Trar^paj i) SidacrKaXovs. 
Kal TriDs olov TS TIV rbv Trpea-purepov KaOiffT^v (j.rj fyovTa %etpo^ecrt aj TOV x fl P OT( >veiy, 
rj fiTTfw avrbv elvai Lvov T^> tirurKoircj) ; 



160 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

of the Church s mind in clear view of the antagonistic 
position. Aerius 1 had definitely held that there 
was no difference of order 2 between a bishop and 
a presbyter. " The bishop lays on hands," he said, 
" but so does the presbyter : 3 the bishop baptizes, 
so does the presbyter likewise : the bishop is the 
minister of worship, so is the presbyter : the bishop 
sits upon the raised seat (throne), and the presbyter 
too." There is then no difference. Aerius does not 
seem to have appealed to any church tradition, but 
simply to facts in the Church s present constitution 
and to the common use of the words presbyter 
and episcopus in the New Testament. Epiphanius 
meets his argument from the New Testament with a 
mixture of truth and error with which we are not 
at present concerned. 4 He meets him, however, first 
of all with an appeal to the mind of the Church 

1 Aerius was still alive ( i) when Epiphanius wrote. His original motive 
in formulating his anti-ecclesiastical views was not apparently a noble one, 
though Epiphanius does not make the best of those against whom he writes. 
He was in opposition not only to the right of bishops but to other church 
customs, and he was also of Arian antecedents. 

2 fda rdty, fjua TI/J.-TI, ?v d&w/ua ( 3). 

3 I.e. in certain benedictions of penitents the priest used prayer with 
laying-on of hands the prayer of imposition of hands. This at least the 
Church would have admitted ; irpfcrfivrepos -^eipoGerel, ov xfiporoveT (Apost. 
Const, viii. 28). See note (22) on Apost. Const, viii in Migne Patrol. Graec. 
i. p. 1083. 

4 He denies (unlike Chrysostom) that St. Paul uses TT pea pure pos and 
(irlffKoiros of the same person. So far he has a bad case. On the other hand 
he argues that the Church in the apostolic days was incomplete ; in some 
places there were bishops and deacons, in others presbyters, according to the 
degree of completeness of each Church or the fitness of individuals : ov yap 
iravra evdi/s rjSvvrjOq&av ol d7r6<rroAot Karacn ij(rai . . . OVTTW [oiirw MSS] TT}S 
tKK\r]fflas \a[3oij(n>)s TO. 7rXijpu)/u,aTa TT}S oiKovofdas. OVTU KO.T ^Keivo Kaipov fjffav ol 
rdiroi.. Kal ycip ZxaaTov irpdy/J-a OVK OTT dpx^s TO. TTO.VTO. <j-)(ev dXXd Trpoj3aii>ovTOS 
TOV xp& vov TO- Trpos T\etucrif TWV xpewv Karripri^eTo ( 5). He also calls atten 
tion to the fact that the presbyters have at least some one over them in the 
Pastoral Epistles. Cf. Theodore Mops, on 1 Tim. iii. 8. 



iii.j The Witness of Church History. 161 

on the matter. His customary abusiveness of tone 
must not blind us to the fact that he speaks clearly, 
with the consciousness that he is on quite sure 
ground, when he says that, whatever the presbyter 
may do, he cannot lay on hands in ordination that 
in this sense bishops alone constitute the " generative 
order " of the Church. 1 

Now the evidence of the Eastern Church has been summary 

for the Kast. 

passed in review. What is the result ? Leaving out 
of account for the moment some elements in the 
estimate formed of the ministry which will come into 
consideration later, it is enough to say at present that 
everywhere, where there is any evidence forthcoming, 
we have found the threefold ministry existing and 
regarded as alone authoritative in virtue of succes 
sion from the Apostles. In all cases the authority to 
ordain the clergy has been found, wherever the ques 
tion can be raised, to belong to the bishops, nor can 
fair evidence be produced of any single instance in 
which ordination by a presbyter (or in view of the 
exceptional arrangement supposed to have existed at 
Alexandria, we must say, by a presbyter with the 
ordinary commission) was either allowed 2 or even con 
templated as under any circumstances allowable or 
valid. 

B. We pass from the witness of Greek to that of B. 

Episcopal 

Latin Christianity. Here we may deal very briefly 
with the evidence for the existence of the successions 

1 There is a passage about the apostolic succession, which may be referred 
to, in Ephraem Syrus adv. Haer. serm. xxii, ap. Opp. Syr. [ed. Rom. 1740) 
ii. p. 488. 

2 See on the case of Paphnutius App. Note E. 

L 




1 62 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

of bishops in the period under consideration, for it is 
not disputed. The episcopal succession was clearly of 
immemorial antiquity at Rome when Irenaeus wrote. 
There is no trace of a pre-episcopal age in any other 
part of Italy, or in Africa, Gaul, or Spain. The 
beautiful letter of the Churches of Lyons and Vienne, 
giving an account of the persecution which fell upon 
them in the time of Marcus Aurelius confirms the 
testimony of Irenaeus for Gaul. 1 The language of 
Tertullian is evidence enough for Africa, where indeed 
episcopacy developed into an exuberance of sees 
rivalled only in Asia. It is true that in later cen 
turies episcopacy took some remarkable forms, es 
pecially, as has been noticed, in the Irish Church. 2 

1 Euseb. H.E. v. i. There is the aged bishop Pothinus, brriv diaKoviav Trjs 
tiriffKoirfjs e Aovydowy TTfTriffTfVfdvos ; there is the deacon Sanctus ; there is 
the presbyter Irenaeus (c. 4). 

" A satisfactory account of the episcopate in the Scotic Church of Ireland 
may be found in Todd s St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland, and Eeeves Eccl. 
Antiquities of Down, Connor, and Dromore. Its three notable features were 
(i) its indefinite multiplication; (2) its undiocesan character; (3) its sub 
ordination to the abbot-chiefs. The Church outside the empire, as inside it, 
was organized on the lines of the existing society. Thus in Ireland it be 
came tribal, and small chieftaincies would have resulted in small episcopates 
(Reeves p. 303 : "the spiritual jurisdiction of the bishop was coextensive with 
the temporal sway of the chief tarn "). But what introduced its unique 
features into church organization here was its predominantly monastic char- 
racter. The abbot was the real church ruler, and he was not always or 
generally a bishop. Hence the subordination of the episcopate. The bishops 
even lost control over the ordinations which they administered (cf . Bede H. E. 
iii. 4 ; Todd pp. 7-25). The episcopate, having thus lost its characteristic 
functions of government, was given as a mark of spiritual distinction (Todd 
p. 5). Thus it became indefinitely multiplied ; seven bishops are often found 
together in one spot (Todd pp. 33-35). Also it lost its diocesan character 
(Reeves p. 135 f. on "the ambulatory nature of episcopacy"). When the 
Danish invasions (c. A.D. 795 and onward) drove the Irish clergy and monks in 
great numbers on to the continent of Europe, the bishops seem to have behaved 
themselves as if they were in their own country, in entire neglect of diocesan 
restrictions. Hence conciliar enactments against these "Scoti qui se dicunt 
episcopos esse " (Reeves p. 135). And up to the twelfth century, when the 
Irish Church was organized on diocesan lines under papal influence, the 



III.] The Witness of Church History. 163 

There Christianity was monastic in a unique sense. 
The abbot took his place as spiritual head side by 
side with the chieftain of the clan. Often, indeed, the 
same person was both abbot and chieftain, and the 
old clan government continued with a new monastic 
character. Under these circumstances the bishop lost 
the governing authority which properly belonged to 
his office and became a mere instrument kept to per 
form those spiritual functions which he only could 
fulfil. But for such purposes he was kept : " the 
bishops were always applied to, to consecrate churches, 
to ordain to the ecclesiastical degrees or Holy Orders, 
including the consecration of other bishops ; to give 
Confirmation, and the more solemn benedictions ; and 
to administer the Holy Communion with peculiar 
rites." l No accession of power to abbot or king ever 
militated against the principle of ministerial succes 
sion. Through all the different forms which the church 
ministry assumed, and they have been very various, 
this has been the constant principle. Never has it 
been supposed that the accident of ecclesiastical 

looseness of Irish episcopacy was a standing scandal to canonical Europe ; 
see the protests of Anselm and Bernard, quoted by Todd pp. 2, 4 : " dicitur," 
writes Anselm to a titular king of Ireland, "episcopos in terra vestra passim 
eligi et sine certo episcopatus loco constitui, atque ab uno episcopo episcopum 
sicut quemlibet presbyterum ordinari." {This latter irregularity was char 
acteristic of the Celtic Church, but the canonical rule seems to have been 
observed at lona ; cf. Bede H.E. iii. 17-22.] So St. Bernard (de vita S. 
Mai. 10) : " nam, quod inauditum est ab ipso Christianitatis initio, sine ordine, 
sine ratione mutabantur et multiplicabantur episcopi pro libitu metropoli- 
tani ita ut unus episcopatus uno non esset contentus, sed singulae paene 
ecclesiae singulos haberent episcopos." He clearly does not understand the 
situation. 

1 Todd St. Patrick p. 5. Cf. Vita S. Brigidae, ed. Colgan in the Triadis 
Thaumaturgae Acta, p. 523 ; Adamnan Vita S. Columbae i. 36, ed. Reeves 
[Dublin, 1857], pp. 66-69. 



164 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

authority, apart from episcopal order, gave a man 
the power to ordain. 1 
The concep- It remains then to seek the light thrown upon this 

tion of the & 

ministry in conce ption of the ministry in the West 

(1) by typical theologians after A.D. 150 : 2 

(2) hy writers on worship and by the church offices : 

(3) by the canons of councils. 

a) western (l) St. Cyprian, the great bishop of Carthage, 

stands out prominently among western writers who 

cyprian, vindicated the claim of the apostolic ministry. It 

c A.D. 250. L J 

cannot be rightly maintained that he added anything 
new to the belief of his predecessors, western or 
eastern, in the visible unity of the Church or the 
authority of the episcopate. Nor did he bring these 
two doctrines into any new connection ; Ignatius and 
Irenaeus had already put the bishop in a very clear 
position in relation to church unity. Nor again is it 
true to say that Cyprian in any way created the 
doctrine of schism or destroyed an existing " freedom 
of association " in the Church. 3 He did not in fact 

1 See App. Note E on some supposed cases of presbyterian ordination. 

2 Clement of Rome is therefore not yet in discussion. The conception of 
the ministry held by Irenaeus and Tertullian has been already exhibited. A 
passa^o from Hippolytus is noticed in another connection, App. Note G. 

3 Dr. Hatch (B.L. p. 103) has maintained that "the rule [that there 
should be only one bishop in a community ] was not firmly established 
until the third century. Its general recognition was the outcome of the 
dispute between Cyprian and Novatian." "For this assertion," says Dr. 
Salmon truly, " he offers no proof whatever. Cyprian certainly treats it as a 
monstrous and impious thing, that when one bishop had been duly elected 
another should be ordained ; but there is no evidence that this view was 
then either novel or singular. Novatian no doubt had a respectable following, 
but there is no evidence that he claimed to be anything less than the bishop of 
Rome, or that either he or any of those who acknowledged him as bishop of 
Rome acknowledged Cornelius also as bishop" (Expositor, July 1887, p. 8 
n. 1 ). The opposite is in fact quite plain : cf. the letters of Cornelius to 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 165 

create or innovate, but he gave emphatic expression 
to an existing church principle in view of the parti 
cular circumstances of his episcopate. 

The Church is one, then, this is his position 
with a visible external unity. The essence of that 
unity lies indeed in a spiritual fact the life of Christ 
which is communicated to the Church ; but this life 
is communicated to a visible society, bound together 
by visible bonds of external association. 1 To this 
visible society he that would be Christ s must belong ; 
"he cannot have God for his father who has not 

Fabian and of Dionysius to Novation, ap. Euseb. H. E. vi. 43, 45. The 
Novatianist confessors clearly imply that there was no question of acknow 
ledging both : see their profession ap. Cyprian Ep. xlix. To go back a long 
way before Cyprian, it is surely of the essence of Ignatius conception that 
there should be but one bishop in each community. Of course difficulties 
may have arisen in particular cases in determining what constituted a com 
munity. Ordinarily, no doubt, the civil civitas became the ecclesiastical 
parish ; but we should like to hear something more definite about the 
position of Hippolytus at Rome, and how he was regarded by his contem 
poraries. He regarded himself, we can hardly doubt, as the bishop of Rome. 
He was in that capacity in antagonism to the regular bishop Callistus, who 
represented the laxer policy of the Church. But was he ordained bishop in 
antagonism to Callistus on the gi-ound that he had lapsed into heresy and 
betrayed the church discipline ? or is some other suggestion, such as Dr. 
Salmon makes (Diet. Chr. Biog. s.v. HIPPOLYTUS iii. pp. 90, 91), possible? 

Harnack appends to his translation of Hatch s work (die Gesdlschaftsver- 
fassung etc. p. 252) a note in disagreement, in the above sense : " Ich kenne 
iiberhaupt keinen Grand, der gegen die Annahme spricht, dass sich die Regel, 
in jeder Stadt sei stets nur ein katholischer Bischof zu dulden, bereits am Ende 
des zweiten Jahrhunderts festgestellt hat." Dr. Hatch has more recently 
quoted in support of his view (Growth of Ch. Instit. p. 17) some words of 
Epiphanius : ot> y&p irore i] AXe^dvSpeia 8i5o tTUffKoirovs ZffXfv ws at fiXXcu TnSAets 
(adv. Hcer. Ixviii. 7). But the second bishop here spoken of as existing in 
other Churches of Egypt but not at Alexandria is the schismatic Meletian 
bishop. The Meletian schism is the subject of the whole section, and the 
context leaves no doubt as to the meaning. On the subject of this note see 
Ch. Quart. Rev., July 1888, "Ancient and Modern Ch. Organization." 

1 Cf . de Unit. Eccles. 5 : Ecclesia Domini luce perfusa per orbem totum 
radios suos porrigit : unum tamen lumen est quod ubique diffunditur, nee 
unitas corporis separatur : ramos suos in universam terram copia ubertatis 
extendit, profluentes largiter rivos latius pandit : unum tamen caput est et 
origo una et una mater fecunditatis successibus copiosa." 



1 66 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

the Church for his mother." 1 The sin of schism sepa 
rates from Christ in such completeness that not even 
martyrdom can expiate it. 2 Of this unity the bishop 
is in each community at once the symbol, 3 the 
guardian, 4 and the instrument. He is the instru 
ment of it because " the bishops, who succeed to the 
Apostles by an ordination which makes them their 
representatives," are the possessors of that sacerdotal 
authority and grace with which Christ endowed His 
Church, and which is necessary for her existence. 5 

1 Ep. Ixxiv. 7 (quoted above, p. 16, with other passages). 

de Unit. Eccles. 14. Great light is thrown on Cyprian s conception of 
the sin of schism, so far as concerns the relations of different Churches, by his 
subsequent attitude towards Stephen of Rome. He would no doubt have said 
that the sin of schism in the case of any division lies with the Church from 
which the unjust claim proceeds which causes the division. Stephen made 
such a claim, i.e. a claim affecting the independence of the Churches of Africa 
in an open question, and endeavoured to enforce it byan excommunication which 
Cyprian and the Africans ignored. " Make no mistake," wrote St. Firmilian 
of Caesarea, speaking of Stephen, " you have excommunicated yourself " (ap. 
Cypr. Ep. Ixxv. 24). It is to be remarked that St. Augustin makes St. 
Cyprian in this matter the type of the unschismatical temper, because, while 
lie maintained the independent judgment of the African Churches, he did not 
break off communion with those who differed from them ; but, as far as in 
him lay, remained at unity with them in spite of differences (de Bapt. v. 25. 
36). Augustin is following Jerome in this, who commends Cyprian on the 
same grounds (adv. Lucifer. 25 : "non cum anathemate eorum qui se sequi 
noluerant"). 

3 Ep. xliii. 5 : " Deus unus est et Christus unus et una ecclesia et cathedra 
una super Petrum Domini voce fundata. Aliud altare constitui aut sacer- 
dotium novum fieri praeter unum altare et unum sacerdotium non potest." 

4 de Unit. Eccles. 5 : " Quam unitatem firmiter tenere et vindicare debe- 
mus, maxime episcopi qui in ecclesia praesidemus, ut episcopatum quoque 
ipsurn unum atque indivisum probemus." 

5 Ep. Ixvi. 8 : " Unde scire debes episcopum in ecclesia esse et ecclesiam 
in episcopo et si qui cum episcopo non sit in ecclesia non esse. " ib. 4, 5 : 
" [Christus] dicit ad apostolos ac per hoc ad omnes praepositos qui apostolis 
vicaria ordinatione succedunt : Qui audit vos, me audit . . . qui reiicit vos, 
me reiicit. . . . Unde enim schismata et haereses obortae sunt et oriuntur ? 
dum episcopus qui unus est et ecclesiae praeest superba quorundam prae- 
sumptione contemnitur et homo dignatione Dei honoratus indignus hominibus 
iudicatur. " Ep. xxxiii. i: "Dominus noster, cuius praecepta metuere et 
servare debemus, episcopi honorem et ecclesiae suae rationem disponens in 






in.] The Witness of Church History. 167 

This plenitude of the priesthood l is in every bishop, 
and in every bishop equally, just as every one of 
the Apostles was " endowed with an equal fellow 
ship of honour and power." But the apostolate, 
which was finally given to all equally, was given first 
to St. Peter, that by its being given first to one man, 
there might be emphasized for ever the unity which 
Christ willed to exist among the distinct branches or 
portions of His Church. 2 The episcopate which be 
longs to each bishop belongs to him as one of a 
great brotherhood linked by manifold ties into a 
corporate unity. 3 

evangelic loquitur et dicit Petro : Ego tibi dico quia tu es Petrus, et super 
istam petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam, et portae inferorum non vincent earn, 
et tibi dabo claves regni caelorum, et quae ligaveris etc. . . . Inde per tem- 
porum et successionum vices episcoporum ordinatio et ecclesiae ratio decurrit 
ut ecclesia super episcopos constituatur et omnis actus ecclesiae per eosdem 
praepositos gubernetur. Cum hoc ita divina lege fundatum sit, miror quos- 
dam audaci temeritate sic mihi scribere voluisse ut ecclesiae nomine litteras 
facerent, quando ecclesia in episcopo et clero et in omnibus stantibus sit con- 
stituta. " 

1 As having this plenitude of the priesthood, the word sacerdosis gener 
ally used of the bishop; but the presbyter also has sacerdotal powers. 
Cyprian speaks of our Lord as " adorning the body of the presbyterate with 
glorious priests, " i. e. at the ordination of a presbyter (Ep. xl). Cyprian did 
not draw out the usual analogy of bishop, priest, and deacon to high-priest, 
priest, and Levite of the Old Testament (Diet. Chr. Biog. s.v. CYPRIAN i. p. 741). 

