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^ PRINCETON, N. J. ^ 
 
 Presented byT^^yXi . Cj ."^ • &>^^OT\<L^ 
 
 Division 
 
 Section 
 
 
AN ESSAY 
 
 WARRANT, NATURE, AND DUTIES 
 
 OF THE OFFICE OF 
 
 THE RULING ELDER, 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 
 
 BY SAMUEL MILLER, D. D. 
 
 PROFESSOR IN THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AT PRINCETON. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 PRESBYTERL\N BOARD OF PUBLICATION. 
 
Eutereo according to the act of Congress, in the year 1832, by 
 
 SAMUEL MILLER, 
 
 in the Clerk's office of the District of New Jersey. 
 
MINISTERS AND ELDERS 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 ^ ' S^ FES. 
 
 Reverenl* and . pi'^'^r ,0 Bkethrex, 
 
 The substance rf the roUowing ess-ay was ''0- 
 livercd from the pulpit, in the form of a sermon, 
 more than twenty years ago, and subsequently pub- 
 lished. In consequence of repeated solicitation, 
 from some individuals of your number, I have 
 thought proper to alter its form, to enlarge its 
 limits, and to adapt it, according to my best judg- 
 ment, to more general utility. It has long ap- 
 peared to me that a more ample discussion of this 
 subject than I have hitherto seen, is really needed. 
 And if the present volume should be considered as, 
 in any tolerable degree, answering the desired pur- 
 pose, I shall feel myself richly rewarded for the 
 labour which has attended its preparation. 
 
 Such as it is, my venerated friends, I inscribe it, 
 most respectfully, to you. My first prayer in re- 
 gard to it is, that it may be the means of doing 
 some good ; my next, that it may be received by 
 
 3 
 
those whom I have so much reason to respect and 
 love, as a well intended effort to benefit the Church 
 of God. 
 
 I am aware that some of my brethren do not 
 concur with me in maintaining the Divine au- 
 thority of the office of the Ruling Elder ; and, 
 probably, in several other opinions respecting this 
 office advanced in the following pages. In refer- 
 ence to these points, 1 can only say, that, as the 
 original publication, of which this is an enlarge- 
 ment, was made without the remotest thought of 
 controversy, and even without adverting, in my 
 own mind, to the fact, that I differed materially 
 from any of my brethren ; so nothing is more for- 
 eign from my wishes, in the republication, than to 
 assail the opinions or feelings of any brother. I 
 have carefully re-examined the whole subject. 
 And, although, in doing this, I have been led to 
 modify some of my former opinions, in relation to 
 a few minor points ; yet in reference to the Divine 
 warrant and the great importance of the office for 
 which I plead, my convictions have become 
 stronger than ever. The following sheets ex- 
 hibit those views, and that testimony in support 
 of them, which at present, satisfy my own mind, 
 and which I feel confident may be firmly sustain- 
 ed. How far, however, the considerations which 
 have satisfied me, may impress more impartial 
 judges, I cannot venture to foretell. All that 1 
 
dare to ask in their behalf is, that they may be 
 seriously and candidly weighed. 
 
 But there is one point in regard to which I an- 
 ticipate no diversity of opinion. If the statement 
 given in the following essay, concerning the duties 
 incumbent on Ruling Elders, be correct, it is cer- 
 tain that very inadequate views of those duties, 
 have been too often taken, both by those who 
 conferred, and those who sustained the ofhce ; and 
 that there is a manifest and loud call for an attempt 
 to raise the standard of public sentiment in refer- 
 ence to the whole subject. That we make so little 
 of this office, compared with what we might do, and 
 ought to do, does really appear to me one of the 
 deepest deficiencies of our beloved Church. That 
 a reform in this respect is desirable, is to express 
 but half the truth. It is necessary ; it is vital. It 
 has pleased the sovereign Disposer, to cast our lot 
 in a period of mighty plans, and of high moral 
 effort, for the benefit of the world. In the subject 
 of this volume, I am inclined to think, is wrapped 
 up one of those means which are destined, under 
 his blessing, to be richly productive of moral 
 energy in the enterprises of Christian benevolence, 
 which appear to be every day gathering strength. 
 When the rulers of the Church shall, in the gen- 
 uine spirit of the humble, faithful, and laborious 
 Paul, " magnify their oihce ;" when they shall be 
 found cordially and diligently co-operating with 
 1* 
 
6 
 
 those who " labour in the word and doctrine," in 
 inspecting, counselling, and watching over the 
 " flocks" respectively committed to their " over- 
 sight in the Lord ;" and when they shall be suit- 
 ably honoured and employed, in their various ap- 
 propriate functions, both by pastors and people ; 
 this change will, I believe, be, at once, one of the 
 surest precursors, and one of the most efficient 
 means, of the introduction of brighter days in the 
 Church of God. 
 
 So far as we can anticipate events, this impor- 
 tant change must begin with the teachers and 
 rulers of the Church themselves. On every one 
 of you, therefore, if my estimate of the subject be 
 correct, devolves a high and most interesting re- 
 sponsibility. That you may have grace given you 
 to acquit yourselves of this responsibility, in a 
 manner acceptable to our common Master, and 
 conducive to the signal advancement of his king- 
 dom ; and that future generations, both in the 
 Church and out of it, may have reason to " rise up 
 and call you blessed," is the fervent prayer of, 
 
 Reverend and Respected Brethren, 
 
 Your friend and fellow-servant 
 in the house of God, 
 
 SAMUEL i^IILLER. 
 
 Princeton, ? 
 20. IbSl. S 
 
 April 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER r. 
 
 Introductory remarks — Nature of the Church — Visible 
 and Invisible Church — Unity of the Church — A form 
 of government for the Church appointed by Christ 
 — Nature and limits of ecclesiastical power — Sum- 
 mary of the doctrine of Presbyterians on this subject 
 — The proper classes of otficers in a Church com- 
 pletely organized — Positions intended to be esta- 
 blished, as affording a warrant for the office of Ruling 
 Elders.— page 11—29. 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Testimony from the order of the Old Testament Church 
 — Import of the term Elder — Specimen of the repre- 
 sentations given of this class of officers — Elders 
 of the Synagogue — Authorities in reference to the 
 government of the Synagogue — The titles, duties, 
 number, mode of sitting, &c., of the Elders of the 
 Synagogue — Quotations from distinguished writers on 
 this subject — Burnet — Goodwin — Lightfoot — Stilling- 
 fleet — Grotius — Spencer — Clark — Neander. — 
 p. 29—48. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Evidence from the New Testament Scriptures — Model 
 of the Synagogue transferred to the Church — Sped 
 men of the passages which speak of the New Testa- 
 ment Elders — Particular texts which establish the 
 existence of this class of Elders in the primitive 
 Church — Objections to our construction of these pas- 
 sages — Answered. — p. 48 — 73, 
 
 vii 
 
V 
 
 sJ 
 
 V 
 
 Vm CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Testimony of the Christian Fathers — Clemens Reman us 
 — Ignatius — Polycarp — Cyprian — Origen — Gesta 
 Purgationis, &c., Optatus — Ambrose — Augustine^ 
 Apostolical Constitutions — Isidore — Gregory — Facts 
 incidentally stated by the Fathers concerning some 
 of the Elders— Syrian Christians.— p. 72—106. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Testimony of the Witnesses for the Truth in the Dark 
 Ages — Waldenses— Albigenses — Bohemian Churches 
 — Calvin derived this feature in his ecclesiastical sys- 
 tem from the Bohemian Brethren. — p. 107 — 121. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Testimony of the Reformers — Zuingle — Oecolampadius 
 — Bucer — Peter Martyr — John A Lasco — Calvin — 
 Whitgift — Dean No well — Ursinus — Confession of 
 Saxony — Szegeden — Magdeburgh Centuriators — Ju- 
 nius — Zanchius — Parosus — Piscator — Cartwright— 
 Greenham — Estius — Whitaker — Ruling Elders gene- 
 rally established in the Reformed Churches. — 
 p. 121—147. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Testimony of eminent divines since the Reformation — 
 Owen — Baxter — English Puritans — of New England 
 — Good win — Hooker — Cotton — Davenport — Thorn- 
 dike — Cotton Mather — Edwards — Kromayer — Bald- 
 win — Suicer—Whitbv— Watts — Doddridge — Neander 
 —D wight.— p. 147—17.5. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Ruling Elders necessary in the Church — The import- 
 ance of Discipline to the purity of the Church — Dis- 
 cipline cannot be maintained without this class of 
 officers, or persons of equivalent powers — The pastor 
 alone cannot maintain it — The whole body of the 
 Church cannot conduct it in a wise and happy man- 
 ner — Prelatists and Independents both obliged to pro- 
 vide substitutes for them — This provision, however, 
 inadequate. — p. 175 — 196. 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Nature of the Ruling Elder's office — Analogy between 
 their office and that of secular rulers — Their duties as 
 members of the Church Session — Their more private 
 and constant duties as "overseers" of the Church — 
 Their duties as members of higher judicatories — 
 Question discussed whether they ought to be called 
 lay-Elders — Duties of the Church members to their 
 Elders — Elders ought to have a particular seat as- 
 signed them.— p. 196—221. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Distinction between the office of Ruling Elder and Dea- 
 con — The persons whose appointment to take care 
 of the poor is recorded in the sixth Chapter of the 
 Acts of the Apostles, were the first Deacons — The 
 question discussed, whether they were Deacons at all 
 — Whether the first Deacons were preachers and bap- 
 tizersl — Deacons were never ecclesiastical Rulers — 
 The office of Deacon dropped by many Presbyterian 
 Churches — The offices of Ruling Elder and Deacon 
 united in the same men, in Scotland and the United 
 States — This not desirable — Reasons for this opinion. 
 -p. 221—250. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 The qualifications proper for the office of Ruling Elder 
 — It is not necessary that they be aged persons — It is 
 of the utmost importance that they have unfeigned 
 and approved piet}^ — That they possess good sense, 
 and sound judgment — That they be orthodox, and 
 well informed in gospel truth — That they have emi- 
 nent prudence — That they be of good report among 
 them who are without — That they be men of public 
 spirit — That they be men of ardent zeal, and impor- 
 tunate prayer. — p. 250 — 267. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Of the election of Ruling Elders — Who are proper 
 Electors! — Ought they to be elected for life, or only 
 for a limited time ! — Of the number of Elders proper 
 
X . CONTENTS. 
 
 for each Church — Of those who may be considered 
 as eligible to this othce — Whether a man may be a 
 Ruling Elder in more than one Church at the same 
 time.— p. 2G7— 282. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Of the ordination of Ruling Elders — Ordination a neces- 
 sary designation to office — Proofs from Scripture — 
 The laying on of hands — Not ahvays connected with 
 the special gifts of the Spirit — This ceremony ought 
 to be employed in the ordination of Ruling Elders — 
 Probable reason of its falling into disuse — Authorities 
 in favour of its restoration — Who ought to lay on 
 hands in the Ordination of Elders — Advantages of im- 
 posing hands in ordaining this class of officers — 
 Should Elders lay on hands in the Ordination of Min ' 
 isters?— p. 283—309. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 On the resignation of Ruling Elders — Their removal 
 from one Church to another — The method of conduct- 
 ing discipline against them. — p. 310 — 317, 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The advantages of conducting discipline upon the Pres- 
 byterian plan — It is founded on the principle of Re- 
 presentation—It presents one of the best barriers 
 against Clerical ambition and encroachments — Fur- 
 nishes one of the best securities for preserving the 
 rights of the people— Furnishes to Ministers efficient 
 counsel and support— Favourable to despatch and 
 energy — Accomplishes that which cannot be attained 
 in any other way — Favourable to union and co-ope- 
 ration in enterprises of Christian benevolence,— 
 p. 318—339. 
 
AN ESSAY, ETC. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 Our once crucified, but now exalted Redeemer, 
 ^has erected in this world a kingdom whicii is his 
 Church. This Church is either visible or invi- 
 sible. 
 
 By the invisible Church we mean, the whole 
 body of sincere believers, of every age and nation, 
 " that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, 
 under Christ, the glorious Head thereof." Part of 
 these are already made perfect in heaven. An- 
 other portion are at present scattered over the earth 
 in different denominations of professing Christians, 
 though not certainly distinguishable from others by 
 the human eye. And the remainder are in future 
 to be gathered in by the grace of God ; when the 
 whole number of the " redeemed from among 
 men," will be united in one holy assembly, which 
 is the " spouse," the " body of Christ, the fulness 
 of Him that filleth all in all." 
 
 By the visible Church is meant the body of 
 those who profess the true religion, together with 
 their children. It is that body which is called out 
 of the world, and united under the authority of 
 Christ, the head, for the purpose of maintaining 
 gospel truth and order, and promoting the know- 
 ledge, purity, comfort, and edification of all the 
 
 11 
 
12 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 members. When we use the term Church, as ex- 
 pressive of a visible, professing body, we either 
 mean the whole visible Church of God throughout 
 the world, or a particular congregation of profess- 
 ing Christians, who have agreed to unite together 
 for the purpose of mutual instruction, inspection, 
 and edification.* 
 
 The word Church is also employed in Scripture 
 to designate a Church Judicatory ; that is, the 
 Church assembled and acting by her representa- 
 tives, the Elders, chosen to inspect, and bear rule 
 over the whole body. This it is believed, will be 
 evident to those who impartially consult Matthew 
 xviii. 15 — 18; and compare the language of the 
 original here, with that of the original, and the 
 Greek translation of the Seventy, of Deuteronomy 
 xxxi. 28—30. 
 
 The visible Church is a spiritual body. That 
 
 • It has been asserted by some, that the terra Church 
 not only means, strictly, a religious assembly, a body 
 of professing people ; but that it cannot be applied, with 
 propriety, to any thing else ; and that it is altogether 
 improper to apply it, as is often done, to the building 
 in which the assembly is wont to convene for worship. 
 This is, undoubtedly, a groundless scruple. Under the 
 Old Testament economy, it is plain that the word syna- 
 gogue was indiscriminately applied both to the public 
 assembly, and to the edifice in which they worshipped. 
 Besides the w^ord Church is evidently derived from the 
 Greek words, Kvpiov oiko^, "the house of the Lord;" and 
 therefore, may be considered as pointing quite as dis- 
 linctly to the edifice as to the worshippers. Nay it is 
 highly probable that the word in its original use, had a 
 primary reference to the house rather than to the as- 
 sembly. And even if it were not so, still the under- 
 standing and use of the word in this double sense, if 
 once agreed upon, cannot be considered as liable, so 
 far as is perceived, to any particular objection or abuse. 
 
