they passed away one after another, to the care of the elders who had meanwhile shared in its administration.* As soon as the Church began to assume a settled form, they mingled with these elders on terms of equality; and, as at the Council of Jerusalem,† sat with them in the same deliberative assemblies. When Paul addressed the elders of Ephesus for the last time, and took his solemn farewell of them, he commended the Church to their charge, and emphatically pressed upon them the importance of fidelity and vigilance.§ In his Second Epistle to Timothy, written in the prospect of his martyrdom, he makes no allusion to the expediency of selecting another individual to fill his place. The apostles had fully executed their commission when, as wise master-builders, they laid the foundation of the Church and fairly exhibited the divine model of the glorious structure; and as no other parties could produce the same credentials, no others could pretend to the same authority. But even the apostles repeatedly testified that they regarded the preaching of the Word as the highest department of their office. It was, not as church rulers, but as church teachers, that they were specially distinguished. "We will give ourselves," said they, "continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word." "Christ sent || constitute, or ought to constitute, the supreme authority in the Church of God. . . . . The New Testament Scriptures, as they are the only real apostolate now in existence, so, are sufficient to supply to us the place of the inspired Twelve."-Litton's Church of Christ, p. 410. "While it is clearly recorded that the apostles instituted the orders of presbyters and deacons, it is not so clearly recorded, indeed it is not recorded at all, that they instituted the order of bishops."-Litton, p. 426. Such a testimony from a Fellow of Oxford is creditable alike to his candour and his intelligence. + Acts xv. 6, xvi. 4, xxi. 18, 25. § Acts xx. 29-31. Acts xx. 17, 25. || Acts vi. 4. "Here," says Mr Litton, "no mention is made of government or of ordination, as the special prerogative of the apostolic office; and if it were not dangerous to lay too much stress upon a single passage, it might from this one be plausibly inferred that the special function of the apostles, as representatives of the ordinary Christian ministry, has descended, not to 66 me," said Paul, "not to baptize, but to preach the gospel." Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.”† But though, according to the New Testament, the business of ruling originally formed only a subordinate part of the duty of the church teacher, some have maintained that ecclesiastical government pertains to a higher function than ecclesiastical instruction; and that the apostles instituted a class of spiritual overseers to whose jurisdiction all other preachers are amenable. They imagine that, in the Pastoral Epistles, they find proofs of the existence of such functionaries; and they contend that Timothy and Titus were diocesan bishops, respectively of Ephesus and Crete. But the arguments by which they endeavour to bishops, but to presbyters, to whom it specially pertains to give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word."-Litton's Church of Christ, p. 407. It is certainly not dangerous to lay as much stress upon any Scripture as it will legitimately bear, and the inference here drawn is in accordance with the rules of the most exact logic. * 1 Cor. i. 17. + Eph. iii. 8. In dealing with individuals, the apostles seldom challenged obedience on the ground of their divine authority. When they are represented as directing the movements of ministers, the language generally implies simply that the parties in question undertook certain services at their instigation or request, or by their advice. Thus, Paul says that he besought Timothy to abide at Ephesus, that he left Titus in Crete, and that he sent Epaphroditus to the Philippians (1 Tim. i. 3; Titus i. 5; Philip. ii. 25). But Paul himself is said to have been sent forth to Tarsus by the brethren (Acts ix. 30). When Mark refused to accompany Paul and Silas into Asia Minor he did not therefore forfeit his ecclesiastical status (Acts xiii. 13, xv. 37–39). Apart from their special commission, the apostles were entitled to deference from other ministers on account of their superior age and experience; and Paul sometimes refers to this claim. See Philem. 8, 9. On the same ground all who have recently entered the ministry are bound to yield precedence to aged pastors, and to respect their advice. See 1 Pet. v. 5. It can scarcely be necessary to remind the reader that the postscripts to these epistles setting forth that Timothy was "ordained the first bishop of the Church of the Ephesians," and that Titus was "ordained the first bishop of the Church of the Cretians," are spurious. See Period i. sec. ii. chap. i. p. 181. sustain these views are quite inconclusive. Paul says to Timothy "I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine;" and it has hence been inferred that the evangelist was the only minister in the capital of the Proconsular Asia who was sufficiently authorized to oppose heresiarchs. It happens, however, that in this epistle the writer says also to his correspondent-"Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches;" + so that, according to the same method of interpretation, it would follow that Timothy was the only preacher