2 de Unit. Eccles. 4 : " Loquitur Dominus ad Petrum : Ego tibi dico, 
inquit, quia tu es Petrus etc. . . . Super unum aedificat ecclesiam, et 
quamvis apostolis omnibus post resurrectionem suam parem potestatem 
tribuat et dicat : Sicut misit me Pater et ego mitto vos : accipite etc. . . . 
tamen ut unitatem manifestaret, unitatis eiusdem originem ab uno in- 
cipientem sua auctoritate disposuit. Hoc erant utique et ceteri apostoli 
quod fuit Petrus, pari consortio praediti et honoris et potestatis, sed exordium 
ab unitate proficiscitur, ut ecclesia Christi una monstretur. Quam unam 
ecclesiam etiam in cantico canticorum Spiritus sanctus ex persona Domini 
designat et dicit : Una est columba mea." ib. 5 : " Episcopatus unus est, 
cuius a singulis in solidum pars tenetur," i.e. in such a way that each has the 
responsibility of the whole ; the whole is in each. 

3 Ep. Iv. 24 : " Cum sit a Christo una ecclesia per totum mundum in 
multa membra divisa, item episcopatus unus episcoporum multorum concordi 
numerositate diffusns." 



1 68 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

A bishop stands, then, in various relations to the 
Church. In virtue of his election he represents his 
flock } he is a part of the Church and in a sense respon 
sible to it and stands in a certain constitutional, though 
not clearly denned, relation to his presbyterate and 
the clergy generally. They are his recognised council, 
advisers, co-operators ; he does nothing without them. 2 
But over and above this he represents divine author 
ity. He is divinely appointed ; he has not taken his 
honour upon himself. 3 Moreover, in the exercise of 
his authority, he is responsible to no man outside his 
Church but to God only. Cyprian does not explain, 
in connection with this position, the meaning of the 
provincial council of which he made so much use. 
Presumably the provincial council has a certain 
authority over the individual bishop, 4 but none the 
less the independence of each bishop is asserted by 
Cyprian with unrestricted completeness. 5 His respect 

1 " Ecclesia in episcopo est." Cf. Ep. Iv. 5, and Diet. Chr. Blog. i. p. 741. 

2 See above, p. 105, and also Cyprian s letters to his presbyters, when 
in retirement, explaining the grounds on which he had ordained to the 
clergy without consultation; Ep. xxxviii. i : "In ordinationibus clericis, 
fratres carissimi, solemus vos ante consulere et mores ac merita singulorum 
communi consilio ponderare." Ep. xxx. 5: " collatione consiliorum cum 
episcopis,presbyteris,diaconis, confessoribus, pariter ac stantibus laicis." See 
Epp. xxix ; Ixvii. 5. 

3 Ep. Ixx. 3 : " Secundum [Domini] dignationem sacerdotium eius in 
ecclesia administramus." Ep. lix. 5 : " Existimat aliquis summa et magna aut 
non sciente aut non permittente Deo in ecclesia Dei fieri, et sacerdotes, id est 
dispensatores eius, erunt non de eius sententia ordinati ? " On the contrary : 
" plane episcopi non de voluntate Dei fiunt, sed qui extra ecclesiam fiunt. " 

4 St. Augustin expresses the gradations in the authority of bishop and 
of church councils (de Bapt. v. 22. 30). 

5 Ep. Ixii. 3 : " Qua in re nee nos vim cuiquam facimus aut legem damus, 
quando habeat in ecclesiae administration e voluntatis suae arbitrium liberum 
unusquisque praepositus, rationem actus sui Domino redditurus." Ep. Ixxiii. 
26 : " nemini praescribentes aut praeiudicantes, quo minus unusquisque 
episcoporum quod putatfaciat, habens arbitrii sui liberam potestatem." 



in.] The Witness of Churck History. 169 

for the see of Rome, as being in a special historical 
sense what every episcopate is essentially, as possess 
ing the same authority the see of Peter, will not 
go to the length of allowing it any jurisdiction over 
other Churches. It may be in a special way the 
symbol of unity, as Peter was among the Apostles, 
but it is nothing more. 1 

This is the theory of the episcopate into which 
St. Cyprian poured all the force of his great character, 
all the dignity of his strong holiness, to make it a 
living reality. He stands out in church history as 
the typical bishop, and with his weighty sentences 
he impressed on the episcopal theory an abiding form. 

Next to Cyprian, it will be well to quote a vivid Lucifer, 

J " c. A.D. 360. 

expression of the principle of the succession from a 
bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia that Lucifer who was 

1 It is "locus Petri," "Petri cathedra, ecclesia principalis, unde unitas 
sacerdotalis exorta est " (Epp. Iv. 8, lix. 14). These last words mean, I 
suppose, simply that Peter s priesthood was the first given : he goes on to 
assert the independent jurisdiction of each episcopate. Cf. Jerome Ep. 
cxlvi ad Evangelum : " Ubicunque fuerit episcopus sive Romae, sive 
Kuyubii, sive Constantinopoli, sive Rhegii, sive Alexandriae, sive Tarn s, 
oiusdem meriti, eiusdem est etiam sacerdotii. Potentia divitiarum 
ft paupertatis humilitas vel sublimiorem vel inferiorem episcopum non 
facit. Ceterum omnes successores apostolorum sunt." It is not the 
place here to discuss whether the conception of the see of Peter, as in a 
special way the symbol and centre of unity, had any effect on the development 
of Petrine claims. The conception reappears in St. Optatus of Milevis 
(de Schism. Don. ii. 2, vii. 3 with a more papal tone, but cf. vi. 3) and 
in St. Augustin ; see ABGDarlum 1. 232: "Numerate sacerdotes vel al> 
ipsa Petri sede;" c. Ep. Man. 4: "Multa sunt alia quae in [ecclesiae 
catholicae] gremio me iustissirne teneant . . . tenet ab ipsa sede Petri 
apostoli, cui pascendas oves suas post resurrectionem Domiuus commendavit, 
usque ad praesentem episcopatum successio sacerdotum. " Elsewhere he 
speaks of all the Apostles as the source of the succession : " ecclesia ab 
ipso Christo inchoata et per apostolos provecta certa successionum serie 
usque ad haec tempora, toto terrarum orbe dilatata. . . . ecclesia, quae ab 
ipso per apostolos succedentibus sibimet episcopis usque ad haec tempora 
propagata dilatatur " (c. Faust, xxviii. 2, 4). 



170 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

Athanasius friend, but whose impatience and violence 
led him at last into being the founder of a schism- 
atical body. He is addressing Constantius the 
emperor out of his place of exile in Palestine and 
speaking of his nobler friend Athanasius. 1 

" You persecute the man," he says, " whom you 
ought to listen to. While he is still alive, you send 
to succeed him that George who is your partner in 
heresy, when, even if Athanasius had been set free 
from the body, it was not lawful for you to send any 
one, but it was and is in God s hand to appoint whom 
He thought proper as bishop of His people, and that 
through His servants the catholic bishops. For no 
man can be filled with the power of the Holy Ghost 
to govern God s people, save he whom God has chosen, 
and on whom hands have been laid by the catholic 
bishops, just as, when Moses was dead, we find his 
successor Joshua, the son of Nun, filled with the Holy 
Ghost ; because, says Scripture, Moses had laid his 
hands upon him." : 

1 Whether he was himself ever actually separated from the Church is 
doubtful ; see Diet. Chr. Biog. s. v. LUCIFER. His writings date from his exile. 

2 de S. Athan. I. 9 : " Persequeris eum per quern te audire praeceperit 
Dominus ; agente eo in rebus humanis cohaereticum tuum Georgium mittis 
successorem, cum, tametsi fuisset liberatus iam Athanasius ex corpore, tibi 
non licuerit mittere, sed fuerit ac sit in Dei manu quern fuisset dignatus 
populo suo antistitem instituere per servos videlicet suos, hoc est catholicos 
episcopos. Neque enim posset impleri virtute Spiritus sancti ad Dei 
gubernandum populum nisi is quern Deus allegisset cuique manus per 
catholicos episcopos fuisset imposita, sicut defuncto Moyse impletum Spiritu 
sancto invenimus successorem eius lesum Naue. Loquitur scriptura sancta 
dicens : Et lesus filius Naue impletus est spiritu intelligentiae ; imposuerat 
enim Moyses manum super eum : et audierunt eum filii Israel et fecerunt 
secundum quod mandavit Dominus Moysi. Conspicis ordination! Dei te 
obviam isse contra Dei f aciendo voluntatem, temet mucrone gladii tui iugula- 
tum, siquidem non licuerit ordinari, nisi fuisset defunctus Athanasius, et 
defuncto Athanasio catholicus debuerit per catholicos ordinari episcopos." 



Jerome, 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 171 

Now we approach an interesting class of writers Am 

ter, 

who represent a tendency in the western Church to sso .ioo.* D 
minimize the position of the episcopate. There is, 
first, the author of the Commentaries on St. Paul s 
Epistles who is commonly called Ambrosiaster and 
wrote in Damasus episcopate at Rome. 1 Whoever 
he was, he was a man of considerable mental power 
and spiritual insight " brief in words, but weighty 
in matter." Secondly, we have the author of some 
Questions on the Old and New Testament, once 
ascribed to Augustin, probably a presbyter at Rome 
of the same epoch as the last writer, but so far later 
that he uses his commentaries. 2 Thirdly, there is 
Jerome, who expresses the same sentiments as the 
other two writers, but at a later date, apparently 

1 " Cuius [ecclesiae] hodie rector est Damasus" (in i Tim. iii. 14). We 
may assume that St. Augustin is right in calling him Hilary (see for evi 
dence Diet. Cfir. Biog. s.v. AMBROSIASTER). It is however hardly possible 
that he can be Hilary, the Sardinian deacon, associated with Lucifer in 
his embassage to Constantius in A.D. 354, and subsequently a Luciferian. 
Not so much (a) because St. Augustin calls him "sanctus," for Jerome calls 
Lucifer "beatus" and "bonus pastor" even when he is deploring his 
grave mistake (adv. Lucifer. 20 though, be it remembered, St. Augustin 
borrows considerably from this little treatise in his argument against the 
Donatists and in it Hilary is pilloried with all the power of Jerome s 
sarcasm) not so much, however, on this account as (6) because the com 
mentary on i Cor. i. 12-16 is not the work of one who followed Lucifer, 
a rigorous anabaptist (adv. Lucifer. 26), and (c) because he acknowledges 
Damasus as bishop. But we have not the means of saying how much the 
Commentaries may have been interpolated, or when. 

" He wrote at Rome (Qu. cxv ; cf. his polemic against Koman deacons 
in Qu. ci ; the " we " who are opposed to the Romans in Qu. Ixxxiv are 
probably the Christians see Langen Gesch. der Rom. Kirche i. p. 600) about 
300 years after the destruction of Jerusalem under Vespasian (Qu. xliv) i.e. 
A. D. 370-380. He was seemingly a priest sacerdos Dei et praepositus plebia " 
(Qu. cxx) ; and we gather that he was a presbyter from his polemics against 
deacons and depreciation of bishops (Qu. ci). This, however, does not give 
us any grouud for saying that he belonged to the Luciferian party. The 
same tone meets us in Jerome. He uses the Commentaries of Ambrosiaster, 
but his style seems to imply that he is a different man. 



172 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

when he had become thoroughly disgusted with the 
Church at Rome, and had changed his earlier tone 
towards it and its clergy. 1 It must be added that 
Jerome s sentiments passed into the writings of some 
later western authors. 2 
These last What then is it that these writers teach about 

writers 

cTotld* sacer " the ministry ? First, it must be said that they in no 
way minimize the sacerdotal character of the ministry. 
Jerome is indeed something of an extreme sacerdot- 
alist ; and if the unknown Commentator is not that, 
at least he gives us a substantial view of the priestly 
function. " Layings-on of hands [i.e. ordinations]," 
he says, " are mystical "words, by which the selected 
man is confirmed for his work, receiving authority, 
so that he should venture in the Lord s place to offer 
sacrifice to God." " That," says St. Jerome, " can be 
no Church which has no priest." ; 

(&) do not Next, none of these writers disputes the present 

dispute the 

authority of the threefold ministry or the limitation 
to bishops of the power of ordination. They do not 
maintain that, even in the extremest circumstances, 

1 In Jerome s earlier years his tone is papal, e.g. in his letters to Damasus 
from the East A.D. 375-380 (Epp. xv, xvi). Afterwards, disgusted with Roman 
manners and disappointed of the Roman episcopate, he broke with the 
Church there A.D. 385, and his abusive tone about the Roman clergy is subse 
quent to this date, e.g. Ep. Hi ad Nepotlan. is after A.D. 393. His Com 
mentaries on the New Testament, which contain the passages minimizing the 
episcopal office by comparison with the presbyterate, date A.D. 386-392. 
His letter to Evangelus (Ep. cxlvi) is marked by its hostile tone towards 
Rome to belong to the period subsequent at any rate to A.D. 385, and Ep. 
Ixix ad Oceanum is about A.D. 400. 

2 See App. Note F. " S. Hieronymi senteutia," says Morinus (de S. 
Ord. p. iii. ex. iii. 2. 19), "universae ecclesiae Latinae acceptissima fuit et 
immerito a multis theologis cum gravi censura repudiata : imprudentes enim 
cum S. Hieronymo universam prope ecclesiam Latinam condemnarunt." 

3 For all quotations from these writers see App. Note F. 



in.] The Witness of CJmrch History. 173 

a presbyter a presbyter of the existing Church 
could validly ordain. Thus the Commentator is em 
phatic "that none of the clergy, who has not been 
ordained to it, should take to himself any office which 
he knows not to have been intrusted or granted to 
him" (in spite, that is, of what may have been the 
primitive practice). " It never was lawful or per 
mitted," he says again, " that an inferior should ordain 
a superior, for nobody gives what he has not received." 
" All orders are in the bishop ; " " the dignity of all 

ordinations is in the bishoat" " What does a bishop 

<5f^ ..... r 

do," says St. Jerom^eveii^h^n /jp| is minimizing the 
episcopate, " that ^itore^jler jifpls not do, except 
ordination?" The|^^^;^adyftie| presbyter are to 

one another as the m^ip$b^cjild priest of the old 

>. M " 
covenant. x ^ ^X 

Once more, they do nW [regard the present three- A r sin .f th 

/ IT Apostles : 

fold arrangement of the ministry as an innovation of 
the postapostolic Church, so that it should lack the 
authority of the Apostles. The present constitution 
represents their ordering. Nay, according to the 
Commentator, it represents more : " because all 
things are from one God the Father, He hath 
decreed that each Church should be presided over by 
one bishop." 

Jerome, however, seems to hold that, while niy they 

maintain 

Christ instituted only one priestly office, it was the * *% > 
exigencies of church life which led to its being sub- ai 
divided under apostolic sanction into the presbyterate 
and the episcopate. At any rate, whether the distinc 
tion was ordained by Christ Himself or of apostolic 






174 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

authority, these writers were agreed that (as the names 
bishop and presbyter are used in the New Testa 
ment of the same officers) the presbyters originally 
were also bishops, and it was because of the dangers 
of rivalry and division which threatened this arrange 
ment from the first that it was determined that in 
future only one person should have the authority and 
name of the episcopate, the rest receiving only the 
commission of presbyters. 1 How much truth there is 
and some- in this view is not now in question. They thought 

what mini- ..... 

rateeqnent a ^ so that this original identity of the presbyterate and 
episcopate had left its mark on the subsequent con 
stitution of the Church in such sense that presbyters 
and bishops still share a common priesthood, and that 
(waiving the question of confirmation 2 ) there is nothing 
which is reserved to a bishop except the function of 
ordination. Jerome used this view with powerful 
effect to exalt the priesthood of the presbyter, as 
against the arrogance of Roman deacons on the one 
hand, and on the other against the overweening 
self-assertion of bishops. It was a bad custom, he 
thought, which prevailed in some Churches, that pres 
byters should not be allowed to preach in the presence 



1 Jerome affirmed, as has been said, that the old constitution had in a 
measure been maintained at Alexandria down to the third century. 

2 The western councils strictly limit to bishops the consecration of the 
chrism. St. Jerome makes no remark on the subject where he is speaking 
controversially on the subject of bishops, but he assumes (adv. Lucifer. 9) 
the limitation of confirmation to bishops in a sense which implies that 
under no circumstances, not even of imminent death, could a presbyter 
confirm. At Alexandria, say the Commentator and the author of the Quaes- 
tiones, a presbyter confirms (consignat or consecrat) if the bishop be 
absent, but they are contradicted by the contemporary Alexandrian Didymus. 
Seep. 138 n. 2 



IIL] The Witness of Church History. 175 

of bishops. 1 Their exalted dignity is a thorn in 
Jerome s side; "as if they were placed in some lofty 
watch-tower, they scarcely deign to look at us mortals 
or to speak to their fellow-servants." 2 A priest should 
indeed " be subject to his bishop [pontifex] as to his 
spiritual father, but bishops should know that they 
are priests, not lords, and if they wish their clergy to 
treat them as bishops, they must give them their 
proper honour." 3 This is the animus in Jerome s 
vheory. 4 

Now when we have clearly considered this view, 
we shall see surely that it is not what it is sometimes 
represented as being. It is not a presbyterian 
view. It does indeed carry with it the conception of 
the great church order being the priesthood ; it em 
phasizes that the distinction of presbyter and bishop 
is nothing compared to the distinction of deacon and 
priest. Moreover, it involves a certain tentativeness 
in the process by which the Apostles are held to have 
established the church ministry ; it admits a survival 
of an older constitution into the later life of the Church. 
But it does not carry with it the idea that the pres- This view 

not un- 

byter, pure and simple, the presbyter of the settled acce P teble 
church constitution, has the power under any circum 
stances to assume episcopal functions. It teaches 
something quite different, viz. that the earliest pres 
byters were ordained with episcopal functions were, 

1 Ep. lii ad Nepot. 7 : " Pessimae consuetudinis est in quibusdam ecclesiis 
tacere presbyteros et praesentibus episcopis non loqui. " 

2 in Gal. iv. 13. 3 Ep. lii. 7. 