INTRODUCTOKY. 13 
 
 is, it is not secular or worldly, either in its nature 
 or objects. The kingdom of Christ " is not of 
 this world." Its Head, laws, ordinances, disci- 
 pline, penalties, and end, are all spiritual. There 
 can be no departure from this principle ; in other 
 words, there can be no connexion between the 
 Church and the State ; no enforcement of ecclesi- 
 astical laws by the power of the secular arm, or by 
 " carnal weapons," without departing from " the 
 simplicity that is in Christ," and invading both the 
 purity and safety of his sacred body. 
 
 This great visible Church is one, in all ages, and 
 throughout the world. From its first formation in 
 the family of Adam, through all the changes of 
 the Patriarchal, Mosaic, and Christian dispensa- 
 tions, it has been one and the same ; having the 
 same divine Head, the same ground of hope, the 
 same essential characters, and the same great de- 
 sign. Diversity of denomination does not destroy 
 this unity. All who profess the true religion, to- 
 gether with their offspring, however divided by 
 place, by names, or by forms, are to be considered 
 as equally belonging to that great family denomi- 
 nated the Church. The Presbyterian, the Epis- 
 copalian, the Methodist, the Baptist, and the Inde- 
 pendent, who hold the fundamentals of our holy 
 religion, in whatever part of the globe they may 
 reside, are all equally members of the same visible 
 community; and, if they be sincere, will all finally 
 be made partakers of its eternal blessings. They 
 cannot, indeed, all worship together in the same 
 solemn assembly, even if they were disposed to do 
 so ; and the sin and folly of men have separated 
 into different bodies those who ought to " walk 
 together." Still the visible Church is one. All 
 who " hold the Head," of course, belong to the 
 2 
 
14 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 body of Christ. " We, being many," says the 
 inspired Apostle, " are one body in Christ, and 
 every one members one of another." Those who 
 are united by a sound profession to the same al- 
 mighty Head ; who embrace the same " precious 
 faith ;" who are sanctified by the same Spirit ; 
 who eat the same spiritual meat ; who drink the 
 same spiritual drink; who repose and rejoice in the 
 same promises ; and who are travelling to the 
 same eternal rest, are surely one body ; in a 
 sense more richly significant than can be ascribed 
 to millions who sustain a mere nominal unity. 
 
 This unity is very distinctly recognized, and 
 very happily expressed, by Cyprian, a distin- 
 guished Christian Father of the third century. 
 "The Church," says he, "is one, which, by its 
 fruitful increase, is enlarged into a multitude. As 
 the rays of the sun, though many, are yet one 
 luminary; as the branches of a tree, though nume- 
 rous, are all established on one firmly rooted trunk ; 
 and as many streams springing from the same 
 fountain, though apparently dispersed abroad by 
 their overflowing abundance, yet have their unity 
 preserved by one common origin; so the Church, 
 though it extends its rays throughout the world, is 
 one Light. Though every where diffused, its 
 unity is not broken. By the abundance of its in- 
 crease, it extends its branches through the whole 
 earth. It spreads far and wide its flowing streams ; 
 yet it has one Head ; one Fountain ; one Parent ; 
 and is enriched and enlarged by the issues of its 
 own fruitfulness." * 
 
 It is ever also to be borne in mind that the 
 Church is not a mere voluntary association, with 
 
 * De Unitate Ecclesiae. Sect. iv. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 15 
 
 which men are at liberty to connect themselves or 
 not, as they please. For, although the service 
 which God requires of us is throughout a volun- 
 tary one : although no one can properly come into 
 the Church but as a matter of voluntary choice : 
 although the idea of 'either secular or ecclesiastical 
 compulsion is, here, at once unreasonable and con- 
 trary to Scripture : yet as the Church is Christ's 
 institution, and not men's ; and as the same divine 
 authority which requires us to repent of sin, and 
 believe in Christ, also requires us to " confess him 
 before men," and to join ourselves to his profess- 
 ing people ; it is evident that no one is at liberty, 
 in the sight of God, to neglect uniting himself with 
 the Church. Man cannot, and ought not, to com- 
 pel him ; but if he refuse to fulfil this duty, when 
 it is in his power, he rejects the authority of God. 
 He, of course, refuses at his peril. 
 
 Of this body, Christ alone, as before intimated, 
 is the Head. He only has a right to give laws to 
 his Church, or to institute rites and ordinances for 
 her observance. tHis will is the supreme guide 
 of his professing people ; his word their code of 
 laws ; and his glory their ultimate end. The 
 authority of Church officers is not original, but 
 subordinate and delegated : that is, as they are his 
 servants, and act under his commission, and in his 
 name, they have power only to declare what the 
 Scriptures reveal as his will, and to pronounce 
 sentence accordingly. If they attempt tc estab- 
 lish any other terms of communion han those 
 which his word warrants ; or to undertake to ex- 
 ercise authority in a manner which He has not 
 .authorized, they incur guilt, and have no right to 
 exact obedience. 
 
 In this sacred community, government is ab- 
 
16 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 solutely necessary. Even in the perfectly holy 
 and harmonious society of heaven, there is govern- 
 ment ; that is, there is law and authority, under 
 which the whole celestial family is united in per- 
 fect love, and unmingled enjoyment. Much more 
 miportant and indispensable is government among 
 fallen depraved men, among whom " it is impos- 
 sible but that offences will come," and to whom 
 the discipline of Scriptural and pure ecclesiastical 
 rule, is one of the most precious means of grace. 
 To think of maintaining any society, ecclesiastical 
 or civil, without government, in this depraved 
 world, would be to contradict every principle of 
 reason and experience, as well as of Scripture : 
 and to think of supporting government, without 
 officers, to whom its functions may be intrusted, 
 would be to embrace the absurd hope of obtaining 
 an end without the requisite means. 
 
 The question, Whether any particular form 
 of Church government is so laid down in Scrip- 
 ture, as that the claim of divine right may be ad- 
 vanced on its behalf, and that, of consequence, the 
 Church is bound in all ages, to adopt and act upon 
 it ; — will not now be formally discussed. It has 
 been made the subject of too much extended and 
 ardent controversy, to be brought within the com- 
 pass of a few sentences, or even a few pages. It 
 may not be improper, however, briefly to say, that 
 it would, indeed, have been singular, if a com- 
 munity, called out of the world, and organized 
 under the peculiar authority of the all-wise Re- 
 deemer, had been left entirely without any direc- 
 tion as to its government: — That the Scriptures, 
 undoubtedly, exhibit to us a form of ecclesiastical 
 organization and rule, which was, in fact, insti 
 wUted by the Apostles, under the direction of in- 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 17 
 
 finite Wisdom : — that this form was evidently 
 taken, with very little alteration, from the pre- 
 ceding economy, thus giving additional presump- 
 tion in its favour : — that we find the same plan 
 closely copied by the churches for a considerable 
 time afi;er the apostolic age : — that it continued 
 to be in substance the chosen and universal form 
 of government in the Church, until corruption, 
 both in doctrine and practice, had, through the 
 ambition and degeneracy of ecclesiastics, gained a 
 melancholy prevalence : — and, that the same form 
 was also substantially maintained by the most 
 faithful witnesses for the truth, during the dark 
 ages — until the great body of the Reformers took 
 it from their hands, and established it in their 
 respective ecclesiastical connexions. 
 
 These premises would appear abundantly to 
 warrant the conclusion, that the form of govern- 
 ment which answers this description, is the wisest 
 and best ; that it is adapted to all ages and states 
 of society ; and that it is agreeable to the will of 
 Christ that it be universally received in his Church, 
 All this the writer of the following Essay fully 
 believes may be established in favour of Presby- 
 terianism. There seems no reason, however, to 
 believe, with some zealous votaries of the hier- 
 archy, that any particular form of government is 
 in so rigorous a sense of divine right, as to be 
 essential to the existence of the Church ; so that 
 where this form is wanting, there can be no 
 Church. To adopt this opinion, is to take a very 
 narrow and unscriptural view of the covenant of 
 grace. After yielding to the visible Church and 
 its ordinances, all the importance which the word 
 of God warrants, still it cannot be doubted, that 
 on the one hand, men in regular external mem- 
 2* 
 
19 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 bership with the purest Church on earth, may be 
 hypocrites, and perish ; and on the other, that all 
 who cordially repent of sin, and receive tni Sa- 
 viour in spirit and in truth, will assuredly obtain 
 eternal life, although they never enjoyed the pri- 
 vilege of a connexion with any portion of the vis- 
 ible Church on earth. The tenor of the Gospel 
 covenant is — " He thatbelieveth on the Son of God 
 hath eternal life, and shall not come into condem- 
 nation, but is passed from death unto life ; but he 
 that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but 
 the wrath of God abideth on him." 
 
 Still it is plain, from the word of God, as well as 
 from uniform experience, that the government of 
 the Church is a matter of great importance ; that 
 the form as well as the administration of that 
 government is more vitally connected with the 
 peace, purity, and edification of the Church, than 
 many Christians appear to believe ; and, of con- 
 sequence, that it is no small part of fidelity to our 
 Master in heaven, to " hold fast" the form of eccle- 
 siastical order, as well as the " form of ^ound 
 words" which He has delivered to the saints. 
 
 The existence of ecclesiastical rulers, presup- 
 poses the existence and exercise of ecclesiastical 
 power. A few remarks on the nature, source, and 
 limits of this power, may not be irrelevant as a 
 part of this preliminary discussion. 
 
 When we speak of ecclesiastical power, then, we 
 speak of that which, much as it is misunderstood, 
 and deplorably as it has been perverted and abused, 
 is plainly warranted, both by reason and Scripture. 
 In fact, it is a prerogative which common sense 
 assigns and secures to all organized society, from 
 a family to a nation. The doctrine attempted to 
 
INTUODUCTORY. 19 
 
 be maintained by the celebrated Erastus, in his 
 work, De Exconmvmiicatione, viz : that the exer- 
 cise of all Church power, however modified, is t(j 
 be rejected, as forming an WLperiitm in impcrio, 
 is one of the most weak and untenable of all posi- 
 tions. The same argument would preclude all 
 authority or government subordinate to that of the 
 State, whether domestic, academical, or financial. 
 The truth is, there not only may be, but there 
 actually are thousands ofimpe/'ia in imjjenis, in 
 every civil community in the world ; and all this 
 without the least danger or inconvenience, as long 
 as the smaller or subordinate governments main- 
 tain their proper place, and do not claim, or at- 
 tempt to exercise, powers, which come in collision 
 with those of the State. 
 
 Now the power exercised by the Church is of 
 this character. Christ is the Sovereign. His king- 
 dom is spiritual. It interferes not with civil go- 
 vernment. It may exist and flourish under any 
 form of political administration ; and always fares 
 best when entirely left to itself, without the inter- 
 ference of the civil magistrate. Accordingly, it 
 is notorious, that the power of which we speak, 
 was exercised by the Church, in the days of the 
 Apostles, and during the first three centuries of 
 the Christian era, not only without any aid from 
 the secular arm, but while all the civil govern- 
 ments of the world were firmly leagued against 
 her, and following her with the bitterest persecu- 
 tion. But the moment the Church became allied 
 with the State, that moment the influence of each 
 on the other became manifestly mischievous. The 
 State enriched, pampered and corrupted the Church; 
 and the Church, in her turn, gradually extended 
 her power over the State, until she claimed, and 
 
20 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 in some instances gained, a haughty supremacy 
 over all rulers and governments. This is an ec- 
 clesiastical power which the Bible no where re- 
 cognizes or allows. It is the essence of spiritual 
 usurpation ; and can never have a place but where 
 the essential character of the religion of Jesus 
 Christ is misapprehended or forgotten. This 
 abominable tyranny, so long and so wickedly 
 maintained in the name of the meek and lowly 
 Saviour, who, instead of countenancing, always 
 condemned it ; — has prejudiced the minds of many 
 against ecclesiastical power in any form. On 
 account of this prejudice it is judged proper to 
 state, with some degree of distinctness, what we 
 mean when we speak of the Church of Christ as 
 being invested with power for the benefit of her 
 members, and for the glory of her almightv 
 Head. 
 
 It is evident that even if the Church w^ere a mere 
 voluntary association, which neither possessed nor 
 claimed any divine warrant, it would have the same 
 powers which are universally conceded to all other 
 voluntary associations ; that is, the power of form- 
 ing its own rules, of judging of the qualifications 
 of its own members, and of admitting or exclud- 
 ing, as the essential principles and interests of the 
 body might require ; and all this as long as nei- 
 ther the rules themselves, nor the execution of 
 them, infringed the laws of the State, or violated 
 any public or private rights. When a literary, 
 philosophical, or agricultural society claims and 
 exercises powers of this kind, all reflecting people 
 consider it as both reasonable and safe ; and would 
 no more think of denying the right to do so, than 
 they would think of denying that the father of a 
 family had a right to govern his own household. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 21 
 
 as long as he neither transgressed any law of the 
 State, nor invaded tiie peace of his neighbours. 
 
 But the Christian Church is by no means to be 
 considered as a mere voluntary association. It is 
 a body called out of the world, created by divine 
 institution, and created, as its members beheve, for 
 the express purpose of bearing testimony for Christ, 
 in the midst of a revolted and rebellious world, 
 and maintaining in their purity the truth and ordi- 
 nances which He has appointed. The members 
 of this body, therefore, by the act of uniting them- 
 selves with it, profess to believe certain doctrines, 
 to be under obligation to perform certain duties, 
 and to be bound to possess a certain character. Of 
 course, the very purpose for which, and the very 
 terms on which the Master has formed this body, 
 and bound its members together, necessarily imply, 
 not only the right, but the duty, of refusing to ad- 
 mit those who are manifestly hostile to the essen- 
 tial principles of its institution, and of casting out 
 those who, after their admission, as manifestly de- 
 part from those principles. To suppose less than 
 this, would be to suppose that a God of infinite 
 wisdom has withheld from a body, formed for a 
 certain purpose, that which is absolutely neces- 
 sary for its defence against intrusion, insult, and 
 perversion ; in other words, for its own preserva- 
 tion. 
 
 Hence the Apostle Paul, after the New Testa- 
 ment Church was erected, speaks (1 Cor. xii. 28.) 
 of " governments," as well as " teachers" being 
 set in it by the authority of God. He expressly 
 claims, (2 Cor. x. 8.) an '< authority" which God 
 had given to his servants as rulers in the Church, 
 ** for edification, and not for destruction." And 
 he ^exemplifies this authority by representing it as 
 
22 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 properly exercised in casting out of the Church, 
 any one who was immoral or profane : (1 Cor. v.) 
 Hence the officers of the Church are spoken of as 
 *' guides," (jiyovuzvoi) " overseers," or " bishops" 
 fsmcKOTToi') and " rulers," (npoearoiTEs^ — and it is de- 
 clared to be their duty, not only to instruct, warn, 
 and entreat ; but also to " rebuke," or authorita- 
 tively to admonish and censure. They were com- 
 manded by the authority of the Head of the Church 
 (1 Cor. v.; Tit. iii. 10,) to "reject," to "put 
 away from them,", after using proper admonition, 
 those who were grossly heretical or immoral. 
 In short, in that period of gospel simplicity, and 
 purity, the Church claimed no authority over any 
 but her own members ; and even over them, no 
 other authority than that which related to their 
 character, duties, and interests as members, and 
 was deemed essential to her own well-being. 
 