in the place who was at liberty to admonish the opulent. When Paul subsequently stood face to face with the elders of Ephesus, he told them that it was their common duty to discountenance and resist false teachers;§ and he had therefore now no idea of entrusting that responsibility to any solitary individual. The reason why the service was pressed specially on Timothy is sufficiently apparent. He had been trained up by Paul himself; he was a young minister remarkable for intelligence, ability, and circumspection; and he was accordingly deemed eminently qualified to deal with the errorists. Hence at this juncture his presence at Ephesus was considered of importance; and the apostle besought him to remain there whilst he himself was absent on another mission. * 1 Tim. i. 3. Paul says (1 Cor. iv. 17) to the Corinthians-" I have sent unto you Timotheus . . . . who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ;" and, according to the mode of reasoning employed by some, we might infer from this text that Timothy was bishop of Corinth. "It is a suspicious circumstance," says Dr Burton, "that several persons who are mentioned in the New Testament, are said to have been bishops of the places connected with their names. Thus Cornelius is said to have been bishop of Cæsarea, and to have succeeded Zacchæus, though it is highly improbable that either of them filled such an office."—" Lectures,” i., p. 182. + 1 Tim. vi. 17. § Acts xx. 30, 31. See Period i. sect. i. chap. ix. p. 131. The argument founded on the instructions addressed to Titus is equally unsatisfactory. Paul says to him—“ For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain* elders in every city as I had appointed thee;" and from these words the inference has been drawn that to Titus alone was committed the ecclesiastical oversight of all the churches of the island. But the words of the apostle warrant no such sweeping conclusion. Apollos,‡ and probably other ministers equal in authority to the evangelist, were now in Crete, and were, no doubt, ready to co-operate with him in the business of church organization. Titus, besides, had no right to act without the concurrence of the people; for, in all cases, even when the apostles were officiating, the church members were consulted in ecclesiastical appointments.§ It is probable that the evangelist had much administrative ability, and this seems to have been the great reason why he was left behind Paul in Crete. The apostle expected that, with his peculiar energy and tact, he' would stimulate the zeal of the people, as well as of the other preachers; and thus complete, as speedily as possible, the needful ecclesiastical arrangements. When Paul once said to the high priest of Israel-" Sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law" -he had no intention of declaring that the dignitary he addressed was the only member of the Jewish council who had the right of adjudication. The court consisted of at least seventy individuals, every one of whom had a vote as effective as that of the personage with whom he thus remonstrated. It is said * The word κaTαornons, here translated "ordain," should rather be rendered constitute, or establish. + Titus i. 5. Titus iii. 13. || Acts xxiii. 3. § Acts vi. 3, xiv. 23; 2 Cor. viii. 19, 23. ¶“The whole Sanhedrim were the judges, and sitting to judge him according to the law."—Alford on Acts xxiii. 3. that the high priest at this period was not even the president of the Sanhedrim.* Paul was perfectly aware of the constitution of the tribunal to which Ananias belonged; and he merely meant to remind his oppressor that the circumstances in which he was placed added greatly to the iniquity of his present procedure. Though only one of the members of a large judicatory he was not the less accountable. Thus too, when Jesus said to Paul himself"I send thee" to the Gentiles, " to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God "t-it was certainly not understood that the apostle was to be the only labourer in the wide field of heathendom. The address simply intimated that he was individually commissioned to undertake the service. And though there were other ministers at Ephesus and Crete, Paul reminds Timothy and Titus that he had left them there to perform specific duties, and thus urges upon them the consideration of their personal responsibility. Though surrounded by so many apostles and evangelists, he tells us that there rested on himself daily "the care of all the churches;" for he believed that the whole commonwealth of the saints had a claim on his prayers, his sympathy, and his services; and he desired to cherish in the hearts of his young brethren the same feeling of individual obligation. Hence, in these Pastoral Epistles, he gives his correspondents minute instructions respecting all the departments of the ministerial office, and reminds them how much depends on their personal faithfulness. Hence he here points out to them how they are to deport themselves in public and in private; § ás preachers of the Word, and as members of church judicatories; || towards the rich and the See Prideaux's "Connections," part ii. books 1 and 8. + Acts xxvi. 17, 18. See also, as another illustration, Matt. xvi. 19. + 2 Cor. xi. 28. § 1 Tim. iv. 12, 13; 2 Tim. ii. 22, 23; Titus ii. 7, 8. || 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2, iv. 16, v. 19, 20, 22; 2 Tim. ii. 2, 15, iv. 2, 5; Titus iii, 8, 9, ૨ |