4 " S. Hieronymus in aestu contentionis indulgere solet exaggerationibus 
rhetoricis " (Morinus). 



I7t> Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

in fact, bishops as well as presbyters till the subse 
quent ordination of presbyters without episcopal func 
tions put an end to the old arrangement and brought 
about not episcopacy but what we have called 
monepiscopacy. 1 St. Paul, says the Commentator, 
passes from the ordination of bishops to that of dea 
cons, because the ordination of a bishop and a pres 
byter is the same. But this is must be an historical 
present. The ordinations of a bishop and a presbyter 
were wholly distinct in his day. " In our day," he 
says, a few lines further on, "there should be in a 
city seven deacons and a certain number of presby 
ters and one bishop/ Church authority had in fact 
restrained to one the functions which at first were 
more widely extended, and no one can at all enter 
into the feelings of the early Church about ordination 
who does not perceive how much stress they laid on 
church authority, as conditioning a man s spiritual 
status. 2 
(2) canons (2) We need not dwell long on the western 

of councils. 

councils. After the Carthaginian council in 256 A.D., 
which simply echoes the mind of Cyprian on the re- 
baptism of heretics and only gives us evidence we 
hardly need that Cyprian s view of the bishop s 
office was also the view of his colleagues, the record 
of western councils opens with that of Elvira 

1 See Thomassin Vetus et Nova Ecclesiae Disciplina p. i. lib. i. c. i. 6. 

2 Morinus sees the more modern representation of Jerome s view in the 
scholastic opinion that the episcopate does not differ from the presbyterate 
in sacerdotal character, but is an extension of the same character by the 
addition of a new authority. The consecration of a bishop does not impose 
a new character, but only superadds a new authority. See de S. Ord. p. iii. 
ex. iii. c. I. 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 177 

(Illiberis) in Andalusia, which occurred in the early 
years of the fourth century, and that of Aries a 
representative western council in A.D. 314. 1 Both 
these councils assume as a matter of course the sacer 
dotal ministry of the Church and the three orders of 
bishops, presbyters, and deacons. 2 So far as they are 
concerned with the ministry, they are occupied only 
with the maintenance of discipline and the regulation 
of inter-episcopal relations. 3 

(3) When we turn to the Latin rites of ordination, (3) Latin 

v liturgies 

we find a constant implication of the doctrine of indicate 

1 Augustin even calls it a " plenarium ecclesiae universae concilium." 

2 Episcopi, presbyteres et diacones (Elvira, cc. 18, 19; cf. 27, 
75 and Aries, cc. 20, 21) : clerical office a status (Elvira, c. 53) : the bishops 
sacerdotes (Elvira, c. 48) : the sacerdotal function sacrificare (Aries, 
c. 19). 

3 E.g. there is the restraining of deacons in Aries, c. 18, whose arro 
gance we hear of first in Cyprian s letters ( Ep. iii. 3 : the deacon must 
"honorem sacerdotis agnoscere"). In days of persecution deacons had been 
known even to offer the Eucharist in many places, and this is curtly repri 
manded : cf. Aries, c. 15 "De diaconibus quos cognovimus multis locis 
offei-re, placuit minime fieri debere." [There is no reason whatever for think 
ing that this represents any remains of an earlier discipline. How in days 
of persecution such an abuse should have sprung up is intelligible enough. 
It must be remembered that the fourth century is full of lament over the 
decay of discipline, as e.g. in Basil the Great, Ep. xc.] In Spain there is 
no trace of such a license, but we hear of deacons in charge of congregations* 
as in later ages, and Elvira c. 77 enacts thus: "Si quis diaconus regens 
plebem sine episcopo vel presbytero aliquos baptizaverit, episcopus eos per 
benedictionem perficere debebit [i.e. confirm] : quod si ante de saeculo reces- 
serint, sub fide qua quis credidit poterit esse iustus. " 

Elvira c. 32 restrains to bishops the function of dealing with penitents ; 
only in cases of necessity may a presbyter admit to communion, or even a 
deacon, if the priest order him. Cf. Carthage, A.D. 390, cc. 3, 4 ; Hippo 
Regius, A.D. 393, c. 30. Other canons concern clerical discipline (Elvira, c. 33, 
Aries, c. 2) ; the mutual relation of bishops (Elvira, cc. 53, 58, Aries, c. 17) ; 
the requirement of at least three bishops to consecrate another (Aries, c. 20) ; 
the permission, in necessity, of lay baptism, to be followed by episcopal con 
firmation (Elvira, c. 38). 

We notice specially in later councils (e.g. Carthage, A.D. 390, cc. 3, 4; 
Hippo, A.D. 393, c. 34 ; Toledo, A.D. 400, c. 20) the limitation to bishops 
of the consecration of the chrism. There was clearly a tendency in the 
presbyters to assume this function. 

M 



178 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

fche priesthood and of the orders in the ministry of 
bishops, priests, and deacons. 1 The distinction be 
tween these and the minor orders is marked in the 
West by the subdeacon not receiving the laying-on 
of hands. 2 It should be noticed in this connection 
that the uniformity of idea which pervades the various 
rites of ordination (and in this respect we may include 
the Greek with the Latin) makes a great impression 
upon the mind. It is not indeed the case that there 
is no change of ideas, but it is not in any way funda 
mental. The conception of the Christian pastorate 
and priesthood in succession to the apostles is the 
constant element. 
(a) increase Such change as appears is mainly ol two sorts. 

in ritual, not rr J 

in doctrine ; There i S} first, the elaboration of ritual. It is import 
ant indeed to remind ourselves that a more elaborate 
ritual of ordination does not necessarily mean a 
deepening of the conception of what ordination brings 
with it. The earliest writing devoted to the con 
sideration of a Christian sacrament Tertullian s trea 
tise On Baptism is as full of belief in the spiritual 
effect of the laver of regeneration as any treatise of 
a mediaeval schoolman could be ; but he makes it 
his special point that it- is on account of the real 
spiritual efficacy of Christian sacraments that they 

1 This statement is justified in App. Note C. The episcopate is called 
an ordo (episcopatus ordo) in the Gregorian Sacram. ap. Muratori Lit. 
Rom. Vet. ii. p 358. 

2 So the so-called canons of the fourth council of Carthage ordained 
(c. 5 quoted by Morinus de S. Ord. p. ii. p. 260). Cf. Isidore de Eccl. Off. 
ii. IO ap. Hittorp. p. 23 : " hi [sc. subdiacones] igitur cum ordinantur, 
sicut sacerdotes et Levitae, manus impositionem non suscipiunt." So 
Rabanus Maurus de Inst. Cler. i. 8 ap. Hittorp. p. 316. 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 179 

do not need to be made impressive by outward 
pomp. They can be simple, because they have so 
real an inward grace attached to them. It is pagan 
rites which need decking out with pomp and circum 
stance, just because they have nothing else to trust 
to for impressing men s minds. 1 The belief in baptis 
mal grace, then, did not grow with the elaboration of 
baptismal ceremony. Just in the same way it does 
not follow that, because ordination rites became more 
complicated, the Christian Church was growing to 
rate more highly the consecration which they con 
veyed. To the last there remains in the western 
office a reminder that, while outward pomp was of 
the essence of the old priesthood, for the very reason 
that that was essentially external and symbolical, 
the essence of the new priesthood lies in inward and 
spiritual reality. The prayer for the consecration of 
a bishop calls to mind the glory of the vestments of 
the Aaronic priesthood, and prays that whatever 
those vestments signified by the brilliancy of gold, by 
the splendour of gems, by the variety of manifold 
workmanship, may shine forth now in the characters 
of Christian bishops, and that the precious ointment 
upon the head which runs down unto the beard and 
goes down to the skirts of the clothing may be to 

1 The passage is well worth quoting, de Bapt. 2 : " Nihil adeo est, quod 
tarn obduret mentes hominum, quam simplicitas divinorum operum quae in 
actu videtur et magnificentia quae in effectu repromittitur : ut hie quoque 
quoniam tanta simplicitate sine pompa, sine apparatu novo aliquo, denique 
sine sumptu homo in aqua demissus et inter pauca verba tinctus non multo 
vel nihilo mundior resurgit, eo incredibilis existimetur consecutio aeternitatis. 
Mentior, si non e contrario idolorum sollemnia vel arcana de suggestu et 
apparatu deque sumptu fidem et auctoritatem sibi exstruunt. Pro misera 
incredulitas, quae denegas Deo proprietatessuas, simplicitatem et potestatem ! " 



180 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

them the unction within, aye and without, of spiri 
tual grace and spiritual power. 1 
(6) a growing Secondly, beside ritual adiuncts there is a certain 

independ- 

prtesthood change in idea noticeable in the rites of ordination. 

rresb e yter. It consists chiefly in emphasizing the special sacer 
dotal functions of the presbyter. Thus in the later 
forms we have the commissions to the priest : Re 
ceive power to offer sacrifice ; Receive the Holy 
Ghost : whose sins thou dost remit, they are remitted, 
etc. Now these later forms are significant. There is 
indeed nothing new in the conception of sacrifice or of 
the power of absolution as belonging to the priest 
hood, nor is any new idea involved in the imperative 
form of commission ; what is new is the specification 
of them and especially of the latter in the case of 
the presbyter. It belongs to a stage of church 
organization in which the presbyter is regarded as 
having a more independent priesthood, attaching to 
him as an individual. In earlier days the priest 
hood is kept more closely in connection with the 
Church or community. In the Church or com 
munity the high priest or bishop exercises the sacer 
dotal and pastoral functions, and the presbyters are 
attached to him as co-operators of his order. This 
idea of co-operation is what is remarkably empha 
sized in the early prayers for their ordination. 
Later owing to the more independent position 
which the circumstances of large dioceses gave to 
the presbyter his substantive priesthood, inhering 
in him as an individual, comes more to the front. 

1 See App. Note C. 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 181 

A presbyter is not so much a man who occupies 
a certain position and grade in the hierarchy of the 
community ; he is an individual with special powers. 
His priesthood has become detached. 1 

1 It will be useful at this point to quote some summary statements from 
western writers of what belongs to the presbyter s office. Thus from St. 
Isidore, c. A.D. 620, de Ecd. Off. ii. 7 ap. Hittorp. p. 22 : " [Presbyteris] sicut 
episcopis dispensatio mysteriorum Dei commissa est. Praesunt enim ecclesiis 
Christ! et in confectione divina corporis et sanguinis consortes cum episcopis 
sunt, similiter et in doctrina populorum et in officio praedicandi. " He 
follows Jerome, and quotes him in saying that only ordination is reserved 
to the bishop. But later (c. 25) he adds confirmation (quoting Pope Inno 
cent), "nam presbyteri, licet sint sacerdotes, pontificatus tamen apicem non 
habent. Hoc autem solis pontificibus deberi, ut vel consignent vel paracletum 
Spiritum tradant, quod non solum ecclesiastica consuetudo demonstrat, verum 
et superior ilia lectio apostolorum, etc. . . . Nam presbyteris, sive extra 
episcopum, sive praesente episcopo baptizant, chrismate baptizatos ungere 
licet, sed quod ab episcopo f uerit consecratum : non tamen frontem ex eodem 
oleo signare, quod solis debetur episcopis, cum tradunt Spiritum paracletum. " 
When speaking of penitence, he specifies "sacerdotes" as the ministers of it 
-"astante coram Deo sollemniter sacerdote" without mentioning whether 
tishop or presbyter (ii. 16). The Ordo Romanus (ap. Hittorp. p. 93) specifies 
offerre, benedicere, praeesse, praedicare, bap tizare, as the functions 
of the presbyter. Pseudo-Albinus Flaccus (ap. Hittorp. p. 50) while re 
peating the older canon which allows a deacon to receive confessions where 
there is no priest, makes the bishops or presbyters "quibus claves regni 
caelorum traditae sunt " the proper ministers of the penitential discipline. 
Kabanus Maurus (de Inst. Cler. ii. 30), while making bishop or presbyter 
the minister of private confession, makes the bishop the minister of public- 
penance, and the bishop or presbyter at his desire (iussu tamen episcopi) 
the minister of public absolution. 

All this is summed up in canon 7 of the second council of Seville pre 
sided over by Isidore A.D. 619: "Nam quamvis cum episcopis plurima 
[presbyteris] ministeriorum communis sit dispensatio, quaedam tamen auc- 
toritate veteris legis, quaedam novellis ecclesiasticis regulis sibi prohibita 
noverint : sicut presbyterorum et diaconorum ac virginum consecratio ; sicut 
constitutio altaris, benedictio vel unctio : siquidem nee licere iis ecclesiam 
vel altarium conseerare ; nee per impositionem manus fidelibus baptizatis vel 
conversis ex haeresibus paracletum Spiritum tradere ; nee chrisma conficere, 
nee chrismate baptizatorum frontem signare ; sed nee publice quidem in 
missa quemquam poenitentium reconciliare ; nee formatas cuilibet epistolas 
mittere. Haec enim omnia illicita esse presbyteris, quia pontificatus apicem 
non habent, quod solis debere episcopis auctoritate canonum praecipitur, ut 
per hoc et discretio graduum et dignitatis fastigium summi pontificis de- 
moiistretur. Sed neque coram episcopo licere presbyteris in baptisterium 
introire, neque praesente antistite infantem tingere aut signare, nee poeni- 
tentes sine praecepto episcopi sui reconciliare, nee eo praesente sacramentum 



1 82 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

conclusion Now the evidence which early Christian history 

for the . i i 

fcistory from affords for the position of the ministry has been 

A.D. 150 : JT J 

(i) the prin- passed in review. If reference is made to the four 

ciple of i i 

succession P sl tions which were enunciated at the beginning of 

accepted: ^ ^apter, ft ^ j^ f Qun( J fa^ fa e twQ nrs t t O 
(ii) an epis- r*i i i 

copate, with g O a t, present no further have been thoroughly justi- 

xclusive o o J i 

Srdination, fied. Everywhere we have found a ministry, recog- 

universal. . 1-1 l 

nised as having authority by succession from the 
Apostles : everywhere the three distinct orders of 
bishop, presbyter, and deacon : everywhere the limita 
tion to the episcopate of the power of ordination. 
The only qualification which has to be made lies in 
the recognition that a school of western writers held 
that originally there had been no substantial dis 
tinction between a bishop and presbyter; and one 
of these writers affirms, in effect, that this state of 
things continued in the Church of Alexandria into 
the third century. It has however been pointed 
out that in the view of these writers, so long as the 
presbyters were understood to have episcopal powers 
(either generally or under certain circumstances), there 
was no separate ordination to the episcopate. 1 They 
do not hold that episcopal functions could under 
any circumstances be assumed by the later presby 
ters of the settled church constitution, who have 
been ordained as presbyters and nothing more and 

corporis et sanguinis Christi conficere, nee eo coram posito populum docere 
vel benedicere aut salutare nee plebem utique exhortari." 

1 St. Paul implies that normally a man will pass from one grade of the 
church ministry up to another. This was always the canonical method ; see 
Aposl, Const, viii. 17. But ordinations per saltum, even to the episcopate, 
were known and recognised in early days. See Diet. Chr. Ant. s.v. BISHOP 
i. p. 219. 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 183 

would require a separate ordination to make them 
bishops. 

Some further points have still to be made good Evidence 

produced. 

in order to justify the remaining positions which we 
enunciated at starting. 

II. The Church did from the first, we maintain, n. That 

ordination 

regard ordination as a sacramental l rite, to which ^ a c s ra r S. 
was attached a special authorization or grace, of which a y> 
the laying-on of hands was the outward sign. On 
the other hand it has been recently urged that the idea 
of ordination in the earliest Church carried with 
it only the association of official appointment, such as 
belonged to contemporary secular society. The words 
by which it is described "were in use to express ap 
pointment to civil office. When other ideas than those 
of civil appointment came beyond question to attach 
themselves to ecclesiastical appointment other words 
were used." This is a strange argument in view 
of the history of Christian terminology. Ecclesia 

1 1 use this expression without exact definition of a sacrament. The con 
ception of ordination, for example, given by Rabanus Maurus, de Inst. Cler. 
i. 4-7, is sacramental in the sense that the laying on of episcopal hands is 
regarded as an act conferring certain mystical powers. Yet when he comes 
to speak (c. 24) of the sacraments of the Church, he reckons three only : 
"Sunt sacramenta baptismum et chrisma, corpus et sanguis, quae ob id 
sacramenta dicuntur, quia sub tegumento corporalium rerum virtus divina 
secretius salutem eorundem sacramentorum operatur : unde et a secretis 
virtutibus vel sacris sacramenta dicuntur. Quae ideo fructuose penes 
ecclesiam fiunt, quia sanctus in ea manens Spiritus eundem sacramentorum 
latenter operatur effectum." Earlier, however, St. Augustin had in sub 
stantially this sense spoken freely of ordination as a sacrament. But I 
want to avoid, as much as possible, the history of terminology. 

2 Dr. Hatch B.L. p. 129. In notes 33 and 34 he says: "The words in 
use in the first three centuries are x e P TOl e " > KO.BiffTa.veiv, Khypovadai, con- 
xtituere, ordinare. . . . After the first three centuries there were not only 
other words of the same kind, e.g. irpoe.\6e1v, irpodyeaOai, promoveri, praeferri, 
but also xeipo6erel(jOa.i, ifpacrOat, consecrari, benedici. " 



184 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

was a common term enough in the Greek language ; 
but did it carry to St. Paul no special Christian as 
sociations ? To break bread/ to give thanks/ were 
common terms ; but " the bread which we break/ St. 
Paul says, " is the communion of the body of Christ." 
* Baptism had common enough associations in con 
nection with pots and cups, brazen vessels and 
tables ; but we could not therefore argue that it 
was only when the sacrament of initiation came to be 
known as the enlightenment or the salvation/ 
that associations of spiritual power began to be 
attached to it. 1 It is the earliest Christian writings 
that are most suggestive in this respect. It is the 
simplicity of the language in which Tertullian speaks 
of Christian baptism and Justin describes the Christian 
Eucharist, which throws into high relief the profound 
conception which they entertained of their spiritual 
efficacy. 2 So far as technical language is concerned, 
certainly Christianity poured new wine into old bottles. 
Accordingly, it will not at all surprise us that the 
author of the Acts should speak simply of Paul 
and Barnabas appointing elders in every Church 
(^eipoTovelv, Acts xiv. 23), or that St. Paul should 
leave Titus to appoint elders (Kadia-Tdvew, Tit. i. 5) ; 
and that we should afterwards be, as it were, let into 
the secret of this appointment by St. Paul attri 
buting it to the Holy Ghost (Acts xx. 28), and speaking 

1 Bingham Ant. xi. i. 4, 5. 

a Tertullian is quoted above. Justin Martyr s account of the Eucharist 
is studiedly simple. There is no term which is not of common life, yet he. 
concludes with the well-known passage : We receive it not as common bread 
and common drink . , . but we have been taught that the food ... is the 
flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh " (Apol. L 65, 66). 



in.] The Witness of Ckurch History. 185 

to Timothy of the gift or special endowment of the 
Spirit " which was in him by means of the laying-on 
of his hands." 