 And as this power of the Church is not self- 
 created or self-assumed, but derived from her gra- 
 cious and almighty Head ; and as it is, and can, 
 of right, only be, exercised over her own mem- 
 bers ; so it is merely spiritual in its nature ; in 
 other words, it claims no right whatever to inflict 
 temporal pains or penalties. It cannot touch the 
 persons or property of those to whom it is directed. 
 It addresses itself only to their judgments and con- 
 sciences. It includes only a right to instruct, 
 warn, rebuke, censure, andcast out, that is, to ex- 
 clude from the privileges of the body. This last 
 step, is the utmost length to which it can go. 
 When the Church has excluded from her pale 
 those toward w^hom this power is directed ; in 
 other words, when she hns declared them out of 
 her communion or fellowship, she has done every 
 thing to which her power extends. All beyond 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 23 
 
 Lhis is usiirpntion and oppression. The great end 
 of Church Government, is not to employ physical 
 force; but moral weapons only. It can never 
 invade the right of private judgment. It can 
 never exert its power over any but those who 
 voluntarily submit to it. And it prescribes no 
 sanctions but those which have for their object the 
 moral benefit of the body itself, and also of the 
 individuals to whom they are awarded. The 
 gospel knows nothing of delivering men over to 
 the secular arm, to be punished for offences against 
 the Church. The Church might, therefore, exert 
 her whole power, in its plenary extent, though all 
 the governments of the world were arrayed against 
 her in the bitterest hostility, as they have once 
 been and as they may again be found. 
 
 And, as all the power of the Church is derived, 
 not from the civil government, but from Christ, 
 the almighty King of Zion ; and as it is purely 
 spiritual in its nature and sanctions ; so the power 
 of Church officers is merely ministerial. They 
 are, strictly, servants, who are to be governed, in 
 all things, by the pleasure of their employer. 
 They have only authority to announce what the 
 Master has said, and to decide agreeably to that 
 will which he has made known in his word. 
 Like ambassadors at a foreign court, they cannot 
 go one jot or tittle beyond their instructions. Of 
 course, they have no right to set up a law of their 
 own. The Bible is the great statute-book of the 
 body of which we speak; the only infallible rule 
 of faith and practice. And nothing cnn be right- 
 fully inculcated on the members of the Church, 
 as truth, or demanded of them, as duty, but that 
 which is found in that great charter of the privi- 
 leges as well as the obligations of Christians. 
 
24 irsTRODUCTORY. 
 
 To complete the view of that ecclesiastical power 
 which we consider as implied in Church govern- 
 ment, it is only necessary to add, that it is given 
 solely for the benefit of the Church, and not for 
 the aggrandizement of Church officers. Tyrants 
 in civil government have taught, and acted upon 
 the principle, that the great end of all political 
 establishments, is the exaltation of a few at the 
 expense of the many. And it is deeply to be 
 deplored that the same principle has been too often 
 apparently adopted by bodies calling themselves 
 Churches of Christ. Nothing can be more oppo- 
 site than this, to the spirit and law of the Re- 
 deemer. The " authority" which the Apostle 
 claims as existing, and to be exercised in the 
 Church, he represents (2 Cor. x. 8,) as given "for 
 edification, and not for destruction :" — not for the 
 purpose of creating and pampering classes of 
 " privileged orders," to " lord it over God's heri- 
 tage ;" not to build up a system of polity, which 
 may minister to the pride or the cupidity of an 
 ambitious priesthood ; not to form a body, under 
 the title of clergy, with separate interests from the 
 laity of the Church. All this is as wicked as it 
 is unreasonable. No office, no power is appointed 
 by Jesus Christ in his Church, but that which is 
 necessary to the instruction, the purity, and the 
 happiness of the whole body. All legitimate 
 government here, as well as elsewhere, is to be 
 considered as a means, not an end ; and as no 
 further resting on divine authority, than we can 
 say in support of all its claims and acts, " thus 
 saith the Lord ;" than it is adapted to build up 
 the great family of those who profess the true 
 religion, in knowledge,^ peace, and holiness unto 
 salvation. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 25 
 
 The summary of the doctrine of Presbyterians, 
 then, concerning ecclesiastical power, may be 
 considered as comprehended in the following pro- 
 positions : 
 
 1. That the Lord Jesus Christ is the only King 
 and Head of the Church, the Fountain of all 
 power ; and that no man or set of men, have any 
 right to consider themselves as holding the place 
 of his vicar, or representative. 
 
 2. That the Bible contains the code of laws 
 which Christ has enacted, and given for the go- 
 vernment of his Church; and that it is the only 
 infallible rule of faith and practice. 
 
 3. That his kingdom is not of this world ; and 
 of course, that the Church can take no cognizance 
 of any other concerns than those which relate to 
 the spiritual interests of men. 
 
 4. That the power of Church officers is not 
 original, or inherent, but altogether derived and 
 ministerial. They have no other authority than, 
 as his servants, and in his name, to proclaim the 
 truth which he has declared, and to urge to the 
 performance of those duties which he has com- 
 manded. 
 
 5. That nothing can be lawfully required of any 
 one as a member of the Church, excepting what 
 is expressly taught in Scripture ; or, by good and 
 necessary consequence to be inferred from what 
 is expressly taught there. 
 
 6. That the Church being instituted by Christ 
 for the chief purpose of maintaining in their purity 
 the doctrines and ordinances of Christ, is author- 
 ized and bound by Him to refuse to admit to her 
 fellowship those who are known to be hostile to 
 this purpose, and to exclude such as are found to 
 oflend against this purpose after admission. 
 
 3 
 
20 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 7. That the discipline and penalties of the 
 Church are wholly of a moral kind, consisting of 
 admonition, entreaty, warning, suspension, and 
 excommunication ; and that exclusion from the 
 fellowship of the body, is the highest penalty that 
 can be inflicted on any delinquent. 
 
 8. That the apostolic Church, though under 
 the bitterest persecution, was instructed by the 
 inspired Apostles, to exercise the power mentioned, 
 and did actually exercise the same ; and is to be 
 considered as therein exemplifying and teaching 
 the principles which ought to regulate the Church 
 in all ages. 
 
 9. That the Church can exercise no authority 
 over any others than her own members. - 
 
 10. That none can be compelled to be members, 
 or to submit to her authority any longer than they 
 choose to do so. 
 
 11. That the authority of the Church cannot 
 be lawfully exercised for any other purpose than 
 to promote the purity, order, and edification of the 
 whole body ; and that of course, any exercise of 
 Church power which has for its object the aggran- 
 dizement of ecclesiastics, at the expense of the 
 body of the Church, is an unscriptural abuse. 
 And, 
 
 12. Finally; that all civil establishments of 
 religion, in any form, or under any denomination, 
 are wrong ; contrary to the spirit of Christianity ; 
 injurious to the best interests of the Church ; and 
 really more to be deprecated by the enlightened 
 friends of piety, than the most sanguinary perse- 
 cution that can be inflicted by the arm of power. 
 
 In every Church completely organized, that is, 
 furnished with all the ofiicers which Christ has 
 
INTRODDCTORY. 27 
 
 instituted, and which are necessary for carrying 
 into full etfect the laws of his kingdom, there 
 ought to be three classes of officers, viz : at leasL 
 one Teaching Elder, Bishop, or Pastor ; a bench 
 of Ruling Elders, and Deacons. The first to 
 " minister in the word and doctrine," and to dis- 
 pense the sacraments ; the second to assist in the 
 inspection and government of the Church ; and 
 the third to " serve tables ;" that is, to take care 
 of the Church's funds destined for the support of 
 the poor, and sometimes to manage whatever 
 relates to the temporal support of the gospel and 
 its ministers. 
 
 The following essay will be devoted to the con- 
 sideration of the second class of these officers, 
 namely, Ruling Elders ; and the points which it is 
 proposed more particularly to discuss, are the fol. 
 lowing : the Church's warrant for this class of 
 ofBcers ; the nature, design, and duties of the of- 
 fice itself; the qualifications proper for those who 
 bear it ; the distinction between this office, and 
 that of deacons ; by whom Ruling Elders ought 
 to be elected ; in what manner they should be 
 ordained ; the principles which ought to regulate 
 their withdrawing or being deposed from office, 
 removing from one Church to another, &c. ; and, 
 finally, the advantages attending this form of 
 government in the Church. 
 
 The question, whether the Church has <^ny 
 warrant for this class of officers, will have differ- 
 ent degrees of importance attached to it by dilier- 
 ent persons. Those who believe that no form of 
 Church government whatever can justly claim to 
 be, in any sense, of divine right, will, of course, 
 consider this inquiry as of small moment. H 
 
28 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 the Church be at perfect liberty, at all times, 
 to adopt what form of government she pleases, 
 and to modify, or entirely to change the same at 
 pleasure ; then no other warrant than her own 
 convenience or will, ought to be required. But 
 if the writer of the following pages be correct in 
 believing, that there is a form of government for 
 the family of God laid down in Scripture, to 
 which it is the duty of the Church, in all ages, to 
 conform ; then the inquiry which it is the purpose 
 of several of the succeeding chapters to pursue, 
 is plainly important, and demands our serious 
 attention. 
 
 It is believed, then, that the following positions, 
 in reference to the office now under consideration, 
 may be firmly maintained, viz ; that under the 
 Old Testament economy in general, and especially 
 in the Synagogue service. Elders were invariably 
 appointed to exercise authority and bear rule in 
 ecclesiastical society ; — That similar Elders, after 
 the model of the Synagogue, were appointed in 
 the primitive Church, under the direction of in- 
 spired Apostles ; — That we find in the writings 
 of some of the early Fathers, evident traces of the 
 same office as existing in their times ; — That the 
 Waldenses, and other pious witnesses for the 
 truth, during the dark ages, retained this class of 
 officers in the Church, as a divine institution ; — 
 That the Reformers, with very few exceptions, 
 when they separated from the corruptions of 
 Popery, restored this office to the Church ; — That 
 a number of distinguished divines and Churches, 
 not otherwise Presbyterian, who have flourished 
 since the Reformation, have remarkably con- 
 curred in declaring for the same office ; — and, 
 
TESTIMONY FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT CHURCH. 29 
 
 finally, that Ruling Elders, or officers of a simi- 
 lar kind, are indispensably necessary in every 
 well ordered congregation. Each of these 
 topics of argument is entitled to separate consid- 
 eration. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 TESTIMONY FROM THE ORDER OF THE OLD TESTA- 
 MENT CHURCH. 
 
 It is impossible fully to understand either the 
 spirit, the facts, or the nomenclature of the New 
 Testament, without going back to the Old. The 
 Christian religion is founded upon that of the 
 Jews ; or rather is the completion of it. The 
 latter was the infancy and adolescence of that 
 body of which the former is the manhood. And 
 it is remarkable, that no class of theologians more 
 strenuously contend for the connexion between 
 the Jewish and Christian economies, and the im- 
 practicability of taking intelligent views of the 
 one, without some previous knowledge of the 
 other, than most of those who deny the apostolic 
 origin of the class of officers now under consid- 
 eration. With all such persons, then, we join 
 issue. And, as a very large part of the titles 
 and functions of ecclesiastical oflicers were, evi- 
 dently, transmitted from the ceremonial to the 
 spiritual economy, it is indispensably necessary, 
 in order fully to understand their character, to go 
 back to their source. 
 
 3* 
 
30 TESTI^rONY FR03I THE 
 
 The term Elder, corresponding with jpr. in He- 
 brew, and npsafivTF.poi^ in Greek, literally signiHes 
 an aged person. Among the Jews, and the east- 
 ern nations generally, persons advanced in life 
 were commonly selected to fill stations of dignity 
 and authority, because they were supposed to pos- 
 sess most wisdom, gravity, prudence, and experi- 
 ence. From this circumstance, the term Elder, 
 became, in process of time, and by a natural as- 
 sociation of ideas, an established title of office.* 
 Accordingly, the Jews gave this title to most of 
 their officers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, long 
 before Synagogues were established. From the 
 time of Moses, they had elders over the nation, as 
 well as over every city, and smaller community. 
 These are repeatedly represented as inspectors, 
 and rulers of the people ; as " officers set over 
 them ;" and, indeed, throughout their history, 
 there is every reason to believe that the body of 
 the people never, themselves, exercised gover- 
 mental acts ; but chose their Elders, to whom all 
 the details of judicial and executive authority, un- 
 
 * It has been often remarked, that the ancient official 
 use of this word, as implying wisdom and experience, 
 is still preserved in many modern languages, in which 
 Seigneur, Signor, Senator, and other similar words, are 
 ■used to express both dignity and authority. It is evi- 
 dent that all these words, and some others which might 
 be mentioned, are derivatives from the Latin word 
 Se7iior. It is no less plain, that the title of the magis- 
 trates of cities and boroughs, who are called Aldermen 
 or Elderme?!, is from the same origin with our modern 
 term Elder. Many of the titles of respect, both in the 
 Eastern and Western world, were it proper to take time 
 for the purpose, might be traced beyond all doubt to a 
 similar source. 
 
OLD TESTAMENT CHURCH. 31 
 
 der their divine Legislator and Sovereign, were 
 constantly committed. 
 
 The following specimen of the representation 
 given on this subject, in various parts of the Old 
 Testament, will suffice, at once, to illustrate and 
 establish what is here advanced. Even while the 
 children of Israel were in Egypt, they seem to 
 have had Elders, in the official sense of the word ; 
 for Jehovah, in sending Moses to deliver them, 
 said. Go, and gather the Elders of Israel together, 
 and say unto them, the Lord hath visited you, 
 and hath seen what is done to you in Egypt ; Ex- 
 odus iii. 16. In the wilderness, the Elders of 
 Israel are spoken of as called together by Moses, 
 appealed to by Moses, and officially acting under 
 that divinely commissioned leader, on occasions 
 almost innumerable. These elders appear to have 
 been of different grades, and endowed, of course, 
 with different powers ; Exod. xvii. 5 ; xviii. 12 ; 
 xxiv. 1. 9; Numbers xi. 16; Deut. xxv. 7 — 9; 
 xxix. 10; xxxi. 9. 28. From these and other 
 passages, it would seem, they had seventy Elders 
 over the nation ; and besides these. Elders over 
 thousands, over hundreds, over fifties, and over 
 tens, who were all charged with inspection and 
 rule in their respective spheres. Again, we find 
 inspectors and rulers of the people, under the 
 name of Elders, existing, and on all public occa- 
 sions, acting in their official character, in the time 
 of Joshua ; during the period of the Judges ; under 
 the kings, especially during the most favoured 
 and happy season of their kingly dominion ; prob- 
 ably during the captivity in Babylon; and, be- 
 yond all doubt, as soon as they returned from 
 captivity, and became settled in their own land ; 
 until the Synagogue system was regularly estab- 
 
32 TESTIMONY FROM THE 
 
 lished as the stated means of popular instruction 
 and worship. 
 