We may recognise, further, that in the whole pro- and con- 

, . ferred by 

cess of her ordinations the Church seems to have la yi n g- n 

of hands. 

borrowed a good many elements from civil society round 
about her. The elements of appointment to civil 
offices " were nomination, election, approval, and the 
declaration of election by a competent officer " the 
renunciatio. Then there was the usurpatio iuris ; 
the consul or praetor designate, for example, formally 
exercised his office and by exercising it entered upon 
its legal tenure. 1 Now some of the steps of this pro 
cess belong to human nature and would reproduce 
themselves in all appointments ; but it is impossible 
to avoid tracing back to this civil process some of the 
features of the Church s later forms of ordination. If 
election, testimony, examination, approval must neces 
sarily have been there, yet we need not have found, as 
in fact we do, the renunciatio to be an element in the 
ordination ceremony of the West, and still more of the 
East, though in characteristic Christian language. 2 
Further, the reading of the Gospel by the newly- 
ordained deacon ; the concelebration of the newly- 
ordained priest ; the enthronization of the bishop ; the 
giving to the persons ordained to the minor or (much 
later) to the higher orders the instruments of their 
ministry all these ceremonies are probably enough 

1 See Dr. Hatch B.L, p. 129; Diet. Ohr. Ant. s.v. ORDINATION ii. 
pp. 1503-1507. 

2 Diet. Chr. Ant. ii. p. 1507 ; and below, App. Note C. 



1 86 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

the Christian form of the c usurpatio iuris. 1 But all 
these features in the ordination ceremonies of East or 
West were additions of varying and uncertain date. As 
what stamped the Christian ministry from the first had 
been the idea of divine mission and authorization, so 
the rite which corresponds to this idea had been all 



1 Morinus saw this, and seems to draw the right conclusion. He notes : 

(1) The fundamental identity of the method of ordaining bishops, pres 
byters, and deacons in East and West. 

(2) The divergence with reference to the minor orders as they grew up : 
in the East they were ordained with laying-on of hands, but in the West by 
the tradition of the instruments of their office, with some appropriate in 
junction. (See the canon of iv Carthage, quoted by Morinus p. ii. p. 260 : 
after the description of the method of ordaining bishops, presbyters, and 
deacons by laying-on of hands and prayer, the canon continues, " subdiacomis 
cum ordinatur, quia manus impositionem non accipit, patenam de 
episcopi manu accipiat vacuum et calicem vacuum; de manu 
vero archidiaconi urceolum cum aqua et mantile et manuter- 
gium : " and so on for the other orders.) This he compares to the method of 
assuming civil or military office by adopting or receiving the insignia. 
So e.g. Dio Cassius (Hist. Rom. Ixviii. 16) speaks of the giving of the sword 
by the emperor as the method of appointing prefects of the praetorians : 
ore irpwrov Til II\\OVTI TU>V Sopv<p6pwi> iirap^eiv rb t </>os, 8 irapafavvvaQai abrbv 
(Xpjjv, &peev, fyvfjivufft re afrrb Kal avaTeivas %$?) AdjSe TOVTO rb ft ^os, iva, &v 
/JLI> AcaXuJs 5px w ) vrrip tfj.ov, &v 5 /CCIKWS, (car* e/uou avry Xpyvy- Reimar says 
in his note: "hinc periphrasis praefecti praetorio e<f> rb i(pos 3jv, ap. 
Philostratum ; " and gives references, quoting also "cum insigne potes- 
tatis, uti mos est, pugionem daret" from Victor. Caes. xiii. 9. 

Morinus concludes that, whereas the higher spiritual orders which were 
derived from the Apostles were always conferred in East and West by the 
apostolic method (even though much later the traditio instrumentorum was 
added in their case too), the minor orders, which were a gradual and utilitarian 
development, were imparted differently in East and West, and in the West by 
ceremonies suggested by the method of secular appointment (de S. Ord. p. iii. 
ex. xi. c. 5). This would be borne out by the evidence recently adduced by 
Harnack connecting the development of the minor orders in Rome with the 
reorganization of civil offices (Text. u. Untersuch. ii. band, heft 5, pp. 97-103) : 
" Die romische Gemeinde es verstanden hat . . . brauchbare Elemente des 
Sacral- und Staatswesens zu adoptiren." He thinks the seven subdeacons were 
instituted, probably by Fabian, to equalize the diaconate without losing 
the sacred number with the fourteen newly-instituted curatores urbis. 
Certainly the church organization was developed closely on the lines of the 
imperial system, as convenience no doubt suggested. On the other hand, the 
emperor Alexander Severus was disposed to take a lesson from the Church s 
method " in praedicandis sacerdotibus. " 



IIL] The Witness of Church History. 187 

along the central and characteristic rite. Derived 

o 

from Jewish traditional practice but stamped by the 
Apostles with a new significance, it was the laying-on 
of hands accompanied no doubt from the first with 
a prayer for the gift of the Holy Spirit which conse 
crated and empowered the minister in the Christian 
Church for his pastoral charge. 1 

III. Now we approach the subject of the indelible in. That 

permanent 

character impressed by ordination. So far as church lva h s a beiL e ve 
officers are elected representatives and ministers 
the congregation, they would naturally be regarded, 
and all down church history have been regarded, as 
holding their place on terms of their good behaviour. 
The disorderly cleric has been deposed. But this 
does not exhaust the matter. The church officer is 
also a representative of God : his ordination has given 
him a divine commission and gift of grace ; and as 
the gifts and calling of God are without repentance, 
so from this point of view it is necessary to regard 
him who is once a priest as always a priest, whether 

1 The laying-on of hands in the Old Testament appears with a double 
significance, (a) When the people laid their hands upon the Levites, when 
the priest or the sacrificer laid his hand on the victim, the ceremony meant 
that the subject of it was made a representative a substitute (Numb. 
viii. 10 ; Levit. xvi. 21, iii. 2-15, iv. 4-29). The Levites were to represent 
the people ; the victim was taken as a substitute for the offerer, (b) It 
expressed the idea of benediction (Gen. xlviii. 14), and so specially it is 
used of Moses consecrating Joshua (Numb, xxvii. 18; Deut. xxxiv. 9: 
Joshua was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon 
him "). It also became, before our Lord s time, the Jewish mode of appointing 
magistrates and rabbis (Morinus de S. Ord. p. iii. ex. vii. c. 3), and they 
laid stress upon a succession from Moses (ib. 8). The characteristic use of it 
in the New Testament is by the Apostles to convey the gift of the Holy 
Ghost (Acts viii. 17, xix. 6). Cf. the way in which the apostolic succession 
is connected with the Jewish in the Clementine Ep. Petri. See further, for 
the evidence and significance of the rite in the Christian Church, App. 
Note G. 



i88 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

he adorn his office or no. 1 The later doctrine of the 
indelible character impressed by ordination, in com 
mon with baptism and confirmation, and the clearly 
drawn distinction between valid and canonical ordi 
nations, were the final outcome in the West of the 
conflict between these two principles involved from 
the first in the position of the Christian ministry. 

We see these opposite principles at work in St. 
Clement s Epistle. On the one hand, because the 
presbyterate has been appointed from above and has 
a divine authority, it is declared to be " no light 
sin to cast out of their episcopate those who have 
holily and blamelessly offered the gifts." 2 On the 
other hand, it is implied that had these holders of the 
sacred office been bad men, the Church, with whose 
consent they had been elected, might have deposed 
them from their charge. When Callistus, a bishop 
of Rome in the beginning of the third century, repu 
diates this idea, issuing his edict that " if a bishop 
sin, though it be a sin unto death, he may not be 
removed" he is stating the indelibility of ordina 
tion character >s in a form against which the canonical 
depositions of bishops, all down church history, are a 
continuous protest. 

1 Harnack states the conditions of the problem well in modification of 
Dr. Hatch (die Oesellschaftsverfassung etc. p. 234 n. 13 ) : " As far as con 
cerns the bishops and deacons, their activity was almost without control 
and ranked as charismatic. This, without any doubt, carries with it the 
reason why the officers in the Christian communities occupied from the 
beginning a position so wholly different from that held by the officers in the 
Oiacrot, or guilds. " 

2 Clem, ad Cor. 44. 

3 Harnack I.e. p. 258. The words are (Hippolytus Ref. Omn. Haer. ix. 
12) : oCros ^Soy/j-dria-ev Sirws el tirivKoiros afjuiprot, n, el Kal 717165 OO.VO.TOV, /IT; detv 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 189 

In what sense then did the early Christian Church 
hold this doctrine ? In such sense, first of all, that 
there is no record from the beginning of church 
history of the reordination of any one episcopally 
ordained in the Church. Once let a man be ordained 
to any office, and his ordination held good in every 
Church where he offered satisfactory evidence of his 
status. 1 This at least is the tendency of all the evi 
dence we have. Thus, to take the earliest case ia 

1 The 68th of the Apostolic Canons condemns to deposition any bishop, 
presbyter, or deacon, who receives a second ordination, both him and his 
ordainer, "unless it should appear that his (first) ordination was from here 
tics"; the synod of Capua, A.D. 391, forbade rebaptisms, reordinations, and 
translation of bishops, and the canon was incorporated into the African collec 
tion (Hefele Conciliengesch. 108) ; so Theodoret tells us that a foolish monk, 
who was afraid he should be ordained over again (having been ordained once 
without knowing it), was assured that " it was not possible to give him twice 
the same ordination " (Rel. Hist, xiii ap. Migne Patrol. Graec. Ixxxii. p. 1404) ; 
so the author of the Quaestiones in Vet. et Nov. Test, assures us (Qu. ci) : 
" quamquam apud . . . Deum unicuique hie honor maneat, qui decretus 
est singulis ecclesiarum officiis, ut qui diaconus est diaconi honorem per 
omnes ecclesias habeat." When bishops are forbidden to ordain clerics 
who belong to other dioceses (Can. Nicaen. 16, cf. Can. Apost. 15 and later), 
this of course means to a higher grade than they already held. Dr. Hatch s 
statement (Growth of Ch. Inst. p. 36; cf. Diet. Chr. Ant. ii. p. 1479) that in 
early days the transference of the officer of one Church to another . . . 
when allowed, involved reappointment, or, as it would now be called, reordi 
nation," is absolutely gratuitous and unsupported by facts. 

Dr. Hatch has often quoted a Galatian sepulchral inscription of A.D. 461 
(Corp. Inscr. Graec. No. 9259 : Sis yevbjj.evos irpeafivrepos) as evidence of a 
double ordination ; cf. his B. L. p. 137 n. sl On this inscription I should like 
to make three remarks. 

(1) That the whole inscription does not at all support the sense that 
Dr. Hatch puts on it (and Harnack accepts, I.e. p. 234 n. 13 ). A certain 
Tarasis there buried is described as Sis revo/j.fvos (sic) Trpeafi* /cat irapa^ova.- 
pios ira.poiK-rjo a.s ev TU TOTTW TOVTU. A wa.pa.fj.ova.pi.os (or Trpoafj.ovdpLos) is the Latin 
mansionarius. He is a residentiary in charge of any institution belonging 
to the Church. This Tarasis was twice appointed " presbyter and residen 
tiary " of a particular Church or monastery. There is nothing here to 
suggest that he was twice ordained in the fifth century. A similar expression 
(referring, I think, to one man) occurs twice in the Ordo Romanus ap. 
Hittorp. pp. i, 10 : "presbytero et mansionario." 

(2) If the words had stood alone, as Dr. Hatch quotes them, I think a 
suggestive parallel might have been found in the Libel!. Prec. Faustin. 



190 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

point, St. Peter is represented in the Clementines 
as travelling about with some attendant presbyters/ 
who are clearly conceived of as being more than 
local officers as being presbyters wherever they are. 1 
Nor, again, when we hear of the reinstatement of 
clergy who had been deposed, or who had lapsed 
into heresy or schism, do we ever hear of their re- 
ordination. It is not indeed till comparatively late 
that we hear of any such case : for the severe view 
which was taken of deadly sin in the clergy forbade 
that they should resume their office, just as it was 
forbidden to penitents to be ordained at all. 2 

though de- Such lapsed or deposed clergy were treated as lay- 
posed clergy 

n^ d men, or, when their sin was grave, deprived even 
of lay communion. 3 But after the middle of the 
fourth century we have plenty of instances in which 
clergy, who had become Arians, Nestorians, Pelagians, 

et Marcellin. ap. Bibl. Vet. Pair. vol. v. p. 659 b: "egregius ille bis 
episcopus." This is referring ironically to the reordinations of the Arians. 

(3) It surely is important to remember that tombstone inscriptions all over 
the world express a lax popular theology. This has been brought out lately 
by recent investigations in the Christian sepulchral inscriptions of Egypt, 
Syria, and Asia. Those of Phrygia, for example, perpetuate for a long time 
the pagan maledictions on those who lay hands on the tomb. See Mr. 
Ramsay in Journal of Hellenic Studies, Oct. 1883, p. 400; also a very interest 
ing article by M. E. Revillout in the Revue Egyptologique, 4 me ami. [1885], 
no. i. 

1 See Clem. Horn. vii. 12 : curb TWV eiro^evuv avr<^ Trpecrfivrtpuv eva fvi- 
ffKOirov avrois Ka.Ta<TTricra.s (cf. 5> 8). 

2 " Nullum mihi occurrit exemplum spatio trecentorum et quinquaginta 
annorum clerici catholici ad haereticos transfugae post reversionem ad 
ecclesiam cum ordinum exercitio recepti " (Morinus de S. Ord. p. iii. ex. v. 
IO. 2). Cf. Apost. Can. 62 : /uerapo^craj wj Xaucds dexO^TU and Cyprian Ep. 
Iv. ii: " sic tamen admissus est Trofimus ut laicus communicet, non . . . 
quasi locum sacerdotii usurpet." Morinus, I.e., deals with some instances 
advanced in the opposite sense. 

3 E.g. Can. Sardic. I : ^yoO/xcu /x?j5 XaiVcDv %Xw TOI)S Tototirovs ^p^vcu 
Koivuvlav. Cf. Cyprian Ep. Iii. 1 : " Evaristum de episcopo iam nee laicum 
remansisse." 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 191 

or heretics of whatever sort, were readmitted to 
their order/ always without reordination ; l and it is 
noticeable that St. Basil, though holding that clergy 
who fall away from the Church lose the power of 
administering valid sacraments, still speaks of the 
ordination gift as a permanent endowment. 2 

On the other hand, it is quite certain that the 
early Church did not draw the clear line which was 
drawn later between the reality of the priesthood 
and its regular exercise. The deposed priest was 

really regarded as a layman. 3 And in the same way and 

... un< ? 

ordinations, which later would have been regarded as ^ 

uncanonical, were in early days regarded as invalid. 
Morinus expresses the matter admirably by saying, 
"moraliter magis et civiliter de istis philosophati 
sunt." They thought of ordination, that is, in con 
nection with all its moral and social associations, as 
part of the whole life of the Church ; thus very 
naturally, " they did not regard the validity of the 
ordination as lying merely in the character of the act, 
but they took into account also the authority of the 
Church and questions of moral expediency." 4 The 

1 They are "certainly not ordained again," St. Augustin says (de Bapt. 
i. I. 2); cf. Hefele Conciliengesch. 142: "They [i.e. the Massalians] were 
admitted on condition of anathematizing their former errors." Morinus I.e. 
7, 8 f . collects other instances. The council of Toledo in A.D. 633 (c. 28) 
gives the form for the restoration to their order of some clergy who had been 
unjustly deposed. They are to receive their lost orders, " gradus amissos 
recipere," before the altar by a renewed reception of the vestments or (in the 
case of subdeacons) instruments proper to their office " ea in reparationem 
sui recipiant, quae cum ordinarentur perceperant. " This is not reordina 
tion technically, as Dr. Hatch calls it (Diet. Chr. Ant. ii. p. 1520). 

2 Ep. clxxxviii : ol y&p TT/WTOI avaxup fivwrfs irapa. rui> Trartpuv Zcrxov ras 

las /cat 5cd rijs findeffeus T&V -Xfipuiv avrCiv elxov rb xdpttr/ia rb irvev/4a.TiK6v. 

3 ireirauffdu TOV K\ripov is a common phrase. Cf. Diet. Chr. Ant. ii. p. 1520. 

4 Morinus de S. Ord. p. iii. ex. v. cc. 9. 8, 1 1. 2 ; cf. Bingham Ant. xvii. 2. 



uncanonical 
dinations 
valid. 



1 92 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

word valid meant to them what, according to more 
elaborated definitions, is expressed by both valid and 
canonical. How could they believe an act done 
in violation of the will of God to carry with it 
His ratification and be valid ? So they reasoned, 
and so reasoning they pronounced invalid (a/cvpos, 
unratified) an ordination of which, in later days, it- 
would only have been said : fieri non debet : factum 
valet. 1 

1 dt/ci>pos tffru i) xetpoTovia., or KaOaipdcrdu. This is very frequent : cf. e.g. 
Can. Apost. 36; Antioch. 13, 22; Sardic. 15; Constantin. 4 ; Chalcedon. 6. 
A person who had thus received an invalid ordination became disquali 
fied for the canonical ministry, and the question of his reordination did 
not therefore often occur. But the Church, as we shall see, accepted the 
Donatist ordinations. Before that the Church s action is more doubtful. 

The Council of Nicaea ( 1 ) rejected the baptism of the disciples of Paul of 
Samosata (c. 19) on the ground, as Athanasius tells us, of their heresy 
not owing to their use of a defective form (Bright Notes on the Canons p. 
67). It therefore decreed also that those, who had been amongst the Paulianist 
clergy and were yet considered fit for church orders, should be first "baptized 
afresh and then ordained by the bishop of the catholic Church." The re 
pudiation of their baptism carried with it a repudiation of their ordinations. 

(2) With reference to the Xovatian clergy (ot icadapoi) the Council decreed 
wore x.fipodeTovfj.fi ovs cn/roi)s fj.^veiv oC-ras ev r< /cX^py (c. 8). It has been disputed 
whether this means that they should be reordained, or receive the imposition 
of hands as a ceremony of reconciliation. The former interpretation seems 
perhaps of the tivo the more probable ; see Bright Notes p. 25 f. But it is pos 
sible that the bishops of the council did not accurately distinguish between a 
fresh ordination and an act of reception by the Church which gave validity 
to an old one. They use the words fj.veiv ev T$ K\ripif, and certainly the 
language does not suggest a new ordination, such as the Paulianists needed. 
So in the same way the clergy ordained by Meletius were allowed to retain their 
office (Ttfj.7jv teal \eirovpylav) when they had been " confirmed by a more sacred 
ordination " (fj-vyriKwr^pa x ei poTovig. jSe^aiwtf^ras, ap. Soc. H. E. i. 9) ; this cer 
tainly suggests the idea of an act giving validity to an old ordination, rather 
than a completely new ordination. Later western councils receive clergy 
ordained amongst the Gothic Arians by a similar laying-on of hands "cum 
impositae manus benedictioue " (1 Cone. Aurel. A.D. 511, c. to), "accepta 
denuo benedictione presbyteratus " (Cone. Caesaraug. A.D. 592, c. i). In 
the context of the passage quoted above from Socrates there is a clear 
recognition by the historian in the case of Meletius himself of the distinction 
between being a bishop and being allowed to act as such. The council 
allowed him (he says) to retain the dt ct TTJS firiffKoir^, but took away the 
(i-ovala. TOV wpdrreiv avrbv riva wj 



iii.J The Witness of Church History. [93 

The great peril, however, of making the unworthi- Distinction 
ness of the minister hinder the grace of the sacrament l^ a M 
soon became apparent, first in connection with bap- recognised it 

r the West ; 

tism. Thus the council at Aries a decreed for the 
West the validity of heretical baptisms. But the 
rigorism, which was always ready to make a man an 
offender for a word and then repudiate his ministry, 
was still felt in the case of the Luciferians and 
Donatists to be a real danger. Accordingly Jerome 
and Augustin lead the way in extending the principle 
of the decision at Aries, so as to admit of the recog 
nition of ordinations made by Arians, where the person 
so ordained gave satisfactory evidence of his ortho 
doxy, or again by Donatists, if their clergy would 
communicate again with the Church on her terms. 2 

1 c. 8 : "Si perviderint [haereticum] in Patre et Filio et Spiritu sancto 
esse baptizatum, manus ei tan turn imponatur ut accipiat Spiritum sanctum." 
c. 13 decided that the ordinations of traditor clergy were valid. 

2 This is the point of Jerome s argument against Lucifer. He has a 
beautiful passage on the rarity of perfect faith, and the necessity therefore of 
recognising that imperfect faith is no obstacle to God s Spirit being admin 
istered; "fides, quae etiam apud eos qui bene credunt difficile perfecta 
invenitur" (adv. Lucifer. 15). He also presses the principle involved in the 
recognition of heretical baptism: "eadem ratione episcopum ab Arianis 
recipio qua tu recipis baptizatum " (ib. 14). He does not, however, commit 
himself as Augustin does. 

Augustin carries out the argument with great vigour, using in part and 
developing Jerome s material, in his anti-Donatist writings. The question 
(he contends) what a man believes who receives or administers the sacra 
ment of baptism is of great importance for his own salvation, but is wholly 
immaterial for its effect on the sacrament "ad quaestionem sacramenti" 
(de Bapt. iii. 14). Sacraments ministered by heretics are valid, but their 
benefits are suspended till those who receive them come over to church 
unity (de Bapt. vii. 54. 103 ; c. Epist. Parmen. ii. 13. 29). This is as true 
of ordination as of baptism ; as ordained men, if they secede and return 
to the Church, are certainly not ordained again, but either again exercise 
their former ministry, or if they do not exercise it at any rate retain the 
sacrament of their ordination," so also " we do not dare to repudiate God s 
sacraments even when administered in schism " (de Bapt. i. i. 2). So, with 
great clearness, c. Epist. Parmen. ii. 13. 28 : "nulla ostenditur causa our ille, 

N 



194 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

And this was not a mere economical arrangement 
in view of particular cases. It was based by St. 
Augustin on general principles which would apply 
in many directions the principle, namely, that " the 
sacrament of ordination remains in those who are 
ordained ; and if from any fault a man be removed 
from his office, yet he will not be without the Lord s 
sacrament once imposed, though remaining now only 
to condemn him ; " * and the associated principle 
transferred from baptism to ordination, that schism 
and heresy do indeed destroy the spiritual value of 
niy parti sacraments, but not their realitv. This latter prin- 

ally in the " 

ciple was not indeed generally admitted in the 
East, 2 nor was it quickly worked out to its results 
in the West. Still it took root. Leo the Great, for 
example, pronounces that some uncanonically conse 
crated bishops are no bishops at all, 3 but " pseudo- 

qui ipsum baptismum amittere non potest, ius dandi potest amittere : utruinque 
enim sacramentum est : et quadam consecratione utrumque homini datur, 
illud cum baptizatur, istud cum ordinatur. Ideoque in catholica utrumque 
non licet iterari. Nam si quando ex ipsa parte venientes etiam praepositi, 
pro bono pacis correcto schismatis errore suscepti sunt et si visum est opus 
esse ut eadem officia gererent quae gerebant, non sunt rursum ordinati : 
sed sicut baptismus in eis, ita ordinatio mansit integra : quia in praecisione 
fuerat vitium quod unitatis pace correctum est, non in sacramentis, quae 
ubicunque sunt ipsa sunt. " 

1 de Bono Conjuyali 24. 32 : " Quemadmodum si fiat ordinatio cleri ad 
plebem congregandam, etiamsi plebis congregatio non subsequatur, manet 
tamen in illis ordinatis sacramentum ordinationis : et si aliqua culpa quisquam 
ab officio removeatur, sacramento domini semel imposito non carebit, quamvis 
ad iudicium permanente." 

- Xot, e.g., by St. Basil. In Ep. clxxxviii he does not admit the principle 
of the validity of baptism by sects who are in fundamental heresy on the 
doctrine of God : nor quite thoroughly as regards the Novatians and Encra- 
tites, though some of their ordinations had been allowed. He seems to 
regard it as a matter depending on the Church s judgment in any case : so 
eastern writers subsequently. 

3 Ep. clxvii ad Rusticum inq. 1 : "Nulla ratio sinit ut inter episcopos 
habeantur qui nee a clericis sunt electi nee a plebibus sunt expetiti nee a pro- 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 195 

episcopi." But then he goes on to intimate that, 
where their ordinations otherwise " vain "- were 
allowed by the canonical bishop, they could be 
accepted as " valid," showing clearly that, though he 
did not regard consecration with the proper form as 
absolutely valid by itself apart from canonical con 
ditions, he yet did regard it as valid in such sense 
as that church recognition, subsequently given, might 
impart to it a retrospective validity. 

In this uncertain and ambiguous position the 
matter long remained. " What is it," says Morinus, 
" to track the controversy [on the validity of hereti 
cal or schismatical or simoniacal ordinations] but 
to exhibit bishops against bishops, councils against 
councils, pontiffs against pontiffs, waging a Cad- 
meian war ? " l The Eastern Church has, in fact, 
never got beyond the position that the Church has 
the power to ratify in any particular case, or set of 
cases, ordinations which in the West would be called 
per se valid but uncanonical. 2 

It can hardly be a subject for regret that the 
Church should have exhibited considerable unwilling- 

viucialibus episcopis cum metropolitan! iudicio consecrati. Undo, cum saepe 
quaestio de male accepto honore nascatur, quis ambigat nequaquam istis esse 
tribuendum, quod non docetur fuisse collatum ? Si qui autem clerici ab istis 
pseudo-episcopis in eis ecclesiis ordinati sunt, qui ad proprios episcopos 
pertinebant, et ordinatio eorum consensu et iudicio praesidentium facta est, 
potest rata haberi, ita ut in ipsis ecclesiis perseverent : aliter autem vana 
habenda est creatio, quae nee loco fundata est nee auctore munita." 

1 de S. Orel, p. iii. ex. v. 8. i . 

- Morinus I.e. c. n. 4: "His cum praecedentibus comparatis, colligitur 
ecclesiam orientalem varie pro variis temporibus haereticos admisisse. 
Constat enim quibusdam temporibus, praesertim nascente haeresi, ut via 
planior ad reditum iis sterneretur, certorum haereticorum ordinationes 
admisisse : aliis vero eas irritas declarasse et iterasse." 



196 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

ness in isolating the consideration of the validity of 
ordination from its context in the whole question of 
what constitutes a right relation to the Church. It 
cannot, however, be denied that the analogy of all 
sacramental grace forced the Church to distinguish be 
tween the gift that is in the man by the laying-on of 
hands and its reverent or obedient exercise. It must 
also be borne in mind, especially from the point of view 
of our present argument, that whatever hesitation was 
felt in accepting and formulating this principle was 
due to the high regard in which the ordination gift was 
held not to any disparagement of it : so that there 
was at no time any hesitation in recognising the in 
delibility of orders, when imparted and exercised in 
obedience to the Church. 

^ -^ w ^ ^ e n ticed that whereas the conception 
jfiledmTnew of the Christian ministry and pastorate of souls dates 

idea of the ,,,,., . , . , 

ministry, back behind our present period into the immemorial 
past, it is only at the beginning of our period that 
the title of the Priesthood begins to be applied to it. 
Irenaeus and Clement do not speak of the Christian 
ministers as priests, while Tertullian and Origen do, 
so that it is only towards the end of the second cen 
tury that sacerdotal terms begin to be regularly 1 
applied to the clergy. 

The question arises : Does this change of language 
represent a change of ideas, or merely a readjustment 

1 Dr. Lightfoot thinks Polycrates description of St. John as "a priest 
wearing the mitre irtraXov" (ap. Euseb. H.E. v. 24) is perhaps the first 
instance of sacerdotal language being applied to the Christian ministry. 
But we have the expression in the Didache xiii. 3 : " the.y are your high 
priests." 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 197 

of terms in view of changed circumstances ? We can 
not argue always or absolutely from a gradual change 
in language to a change in ideas. For instance, we Reasons for 
have every reason for supposing that the first Chris- abstinence 
tians believed in the Divine Sonship of Christ. A 
Christian of the first century, with the teaching 01 
the Apostles in his mind, when he understood the 
controversy, would, we feel no doubt, have sided un 
ambiguously with St. Athanasius and not with Arius ; 
and that not because Athanasius would have persuaded 
him to give any new honour to Christ, but because he 
would have seen easily enough what his old faith 
implied : that it was indeed the teaching of St. John 
and St. Paul about Christ that He was God of God, 
very God of very God. But, on the other hand, this 
faith of the Church could not be expressed so unre 
servedly in the first age as in later times. Jesus is 
very God was not the first truth to put before a 
Jew, but Jesus is the Christ : this is the substance 
of the first apostolic preaching as recorded in the Acts 
the Messianic authority of Christ, not His divine 
nature. Jesus is the Son of God was not the first 
truth to preach to the heathen with their polytheism 
and mythology, lest they should only too easily incor 
porate Him into their Pantheon : the basis of mono 
theism must be firmly laid before the Divine Sonship 
of Christ can be securely preached. 1 There is then 
a change of terminology which means a change of 
circumstances rather than of ideas. To take another 

1 See St. Paul s first preaching to heathen, Acts xiv. 14-18 and xvii. 
22-31. 



198 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

instance from the records of the language of the early 
Church. The early apologists believed in a Christian 
sacrifice in the Eucharist ; if the sense in which 
they did so may be discussed, the fact is undoubted. 
But Justin Martyr, who expresses his appreciation of 
the eucharistic sacrifice to Trypho the Jew, denies to 
the heathen emperor that God needs material obla 
tions. 1 Athenagoras makes the same denial, and then 
puts in parenthetically as it were under his breath 
"and yet we must offer a bloodless sacrifice and bring 
before God the spiritual service." 2 The Christian 
in fact had, or had not, a sacrifice according as the 
term was used in one sense or in another. The same 
seems to have been true of the priesthood. " It 
would only have caused confusion," Mr. Simcox justly 
says, 3 "when a great company of the priests was 
obedient to the faith/ to have said that St. Barnabas 
was a priest, when he was in fact a Levite." The 
term priest indeed carried with it many associa 
tions, Jewish and pagan, which did not belong to 
Christianity. Outside the Epistle to the Hebrews 
Christ is not termed a priest, and even there it is 
said : "if He were on earth He would not be a priest 
at all, seeing there are those who offer the gifts 
according to the law." 4 So, too, it is conceivable that 
a Christian missionary of our own day might find it 
necessary, amidst the associations of a pagan priest - 

1 Dial. c. Tryph. 117 (cf. 22); Apol. i. 10. 

~ Legal. 13 : xairoi irpofffapeiv 8ov dvainaKTov Ovaiav KO.I rrjv XoyiKijv irpoj- 
dyetv \arpdav. 

3 Early Church History p. 59. 

4 Hebr. viii. 4 (R.V.). 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 199 

hood, to emphasize by the avoidance of the term the 
points of difference in the Christian ministry : just as 
it would have been wiser at times to have produced a 
monotheistic atmosphere as a preparation for preach 
ing the divinity of Christ. 

But when once the Christian atmosphere has been 
cleared, when once the unique high-priesthood of 
Christ is realized and the communication of that 
priesthood to the Church, it becomes natural to apply 
the term priest to the divinely ordained ministers 
of this priestly congregation. As this special applica 
tion has been shown in the last chapter to involve no 
loss of the general conception of the high-priestly 
race/ so also it carries with it no change of ideas 
about the ministry. The bishops whom Clement 
speaks of as " offering the gifts " in the spiritual 
temple of the Church under Christ, " the high-priest 
of our oblations," may as well as not be called priests. 
Hippolytus expresses by the term the high-priest 
hood exactly the same idea of the episcopate as is 
expressed by Irenaeus without its use. 1 Ignatius, 
who does not call the Christian officers priests, em- 

1 See App. Note Or. It is important to notice the triple derivation of 
sacerdotal language. There is (1) the idea of the high -priesthood of 
Truth. The term high priest is applied thus to the prophet (Didache xiii. 3), 
or to the bishop as sitting in the chair of the prophetic teacher (Hippolyt. 
Ref. Omn. Haer. prooem. and the Clementines). There is (2) the idea of the 
high-priesthood of Sacrifice realized in the Church through the mediation 
of Christ. This is the idea of priesthood in the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
in Clement of Rome, in Justin Martyr, in Irenaeus ; and the term priest 
came to be applied in this sense to the bishop or presbyter as to him 
who offers the gifts. It is noticeable that the unity of prophecy and 
priesthood underlies the use of the sacerdotal term \fiTovpye1v ry Kvply of the 
prophets in Acts xiii. 2. There is (3) the idea of the Power of the Keys the 
authority to bind and loose in the Christian society, belonging to the bishop 
with the presbyters, as it is emphasized in the Clementines. 



2 oo Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

phasizes their authority more than Origen, who uses 
the term freely, and not less than Cyprian. There 
is an overstrained expression of sacerdotal authority 
in the Apostolical Constitutions) but this comes from 
a slight hardening of Ignatius s teaching and is 
in no apparent connection with the change in 
terms. On the other hand, the Fathers are not, 
generally speaking, chargeable with a false conception 
of the priestly office ; but (as these pages will have 
shown) in the old offices of ordination, in the writings 
on the pastoral charge and in the early canons the 
idea is kept in due proportion and harmony with the 
whole of church life and spiritual truth. If the 
Church is a high-priestly race, and if in the Church 
there is a ministry of divine authority both in the 
communication of God s gifts to man and in the 
offering of man s gifts to God, that ministry can quite 
legitimately be called a priesthood. 1 
v. Th V. We may claim now to have fairly substantiated 

powers of J * 

^dnsii s e. y the four fundamental positions which were propounded 
at the opening of this chapter. It is still however 
necessary, in order to make our case complete, to 

1 It will be asked : Why do we not find in second century theology such 
passages about the dignity of the priesthood in connection with the Eucharist 
as are quoted, or referred to, on pp. 157-8? The answer to this seems to be 
that there is nothing in such passages which does not apply to the whole 
Christian life (cf. Hebr. xii. 22-24) an <l which should not be realized by 
every Christian, in his degree, in the eucharistic celebration ; but a special 
necessity arises for emphasizing these thoughts in connection with the 
responsibilities of the ministry in days when the spirit of the world takes 
possession of the Church. It is in this way that the heart of the Church is 
kept sound. It is only when this sanctity is attributed to the ministry by 
contrast to the whole body that a new and false element is introduced into 
theology. Further than this, it is not, probably, more than an accident 
that the divine authority of the clergy was emphasized first and the sanctity 
of their sacramental ministries later. See some further remarks in chap. vii. 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 201 

refer to the exclusive character attributed to the 
powers of the ministry, and attributed to them, as 
far as the evidence goes, from the first. 

A positive claim is in a certain sense necessarily 
also exclusive ; the position involves a negation. I 
am empowered by ordination to minister implies 
that you who have no such ordination have no such 
power/ The church ministry made, then, an exclusive 
claim. This, of course, needs qualification ; however 
much the office of teaching or baptizing was kept 
under the bishop s control and practically confined to 
the clergy, still lay baptism was generally regarded 
as valid and allowable in circumstances of necessity, 1 
while lay teaching also was from time to time per 
mitted. 2 Ambrosiaster tells us, as has been noticed 
already, that there was at first greater freedom in this 
respect. But, though this be admitted, it is still 
true to say that certain functions have been regarded 
as confined to certain church officers, in such sense as 
that others cannot validly perform them. Thus St. 
Jerome writes : 3 " Since Hilary, a deacon, has with 
drawn from the Church, a world in himself as he 
imagines, he can neither consecrate a Eucharist (for 
he has neither bishops nor presbyters) nor without a 

1 Cf. e.g. Tertull. de Bapt. 17 ; Council of Elvira, c. 38. Jerome (adv. 
Lucifer. 9) says : " Inde venit, ut sine chrismate et episcopi iussione neque 
presbyter neque diaconus ius habeant baptizandi. Quod frequenter, si tamen 
necessitas cogit, scimus etiam licere laicis." 

2 Apost. Const, viii. 32. 15:0 diddcncwv, et Kal XaiVcds et-rj, fytTreipos 5 TOV \6yov 
Kal Tttv rptiirov cre/xi/is, 8i5a<TKru. See note (32) in Migne Patrol. Grace. L 

p. 1132- 

3 Jerome adv. Lucifer. 21 ; the meaning of the clause about baptism 
is not plain, after the admission of lay baptism, quoted above. Cf. Apost. 
Const, viii. 28. 