 When the Synagogue service was instituted, is 
 a question which has been so much controverted, 
 and is of so much real uncertainty that the dis- 
 cussion of it will not be attempted in this place, 
 especially as it is a question of no sort of impor- 
 tance in the inquiry now before us. All that it is 
 necessary for us to assume, is that it existed, at 
 the time of our Lord's advent, and for a consider- 
 able time before ; and that the Jews had been long 
 accustomed to its order and worship ; which no 
 one, it is presumed, will think of questioning. 
 Now, whatever might have been its origin, no- 
 thing can be more certain, than that, from the 
 earliest notices we have of the institution, and 
 through its whole history, its leading officers con- 
 sisted of a bench of Elders, who were appointed 
 to bear rule in the congregation ; who formed a 
 kind of Consistory, or ecclesiastical judicatory, — 
 to receive applicants for admission into the Church ; 
 to watch over the people, as well in reference to 
 their morals, as their obedience to ceremonial and 
 ecclesiastical order ; to administer discipline when 
 necessary ; and, in short, as the representatives 
 of the Church or congregation, to act in their 
 name and behalf; to " bind" and " loose ;" and 
 to see that every thing was " done decently and 
 in order." 
 
 It is not forgotten that a few eminent writers, 
 following the celebrated German errorist, Erastus, 
 have contended that there was no ecclesiastical 
 government among the Jews distinct from the 
 civil; and that, of course, there were no rulers of 
 the Synagogue, separate from the civil judges. 
 Those who wish to see this error satisfactorily 
 
OLD TESTAMENT CHURCH. 33 
 
 refuted, and the existence of a distinct ecclesiasti- 
 cal government among that people clearly estab- 
 lished, may consult what has been written on the 
 subject, by the learned Gillespie,* by professor 
 Rutherford, t by Bishop Stillingfleet,{ and others ; 
 from whose writings they will be convinced, be- 
 yond all reasonable doubt, that the civil and ec- 
 clesiastical judicatories were really distinct ; that 
 the persons composing each, as well as their re- 
 spective spheres of judgment were peculiar ; and 
 that the latter existed long after the civil sove- 
 reignty of the Jewish people was taken away. 
 
 There has been, indeed, much diversity of opi- 
 nion among learned men, concerning a variety of 
 questions which arise in reference to these El- 
 ders of the Synagogue ; as, for example, whether 
 there was a difference of rank among them ; 
 whether some were teachers as well as rulers, 
 and others rulers only ; whether there was any 
 diversity in their ordination, &c., &c. But 
 while eminent writers on Jewish antiquities have 
 differed, and continue to differ, in relation to these 
 points, they are all perfectly agreed in one point, 
 namely, that in every Synagogue there was a 
 bench of Elders, consisting of at least three per- 
 sons, who were charged with the whole inspec- 
 tion, government, and discipline of the Syna- 
 gogue ; who, as a court or bench of rulers, re-* 
 ceived, judged, censured, excluded, and, in a word, 
 performed every judicial act, necessary to the 
 regularity and welfare of the congregation. In 
 
 * Aaron's Rod, &c. Lond. 4to. 1646. 
 •f Divine Right of Church Government, &c. Lend. 
 4to. 1646. 
 
 t Irenicum. Paru 2. Chapter 6. 
 
34 TESTIMONY FROM THE 
 
 this general fact, Vitringa, Selden, Voefius, Marck, 
 Grotius, Lightfoot, Blondel, Salmasiiis, and, in- 
 deed, so far as I can now recollect, all the writers 
 on this subject, M'ho deserve to be represented as 
 high authorities, substantially agree. And in 
 support of this fact, they quote Philo, Josephus, 
 Maimonides, Benjamin of Tudela, and the great 
 mass of other Jewish witnesses, who are consid- 
 ered as holding the first rank among Rabbinical 
 authorities. Indeed, they speak of the fact as too 
 unquestionable to demand any formal array of 
 testimony for its confirmation.* 
 
 Accordingly, we find various passages in the 
 New Testament history, which refer to these 
 Ruling Elders, as belonging to the old economy, 
 then drawing to a close, and which admit, it would 
 appear, of no other interpretation than that which 
 supposes their existence. The following specimen 
 will suffice ; Mark v. 22. " And, behold, there 
 Cometh one of the rulers of the Synagogue, Jairus 
 by name ; and when he saw him he fell at his 
 feet;" Acts xiii. 15. "And after the reading of 
 the law and the prophets, the rulers of the Syna- 
 gogue sent unto them, saying. Ye men and breth- 
 ren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the 
 people, say on." On this latter passage. Dr. Gill, 
 an eminent master of oriental, and especially of 
 rabbinical learning, in his Commentary, writes 
 thus : — " The rulers of the Synagogue sent unto 
 
 * When the unanimous agreement of these learned 
 writers is asserted, it is not meant to be alleged that 
 they all entertain the same views of the Elders of the 
 Synagogue, as to all particulars; but simply that they 
 ail unite in maintaining that there was, in every Syna- 
 gogue, such a bench of Elders, who conducted its dis- 
 ciplme, and managed its aifairs. 
 
OLD TESTAMENT C^iURCH. 35 
 
 them : that is, those who were the principal men 
 in the Synagogue ; the Ruler of it, together 
 with the Elders ; for there was but one Ruler in 
 a Synagogue, though there were more Elders ; 
 and so the Syriac version here renders it, the 
 Elders of the Synagogue." By this language, as 
 I understand the Doctor, he does not mean to in- 
 timate that the other Elders of whom he here 
 speaks, did not bear rule in the Synagogue ; but 
 that there was only one, who, by way of emi- 
 nence, was called, " the Ruler of the Synagogue;" 
 that is, who presided at their meetings for official 
 business. It is plain, however, that, even in this 
 assertion, he is in ^ome degree in error ; for more 
 than once we find a plurality of persons in single 
 Synagogues spoken of as " Rulers." 
 
 The learned Vitringa, who, undoubtedly, is en- 
 titled to a very high place in the list of authori- 
 ties on this subject, is of the opinion, that all who 
 occupied a place with the bench of Elders in the 
 Synagogue, were of one and the same rank or or- 
 der ; that they all received one and the same or- 
 dination ; and were, of course, equally authorized 
 to preach, when duty or inclination called them to 
 this part of the public service, as well as to rule. 
 And in this opinion he is joined by some others, 
 whose judgment is worthy of the highest respect. 
 But, at the same time, this eminent man freely 
 grants, that a majority of the Elders of the Syna- 
 gogue were not, in fact, ordinarily employed in 
 teaching or preaching ; that this part of the public 
 service was principally under the direction of the 
 chief ruler, or head of each Synagogue, who at- 
 tended to it himself, or called on one of the other 
 Elders, or even any other learned Doctor who 
 might be present, and who was deemed capable 
 
36 TESTI3I0NY FROM THE 
 
 of addressing the people in an instructive and 
 acceptable manner : and that the chief business 
 of the mass of the Elders was to rule* The 
 correctness of this opinion has been questioned. 
 A number of other writers, quite his equals, both 
 in talents and learning, and especially quite as 
 conversant with Jewish authorities, have main- 
 tained, that a majority of the Elders in the Syna- 
 gogue, were neither chosen nor set apart to the 
 function of teaching, but to that of ruling only. 
 But, in the want of absolute certainty which ex- 
 ists on this subject, and for the sake of argument, 
 I am willing to acquiesce in Vitringa's opinion. 
 Suppose it to have been as he alleges : — this is 
 quite sufficient for our purpose. If it be conceded, 
 that there was, in every Synagogue, a bench of 
 Elders, who, as a judicial body, were entrusted 
 with the whole government and discipline of the 
 congregation : — that a majority of these Elders 
 Beldom or never preached, but were, in fact (what- 
 ever right they might have had) chiefly occupied 
 as ecclesiastical rulers ; and that all ecclesiastical 
 matters, instead of being discussed and decided 
 by the congregation at large, were constantly 
 committed to the judicial deliberation and decision 
 of this Eldership ; if these things be granted — and 
 they are granted, in substance, by every writer 
 with whom I am acquainted, entitled to be referred 
 to as an authority; — it is all that can be con- 
 sidered as material to the purpose of our argu- 
 ment. This will appear more fully in the sequel. 
 These officers of the Synagogue were called 
 by different names, as we learn from the New 
 Testament, and from the most respectable Jewish 
 authorities. The most common and familiar 
 * De Synagoga Vetere. Lib. iii. Par. i. Cap. 7. 
 
OLD TESTAMENT CHURCH. 37 
 
 name, perhaps, was that of Elders, as before 
 stated at large. They were also called rulers of 
 the Synagogue ; a title of frequent occurrence in 
 the New Testament, as applied to the whole bench 
 of the Elders in question; but which would seem, 
 from some passages, to have been, at least, some- 
 times applied, by way of eminence, to the princi- 
 pal ruler in each Synagogue, which principal 
 ruler appears, however, to have been of the same 
 general rank, or order, with the rest, and to have 
 had no other precedence than that which con- 
 sisted in presiding and taking the lead in the public 
 service. These officers were further called Heads 
 of the Synagogue, Overseers, or Bishops, Presi- 
 dents, Orderers, or Regulators of the affairs of the 
 Synagogue, Guides, &c. &c. These titles are 
 given at length by Vitringa,* Selden,+ and others, 
 with the original vouchers and exemplifications 
 of each ; showing that they all imply bearing rule, 
 as well as the enjoyment of pre-eminence and 
 dignity. 
 
 And as these Elders were distinguished from 
 the common members of the Synagogue by appro- 
 priate titles, indicating official honour and power ; 
 so they had also distinct and honourable scats as- 
 signed them, when the congregation over which 
 they ruled was convened. The place of sitting 
 usually appropriated to them, was a semi-circuJar 
 bench, in the middle of which the chief ruler was 
 placed, and his colleagues on each side of him, 
 with their faces toward the assembly, and in a 
 certain position with respect to the Ark, the prin- 
 cipal door, and the cardinal points of the com- 
 
 * De Synagoga Vetere, Lib. iii. Par. i. Cap. 1, 2, 3. 
 •|- De Svnedriis — passim. 
 4 
 
38 TESTi>roNr from the 
 
 pass. This statement is confirmed by the learned 
 Thorndike, a distinguished Episcopal divine, of 
 the 17th century. In speaking of the Consistory, 
 or bench of Eiders, in the Synagogue, and de- 
 scribing their manner of sitting in public worship, 
 he makes the following statement, in the form of 
 a quotation from Maimonides, and confirms it 
 abundantly from other sources. " How sit the 
 people in the Synagogue? The Elders sit with 
 their faces towards the people, and their backs to- 
 wards the Recall (the place where they lay the 
 copy of the law ;) and all the people sit rank be- 
 fore rank, the face of every rank towards the 
 back of the rank before it ; so the faces of all the 
 people are towards the Sanctuary, and towards 
 the Elders, and towards the Ark ; and when the 
 Minister of the Synagogue standeth up to prayer, 
 he standeth on the ground before the Ark, with 
 his face toward the sanctuary, as the rest of the 
 people." * 
 
 The number of the Elders in each Synagogue 
 was not governed by any absolute rule. In large 
 cities according to certain Jewish authorities quot- 
 ed by Vitringa the number was frequently very 
 large. But even in the smallest Synagogues, we 
 are assured, as mentioned in a former page, that 
 there were never less than three, that the judica- 
 tory might never be equally divided. 
 
 Such were the arrangements for maintaining 
 purity and order in the Synagogues, or parish 
 churches of the old economy, anterior to the ad- 
 vent of the Messiah. It would seem to be impos- 
 sible for any one to contemplate this statement, so 
 
 * Discourse of the Service of God in Religious As- 
 semblies. Chap. 3. p. 56. 
 
OLD TESTAMENT CHURCH. 39 
 
 amply supported by all sound authority, without 
 recognising a striking likeness to the arrangements 
 afterwards adopted in the New Testament Church. 
 Tliat this likeness is real, and has been main- 
 tained by some of the ablest writers on the sub- 
 ject, the following short extracts will sulhciently 
 establish. 
 
 The first quotation shall be taken from Bishop 
 Burnet. " Among the Jews," says he, " he who 
 was the chief of the Synagogue was called Cka' 
 zati Hakcnesctli., that is, the Bishop of the Con- 
 gregation, and SJteliadi Tsibbor^ the angel of tlie 
 Church. And the Christian Church being mo- 
 delled as near the form of the Synagogue as 
 could be, as they retained many of the rites, so 
 the form of their government was continued, and 
 the names remained the same." And again ; 
 »' In the Synagogues there was, first, one that 
 was called the Bishop of the Congregation. Next 
 the three Orderers, and Judges of every thing 
 about the Synagogue, who were called Tsekenim, 
 and by the Greeks, nptaSvrtpoi or ytpovrti. These 
 ordered and determined every thing that concern- 
 ed the Synagogue, or the persons in it. Next to 
 them, were the three Far?iassin^ or Deacons, 
 whose charge was to gather the collections of the 
 rich, and to distribute them to the poor. The 
 term Elder, was generally given to all their 
 Judges : but chiefly to those of the great Sanhe- 
 drim. So we have it Matt. xvi. 21. Mark viii. 
 31. xiv. 43. and xv. 1, and Acts xxiii. 14." " A 
 great deal might be said to prove that the Apos- 
 tles, in their first constitutions, took things as they 
 had been modelled to their hand in the Syna- 
 gogue. And this they did, both because it was 
 
40 TESTI3I0NY FROM THE 
 
 not their design to innovate, except where the na- 
 ture of the Gospel dispensation obliged them to 
 do it ; as also, because, they took all means pos- 
 sible to gain the Jews, who we hnd were zealous 
 adherers to the traditions of their fathers, and not 
 easily weaned from those precepts of Moses, 
 which by Christ's death were evacuated. And if 
 the Apostles went so great a length in complying 
 with them in great matters, as circumcision and 
 other legal observances, (which appears from the 
 Acts and Epistles,) we have good grounds to sup- 
 pose that they would have yielded to them in what 
 "was more innocent and less important. Besides, 
 there appears, both in our Lord himself, and in 
 his Apostles, a great inclination to symbolize with 
 them as far as was possible. Now the nature of 
 the Christian worship shows evidently, that it 
 came in the room of the Synagogue, which was 
 moral, and not of the temple worship, which was 
 typical and ceremonial. Likewise this parity of 
 customs betwixt the Jews and Christians, was 
 such that it made them taken by the Romans, 
 and other more overly observers, for one sect of 
 religion. And, finally, any that will impartially 
 read the New Testament, will find that when the 
 forms of government or worship are treated of, 
 it is not done with such architectonal exactness, 
 as was necessary, if a new thing had been insti- 
 tuted, which we find practised by Moses. But the 
 Apostles rather speak as those who give rules for 
 the ordering and directino; of what was already m 
 being. From all which it seems well grounded 
 and rational to assume, that the first constitution 
 of the Christian Churches was taken from the 
 model of the Synagoo-ue, in which these Elders 
 