202 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

Eucharist hand on baptism ; and when the individual 
is dead, his sect is gone with him ; for, as a deacon, 
he could ordain no clergyman after him. And that 
is no Church which has no priests." Again, the 
eighteenth canon of Nicaea distinguishes between 
the deacons " who have not the authority to offer " 
and the presbyters who have. This of course 
represents the common doctrine ; only a priest can 
offer or consecrate the Eucharist, as only a bishop 
can ordain. But it is sometimes urged that this is 
a later conception in the Church : earlier, as in 
Ignatius and Clement, you have the conception of 
the authority of the ministry strongly developed, but 
without this sacerdotal exclusiveness. " Let that be 
esteemed a valid Eucharist," Ignatius says, "which 
is celebrated under the bishop or his delegate; . . . 
it is not lawful, apart from the bishop, to baptize 
oi- celebrate a love-feast:" 1 but here, it is urged, the 
idea is simply that a sacrament must be duly autho 
rized; and this would be quite compatible with the 
validity of a lay Eucharist, if only the layman had 
authority given him to celebrate it. It was a question 
of order not of exclusive grace. 
The rights of Now it is perfectly true that in the first age the 

the ministry 1 J 

?>rdw, ter f dominant idea was that of church order. 2 The priest 
hood was not, as much as in later days, regarded as 

1 ad Smym. 8 ; see however further, in chap, vi, for Ignatius s whole 
conception. 

- Cf. Tertull. de Bapt. 17 : "Dandi quidem [baptismum] habet ius 
surnmus sacerdos, qui est episcopus : dehinc presbyter! et diaconi, non tameii 
sine episcopi auctoritate, propter ecclesiae honorem, quo salvo salva pax est." 
Cf. Jerome, in note above: and [Ambrose] de Sacramentis iii. i. 4 : "exor 
dium ministerii a summo est sacerdote." 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 203 

an endowment of the individual. There was not the 
same distinction drawn between what was valid and 
what was canonical. On this point enough has 
already been said. But it is obvious that the con-i>utaisoof 

special 

ception of church order is capable of embracing what charisma - 
is included in both the terms canonical and valid/ 
Thus the language of Ignatius about the Eucharist is 
capable of covering the position that only a presbyter 
can have the bishop s license to consecrate, even if it 
also covers the position that a presbyter s celebration, 
apart from episcopal authority, would lack validity. 
And we certainly find that Clement assigns the offer 
ing of the gifts to the episcopal (or presbyteral) office, 
and speaks of each order as having its own limited 
functions in the celebration of the Eucharist by divine 
appointment. 1 Again, when we go further back, we 
find in the Acts the idea of exclusive function : for, 
though nothing is said about the Eucharist in par 
ticular, only the apostle, or perhaps also the pro 
phet, can lay on hands to give the gift of the Holy 
Ghost. And so, in special connection with ordi 
nation, St. Paul speaks of Timothy as empowered 
by a gift of grace given to him as an individual by 
the laying-on of hands, and presumably conveyed 
by him to those on whom he is directed to lay hands 
after the apostolic pattern. 2 It does not the least 
follow that, because Ignatius and Clement press the 
idea of divine order, they ignore the reality of ordina 
tion grace, which as positive is also exclusive. It is 

1 ad Cor. 40 ; see further, in chap. vi. 

- The argument is the same, for our present purpose, if the Acts and 
Pastoral Epistles are relegated to the second century. 



204 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

of course a fact that there is much more early evidence 
for the general position that no ministry was acknow 
ledged in the Church which was not performed in 
accordance with church order and for the principle 
of special positive powers conveyed to individuals by 
ordination than for the particular limitation to pres 
byters of the celebration of the Eucharist : but it is a 
false supposition (considering the traditional character 
of the Church) that an institution or limitation only 
began to exist when we happen first to hear of it. 1 

Have we, then, any reason to believe that a layman 

would in any age have been allowed to celebrate the 

Eucharist even in case of necessity ? Yes, it is at once 

Tertuiiian s answered : Tertullian says so. 2 It is in a Montanist 

viw to the . ii- i t 

Contrary treatise, where he is arguing, in the severe spirit ol 
that body, against the lawfulness of second marriages. 
His opponent is supposed to urge that they are for 
bidden only to priests. " Vain," replies Tertullian, 
" shall we be if we think that what is not lawful for 
priests is lawful for laics. Are not even we laics 
priests ? (Rev. i. 6 quoted.) It is the authority of 
the Church which makes a difference between the 
order and the people. . . . Thus, where there is no 

J It must have been a surprise to many people to find in the Didache the 
observance of the Wednesday and Friday fasts and of trine affusion. Cf. 
Harnack in Expositor, May 1887, p. 321. 

2 When Clement of Alexandria says of the Christian : eairepas Sf avairav- 
aaadai KaO/iKfi /JLCTO. TTJV fcrrLaffiv KCU /j.era TTJV e?rt rats &iro\avcre<riv evxapiffTiav 
(Paed. ii. 10. 96), he is referring to the grace for the supper. Evxapurre iv 
long continued to be used for saying grace in the church of Alexandria ; 
cf. pseudo-Athan. de Virgin. 12 : Her die rbv Uprov trov ei/xo-pi-ffr^craffa ry Oe^ 
eiri TTJS Tpa.irtfts aov (and so three times iu c. 13). Dr. Bigg s suggestion of a 
domestic Eucharist with only the head of the house to celebrate it (B.L. 
p. 103 n. 2 ) seems, therefore, gratuitous and is not borne out by the words of 
Clement. 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 205 

bench of clergy, you offer and baptize and are priest 
alone for yourself. Nay, where three are, there is a 
Church, although they be laics. . . . Therefore, if you 
have the rights of a priest in your person when it is 
necessary, it behoves you to have likewise the discip 
line of a priest when it is necessary to use his right. If 
you are a digamist, can you baptize ? can you offer ? 
How much more capital a crime is it for the digamist 
laic to act for the priest, when the priest himself, if 
he turn digamist, is deprived of the power of acting 
as priest ? " Tertullian is here confessedly speaking 
about abnormal cases, and in this same treatise he 
speaks of a man offering the Eucharist under usual 
circumstances for his wife or wives departed by the 
hands of the priest per sacerdotem. 2 At the same 
time there is no doubt about his meaning ; and if this 
passage could be fairly quoted as evidence of the 
mind of the Church at the time, it would go at least 
to show that while the right of the layman to baptize, 
in cases of necessity, was rather grudgingly conceded, 
there was no sharp line yet drawn in respect of his 

1 de Exhort. Cast. 7 : " Vani erimus, si putaverimus quod sacerdotibus 
non liceat laicis licere. Nonne et laici sacerdotes sumus ? Scriptum est : 
Regnum quoque nos et sacerdotes Deo et Patri suo fecit. Differential!! inter 
ordinem et plebem constituit ecclesiae auctoritas et honor per ordinis coii- 
sessum sanctificatus. Adeo ubi ecclesiastici ordinis non est consessus, et 
offers et tinguis et sacerdos es tibi solus. Sed ubi tres, ecclesia est, licet 
laici. Unusquisque enim de sua fide vivit, nee est personarum acceptio apud 
Deum : quoniam non auditores legis iustificabuntur a Deo, sed factores, secuii- 
dum quod et apostolus dixit. Igitur si habes ius sacerdotis in temetipso 
ubi necesse est, habeas oportet etiam disciplinam sacerdotis, ubi necesse est 
habere ius sacerdotis. Digamus tinguis ? digamus offers ? quanto magis laico 
digamo capitale erit agere pro sacerdote, cum ipsi sacerdoti digamo auferatur 
agere sacerdotem ? " 

2 &. ii : "Otferes pro duabus et commendabis illas duas per sacerdotem 
de monogamia ordinatum ? " 



206 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

powers between baptism and the Eucharist. But 
though we grant this, it is, on the other hand, cer 
tainly not the case that this passage can be fairly 
quoted as illustrating the mind of the Church at all. 
follows from Tertullian, in fact, is writing as a Montanist ; l that is 

his Montan 
ist position. ag one Q f a ^dy which was setting itself against the 

Church as in other respects, so also in reference to 
the authority of the episcopal ministry. 2 He had 
himself, before he became a Montanist, adopted a 
different tone. He had made carelessness about 
sacerdotal distinctions the very characteristic of here 
tical bodies. "Their ordinations are heedless, capri 
cious, changeable. At one time they put novices in 
office ; at another, men involved in secular employ 
ment ; at another, men who have apostatized from 
us. . . . And so it comes about that one man is 
a bishop with them to-day, another to-morrow ; to 
day a man is a deacon, and to-morrow a reader ; 
to-day a presbyter, and to-morrow a layman ; for 
they impose even on laymen the functions of the 
priesthood." The tone here is undoubtedly different. 
Again, in another treatise, he makes it part of the un 
written but authoritative tradition of the Church, that 
only the "presidents" that is, no doubt, the bishop 

1 There is no doubt about this, for a prophecy of Prisca is quoted (de Exh. 
Cast. 10) : "Item per sanctam prophetidem Priscam ita evangelizatur, quod 
sanctus minister sanctimoniam noverit ministrare. Purificantia cnini concor 
dat, ait, et visiones vident et ponentes faciem deorsum etiam voces audiunt 
manifestas, tarn salutares quam et occultas." There can be little doubt that 
these words belong to the true text : (so Bonwetsch Montanismus, p. 198). 

- Tertullian speaks of course as if his opponent would grant his position. 
But Tertullian though he is a very powerful is not a fair arguer, and it 
cannot be the least concluded that, when Tertulliau uses or implies a Nonne, 
his opponent would have answered Yes. 

3 de Praescr. 41. For the Latin, see p. 127 n. 1 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 207 

and presbyters should administer the Eucharist. 1 
The statement, then, that Tertullian makes as to 
the power of the layman to offer, in cases of neces 
sity, can no more be admitted as evidence of what 
the Church would have granted, than similar appeals 
made by Waldensians or Wesleyans of later days. 

It is, however, necessary to explain a little more character 

istics of 

fully the position of the Montanists, and that especi- 
ally in order to refute the notion that, in their claim to 
dispense with the church ministry, they represented 
in any way an older and fast vanishing " freedom of 
the spirit." : 

Montanism, then, as represented by Tertullian, had 
two chief characteristics. 3 First, it was a movement 
characterized by an intense ascetic rigorism. Tertul- 

1 de Corona 3, 4: " Eucharistiae sacramentum et in tempore victus et 
omnibus mandatum a Domino, etiam antelucanis coetibus, nee de aliorum 
manu quam praesidentium sumimus." He then proceeds to argue on 
the authority of the church traditions, and on their claim to obedience : 
"harum et aliarum eiusmodi disciplinarum si legem expostules scripturarum, 
nullani invenies : traditio tibi praetendetur auctrix, consuetude 
confirmatrix et fides observatrix. Rationem traditioni et consuetudini 
et fidei patrocinaturam aut ipse perspicies aut ab aliquo qui perspexerit disces: 
interim nounullam esse credes, cui debeatur obsequium." Thus he makes 
this limitation of the distribution of the eucharistic sacrament to the clergy 
one of many immemorial traditions of the Church ; and he speaks of the 
authoritativeness of church customs in a tone so different to what is to be 
quoted from the tie, Virginibus Velandis that, though the de Corona has some 
of the Montanist rigorism about it and dates not before the end of the century, 
it cannot belong to his latest and most Montanist period. In the de Virg. 
Vel. however, he still speaks of himself as " una ecclesia " with the apostolic 
Churches (c. 2). 

3 "The fact of the existence of Montanism," Dr. Hatch says (B. L. 
p. 125), "strongly confirms the general inferences which are drawn from other 
evidence, that church officers were originally regarded as existing for the 
good government of the community and for the general management of its 
affairs . . . that the functions which the officers performed were such as, 
apart from the question of order, might be performed by any member of the 
community." 

3 On the Montanist movement generally, see A pp. Note H. 



208 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

lian, who had deplored * but not corrected his own 
impatience, was drawn into its ranks, as men of im 
patient, undisciplined zeal have been drawn in every 
age into puritan or Novatian parties. In this spirit, 
it was opposed to the laxer or more merciful tendencies 
of the authorities of the Roman Church of that day. 2 
" I hear," says Tertullian with bitter scorn, 3 " that an 
edict has been issued, and that a peremptory one. 
That pontifex maximus, that bishop of bishops, 4 de 
crees : I forgive the sins of adultery and fornication 
to those who have performed penance." This readi 
ness to grant absolution for even the worst sins the 
Montanists intensely resented. Further, the Mon- 
tanist discipline involved special fasts and special 
restrictions on marriage and other ascetic rules for 
laity, no less than clergy which find in Tertullian 
a vigorous advocate, and which enable him to heap 
contempt on the more ordinary standards of living, 
which were reckoned sufficient among churchmen or 
1 natural men, as the Montanists called them. 
(2) belief in The second characteristic of western Montanism, 
prophets/ which it had derived from its Phrygian parentage, was 
a belief in the new prophets. There had been in the 
persons of the first Montanist prophets a new outpour 
ing of the prophetic spirit. They had been the subjects 

1 This is what gives such pathos to his treatise de Patientia. 

2 The view of the policy of the Roman Church which Mr. Pater gives in 
Marlus the Epicurean is so far justified by the number of reactionary move 
ments which history connects with the names of Tertullian, Hippolytus, and 
Novatian. 

3 de Pudic. i. 

4 The first title no doubt implies the paganism of the proceedings, and 
the second its arbitrariness, in Tertullian s judgment. 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 209 

of a new and absolute inspiration ; and still (though 
they were gone) the Montanist society had brethren 
with the gift of revelations/ who saw visions and had 
access to divine truth denied to common men. Men 

who believe themselves inspired naturally tend to de- and conse 

quent dis- 



spise mere church officers who make no such claim. ^ 
And, besides, the church officers in the East first, and m 
later in the West, had judged and repudiated this claim 
to inspiration. The Church of the natural men had, 
according to the Montanist s, rejected the Spirit. 1 It 
will not therefore at all surprise us that the Mon- 
tanists should have regarded their inspired prophets 
as organs of spiritual power, in the possession of 
whom they were enabled to despise the bishops with 
their official claims. The Church never expressed 
any opinion on the rights which could be recognised 
in genuine prophets, but she denied that these men 
were prophets of God at all. Hence the tone of 
antagonism. Tertullian is still speaking of the epi 
scopal edict. " You say," he argues, 2 " that the 
Church has the power of forgiving sins. This I 
acknowledge more than you and determine I, who 
have the Paraclete Himself in the person of the 
new prophets saying the Church can forgive the sin, 
but I will not do it lest they commit others withal. " 
The claim to the power of absolution in the Church 
was based on our Lord s promise to St. Peter, 

1 See Tertull. adv. Prax. i and App. Note H. 

2 de Pudic. 21: "Seel habet, inquis, potestatem ecclesia delicta 
donandi ? Hoc ego magis et agnosco et dispono, qui ipsum Paracletum in 
prophetis novis habeo dicentem : Potest ecclesia donare delictum, sed non. 
faciam, ne et alia delinquant." 

O 



2io Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

and Tertullian proceeds to examine the promise and 
declares that it was given to St. Peter only as an in 
dividual. The promised power, therefore, of binding 
and loosing has nothing to do with those who claim to 
inherit it. " Now, then, what has this power to do 
with the Church, with your Church forsooth, mere 
natural man ? For, in accordance with the person of 
Peter, it is to spiritual men that this power will be 
long, either to an apostle, or else to a prophet. For 
the Church is properly and principally the Spirit Him 
self, in whom is the Trinity of the One Godhead 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Spirit combines 
that Church which the Lord has made to consist in 
three persons. And thus, from that time forward, 
any number of persons, who may have combined 
together with this faith, is accounted a Church 
from the author and consecrator of the Church. Arid, 
accordingly, the Church, it is true, will forgive sins ; 
but it will be the Church of the Spirit by means of 
the spiritual man ; not the Church which consists of 
a number of bishops." ] It will now be seen that Ter- 
tullian s argument about three constituting a Church, 
in the passage which came first under discussion, is 
in direct connection with the argument of this last 
passage. The anti- sacerdotal tone of it is quite 



1 t 6. " Quid nunc et ad ecclesiam, et quidem tuam, psychice? Secundum 
enim Petri personam spiritalibus potestas ilia conveniet aut apostolo aut pro- 
phetae. Nam et ecclesia proprie et principaliter ipse est Spiritus, in quo 
est trinitas unius divinitatis, Pater et Filius et Spiritus sanctus. Ilium 
ecclesiam congregat, quam Dominus in tribus posuit. Atque ita exinde 
etiam numerus omnis, qui in hanc fidem conspiraverint, ecclesia ab auctore 
et consecratore censetur. Et ideo ecclesia quidem delicta donabit : sed 
ecclesia Spiritus per spiritalem hominem, non ecclesia numerus episcoporum." 



sm 
not conser- 



lii.] The Witness of Church History. 211 

manifest or rather, what is manifest is that it sub 
stitutes a priesthood of supposed inspiration for the 
priesthood of an ordained and official ministry. It 
sets the Church of the Spirit against the Church of 
the bishops. 

So far, then, Montanism gives us good evidence 
as to the temper of the Church when she rejected 
that movement in the second century. But is it, then, 
the case that Montanism represented the older mind 
of the Church an older freedom of prophesying ? l vative 
Not in the least. The Church never in fact committed 
herself at all to any position with reference to the rights 
and powers which would be allowed to those whose real 
inspiration she could recognise. She did not admit 
Montanist inspiration and then deny that it had ac 
companying rights ; she simply denied that it was 
inspiration. She was taking up no new line towards 
prophecy whatever. And the more closely we look at 
Montanism, whether in its origin or in its development, 
the less inclined shall we be to attribute to Mon 
tanism conservative or retrospective tendencies. " It 
was the element of conservatism in it," it has been 
recently said by one whose justice always commends 
his words, " the fact that it spoke the language and 
reaffirmed the idea of a bygone day, that gave Mon 
tanism its strength, and won over to it so powerful a 
champion as Tertullian." 2 Such language, however, 

1 We have not, it must be remembered, to deal in Montanism with a claim 
for liberty of prophesying in any modern sense, but with a claim of 
supernatural inspiration. See Dr. Salmon s article in the Diet. Chr. Biog. 
on MONTANUS. 

2 Dr. Sanday in Expositor, Feb. 1887, p. no. Bonwetsch, the best recent 
investigator of the matter, though he does not altogether accept this view 



212 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

seems contrary to the evidence we have of the nature 
of Montanism. If we read Tertullian s de Virginilms 
Velandis, we shall be struck with its ^^conservative 
tone. Tertullian, the catholic, strikes the note of con 
servatism in the Praescriptiones. As a Montanist 
he still kept his hold on the ancient doctrine ; but 
novitas is his watchword in matters of discipline. 
In this region he denounces custom : " custom, which, 
taking its origin from ignorance or simplicity, is 
strengthened by succession into a practice, and then 
makes its position good against the truth. ... It is 
not the charge of novelty, but the truth, which re 
futes heresies. Whatever is against the truth, this is 
heresy, even though it be an old custom." The rule of 
faith indeed is immovable, 1 but " the other matters of 
discipline and life admit the novelty of correction, 
because the grace of God works and advances even 
till the end." There is a gradual development, then, 
in the Church as the Spirit the Lord s Vicar - 
gradually works out His plan of discipline. This 
development has for its content " the direction of dis 
cipline, the revelation of Scriptures, the improvement 
of our understanding, the advance to a better state 
of things." It is like the natural development of 

of Montanism as a conservative or reactionary movement, quotes some words 
from the acts of a bishop Achatius in the Decian persecution ( 4 ap. Ruinart 
A eta Martyr. Sincera) as a sign that this view of them was held already in 
early days (Zeitsckr. f. L Wissenschaft u. k. Leben, i884, heft ix. p. 473). The 
words are : " Cataphryges aspice homines religionis antiquae." But they are 
completely misunderstood. The words are put in the mouth of the pagan 
magistrate. He had first induced the Montanists to apostatize and sacrifice, 
and then held them up as examples of return to the ancient religion, i.e. the old 
Roman religion ; "admea sacra converses," he continues, "reliquisse quae 
fuerant, et nobiscum Diis vota persolvere." 

1 .But is more fully unfolded to Montanists : see ad Prax. 2. 30 : de Res. 
Cam. 63. 



ill.] The Witness of Church History. 213 

physical life. The infancy of mankind was under the 
Law and the Prophets ; it came to its hot youth under 
the Gospel ; now, through the Spirit (i.e. the Spirit 
which inspired the new prophets, the Montanist 
Spirit, in virtue of which they set the Church of the 
Spirit against the Church of the bishops ) it is 
realizing the strength of manhood. 1 This passage has 
no direct bearing on the claim to possess a substitute 
for ordained bishops in inspired prophets, but it dis 
poses of the contention that Montanism represented 
conservative tendencies in matters of church discipline. 
As well, then, might one quote the contemporary 
humanitarians as illustrating what had hitherto been 
the Church s doctrine about Christ, as the Montanists 
to illustrate her doctrine of orders. 2 

Now we have come to the end of a long argument, summary. 
Starting from the age of Irenaeus, we have traced 
downward the stream of church life, and everywhere 
we have found the Church recognising the authority 
of a ministry, derived by succession from the Apostles, 
and consisting of bishops, presbyters, and deacons ; 

1 de Virg. Vel. I : " Hac lege fidei manente, cetera iam disciplinae et conver- 
sationis adraittunt novitatem correctionis, operante scilicet et proficients 
usque in finem gratia Dei. . . . Cum propterea Paracletum miserit Dominus, 
ut quoniam humana mediocritas omnia semel capere non poterat, paulatim 
dirigeretur et ordinaretur et ad perfectum perduceretur disciplina ab illo 
vicario Domini Spiritu sancto. . . . Quae est ergo Paracleti administratio, 
nisi haec, quod disciplina dirigitur, quod scripturae revelantur, quod intel- 
lectus reformatur, quod ad meliora proficitur ? Nihil sine aetate est, omnia 
tempus exspectant. . . . Sic et iustitia (nam idem Deus iustitiae et creaturaei 
primo f uit in rudimentis, natura Deum metuens ; dehinc per legem et prophetas 
promovit in infantiam ; dehinc per evangelium efferbuit in iuventutem : 
nunc per Paracletum componitur in maturitatem. " 

- These humanitarians really did make the claim to be the true conser 
vatives ; see Euseb. II. E. v. 28. The Little Labyrinth makes the suggestive 
rejoinder : " What they said might have been perhaps convincing, if, first 
of all, the Holy Scriptures had not contradicted them." 



214 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

everywhere we have seen reason to believe that these 
ministers were qualified for their high functions by an 
ordination given after due election with the laying-on 
of the hands of the bishops who were before them, and 
only in virtue of such ordination held to possess 
the authority and the grace of God requisite for the 
ministry they were called to fulfil. It was of course 
only gradually that this ministerial principle gained 
complete and adequate expression. It was with this 
as with church doctrine. In both departments there 
is a development in explicitness of conception and in 
accuracy and fulness of language. But the principle 
held the ground from the first with thorough recogni 
tion ; and the evidence of this is that, wherever the 
claim of the ministry was challenged, the spirit of the 
Church rose to maintain it and those who could not 
recognise the authority of their fathers in Christ found 
themselves aliens from the brotherhood. The chal 
lenge may have come from the side of Montanist 
enthusiasm or Novatian separatism ; or it may have 
been due to the self-assertion of an individual against 
church order, as when Colluthus, who was no bishop, 
attempted to ordain a presbyter ; or it may have had 
its origin in a collapse of discipline such as led to the 
attempt of some deacons, in days of persecution, to 
offer the Eucharist ; or it may have been a challenge 
in theory rather than in practice, like Aerius denial 
of the distinctive dignity of the episcopate. But, in 
whatever sense and from whatever quarter the autho 
rity of the ministry was challenged, the mind of the 
Church spoke out loud in its vindication. For the 



in.] The Witness of Church History. 215 

ministry was acknowledged, instinctively and univer 
sally, as the divinely given stewardship of truth and 
grace, as part of the new creation of God; and, 
"the things which the Lord instituted through His 
Apostles, these," in Athanasius words, " remain hon 
ourable and valid." As an institution of Christ 
through His Apostles divine, permanent, and neces 
sary the threefold ministry made its appearance on 
the horizon of our epoch and " the memory of man 
ran not to the contrary." 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE INSTITUTION OF THE APOSTOLATE. 

The present HITHERTO we have been occupied in expounding a 

position of 

m*nt. BU certain set of principles which are involved in the 
phrase the apostolic succession of the ministry/ and 
in adducing a great body of evidence calculated to 
show how completely, and (as far as appears) without 
exception, these principles obtained acceptance in the 
Church, and governed her action, from the middle of 
the second century onwards. It is, in fact, impossible 
to exaggerate the intimacy with which the episcopal 
succession is bound up with the fixed canon of Scrip 
ture and the permanent and stable creed to constitute 
what can rightly be called historical Christianity. 
There was, indeed, the same tentativeness in the pro 
cess by which the formulated nomenclature and (as 
some at least may think they have occasion to believe 
on reviewing the earlier period) the exact form of 
the ministry was arrived at, as appears in the corre 
sponding formulation of the creed of the catholic 
Church, but in neither case did this development 
in language and form involve any change of prin 
ciple or belief: and, if we compare the development 
of the ministry with the process by which the canon 
of Scripture was fixed, we are struck with the fact 



CHAP, iv.] The Institution of the Apostolale. 217 

that the hesitation, which appears in the latter process 
as to what did and what did not fall within the canon, 
has no parallel in any hesitation as to what did or 
what did not constitute at any particular moment the 
ministry in the Church. On this subject there was no 
conflict or division of opinion inside the body of the 
Church which is brought under our notice. The dis 
cussion about Montanism was not (as we have seen) 
a discussion as to the rights of prophets, but as to 
whether certain people were or were not justified in 
claiming the prophetic inspiration. 

Hitherto, however, we have not touched the period 
which lies behind the middle of the second century. 
The reason for this has been that we have such very 
fragmentary light on the pace which intervenes 
between this date and the point where the Acts of 
the Apostles comes to an end. " I have elsewhere," 
says Dr. Salmon, " described the paucity of documents 
dating from the age immediately succeeding the apo 
stolic, by saying that church history passes through a 
tunnel. We have good light where we have the books 
of the New Testament to guide us, and good light again 
when we come down to the abundant literary remains 
of the latter part of the second century ; but there is 
an intervening period, here and there faintly illumined 
by a few documents giving such scanty and inter 
rupted light as may be afforded by the air-holes of a 
tunnel. If in our study of the dimly-lighted portion 
of the history we wish to distinguish what is certain 
from what is doubtful, we may expect to find the 
things certain in what can be seen from either of the 



218 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

two well-lighted ends. If the same thing is visible on 
looking from either end, we can have no doubt of its 
existence." 
it remains We proceed, then, to examine the beginnings of 

to verify the . . . 3 

ofchurch 8 the mmis try m other words, first, to obtain an 
ory answer to the question whether the postulates of 
the later Church are verified by the intention of Jesus 
Christ as recorded in the Gospels : secondly, to inter 
rogate the history of the apostolic Church as recorded 
in the Epistles and in the Acts of the Apostles, and 
draw out the witness which this record affords on the 
earliest development of the Christian ministry : lastly, 
to scrutinize the documents which shed a certain 
amount of light on the subapostolic period, and see 
whether they bear out the theory of the apostolic 
succession, and whether, further, they supply the 
links which enable us to form an adequate idea of the 
method by which the ministry of the apostolic days 
passed into the ministry of the better known period 
of church history. 2 

The first task before us is to investigate the inten- 

1 Expositor, July 1887, P- 3 f- 

2 Speaking of The Church and the Ministry, a pamphlet in review of his 
Bampton Lectures, Dr. Hatch says of the author : " He begins by asserting 
that he accepts the author s method, and that he wishes only to answer the 
question which the author proposed, viz. What does the existing evidence 
teach as to the early history of ecclesiastical organization ? but he silently, 
and perhaps unconsciously, devotes the rest of his review to the consideration 
of a very different question, viz. How far can the existing evidence be inter 
preted on the Augustinian theory?" (B.L. pref. to 2nd ed. p. xiii). My 
contention is that the evidence at certain periods teaches positively, that is 
to say, the evidence collected in the last chapter and portions of the evidence 
now to be produced ; but in the subapostolic period it is often necessary, 
on account of the deficiency of positive evidence, to be content with finding 
that what there is is consistent with the positive position, which the earlier 
and later evidence so strongly suggests as almost to force it upon us. 



IV.] The Institution of the Apostolate. 219 

tion of Christ. It has been already pointed out that j 
the method of Christ was to withdraw from the many 
upon the few. While He healed widely and freely all 
who had faith to be healed/ He taught those only 
(except by the way) in whom He discerned the higher 
sort of faith which would make them disciples. These 
He trained to become a firm consolidated body, rooted 
and grounded in faith in Himself, that they might 
be the nucleus of His universal Church. Even within 
the body of these disciples there were inner and outer 
circles : there were the twelve and also they that 
were with them/ * the women who ministered to them 
and the seventy who shared at a certain stage the 
apostolic commission. 2 Confining our attention now 
to the inner circle, with whom Christ chiefly concerned The Gospels 

* suggest the 

Himself, we ask ourselves : Was His training of the SSS& 



twelve the training merely of typical disciples ? or was 

1 St. Luke xxiv. 33 ; cf. St. Mark iv. 10 : oZ Trepi avrbv ffi/v rots 3c65e/ca. 

2 The seventy (or seventy-two according to another reading) of St. Luke 
x. I share the earliest apostolic commission : they are sent forth (St. Luke 
x. 3 : 25oi> dTroorAXw upas, cf. ix. 2), with authority over the powers of Satan 
(x. 17, 19, cf. ix. i), as representatives of the kingdom, endowed with its peace 
and having power to communicate it (x. 9, cf. ix. 2, and observe x. 6 : tirava- 
iravffeTai TT avrbv 7] eiprjvi) vfj-Civ ei 8 ^7776, e<f> v/j.as dpa/cd/i^et), and as represen 
tatives of Christ (x. 16 : 6 aKOuuv V/JLUV 4/j.ou d/cotfet, K.T.\.). The number seventy 
or seventy-two is supposed to have reference to the seventy-two heads of the 
Sanhedrin ; or to the seventy-two tribes of mankind (see Godet in loc. and 
Clem. Recog. ii. 42) ; or, much more naturally, to the seventy elders endued 
with the spirit of prophecy (Num. xi. 16-30). Thus the later Church saw 
here the institution of the presbyterate by our Lord ; see Clem. Ep. Petri i 
and Jerome Ep. Ixxviii ad Fabiol. mans. 6. (The seventy elders, however, 
were also regarded as the prototype of the chorepiscopi. ) In some traditions 
these seventy are reckoned apostles. Thus the Syriac Teaching of the Apostles 
reckons seventy-two apostles as originating the ordination to the priest 
hood, " and a late Arab writer, historian of the Coptic Church, who may draw 
on an earlier tradition, speaks of the apostles as seventy, besides the twelve ; 
see refs. p. 131, n. 1 This suggests the apostles and prophets of the 
Didache. It is important that those who accept the historical character of 
St. Luke s Gospel should recollect that there must have been in the apostolic 



220 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

it, over and above this, the training of ministers, of 
officers in His kingdom ? This latter seems undoubtedly 
the true answer. He called unto Him whom He 
Himself would, . . . and He appointed twelve that 
they might be with Him, and that He might send 
them forth to preach and to have authority to cast 
out devils. He called His disciples and He chose 
from them twelve, whom also He named apostles. 1 
These, as appears from His instructions to them, 
are to be His authorized representatives in the 
ministry of mercy and judgment. 2 " Evidently," says 
Mr. Maurice, " He never separates the thought of 
training them in their office from that of performing 
His own. As evidently He is training them to an 
office ; He is not teaching them to be great saints, to 
keep up a high tone of personal holiness as if that 
were the end of their lives." Thus, he adds, " if we 
called the four Gospels the Institution of a Christian 
Ministry/ we might not go very far wrong or lose 
as one sight of many of their essential qualities." 3 Further, 

element in 



... ... 

the church. ^ s apostolic ministry which Christ is seen to be 
training, though at times it seems to constitute almost 
the whole of that definite body which is being prepared 

Church a number of these evangelists, who had received our Lord s com 
mission, and whom we certainly cannot identify with presbyters whose 
office was local. 

1 St. Mark iii. 13, 14 ; St. Luke vi. 13. 

- The personal and official position of the twelve appears clearly in St. 
Matt, x, St. John vi. 67-70, St. Luke xxii. 29, 30 ; cf. St. Matt. iv. 19. 
They are called the disciples par excellence (in e.g. St. Mark x. 23-46, St. 
John xviii. i) ; so they mediated between Christ and the crowd in the feed 
ing of the five thousand (St. Luke ix. 10-17), and at other times (St. Matt. 
xv. 32-39, St. John xii. 20-22) ; while for their position after the resurrec 
tion cf. St. Luke xxiv. 9, 33. 

8 Kingdom of Christ ii. p. 118 [3d ed.]. 



iv. 3 The Institution of the Apostolate, 221 

to be the Church, is intended to be what in history 
it became not the whole Church, but only one 
element in it. 1 This is implied in a striking manner 
and there is no doubt that what a teacher implies 
often produces as striking an effect upon the mind as 
what he explicitly teaches in the parable in which 
Christ gives St. Peter a picture of the divine house 
hold which He is intending to establish. He had been 
uttering some warnings and encouragements to His 
disciples, partly in the form of parables, with reference 
to the spirit of detachment and its reward, and St. 
Peter questions Him whether He is speaking to them 
(the twelve) only or to all. Christ answers with 
another question : " Who is that faithful and wise 
steward whom his Lord shall set over his household 
of servants, to give them their portion of meat 
in due season ? Blessed is that servant whom 
his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing." : 
Here is a picture of the household of the Church 
which Christ is intending to organize, and it is 
represented with a permanent distinction, enduring 
till the Lord come again, the distinction between 

1 Such a passage as St. Matt, xxiii. 8, referred to by Dr. Hatch B. L. p. 
121, does not imply that our Lord condemned all grades and distinctions in 
His Church, any more than it implies a condemnation of all grades and 
distinctions in the State, or than St. Luke xiv. 26 implies a condemnation of 
all human affections, or St. Luke vi. 20, 24 of all wealth, or St. John x. 8 of 
all the O. T. prophets. In all these passages there is a mode of speech, 
which Christ often used, and of which we have to take account. He con 
demns all dignities which interfere with His unique mastership, not such as 
represent it, whether in Church or State ; all wealth held as a possession or 
right instead of as a trust, not all wealth absolutely ; all love which inter 
feres with His divine jealousy, not domestic love in its right place ; 
precursors who came with His claim, not those who came as His heralds. 

2 St. Luke xii. 41-43. The future xaraa-r^o-ei is to be noticed ; it is like 
the futures oi/coSo/u/jtrw, Stixrw, in St. Matt. xvi. 18, 19. 



222 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

the ordinary servants and the steward who distributes 
the bread of life. Thus the impression is left on us 
that in the Christian household there is to be, by 
distinction from the ordinary members, a stewardship, 
instituted by the Master and enduring till the end. 1 
TMsim- This impression, derived from a general con- 

pression is 

confirmed s id era tion of Christ s dealings with His Apostles, is 
deepened by the study of special commissions given 
to them. 

a) The com- (i) We have the commission promised to St. Peter. 2 

mission to x * 

st. Peter, Q nr ^ me ets St. Peter s confession of His Messiahship 
or Divine Sonship with a special benediction. He 
pronounces him " Peter," the man of rock, and declares 
that on this rock Jle will build His Church. So far 
He is dealing with the human character of St. Peter. 
There is in His language, as it has been admirably 
explained, 3 a sense of relief, the relief that comes of 
perceiving in St. Peter s deliberate acceptance of His 
divine claim a solid basis on which His spiritual 
fabric may be reared, or at least a basis capable of 
being solidified by discipline and experience till it 

1 M. Godet s comment on this parable is as follows (S. Luc. ii. p. 138) : 
"This utterance seems to imply that the apostolate will perpetuate itself 
till Christ s return ; and in fact it is an ii-resistible conclusion from the 
figure employed, that there will remain to the end, in the Church, a ministry 
of the word established by Christ. The Apostles perceived this so clearly 
that, when they left the world, they were at pains to establish a ministry of 
the word to take their place in the Church. This ministry was a continua 
tion of their own, if not in its completeness, at any rate in one of its most 
indispensable functions that of which Jesus speaks in this parable the 
distribution of spiritual nourishment to the flock. . . . The theory which 
makes the pastorate emanate from the Church as its representative is 
not scriptural. This commission is rather an emanation from the apo 
stolate, and therefore mediately an institution of Jesus Himself." 