OLD TESTAMENT CIIUECH. 41 
 
 were separated, for the discharge of their employ- 
 ments, by an imposition of hands, as all Jewish 
 writers do clearly witness." * 
 
 The second testimony shall be that of Dr. 
 Thomas Godwin, an English divine of great eru- 
 dition, especially in oriental learning. In his 
 well-known work, entitled " Moses and Aaron," 
 we find the following passage : " There were in 
 Israel distinct Courts, consisting of distinct per- 
 sons ; the one principally for Church business ; 
 the other for afiairs in the commonwealth ; the 
 one an ecclesiastical Consistory ; the other a civil 
 Judicatory. The secular Consistory was named 
 a Sanhedrim, or Council ; the spiritual, a Syna- 
 gogue. The office of the ecclesiastical court was 
 to put a difference between things holy and un- 
 holy, and to determine appeals in controversies 
 of difficulty. It was a representative Church. 
 Hence is that. Die EcclesicB. Matt, xviii. IG.f 
 
 The next quotation shall be taken from Dr. 
 Lightfoot, another Episcopal divine, still more 
 distinguished for his oriental and rabbinical learn- 
 ing. " The Apostle," says he " calleth the min- 
 ister EphcojDiis^ (or Bishop) from the common 
 and known title of the Cliazan or Overseer in the 
 Synagogue." And again : " Besides these, there 
 was the public minister of the Synagogue, who 
 prayed publicly, and took care about reading the 
 law, and sometimes preached, if there were not 
 some other to discharge this office. This person 
 was called, m:}''X ro'?::', the angel of the Church, ana 
 
 * Observations on the First and Second Canons, &c 
 pp. 82, 83, 84, 85. Glasgow, 12mo. 1673. 
 ■j- Moses and Aaron, book 5, chapter i. 
 
 4* 
 
42 TESTIMONY FR03I THE 
 
 nown ]in the Chazan, or Bishop of the congrega- 
 tion. The Aruck gives the reason of the name. 
 The Chazan, says he, is -\3"'S n^Sa; the angel of the 
 Church, (or the public minister,) and the Targuni 
 renders the word rixn by the word nnn, one that 
 oversees. For it is incumbent on him to oversee 
 how the reader reads, and whom he may call out 
 to read in the law. The public Minister of the 
 Synagogue himself read not the law publicly ; but 
 every Sabbath he called out seven of the Syna- 
 gogue, (on other days fewer,) whom he judged fit 
 to read. He stood by him that read, with great 
 care, observing that he read nothing either falsely 
 or improperly, and called him back, and correct- 
 ed him, if he had failed in any thing. And 
 hence he was called Ckazan, that is, Errto-zforo?, Bi- 
 shop, or Overseer. Certainly the signification of 
 the words Bishop and Angel of the Church, had 
 been determined with less noise, if recourse had 
 been had to the proper fountains, and men had 
 not vainly disputed about the signification of words 
 taken I know not whence. The service and wor- 
 ship of the temple being abolished, as being cere- 
 monial, God transplanted the worship and public 
 adoration of God used in the S3'nagogues, which 
 was moral, into the Christian Church ; viz : the 
 public ministry, public prayers, reading God's 
 word, and preaching, 6z;c. Hence the names of 
 the ministers of the gospel were the very same, 
 the Angel of the Church, and the Bishop, which 
 belonged to the ]\Iinisters in the Synagogues. 
 " There was in every Synagogue, a bench of 
 three. This bench consisted of three Elders, 
 rightly and by imposition of hands preferred to 
 the Eldership." " There were also three Dea- 
 
OLD TESTAMENT CHURCH. 43 
 
 cons, or Almoners, on which was the care of the 
 poor." * 
 
 In another place, the same learned orientalist 
 says, describing the worship in the Jewish Syna- 
 gogue : " In the body of the Church the congre- 
 gation met, and prayed and heard the law, and 
 the manner of their sitting was this : The Elders 
 sat near the Chancel, with their faces down the 
 Church : and the people sat one form behind 
 another, with their faces up the Church, toward 
 the Chancel and the Elders. Of these Elders 
 there were some that had rule and office in the 
 Synagogue, and some that had not. And this 
 distinction the Apostle seemeth to allude unto, in 
 that much disputed text, 1 Tim. v. 18. The 
 Elders that rule well, &c., where ' the Elders that 
 ruled well' are set not only in opposition to those 
 that ruled ill, but to those that ruled not at all. 
 We may see, then, whence these titles and epi- 
 thets in the New Testament are taken, namely, 
 from the common platform and constitution of the 
 Synagogues, where Angelas Ecclesice, and Epis- 
 copus were terms of so ordinary use and know- 
 ledge. And we may observe from whence the 
 Apostle taketh his expressions, when he speaketh 
 of some Elders ruling, and labouring in word and 
 doctrine, and some not; namely, from the same 
 platform and constitution of the Synagogue, where 
 ' the Ruler of the Synagogue' was more singularly 
 for ruling the affairs of ihe Synagogue, and ' the 
 minister of the Congregation,' labouring in the 
 word, and reading the law, and in doctrine about 
 the preaching of it. Both these together are 
 
 * Lightfooi's Works, Vol. i. p. 308. Vol. ii. pp. 133. 
 755. 
 
44 TESTI3I0NY FROM THE 
 
 sometimes called jointly, ' the Rulers of the Syna- 
 gogue ;' Acts xiii. 15 ; Mark v. 22 ; being both 
 Elders that ruled ; but the title is more singularly 
 given to the first of them." * 
 
 Again, he says : — "In all the Jews' Syna- 
 gogues there were Parnasin, Deacons, or such as 
 had care of the poor, whose work it was to gather 
 alms for them from the congregation, and to dis- 
 tribute it to them. That needful office is here 
 (Acts vi.) translated into the Christian Church. "f 
 
 The fourth quotation shall be taken from Dr. 
 (afterwards Bishop) Stillingfleet, who, in his Ire- 
 nicum, maintains a similar position with confi- 
 dence and zeal ; the following is a specimen of 
 his language : — " That which we lay, then, as a 
 foundation, whereby to clear what apostolical 
 practice was, is that the Apostles, in forming 
 Churches, did observe the customs of the Jewish 
 Synagogue,"^ And in support of this position, par- 
 ticularly in reference to the Eldership of the Syna- 
 gogue, he quotes a large number of the most dis- 
 tinguished writers, both Jewish and Christian. It 
 is due to candour, indeed, to state, that Stilling- 
 fleet does not admit that any of the Elders, either 
 of the Synagogue, or of the primitive Church, 
 were lay-elders, but thinks they were all invested 
 with some kind of clerical character. This, how- 
 ever, as before remarked, does not at all affect 
 the value of his testimony to the general fact, 
 that, in every Synagogue there was a Consistory, 
 or Judicatory, of Elders, and that the same class 
 of officers was adopted, both name and thing, in 
 
 * Lishifoot's Works, Vol. i. pp. 611, 612. 
 
 t Ihid. i. 279. 
 
 ? Irenicum. Part 2. Chapter 6. 
 
OLD TESTAMENT CHURCII. 45 
 
 the apostolic Church, which he unequivocally as- 
 serts and proves. 
 
 In the same general doctrine, Grotius and Sal- 
 masius of Holland, decisively concur. By Gro- 
 tius, the following strong and unqualified language 
 is used : " The whole polity, or order (regimen) 
 of the Churches of Christ, was conformed to the 
 model of the Jewish Synagogue." And again, 
 speaking of ordination by the imposition of hands, 
 he says : — " This method was observed in setting 
 apart the Rulers and Elders of the Synagogue ; 
 and thence the custom passed into the Christian 
 Church." * Salmasius also, and other writers, of 
 equally profound learning, might be quoted as 
 unequivocally deciding, that the Synagogue had a 
 bench of Ruling Elders, and that a similar bench, 
 after that model, was constituted in the Christian 
 Church. Especially, he contends that the Elders 
 of the Church were, beyond all doubt, taken from 
 the Eldership in the Synagogue. f 
 
 The learned Spencer, a divine of the Church of 
 England, in the seventeenth century, teaches the 
 same general doctrine, when he says : — The 
 Apostles, also, that this reformation (the change 
 from the Old to the New Testament dispensation) 
 might proceed gently, and without noise, received 
 into the Christian Church many of those institu- 
 tions which had been long in use among the Jews. 
 Among the number of these may be reckoned, the 
 imposition of hands ; bishops, elders, and deacons; 
 excommunication, ordination, and other things 
 familiar to learned men. "J 
 
 * Grotii Annotationes in Act. Apost. vi. xi. 
 f De Primatu Papae. cap. i. 
 
 i: De Legibus Hebrseorum, Lib. ill. Dissert. I. Cap. 3. 
 sect. 4. 
 
46 TESTIMONY FR03r THE 
 
 Dr. Adam Clarke, whose eminent learning no 
 competent judge will question, also bears testimony 
 that in every Jewish Synagogue, at the time of 
 the coming of Christ, and before, there was an 
 ecclesiastical judicatory, or little Court, whose 
 duty it was to conduct the spiritual government 
 of each congregation. Among several places in 
 which he makes this statement, the following is 
 decisive : — In his Commentary on James ii. 2, he 
 says : — " In ancient times petty courts of judica- 
 ture were held in the Synagogues, as Vitringa 
 has sufficiently proved, De Vet. Syn. I. 3. ; and 
 it is probable that the case here adduced was one 
 of a judicial kind; where of the two parties, one 
 was rich, and the other poor ; and the master or 
 ruler of the Synagogue, or he who presided in 
 this court, paid particular deference to the rich 
 man, and neglected the poor person ; though as 
 plaintiff and defendant, they were equal in the eye 
 of justice." 
 
 I shall cite on this subject only one more au- 
 thority ; that of the celebrated Augustus Neander, 
 Professor in the University of Berlin, and gener- 
 ally considered as, perhaps more profoundly skill- 
 ed in Christian antiquities, than any other man 
 now living. He is, moreover, a minister of the 
 Lutheran Church, and, of course, has no secta- 
 rian spirit to gratify in vindicating Presbyterian- 
 ism. And, what is not unworthy of notice, being 
 himself of Jewish extraction, he has enjoyed the 
 highest advantages for exploring the peculiar 
 polity of that people. After showing at some 
 length, that the government of the primitive 
 Church was not monarchical or prelatical, but dic- 
 tated throughout by a spirit of mutual love, coun- 
 sel, and prayer, he goes on to express himself 
 
OLD TESTAMENT CHURCH. 47 
 
 thus : " We may suppose that where any thing 
 could be found in the wa}'- of Church forms, which 
 was consistent with this spirit, it would be willing- 
 ly appropriated by the Christian community. 
 Now there happened to be in the Jewish Syna- 
 gogue, a system of government of this nature ; 
 not monarchical, but rather aristocratical (or a 
 government of the most venerable and excellent.) 
 A council of Elders, D-'jpT TzpsffiSvrepoi, conducted all 
 the affairs of that body. It seemed most natural 
 that Christianity, developing itself from the Jew- 
 ish religion, should take this form of government. 
 This form must also have appeared natural and 
 appropriate to the Roman citizens, since their 
 nation had, from the earliest times, been, to some 
 extent, under the control of a Senate, composed 
 of Senators, or Elders. When the Church was 
 placed under a council of Elders, they did not 
 always happen to be the oldest in reference to 
 years ; but the term expressive of age here, was, 
 as in the Latin Senatus, and in the Greek yr-povaia^ 
 expressive of worth or merit. Besides the com- 
 mon name of these overseers of the Church, to wit, 
 irp£(7/3v-spotj there were many other names given, ac- 
 cording to the peculiar situation occupied by the 
 individual, or rather his peculiar field of labour; 
 as 7ro(j«£j/fj, shepherds ; hyovnEvoi leaders ; irpor.aTWTcg rwv 
 aSsX-poiv, rulers of the brethren ; and sTnaKoiroi^ over- 
 seers." * 
 
 Now, if, in the ancient Jewish Synagogue, the 
 government of the congregation was not vested, 
 either in the people at large, or in any single indi- 
 vidual, but in a bench of Elders ; if this is acknow- 
 ledged on all hands, as one of the clearest and 
 
 * Kirchengeschichte, Vol. i. pp. 283, 285. 
 
48 TESTIMONY FROM THE 
 
 most indubitable facts in Jewish antiquity ; — and 
 if, in the judgment of the most learned and pious 
 divines that ever lived, both episcopal and non- 
 episcopal, the New Testament Church was formed 
 after the model of the Jewish Synagogue, and not 
 after the pattern of the Temple service ; — we may, 
 of course, expect to find some evidence of this in 
 the history of the apostolic Churches. How far 
 this expectation is realized, will be seen in the 
 next chapter. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 EVIDENCE IN FAVOUR OF THE OFFICE FROM THE 
 NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 
 
 In this chapter it is proposed to show, that the 
 office in question is mentioned in the New Testa- 
 ment, as existing in the apostolic Church ; that it 
 was adopted from the Synagogue ; and that it 
 occupied, in substance, the same place in the 
 days of the Apostles, that it now occupies in our 
 truly primitive and scriptural Church. 
 
 The first assertion is, that this class of officers 
 was adopted in the Church of Christ, under its 
 New Testament form, after the model of the Syna- 
 gogue. Some have said, indeed, that the Apostles 
 adopted the model of the temple, and not of the 
 Synagogue service, in the organization of the 
 Ciuirch. But the slightest impartial attention to 
 facts, will be sufficient, it is believed, to disprove 
 this assertion. If we compare the titles, the 
 
NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 49 
 
 powers, the duties, and the ordination of the offi- 
 cers of the Christian Church, as well as the na- 
 ture and order of its public service, as established 
 by the Apostles, with the Temple and the Syna- 
 gogue systems respectively, we shall find the or- 
 ganization and service of the Church to resemble 
 the Temple in scarcely any thing ; while they 
 resemble the Synagogue in almost every thing. 
 There were Bishops, Elders, and Deacons, in the 
 Synagogue ; but no officers bearing these titles, 
 or performing similar functions in the Temple. 
 There was ordination by the imposition of hands 
 in the Synagogue ; but no such ordination in the 
 Temple. There were reading the Scriptures, ex- 
 pounding them, and public prayers, every Sab- 
 bath day in the Synagogue ; while the body of 
 the people went up to the Temple only three times 
 a year, and even then to attend on a very differ- 
 ent service. In the Synagogue, there was a sys- 
 tem established, which included a weekly provi- 
 sion, not only for the instruction and devotions 
 of the people, but also for the maintenance of dis- 
 cipline, and the care of the poor ; while scarcely 
 any thing of this kind was to be found in the 
 Temple. Now, in all these respects, and in many 
 more which might be mentioned, the Christian 
 Church followed the Synagogue model, and de- 
 parted from that of the Temple. Could we trace 
 a resemblance only in one or a few points, it 
 might be considered as accidental ; but the re- 
 semblance is so close, so striking, and extends to 
 so many particulars, as to arrest the attention of 
 the most careless inquirer. It was, indeed, no- 
 toriously, so great in the early ages, that the hea- 
 then frequently suspected Christian Churches of 
 5 
 
50 TESTIMONY FR03I THE 
 
 being Jewish Synagogues in disguise, and stigma- 
 tized them as such accordingly. 
 
 And when it is considered that all the first con- 
 verts to Christianity were Jews ; that they had 
 been accustomed to the offices and service of the 
 Synagogue during their whole lives : that they 
 came into the Church with all the feelings and 
 habits connected with their old institutions strongly 
 prevalent ; and that the organization and service 
 of the Synagogue were of a moral nature, in all 
 their leading characters, proper to be adopted 
 under any dispensation ; while the typical and cere- 
 monial service of the Temple was then done 
 away ; — when these things are considered, will it 
 not appear perfectly natural that the Apostles, 
 themselves native Jews, should be disposed to 
 make as little change in converting Synagogues 
 into Christian Churches, as was consistent with 
 the spirituality of the new dispensation? That 
 the Synagogue model, therefore, should be adopt- 
 ed, would seem beforehand, to be the most prob- 
 able of all events. Nor is this a new or sectarian 
 notion. Whoever looks into the writings of some 
 of the early Fathers; of the Reformers; and of a 
 large portion of the most learned men who have 
 adorned the Church of Christ, subsequently to the 
 Reformation, wdll find a very remarkable concur- 
 rence of opinion that such was the model really 
 adopted in the organization of the apostolic Church. 
 Most of the distinguished writers whose names 
 are mentioned in the preceding chapter, are, as 
 we have seen, unanimous and zealous in main- 
 taining this position. 
 
 Accordingly, as soon as we begin to read of 
 the Apostles organizing Churches on the New 
 Testament plan, we find them instituting officers 
 
NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 51 
 
 of precisely the same nature, and bestowing on 
 them, for the most part, the very same titles to 
 which they had been accustomed in the ordinary 
 sabbatical service under the preceding economy. 
 We find Bishops, Elders, and Deacons, every 
 where appointed. We find a plurality of Elders 
 ordained in every Church. And we find the 
 Elders represented as " overseers," or inspectors 
 of the Church ; as " rulers" in the house of God ; 
 and the members of the Church exhorted to " obey 
 them," and " submit" to them, as to persons 
 charged with their spiritual interests, and entitled 
 to their affectionate and dutiful reverence. 
 
 The following passages may be considered as a 
 specimen of the New Testament representations 
 on this subject. " And when they had ordained 
 them Elders in every Church, and had prayed 
 with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, 
 on whom they believed ;" Acts xiv. 23. " And 
 when they were come to Jerusalem, they were 
 received of the Church, and of the Apostles and 
 Elders. And the Apostles and Elders came to- 
 gether to consider of this matter ;" Acts xv. 4, 6. 
 " And from Miletus, he (Paul) sent to Ephesus, 
 and called the Elders of the Church ; and when 
 they were come unto him, he said unto them. Take 
 heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over 
 which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers;" 
 Acts XX. 20, 28. " Is any sick among you 1 Let 
 him call for the Elders of the Church ; and let 
 them pray over him," &c. ; James v. 14. "The 
 Elders which are among you 1 exhort, who am 
 also an Elder, and a witness of the sufierings of 
 Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall 
 be revealed. Feed the flock of God that is among 
 you, taking the oversight thereof, not by con- 
 
52 TESTIMONY FKOM THE 
 
 straint, but willingly ; not for filthy lucre, but of 
 a ready mind ; neither as being Lords over God's 
 heritage, but being ensamples to the flock ;" 1 
 Peter v. 1, 2, 3. "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 ;" Titus i. 5. " Obey 
 them that have the rule over you, and submit 
 yourselves, for they watch for your souls as they 
 that must give account ;" Heb. xiii. 17. " And 
 we beseech you, brethren, to know them which 
 labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, 
 and admonish you, and to esteem them very 
 highly in love for their work's sake ;" 1 Thess. v. 
 12, 13. "Let the Elders that rule well be ac- 
 counted worthy of double honour, especially they 
 who labour in the word and doctrine ;" 1 Tim. v. 
 17. To whatever Church our attention is directed, 
 in the inspired history, we find in it a plurality of 
 Elders ; we find the mass of the Church members 
 spoken of as under their authority; and while the 
 people are exhorted to submit to their rule, with 
 all readiness and affection ; these rulers are com- 
 manded, in the name of Christ, to exercise the 
 power vested in them by the great Head of the 
 Church, with firmness, and fidelity, and yet with 
 disinterestedness and moderation, so as to pro- 
 mote most effectually, the purity and order of the 
 flock. 
 
 The circumstance of our finding it so uniform- 
 ly stated that there was a plurality of Elders or- 
 dained in every Church, is certainly worthy of 
 particular attention here. If there had been a 
 plurality of these officers appointed only in some 
 of the more populous cities, where there were 
 probably several worshipping assemblies ; where 
 
NEW TESTAMENT CTIUHCH. 53 
 
 the congregations may be supposed to have been 
 unusually large ; and where it was important, of 
 course, to have more than a single preacher; 
 then we might consider this fact as very well re- 
 concilable with the doctrine of those who assert, 
 that all the Elders in the apostolic Church, were 
 official teachers. But as both the direction and 
 the practice were to ordain Elders, that is, more 
 than one, at least, in every Church, small as well 
 as great, there is, evidently, very strong presump- 
 tion that it was intended to conform to the Syna-* 
 gogue model ; and if so, that the whole of the 
 number so ordained could not be necessary for the 
 purpose of public instruction ;'but that some were 
 rulers, who, as in the Synagogue, formed a kind 
 of congregational Presbytery, or consistory, for 
 the government of the Church. The idea that it 
 was considered as necessary, at such a time, that 
 every Church should have two, three, or four 
 Pastors or Ministers, in the modern popular sense 
 of those terms, is manifestly altogether inadmis- 
 sible. But if a majority of these Elders, whatever 
 their ordination or authority might be, were in 
 fact employed, not in teaching, but in ruling, all 
 difficulty vanishes at once. 
 
 Accordingly, the learned Vitringa, before men- 
 tioned, whose authority is much relied upon to 
 disprove the existence of the office of Ruling 
 Elder in the primitive Church, explicitly acknow- 
 ledges, not only that there was then a plurality 
 of Elders in every Church ; but that, as in the 
 Synagogue, the greater part of these were, in fact, 
 employed in ruling only ; and that although all 
 of them were set apart to their office in the same 
 manner, and were, ecclesiastically, of the same 
 rank, yet a majority of them, from want of suit- 
 5* 
 
64 TESTIMONY FR03I THE 
 
 able qualifications, were not fitted to be public 
 preachers, and seldom or never attempted this 
 part of the service.* 
 
 But there are distinct passages of Scripture, 
 which have been deemed, by some of the most 
 impartial and competent interpreters, very plainly 
 to point out the class of Elders now under consi- 
 deration. 
 
 In Romans xii. 6, 7, 8, the Apostle exhorts as 
 follows : " Having then gifts, differing according 
 to the grace given to us ; whether prophecy, let 
 us prophesy according to the proportion of faith ; 
 or ministry, let us wait on our ministering ; or he 
 that teacheth on teaching ; or he that exhorteth 
 on exhortation ; he that giveth, let him do it with 
 simplicity ; he that ruleth, with diligence ; he that 
 showeth mercy, with cheerfulness." With this 
 passage may be connected another, of similar cha- 
 racter, and to be interpreted on the same princi- 
 ples. In 1 Cor. xii. 28, we are told : " God hath 
 set some in the Church, first Apostles, seconda- 
 rily Prophets, thirdly Teachers, after that mira- 
 cles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, 
 diversities of tongues." In both these passages 
 there is a reference to the different offices and 
 gifts bestowed on the Church by her divine King 
 and Head ; in both of them there is a plain desig- 
 nation of an office for ruling or government, dis- 
 tinct from that of teaching ; and in both, also, this 
 office evidently has a place assigned to it below 
 that of Pastors and Teachers. Now, this office, 
 by whatever name it may be called, or whatever 
 doubts may be started as to some minor questions 
 respecting its powers and investiture, is substanti- 
 
 * Vitringa De Synagoga Vetere. Lib. ii. Cap. ii. 
 
NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 55 
 
 ally the same with that which Presbyterians dis- 
 tinguish by the title of Ruling Elder. 
 
 . Some, indeed, have said that the Apostle in 
 1 Cor. xii. 28, is not speaking of distinct otlices, 
 but of different duties, devolving on the Church 
 as a body. But no one, it is believed, who im- 
 partially considers the whole passage, can adopt 
 this opinion. In the whole of the context, from 
 the 12lh verse, the Apostle is speaking of the 
 Church of God under the emblem of a body, and 
 affirms that, in this body, there is a variety of 
 members adapted to the comfort and convenience 
 of the whole body. For the body, says he, is not 
 one member, but many. "If the foot shall say, 
 Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, 
 is it, therefore, not of the body ? And if the ear 
 shall say. Because I am not the eye, I am not of 
 the body, is it, therefore, not of the body? If the 
 whole body were an eye, where were the hear- 
 ing] If the whole were hearing, where were the 
 smelling] But now hath God set the members 
 every one of them in the body as it hath pleased 
 him. And if they were all one member, where 
 were the body ]" plainly implying that in every 
 ecclesiastical, as well as in every natural body, 
 there are different functions and offices ; that all 
 cannot be teachers; that all cannot be governors, 
 or governments ; but that to each and every func- 
 tionary is assigned his proper work and duty. 
 
 Nor is this interpretation of the Apostle con- 
 fined to Presbyterians. Peter Martyr, the learned 
 Italian reformer, interprets the passage before us 
 just as we have done. In his Commentary on 1 
 Cor. xii. 28, he speaks thus : " Governments. 
 Those who are honoured with this function, are 
 such as were fitted for the work of government, 
 
66 TESTI3I0NY FRO:>I THE 
 
 and who know how to conduct every thing relat- 
 ing to discipline righteously and prudently. For 
 the Church of Christ had its government. And 
 because a single pastor was not able to accom- 
 plish every thing himself, there were joined with 
 him, in the ancient Church, certain Elders, chosen 
 from among the people, well-informed, and skilled 
 in spiritual things, who formed a kind of paro- 
 chial Senate. These, with the pastor, deliberated 
 on every matter relating to the care and edifica- 
 tion of the Church. Which thing Ambrose makes 
 mention of in writing on the Epistle to Timothy. 
 Among these Elders the Pastor took the lead, not 
 as a tyrant, but rather as a Consul presiding in a 
 council of Senators." Many Episcopalians and 
 others find in the passage the same sense. The 
 Rev. Herbert Thorndike, before quoted, a learned 
 divine of the Church of England, who lived in the 
 reign of Charles I., speaks thus of the passage 
 last cited. " There is no reason to doubt, that 
 the men whom the Apostle, 1 Cor. xii. 28, and 
 Eph. iv. 11, called Doctors, or Teachers, are 
 those of the Presbyters, who had the abilities of 
 preaching and teaching the people at their assem- 
 blies ; that those of the Presbyters who preached 
 not, are called here by the Apostle, governments; 
 and the Deacons, avriXnipsis, that is, helps, or assis- 
 tants to the Government of Presbyters ; so that it 
 is not to be translated helps in governments, but 
 helps, governments, &c. There were two parts 
 of the Presbyter's oflice, viz : teaching and gov- 
 erning, the one whereof some attained not, even 
 in the Apostle's times." * 
 
 But there is a still more pointed reference to 
 
 * Discourse of Religious Assemblies. Chap. iv. p. 117* 
 
NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 57 
 
 this class of Elders in 1 Tim. v, 17. " Let the 
 Elders that rule well be counted worthy of double 
 honour, especially they who labour in the word 
 and doctrine." It would seem that every person 
 of plain common sense, who had never heard of 
 any diversity of opinion on the subject, would, 
 without hesitation, conclude, on reading this pas- 
 sage, that, at the period in which it was written, 
 there were two kinds of Elders, one whose duty 
 it was to labour in the word and doctrine, and 
 another who did not thus labour, but only ruled 
 in the Church. The Apostle declares that Elders 
 who rule well are worthy of double honour, but 
 especially those who labour in the word and doc- 
 trine. Now, if we suppose that there was only 
 one class of Elders then in the Church, and that 
 they were all teachers, or labourers in the word 
 and doctrine, we make the inspired Apostle speak 
 in a manner utterly unworthy of his high charac- 
 ter. There was, therefore, a class of Elders in 
 the apostolic Church who did not, in fact, or, at 
 any rate, ordinarily, preach, or administer sacra- 
 ments, but assisted in government ; in other words, 
 Ruling Elders, 
 
 For this construction of the passage. Dr. Whit- 
 aker, a zealous and learned Episcopal divine, and 
 Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of 
 Cambridge, of whom bishop Hall remarks, that 
 "no man ever saw him without reverence, or 
 heard him without wonder," very warmly con- 
 tends, " By these words," says he, " the Apostle 
 evidently distinguishes between the Bishops and 
 the Inspectors of the Church. If all who rule 
 well be worthy of double honour, especially they 
 who labour in the word and doctrine, it is plain 
 that there were some who did not so labour ; for 
 
6S TESTIMONY FROM THE 
 
 if all had been of this description, the meaning 
 would have been absurd; but the word "especially" 
 points out a difference. If I should say that all 
 who study well at the University are worthy of 
 double honour, especially they who labour in the 
 study of theology, I must either mean, that all do 
 not apply themselves to the study of theology, 
 or I should speak nonsense. Wherefore I con- 
 fess that to be the most genuine sense by which 
 Pastors and Teachers are distinguished from those 
 who only governed ; Romans xii. 8. Of this 
 class of Elders Ambrose speaks in his commen- 
 tary on 1 Tim. v. 1." * 
 
 The learned and venerable Dr. Owen gives his 
 opinion of the import of this passage, in still more 
 pointed language. " This is a text," says he, 
 " of incontrolable evidence, if it had any thing to 
 conflict withal but prejudice and interest. A ra- 
 tional man, who is unprejudiced, who never heard 
 of the controversy about Ruling Elders, can hard- 
 ly avoid an apprehension that there are two sorts 
 of Elders, some who labour in the word and doc- 
 trine, and some who do not so do. The truth is, 
 it was interest and prejudice which first caused 
 some learned men to strain their wits to find out 
 evasions from the evidence of this testimony. 
 Being found out, some others, of meaner abilities, 
 have been entangled, by them. There are Eiders, 
 then, in the Church. There are, or ought to be 
 so in every Church. With these Elders the 
 whole rule of the Church is intrusted. All these, 
 and only they, do rule in it."| 
 
 * Praelectiones, as quoted in Calderwood's Altare 
 Damascenum, p. 681. 
 