- St. Matt. xvi. 18, 19. 

3 Holland Creed and Character p. 49. 



iv.] The Institution of the Apostolate. 223 

become a foundation stone on which the Church may 
rest. The rock then, of which Christ speaks, is the rock 
of a human character confessing the divine claim. It is 
as men, as human characters, that the twelve Apostles 
are the twelve foundation stones of the New Jerusa 
lem. And, if the promise to St. Peter which follows 
must be interpreted of an official position which is to 
be given to him in the Church, we have here at 
starting an emphatic intimation that official dignity 
in the Church is meant to rest on a basis of moral 
fitness. 1 But does Christ pass in His promise to St. 
Peter from words which concern his moral character 
to words which imply his spiritual office ? He cer 
tainly does. He promises that He will give him 
" the keys of the kingdom of heaven," or of the 
Church, and this is in other words promising to make 
him the official steward of the divine household. 
When Shebna was substituted for Eliakim in the 
treasurership or stewardship of the house of David, 
this was the word of the Lord : 2 " I will call my servant 
Eliakim the son of Hilkiah : and I will clothe him 
with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, 
and I will commit thy government into his hand. 
. . . And the key of the house of David will I lay 
upon his shoulder ; so he shall open, and none shall 
shut ; and he shall shut, and none shall open." It is 

1 Christ, however, in choosing Judas whom he knew from the first 
among the twelve, showed that He distinguished between moral worth and 
spiritual authority, and this is also implied in His words about the Jewish 
authorities (St. Matt, xxiii. 2, 3) : " the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses 
seat : all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do, 
but do not ye after their works. " 

Isai. xxii. 20 22, cf. Moberly Great Forty Day.-- pp. 127-130. 



224 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

promised, then, that St. Peter shall be made the 
steward of the divine household, 1 and this carries 
with it an authority to bind or loose, that is to 
prohibit or permit in a word, to give legislative 
decisions with that heavenly sanction and authority 
which is the proper endowment of the kingdom of 
heaven. 2 
as (<o the Two questions maybe raised with reference to this 

representa- 

tive apostie, p rom ise. What, it may be asked first, is St. Peter s 
relation in respect of this official position to the other 
Apostles ? The answer seems to be that the official 
position is here not given but promised, and that the 
commissions actually given after the resurrection, 
the commissions which are seen in action in the 
apostolic history, are given to the whole apostolic 
body, and acted upon by all alike with the same 
authority though St. Peter is their leader. 3 A 

1 Of course subordinately to Christ (Rev. iii. 7). 

2 See Edersheim Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah ii. pp. 81-85. 
Binding or loosing referred simply to the prohibition or else permission of 
things or acts. It was one of the powers claimed by the Rabbis. But in 
relation to persons it implies a judicial, administrative power. 

3 St. Cyprian s opinion in this sense has been already quoted. It 
coincides with Origen s in the East (in loc.) and represents in fact the 
general mind of the early Church. So Theophylact (in loc.) : "They who 
have obtained the grace of the episcopate as Peter had (oi Kara fltrpov TV)S 
finffKoiriKfjs agiuOevTes xdpiTos) have authority to remit and bind. For though 
the I will give thee was spoken to Peter alone, yet the gift has been given to 
all the Apostles. When ? When He said whosesoever sins ye remit, they 
are remitted. For this I will give indicates a future time the time, that 
is, after the resurrection. " Perhaps the strongest evidence of the truth of this 
view is the absence of any special claim made by, or for, St. Peter in the 
Acts or Epistles, especially in St. Peter s own first Epistle, where (v. I, 2) 
his pastoral charge (St. John xxi. 15-17) is identified with that of the elders ; 
and on the other hand St. Paul s strenuous claim to be, as an apostle, 
dependent on none but Christ and in no respect inferior to the others ; see 
Gal. i. n, 12, ii. i-io. This of course admits of a primacy being assigned to 
St. Peter so that oi trepl llerpov can be the name for all of them, as in the 
conclusion of St. Mark s Gospel in L (given in Alford, and Westcott and 






IV.] The Institution of the Apostolate. 225 

question may be raised secondly as to St. Peter s and (&) ad - 

ministrative 

relation to the whole Christian community : for on church / the 
another occasion, when Jesus Christ was speaking of 
the duty, under which His disciples might lie from 
time to time, of bringing one of their brethren under 
the censure of the Church, He attributes to the 
Church as a whole that authority to bind and loose 
which in its application to individuals is of course a 
judicial authority to which He declares the heavenly 
or supernatural sanction to attach. 1 The answer to 
this question has already been indicated when the 
general subject of the relation of the ministry to the 
Church was under discussion. The supernatural 

Hort). I deal briefly with this matter because this book is meant to be 
simply a vindication of the catholic idea of the ministry and not to go into 
questions which arise within the area where this finds acceptance. Tertul- 
lian s view of the meaning of the passage now in question, referred to 011 
p. 210, is essentially the view of a Montanist. 

1 St. Matt, xviii. 15-18. The declaration is still future, it is a promise. 
Afterwards follows the promise which attaches to the prayer of even two 
disciples (ver. 19), based on the fact that Christ s presence is with even so small 
a number as two or three if they are gathered together in His Name 
(ver. 20 : that is, in the knowledge of Him and in accordance with His will). 
This last declaration applies primarily to the promise which attaches to 
united prayer, for the two or three refers back to the if two of you 
shall agree to ask. It may however also refer to the promise of judicial 
authority, and would mean that this authority is not dependent on numbers, 
but can be enforced by even two or three in accordance with His will, so that 
they can speak with the voice of the Church and to disobey them would be 
to refuse to hear the Church : cf. among the Pirqe Alioih of Dr. Taylor 
p. 60 f. "When ten sit and are occupied in words of Thorah the Shekinah is 
among them, for it is said, God standeth in the congregation of the mighty. 
. . . And whence [is it proved of] even three ? Because it is said . . . and 
hath founded his troop in the earth. And whence even two ? Because it 
is said, Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another." Cf. 
note 15 : " Every ten men that are assembled in the synagogue, the Shekinah 
is with them, for it is said, God standeth in the edah, etc. And whence 
even three that judge, because it is said, He judges among gods, etc.," i.e. 
the divine presence is amongst even three who constitute a beth din, or house 
of judgment, to administer justice. So Christ may have meant that His 
presence is with the smallest court of justice which represents the Church. 
Cf. Expositor, March 1887, p. 229. 

P 



226 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

authority does inhere in the Church as a whole, 
but the Church has (not by her own but by Christ s 
authority) executive officers, and it is through them 
that her judicial power is put into effect. Christ 
makes two promises : He promises judicial authority 
to the Church, and He promises to make St. Peter a 
steward, an administrative officer in the Church, with 
special reference to this power, and these two promises 
are correlative, not contradictory. 
\-2) The com- (2) Christ s dealings in the last days of His minis- 

:inssion to x 

apostolic try are wholly concentrated upon the twelve. With 
the resume- them alone He celebrates the Last Supper and insti- 

lion, 

tutes the memorial of His death, which He commits 
to them to be perpetuated in the Church 1 ; to them 

1 The Eucharist was certainly regarded from the first in the Church as a 
sacrifice. "The conception of the whole action of the Last Supper as a 
sacrificial action (Opferhandlung) is found clearly in the Didache (c. xiv), in 
Ignatius, and before all in Justin (Apol. i. 65 f.). But Clement of Rome also 
expresses it when he (cc. 40-44) draws a parallel between the bishops and 
deacons and the O. T. priests and Levites, and indicates the Trpo<r(j>tpeii> TO, 
5<2/5a as their special function " (Harnack Dogmengesch. i. 152 n. 1 ). See 
Didache xiv : Kara Kvpt.aK.rfv d KVpiov ffvvaxQtvTts /cAdVare aprov /cat evxapiaTr/- 
ffare Trpo(Tf^ofjLO\oyri(rd/j.evoi TO, TrapaTrrti/xara v/jiwv, SITUS K0.6a.pat. ij Bvcria v/jiui> 
f) . . . ai/rrj yap etrnv i] pr/de iffa VTTO KVpiov Et> iravrl Tbirui Kal XP^V Trpoefopeiv fJioi 
ffvfflav Kadapdv. Justin Dial. c. Tryph. 41 : Kal rj TTJS <7e/u5aXews irpoa-Qopd, 
<3 avSpes, ZXeyov, r/ virtp T&V Kadapi^o/J.^vuv diro rrjs X^TT/SOS irpocr<f>{pfffOai 
jrapaSodeiffa, TVTTOS Tjv TOV &prov rrjs evxipiffTias, 6v els dvdfj.vrj<riv TOV irddovs, 
o5 i-Tra,0ev inrep T&V Ka0aipo/J,4vuv rds if/vx&S dTrb Tracys irovqpias dvdpuiruv, 
Itjffous X/)tcn-6s 6 Kijpios rifj.lv iraptduice iroietv the offering, he explains, is to 
be made in thanksgiving for the blessings of creation and redemption 
through Christ s death ; he then quotes the usual passage from Malachi 
i. II and continues : irepl 8 rdv kv iravrl rbirq v<p rj^iav rdiv fdvwv 
itpoa(f>fpo^vti)v at/rip OvaiCiv, rovreari. TOV dprov TTJS evxapiffrias Kal TOU irorrjpiov 
ofjioius rijs evxapiffTias, 7rpo\yfi r&re eliruv Kal TO 6vofJ.a ai/roD Bo^d^fiv TJ/JLCLS v/j.as 
d J3ep7)\ovt>. Irenaeus iv. 17. 5 : " Sed et suis discipulis dans consilium 
primitias Deo offerre ex suis creaturis . . . eum qui ex creatura panis est, 
accepit et gratias egit, dicens : Hoc est meum corpus. Et calicem similiter, 
qui est ex ea creatura quae est secundum nos, suum sanguinem confessus est, 
et novi testamenti novam docuit oblationem quam ecclcsia ab apostolis 
accipiens in universe mundo offert Deo." 



IV.] The Institution of the Apostolate. 227 

He addresses the last discourses, which are calculated 
to prepare them in character and intelligence for the 
withdrawal of His visible presence and the substi 
tution for it of that new and higher mode of inward 
presence by His Spirit, which He should give to His 
Church when He was glorified. In all this Christ is 
dealing with them no less as apostles than as 

It would not be in place here to discuss at length the sense in which the 
early Church believed the Eucharist to be a sacrifice. Briefly however it is 
in place to remark that 

( 1 ) The whole language of the earliest Church seems most easily interpreted, 
if we suppose that the bread and wine, chosen out of the general offerings 
of the congregation and presented before God as a memorial of Christ s 
sacrifice with accompanying prayers, were regarded as constituting the 
thank-offering (Eucharist) or oblations (gifts) of the Church and as expres 
sive of that relation of sonship and purity and freedom of approach to 
God, which belonged to the Church in virtue of her redemption, as being the 
high -priestly race. These gifts were then offered for the consecration 
of the Holy Spirit. They became " no longer common bread but Eucharist, 
made up of two substances, an earthly and an heavenly " : they became to 
the Church the Body and Blood of Christ. This response of God to the 
Church s invocation, this mingling of heavenly and earthly things, gave to 
the Church s sacrifice a new power and brought it into essential union with 
the One Sacrifice, with Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and 
with the blood of sprinkling. But for this, the Church s sacrifice would 
have been most Judaic in character. 

(2) The consent of the Church in regarding the Eucharist as a sacrifice 
appears to fix the meaning of Christ s words of institution. In this con 
nection it requires to be observed (a) That Justin Martyr interprets Trotew 
as = to offer (Dial. c. Tryph. 41, just quoted, and 70), and this use of the 
word is common in the LXX without any qualification (Willis Sacrificial 
Aspect of the Eucharist p. 49 f.). It enables us in St. Luke xxii. 19, 20, 
I Cor. xi. 24, 25 to give, as is natural, the same meaning to TOVTO in both 
corresponding clauses, TOVTO fffnv . . . TOVTO Troteire : and in I Cor. xi. 25 
also to make TOVTO the accusative, as the sentence requires, to both verbs, 
71-oten-e and irivrjTe. (b) That there is an obvious reference to the words of 
Moses in Exod. xxiv. 8, I5ov TO al/j.a TTJS 5ia.diJK-rjs, and that agreeably with 
this reference the word {K-xvw6/j.et>ov (Matt., Mark, Luke), expresses prob 
ably not the shedding of Christ s blood in death, but the sacrificial pouring 
out of it. See Kendall Theol. of the Hebr. Chr. p. 123 f., and cf. Exod. 
xxix. 12, Lev. iv. 7, 19, 25, 30, 34, viii. 15, ix. 9, etc., in LXX. (c) That 
dvd/j,i T]<ns in the 0. T. means a memorial before God, as is the case wherever 
it is used (Willis I.e. p. 17 f.) ; but see Pieb. x. 3 and the reference in the 
liturgies: Me/xcTj^/ ot ovv &v oC r//j.as virf utivev K.T.\. (Hammond Anc. Lit. 
pp. 17, 42). 



228 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

representative disciples. After His resurrection He 
does not cease to deal with them in the latter capa 
city, but it would appear that the commissions, which 
in the great forty days were no longer promised 
but given, were addressed to them in their official 
character and to them alone. It would appear to 
be undeniable, if it had not been so often denied, 
that these commissions, taken together, are commis 
sions given to an abiding cqiostolate, destined to be 
permanent till the end of the world. The eleven 
nsinst. disciples are expressly mentioned as the subjects of 

Matthew. . . 

the commission recorded by St. Matthew as given on 
the mountain where Jesus had appointed them, which 
invested them with His royal power to go and make 
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the 
threefold Name and teaching them to observe all His 
precepts, and which was accompanied by the promise 
of His presence with them all the days till the com- 
st. Mart, pletion of the age. 1 The parallel account of the com 
mission of Christ given in the verses which conclude 
St. Mark s Gospel describes it as given to the eleven. 2 
In St. Luke s narrative, where in connection with 
Christ s appearance on the evening of His resurrection 
mention is made of the disciples and those who were 
with them, it is noticeable that, though there is a 
record of encouragement and enlightenment and pro- 

1 St. Matt, xxviii. i6f. It is urged that, as there were some who doubted, 
so others must have been present beside the Apostles. I should have thought 
that, as a matter of Greek, ol d eSicrraffav must express a subdivision of 
the eleven, who are the subject of the whole sentence. See Meyer in loc. 
At any rate they are the only people mentioned in connection with the com 
mission given. 

- St. Mark xvi. 14-18. 



iv.] The Institution of the Apostolate. 229 

mise, there is no record of a ministerial commission. 1 
There was however such a commission, given appar- and st John 
ently on this occasion, which is recorded by St. John. 2 
It is there described as given to the disciples ; but 
this expression at the end of St. John s Gospel com 
monly refers to the twelve, who are the subjects of 
His typical training. 3 The words of the commission, 
moreover, and the analogy of that recorded in St. 
Matthew and St. Mark, seem to make it natural to 
conclude that, though others may have been present, it 
was addressed to the Apostles only. 4 " As My Father 

1 St. Luke xxiv. 33 f. but cf. Acts i. 1-5. 

2 St. John xx. 19-23. 

3 So Dr. Westcott says that by the disciples (in c. xxi. i) is meant 
" in all probability the Apostles, the disciples in the narrower sense, though 
the twelve were not all assembled on this occasion, but at most seven 
only. " This use of the word disciples may be illustrated by a passage 
closely parallel to that under discussion. Our Lord s prayer in St. John xvii 
is spoken amongst the disciples (xvi. 29, xviii. i). Yet by this is meant 
the twelve (St. Matt. xxvi. 20) : thus He prays for them as those whom 
the Father has given Him (xvii. 6, 9, n) and whom He guarded, so that 
not one of them perished but the son of perdition (ver. 12), and whom 
He has sent into the world, as the Father sent Him into the world (ver. 
18). These are clearly the definite body, the twelve ; and the expression As 
thou didst send me, so sent I them (ver. 18) interprets that in xx. 21. 

4 I am of course aware that I have Dr. Westcott against me (Revel, of the 
Risen Lord pp. 81-83 and Comm. in loc.), as well as many others. On the 
other hand I am following M. Godet, one of the best recent commentators on 
St. John ; and the arguments which seem to me of determining force in the 
matter are 

(1) The parallel commissions to the eleven in St. Matt, and St. Mark. 

(2) The obvious reference to the apostolate in the words of St. John xx. 
21 ; cf. xvii. 1 8. (The use of ir^iru in the former case hardly weakens the 
force of this. ) 

(3) The habitual reference of the disciples at the end of St. John s Gospel 
to the Apostles. 

(4) The implication of the Acts (as bearing on all the commissions taken 
together) ; if the Acts is accepted as historical, undoubtedly the Apostles 
must have received a commission distinct from the Church as a whole to 
account for their position. 

On the other hand (a) the presence of those with them does not 
seem to be, in this case, more than in the case of any later ministerial 
commissions, an argument against the limitation to the Apostles ; (b) the 



230 Christian Ministry. [CHAP. 

hath sent Me," Christ said, " even so send I you," 
and when He had said this, He breathed on them and 
said : " Receive ye holy spirit : l whosesoever sins ye 
remit, they are remitted unto them ; whosesoever sins 
ye retain, they are retained." Here the opening words 
contain a manifest reference to the apostolate, and 
the subsequent act of breathing, with the words ac 
companying, seems to be the actual bestowal in power 
and spirit of those keys of the kingdom which 
Christ had formerly promised to the chief of the 
Apostles. What is bestowed is a judicial power with 
a supernatural sanction the power, in pursuance of 
Christ s redemptive mission, to admit men into the 
new covenant of absolution and to exclude them from 
it according to considerations of their moral fitness. 
(3) The com- (3) If the threefold pastoral commission to St. Peter 2 

mission 

represents, as seems most probable, simply a personal 
restoration of St. Peter to the position of trust which 
his threefold denial might be supposed to have lost 
him, then we shall only be justified in concluding 
from our Lord s words on that occasion that the 
pastoral care, to govern and to feed, was supposed 
to be involved in the apostolic commission. 8 
conclusion It may very well be maintained that it would be 
institution impossible to draw certain conclusions on the matter 

of the A 



as to Christ s 
institutio 
of the 
Apostles. 



absence of St. Thomas is no hindrance to the commission having been 
given to the Apostles, as such. The narratives are fragmentary, and we 
cannot say but that St. Thomas may have had his