 •f- True Nature of a Gospel Church. Chapter vii. pp. 
 ■ 41, 142, 143. 
 
NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 59 
 
 Equally to our purpose is the judgment of that 
 acute and learned Episcopal divine, Dr. VVhiiby, 
 in his Commentary on this passage : " The Elders 
 of the Jews," says he, " were of two sorts ; 1st, 
 such as governed in the Synagogue, and 2dly, 
 such as ministered in reading and expounding their 
 scriptures and traditions, and from them, pro- 
 nouncing what did bind or loose, or what was 
 forbidden, and what was lawful to be done. For 
 when, partly by their captivity, and partly through 
 increase of traffic, they were dispersed in consid- 
 erable bodies through divers regions of the world, 
 it was necessary that they should have governors 
 or magistrates to keep them in their duty, and 
 judge of criminal causes ; and also Rabbins, to 
 teach them the law, and the tradition of their 
 fathers. The first were ordained ad judicandum^ 
 sed non ad doce.ndum de licitis et vetitis, i. e. to 
 judge and govern, but not to teach. The second, 
 ad docendiim^ sed non ad judicandum^ i. e. to 
 teach, but not to judge or govern." " And these 
 the Apostle here declares to be the most honour- 
 able, and worthy of the chiefest reward. Accord- 
 ingly, the Apostle, reckoning up the officers God 
 had appointed in the Church, places teachers be- 
 fore governments ;" 1 Cor. xii. 28. 
 
 I am aware that a number of glosses have been 
 adopted to set aside the testimony of this cogent 
 text in favour of Ruling Elders. To enumerate 
 and show the invalidity of them all, would be 
 inconsistent with the limits to which this manual 
 is restricted. But a few of the most plausible and 
 popular may be deemed worthy of notice. 
 
 Some, for example, have said, that, by the 
 Elders that rule well in this passage, civil magis- 
 trates are intended ; while, by those who labour 
 
60 TESTIMONY FROM THE 
 
 in the word and doctrine, ministers of the gospel 
 are pointed out. But it will occur to every re- 
 flecting reader that, at the time when the passage 
 of Scripture under consideration was addressed to 
 Timothy, and for several centuries afterwards, 
 there were no Christian Magistrates in the Church ; 
 and to suppose that the Church is exhorted to 
 choose heathen judges or magistrates, to compose 
 differences, and maintain order among the follow- 
 ers of Christ, is in the highest degree improbable, 
 not to say altogether absurd. 
 
 Others have alleged, that by the Elders that 
 rule well are meant Deacons. It is enough to 
 reply to this suggestion, that it has never been 
 shown, or can be shown, that Deacons are any 
 where in the New Testament distinguished by the 
 title of Elders ; and, further, that the function of 
 ruling is no where represented as belonging to 
 their office. They were appointed StaKoveiv rpane^aig 
 " to serve tables ;" Acts vi. 2, 3 ; — but not to act 
 as rulers in the house of God. Of this, however, 
 more in a subsequent chapter. 
 
 A third class of objectors contend, that the 
 word na\i(TTa^ which our translators have rendered 
 especially^ ought to be translated much^ that it 
 is not to be considered as distinguishing one class 
 of Elders from another, but as marking intensity 
 of degree ; in other words, that it is meant to be 
 exegetical of those who rule well, viz : those who 
 labour much, or with peculiar diligence, in the 
 word and doctrine. On this plan, the verse in 
 question would read thus : Let the Elders who 
 rule well, that is who labour much in the word 
 and doctrine, be accounted worthy of double hon- 
 our. If this were adopted as the meaning of the 
 passage, it would go to show, that it is for preach- 
 
NEW TESTAMENT CHUKCH. 61 
 
 ing alone, and not for ruling well, that Elders are 
 entitled to honour. But is it rational or consistent 
 with other parts of Scripture, to suppose that no 
 honour is due to the latter? It has also been con- 
 tended, by excellent Greek critics, that the struc- 
 ture of the sentence will not, naturally, bear this 
 interpretation. It is not said, ^' naXiuTa KomovTEs as 
 would have been the proper order of the words, 
 if such had been the meaning intended to be con- 
 veyed ; but naXio-ra bi KomcovTcs i — not those who la- 
 bour with especial diligence and exertion ; but 
 especially those who labour, &c. But the most 
 decisive consideration is, that not a single case 
 can be found, in the New Testament, in which 
 the word ixaXiara has the signification here attributed 
 to it. It is so generally used to distinguish one 
 class of objects from another, that we may safely 
 venture to say, it cannot possibly have a different 
 meaning in the passage before us. A few de- 
 cisive examples will be sufficient. In the same 
 chapter, from which the passage under considera- 
 tion is taken, (1 Tim. v. 8,) it is said : " If any 
 man provide not for his own, and especially (/niX^rra) 
 for those of his own house, he hath denied the 
 faith^" &c. Again; Gal. iv. 10: "Let us do 
 good unto all men, but especially (^na\t(Tra) unto 
 them who are of the household of faith." Again; 
 Philip, iv. 22 : " All the saints salute you, chief- 
 ly (^^ia\t(Tra) they of Caesar's household." Thus, 
 also, 2 Tim. iv. 13: " When thou comest, bring 
 with thee the books, but especially (/iaXiora) the 
 parchments." Further; 1 Tim. iv. 10: "Who 
 is the Saviour of all men, especially (^na\iara) of 
 those who believe." Again; Titus i. 10: "For 
 there are many unruly and vain talkers, especi- 
 ally (^iiaXicrra^ they of the circumcision." Now, in 
 6 
 
62 TESTIMONY FROM THE 
 
 all these cases, there are two classes of objects 
 intended to be distinguished from each other. 
 Some of the saints were of Ceesar's household, 
 and others were not. Good was to be done to all 
 men ; but all were not believers. There were 
 many vain and unruly talkers alluded to, but they 
 were not all of the circumcision : and so of the 
 rest. 
 
 A fourth class of objectors to our construction 
 of this passage, are certain prelatists, who allege, 
 that by the Elders that rule well, the Apostle in- 
 tends to designate superannuated Bishops, who 
 though too old to labour in the word and doctrine, 
 were still able to assist in ruling. To this it is 
 sufficient to reply, that, whether we understand 
 the " honour" (rt/zr??) to which the Apostle refers, 
 as intended to designate pecuniary support, or 
 rank and dignity, it would seem contrary to every 
 principle, both of reason and Scripture, that young- 
 er and more vigorous labourers in the word and 
 doctrine, should have a portion of this honour 
 awarded to them, superior to that which is yield- 
 ed to those who have become worn out in the 
 same kind of service. These aged, venerable, and 
 exhausted dignitaries, according to this construc- 
 tion, are to be, indeed, much honoured, but less 
 than their junior brethren, whose strength for la- 
 bour still continues. 
 
 A further objection made to our construction of 
 this passage is, that when the Apostle speaks of 
 double honour (JitX??; n/ir??) as due to those who rule 
 well, he refers, not to respect and regard, but to 
 temporal support.* Now, say this class of ob- 
 
 * It is worthy of notice that Calvin, in his Commen 
 tary on this place, gives the following view of the 
 
NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 63 
 
 jeclors, as Presbyterians never give salaries to 
 their Ruling Elders, they cannot be the kind of 
 officers contemplated by the sacred writers in this 
 place. But is it certain that by the original term 
 here translated " honour," salary, or maintenance, 
 is really intended 1 Why not assign to the word 
 nim its more common signification, viz. : honour, 
 high respect, reverence? It is common to say, 
 that the illustration contained in the 18th verse, 
 " Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out 
 the corn ; and the labourer is worthy of his re- 
 ward," seem to fix the meaning to temporal sup- 
 port. But those illustrations only carry with 
 them the general idea of reward ; and surely a 
 reward may be of the moral as well as of the 
 pecuniary kind. But supposing the inspired 
 Apostle really to mean double, that is liberal 
 maintenance, still this interpretation does not at 
 all militate against our doctrine. It micrht have 
 been very proper, in the days of Paul, to give all 
 the Elders a decent temporal support, as a reward 
 for their services. But if any Elders chose to 
 
 Apostle's meaning when he speaks of " double honour." 
 "When Chrysostom interprets the phrase double hon- 
 our, as importing support and reverence, I do not im- 
 pugn his opinion. Let those adopt it who think pro- 
 per. But to me it appears more probable that a com- 
 parison is here intended between widows and elders. 
 Paul had just before, commanded to have widows in 
 honour. But Elders are still more worthy of honour 
 than they. Wherefore to these double honour is to be 
 given," This interpretation is natural, and consistent. 
 "Honour widows, says the Apostle, that are widows 
 indeed;" but "let the Elders that rule well be counted 
 worthy of double honour, especially those that labour 
 ill the word and doctrine." The same word is used to 
 express honour, in both cases. 
 
64 TESTI3I0NY FR03I THE 
 
 decline' receiving a regular stipend, as Paul him- 
 self seems to have done, he surely did not, by this 
 disinterestedness, forfeit his office. It may be that 
 Ruling Elders ought now to receive a compensa- 
 tion for their services, especially when they de- 
 vote to the Church a large part of their time and 
 talents. But if any are willing to render their 
 services gratuitously, whether they be ruling or 
 preaching Elders, every one sees that this cannot 
 destroy, or even impair their official standing. 
 
 Accordingly, it will be seen in the sequel, that 
 there is a concurrence of sentiment, in favour of 
 our construction of this celebrated passage in 
 Timothy, among the most distinguished divines 
 of all denominations, Protestant and Catholic, 
 Lutheran and Reformed, truly remarkable, and 
 affording a very strong presumptive argument in 
 favour of its correctness. 
 
 There is another class of passages, already 
 quoted in a former part of this chapter, which is 
 entitled to more formal consideration. I mean 
 such as that found in 1 Thess. v. 12, 13. "And 
 we beseech you, brethren, to know them which la- 
 bour among you, and are over you in the Lord, 
 and admonish you ; and to esteem them very 
 highly in love for their work's sake." Such also 
 as that found in Heb. xiii. 17. *' Obey them that 
 have the rule over you, and submit yourselves ; 
 for they watch for your souls, as they that must 
 give account," &c. Here the inspired writer is 
 evidently speaking of particular Churches. He 
 represents them as each having a body of Rulers 
 " set over them in the Lord," who " watch over 
 them," and whom they are bound to "obey." 
 In short, we find a set of officers spoken of, who 
 are not merely to instruct, and exhort, but to ex- 
 
NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 65 
 
 ercise official authority in the Church. Now this 
 representation can be made to agree with no other 
 form of government than that of the Presbyterian 
 Church. Not with Prelacy ; for tliat presents no 
 ruler in any single Church but the Rector only. 
 It knows nothing of a Parochial Council, or Sen- 
 ate, who conduct discipline, and perform all the 
 duties of spiritual rule. Not with Independency; 
 for according to the essential principles of that 
 system, the body of the communicants are all 
 equally rulers, and even the Pastor is only the 
 chairman, or president, not properly the Ruler 
 of the Church. But with the Presbyterian form 
 of Church government, in which every congrega- 
 tion is furnished with a bench of spiritual Rulers, 
 whom the people are bound to reverence and obey, 
 it agrees perfectly. 
 
 There is only one passage more which will be 
 adduced in support of the class of Elders before 
 us. This is found in Matt, xviii. 15 — 17. Here 
 it is believed that the 17th verse, which enjoins : 
 "Tell it to the Church," has evidently a reference 
 to the plan of discipline known to have been pur- 
 sued in the Jewish Synagogue ; and that the 
 meaning is, " Tell it to that Consistory or Judica- 
 tory, which is the Church acting by its represen- 
 tatives." It is true, indeed, that some Indepen- 
 dents, of more zeal than caution, have confidently 
 quoted this passage as making decisively in favour 
 of their scheme of popular government. But 
 when carefully examined, it will be found not 
 only by no means to answer their purpose ; but 
 rather to support the Presbyterian cause. We 
 must always interpret language agreeably to the 
 well known understanding and habit of the time 
 and the country in which it is delivered. Now, 
 6* 
 
66 TESTIMONY FROM THE 
 
 it is perfectly certain that the phrase: "Tell it to 
 the Church," was constantly in use among the 
 Jews to express the carrying a complaint to the 
 Eldership or representatives of the Church. And 
 it is quite as certain, that actual cases occur in the 
 Old Testament in which the term Church (^£KK\rj<na^ 
 is applied to the body of Elders. See as an exam- 
 ple of this, Deuteronomy xxxi. 28, 30, comparing 
 our translation with that of the Seventy, as allud- 
 ed to in a preceding chapter. We can scarcely 
 avoid the conclusion, then, that our blessed Lord 
 meant to teach his disciples, that, as it had been 
 in the Jewish Synagogue, so it would be in the 
 Christian Church, that the sacred community 
 should be governed by a bench of Rulers regularly 
 chosen and set apart for this purpose. 
 
 In support of this construction of the passage 
 l)efore us, we have the concurring judgment of a 
 large majority of Protestant divines, of all denomi- 
 nations. We have not only the opinion of Calvin, 
 Beza, Parjsus, and a great number of distinguished 
 writers on the continent of Europe; but also of 
 Lightfoot, Goodwin, and many others, both minis- 
 ters of the Church of England, and the Indepen- 
 dents of that country. It is worthy of remark, too, 
 that Chrysostom, known to be an eminently learn- 
 ed and accomplished Father, of the fourth century, 
 evidently understands this passage in the Gospel 
 according to Matthew, as substantially agree- 
 ing with the views of Presbyterians ; or, at any 
 rate, as totally rejecting the Independent doctrine. 
 Zanchius (in Quart. Proecept.) and Junius (Con- 
 trov. iii. Lib. ii. Cap. vi.) quote him as asserting 
 in his Commentary on this place, that by the 
 Church to which the offence was to be told, we are 
 to understand the rrpoeSpoi /cat Trpowrw-fj of the Church. 
 
NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 67 
 
 It may not be improper, before taking leave of 
 the Scriptural testimony in favour of Ruling El- 
 ders, to take some notice of an objection which 
 has been advanced with much confidence, but 
 which manifestly, when examined, will be found 
 destitute of the smallest force. It has been said 
 that great reliance is placed on the word s-pojorwrej, 
 found in 1 Timothy v. 17, as expressive of the ru- 
 ling character of the office under consideration ; 
 whereas, say these objectors, this very word, as is 
 universally known and acknowledged, is applied 
 by several of the early Fathers to Teaching El- 
 ders, to those who evidently bore the olfice of Pas- 
 tors of Churches, and who were, of course, not 
 niere rulers, but also " labourers in the word and 
 doctrine," [f, therefore, this title be applied to 
 those who were confessedly teachers, what evi- 
 dence have we that it is intended, in any case, to 
 designate a different class? This objection is 
 founded on a total misrepresentation of the argu- 
 ment which it is supposed to refute. The advo- 
 cates of the office of Ruling Elder do not contend 
 or believe that the function of ruling is confined to 
 this class of officers. On the contrary, they sup- 
 pose and teach that one class of Elders both rule 
 and teach, while the other class rule only. Both, 
 according to the doctrine of the Presbyterian 
 Church, are Trposerrwrcf ; but one only " labour in the 
 word and doctrine." When, therefore, cases are 
 found in the early records of the Church in which 
 the presiding Elder, or Pastor, is styled -pocT-w,-, the 
 fact is in perlect harmony with the usual argument 
 from 1 Tim. v. 17 ; the import of which we main- 
 tain to be this : Let all the Elders that rule well, 
 be counted worthy of double honour, especially 
 those of their number who, besides ruling, besides 
 
68 TESTI3IONY FROM THE 
 
 acting as Trpocarwrff, in common with the others, also 
 labour in the word and doctrine. 
 
 It has also been contended that the whole doc- 
 trine of the Ruling, as distinct from the Teaching 
 Elder, tends to weaken, if not wholly to destroy, 
 the Presbyterian argument in favour of parity in 
 the Gospel ministry, drawn from the fact, that both 
 Scripture and early Christian antiquity represent 
 Bishop and Presbyter as convertible titles for the 
 same office. Presbyterians maintain, and 1 have 
 no doubt, with perfect truth, that, in the language 
 of the New Testament, a Bishop means the Pastor, 
 or overseer of a single Church or parish ; that 
 Bishop and Presbyter are not titles which imply 
 different grades of office ; but that a Presbyter or 
 Elder who has a pastoral charge, who is the over- 
 seer of a flock, is a Scriptural Bishop, and holds 
 the highest office that Christ has instituted in his 
 Church. Now, it has been alleged by the oppo- 
 nents of Ruling Elders, that to represent the Scrip- 
 tures as holding forth two classes of Elders, one 
 class as both teaching and ruling, and the other as 
 ruling only, and consequently, the latter as hold- 
 ing a station not exactly identical with the former, 
 amounts to a virtual surrender of the argument de- 
 rived from the identity of Bishop and Presbyter. 
 
 This objection, however, is totally groundless. 
 If we suppose Elder, as used in Scripture, to be a 
 generic term, comprehending all who bore rule in 
 th-^ Church ; and if we consider the term Bishop, 
 as also a generic term, including all who sustained 
 the relation of official inspectors or overseers of a 
 flock, then it is plain that all Bishops were Scrip- 
 tural Elders ; and that all Elders, whether both 
 teachers and rulers, or rulers only, provided they 
 were placed over a parish, as inspectors or over- 
 
NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 69 
 
 seers, were scriptural Bishops. Now this, I have 
 no doubt, was the fact. When, therefore, the 
 Apostle Paul, in writing to the Church at Philippi, 
 addresses the Bishops and Deacons ; and when in 
 his conference with the Elders of the Church of 
 Ephesus, at Miletus, he speaks of them all equally 
 as Overseers, or, as it is in the original. Bishops 
 (ETTiff/coTTOMs) of that Church,! take for granted he in- 
 cluded the rulers as well as the teachers, in both 
 instances. In a word, I suppose that, in every 
 truly primitive and apostolic Church, there was a 
 bench of Elders, or Overseers, who presided over 
 all the spiritual interests of the congregation; that, 
 generally, a small part only of these, and perhaps 
 seldom more than one, statedly preached ; that the 
 rest, though probably ordamed in the same manner 
 with their colleagues, very rarely, if ever, taught 
 publicly, but were employed as inspectors and ru- 
 lers, and it may be, also, in visiting, catechizing, 
 and instructing from house to house. If this were 
 the case, and every part of the New Testament 
 history favours the supposition, then nothing can 
 be more natural than the language of the inspired 
 writers in reference to this whole subject. Then 
 we readily understand why the Apostle should say 
 to Titus : " For this cause left I thee in Crete, that 
 thou shouldest set in order the things that are want- 
 ing, and ordain Elders in every city, as I had ap- 
 pointed thee. If any be blameless, &c.; for a 
 Bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God, 
 &c." We may then perceive, why he speaks of a 
 number of Bishops at Philippi, and a number also 
 at Ephesus ; and, in the same breath, calls the 
 latter alternately Bishops and Elders ; and, on this 
 principle, we may see, no less plainly why the 
 Apostle Peter said : " The Elders which are among 
 
70 TESTIMONY FE05I THE 
 
 you I exhort, who am also an Elder, and a witness 
 of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker oi 
 the glory that shall be revealed. • Feed the flock of 
 God that is among you, taking the oversight 
 thereof, (CTfo-x-oTroujref ,) acting, as bishops among them, 
 not by constraint but willingly; not for filthy lucre, 
 but of a ready mind ; neither as being lords over 
 God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock." 
 And accordingly, it is remarkable that the word 
 TTot/xai/are, used in the second verse of the last quota- 
 tion, is derived from a word signifying a shepherd, 
 and carries with it the ideas of guiding, protect- 
 ing, and ruling, as well as feeding in appropriate 
 spiritual pastures. See Matthew ii. 6, and Reve- 
 lation ii. 27. 
 
 This view of the subject takes away all embar- 
 rassment and difficulty in reference to the titles 
 given to the primitive officers of the Church. There 
 is abundant evidence that every class of Elders, 
 as well those who commonly officiated as rulers 
 only, as those M'ho both ruled and taught, bore the 
 names of Bishops, Inspectors, Overseers, during 
 the apostolic age, and for some time afterwards. 
 This was a name most significantly expressive of 
 their appropriate function, which was to overlook, 
 direct, and rule each particular Church, for its 
 edification. How long this title continued to be 
 applied to all the Elders, indiscriminately, it is not 
 easy to say. It was probably in the Church, as 
 il was known to have been in the Synagogue. All 
 the rulers of the Synagogue were popularly called 
 Archi-synagogi, as is evident from several passages 
 m the New Testament ; but sometimes, as we learn 
 from the same source, this title was applied, by 
 ■way of eminence, to the presiding or principal 
 Ruler of each Synagogue. So with regard to the 
 
NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 71 
 
 title of Inspector, Overseer, or Bishop, we know 
 that all the Elders of Ephesus (Acts xx. 17, 28,) 
 were indiscriminately called Bishops by the inspir- 
 ed Paul. We know, too, that the sanne Apostle 
 reco<{nizes a plurality of Bishops, or Overseers, in 
 the Church at Philippi — (Philip, i. 1,) — who could 
 not possibly have been Prelates, as Episcopalians 
 themselves allow. We find, moreover, the same 
 " chiefest of the Apostles," giving the titles of 
 Bishop and Elder, without discrimination, to all 
 the Church Rulers directed to be ordained in 
 Ephesus and Crete, as the Epistles to Timothy and 
 Titus plainly evince. In those pure and simple 
 times no difliculty arose from this general applica- 
 tion of a plain and expressive title. For more than 
 a hundred years after the apostolic age, this title 
 continued to be frequently applied in the same 
 manner, as the writings of Clemens Romanus, Her- 
 mas, Irenteus, and others, amply testify. We find 
 them not only speaking of the Elders as bearing 
 rule in each Church ; but also calling the same 
 men, alternately. Bishops, and Elders, as was evi- 
 dently done in apostolic times. In process of time, 
 however, this title, which was originally consider- 
 ed as expressive of duty and labour, rather than 
 of honour, became gradually appropriated to the 
 principal Elder, who usually presided in preaching 
 and ordering the course of the public service. Not 
 only so, but as a worldly and ambitious spirit 
 gained ground, he who bore this title began to ad- 
 vance certain peculiar claims ; — first those of a 
 stated Chairman, President, or Moderator ; — and 
 finnlly those of a new order, or grade of office. 
 That there was an entire chantre in the application 
 of the title of Bishop not long after the apostolic 
 age, a majority of our Episcopal brethren them- 
 
72 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 selves allow. They grant that in the New Testa- 
 ment this title is given indiscriminately to all who 
 were intrusted with the instruction and care of the 
 Church. But that, in the succeeding period, it 
 was gradually reserved to the highest order. In 
 other words, they grant that the title Bishop had 
 a very different meaning, in the secohd and third 
 centuries, from that which it had borne in the 
 first. Now, even conceding to them that this 
 change took place earlier than the best records give 
 us reason to iDelieve ; it may be asked — why make 
 such a change at all 7 Why not continue to get 
 along with the language which the inspired Apostles 
 had authorized by their use? Why insidiously 
 make an old title, which was familiar to the popu- 
 lar ear, signify something very different from what 
 it had been wont to signify from the beginning; 
 and thus palm a new office with an old name on 
 the people ? Were there no other fact established 
 by the early writers than this, it would be quite 
 sufficient to convince us that the apostolic govern- 
 ment of the Church was early corrupted by human 
 ambition. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TESTIMONY OF THE CHRISTIAN FATHERS. 
 
 That which is not found in the Bible, however 
 fully and strongly it may be enjoined elsewhere, 
 cannot be considered as binding on the Church. 
 On the other hand what is plainly found in the 
 Word of God, though it be no where else taught, 
 
THE FATHERS. 
 
 73 
 
 we are bound to receive. Accordingly, if we find 
 Ruling Elders in the New Testament, as it is 
 firmly believed we have done — it matters not as 
 to their substantial warrant, how soon after the 
 apostolic age, they fell into disuse. Still if we 
 can discover traces of them in the early unin- 
 spired writings of the Christian Church, it will 
 certainly add something to the chain of proof 
 which we possess in their favour. It will add 
 strong presumption to that which is our decisive 
 rule. Let us, then, see whether the early Fathers 
 say any thing which can be fairly considered as 
 alluding to this class of Church officers. 
 
 But before we proceed to examine these wit 
 nesses in detail, it may not be improper to make 
 two general remarks, which ought to be kept 
 steadily in view through the whole of this branch 
 of our subject. 
 
 The first is — that we must be on our guard 
 against the ambiguous use of the title, Elder, as 
 it is expressed in different languages. When we 
 look into the writings of the Christian Fathers 
 who lived during the first two hundred years after 
 Christ, all of whom, if we except TertuUian, wrote 
 in Greek, we find them generally using the word 
 npeir6>'T€pos to designate an Elder. Now this is pre- 
 cisely the same word which the advocates of Pre- 
 lacy apply to the " second order," as they express 
 it, of their " clergy," always called by them 
 «' Presbyters." And when Presbyterians translate 
 this word by the term Elder,* and consider it as 
 
 * It is worthy of notice that whenever the word 
 irpetrSurepoi occurs iu the New Testament, our transla- 
 tion, when an ecclesiastical officer is meant, always 
 renders it Elder. So far as is recollected, this is inva- 
 riably done. 
 
 7 
 
74 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 used, at least in many cases, to designate that class 
 of officers which forms the subject of this Essay, 
 they are considered and represented, by some 
 ilhterate and narrow minded persons, as charge- 
 able with an unfair, if not a deceptive use of a 
 term. This charge is manifestly unjust. It will 
 never be repeated by any candid individual, who 
 is acquainted with the Greek language. This is 
 the very word which is almost invariably used by 
 the translators of the Septuagint, all through the 
 Old Testament, to designate Elders who, con- 
 fessedly had nothing to do with preaching. In 
 truth, it was a general title of office among the 
 early Christians, as any one will immediately per- 
 ceive by a candid perusal of the New Testament. 
 And the fact is, that if Presbyterians wrote in 
 Greek, they would, of course, employ this very 
 term to express their Ruling Elder. The word 
 "Elder" is the natural, hteral, and, we may almost 
 say, the only proper term by which to express the 
 meaning of the Greek title nptaSwepoq, And even 
 when we meet in some of the early Fathers with 
 passages in which the officers of the Church are 
 enumerated as consisting of 'E.maKoiroi, nptuBvrtpoi kcu 
 AiaKovot, it may be said, with perfect truth, that if 
 Presbyterians, at the present day, were called 
 upon to enumerate the standing officers in all their 
 Churches, which are completely organized agree- 
 ably to their public standards — they would, be- 
 yond all doubt, if they used the Greek language, 
 represent their regular ecclesiastical officers as 
 
 every where consisting of Ettktkottoi, UpeaSurrpoi Kai Ata- 
 
 Koi'oi; meaning by e^t^fo-of, a parochial Pastor or 
 Overseer, in which sense Prelatists themselves 
 acknowledge the title to have been generally used 
 in the apostolic age j and meaning by the title 
 
THE FATHERS. 
 
 75 
 
 jrpeaSvrepos, a RuHng Elder, which we have no doubt 
 has been shown, and will be yet further shown 
 to be, in many cases, the proper interpretation of 
 the word. When, therefore, we thus translate 
 the word in some of the following quotations, let 
 no one feel as if we were taking an unwarrant- 
 able liberty. No imputation of this kind, as- 
 suredly, will be made by any reader of competent 
 learning to judge in the case. 
 
 The second preliminary remark is, that, per- 
 haps, no class of Church officers would be, on the 
 whole, so likely to fall into disrepute after the 
 apostolic age, and be discontinued, as that which 
 is now under consideration. We know that the 
 purity of the Church began to decline immediately 
 after the apostolic age. Nay, while the Apostles 
 were still aUve, " the mystery of iniquity" had 
 already begun " to work." Corruption, both in 
 faith and practice, had crept in, and, in some 
 places, to an alarming and most distressing ex- 
 tent. And, after their departure, it soon " came 
 in Hke a flood." The discipline, of the Church 
 became relaxed, and, after a while, in a great 
 measure prostrated. The hints dropped by several 
 writers in the second century, and the strongly 
 coloured and revolting pictures given by Origen 
 and Cyprian, of the state of the Church in their 
 own times, present a view of this subject which 
 needs no comment. Now, in such a state ot 
 things, was it not natural that the office of those 
 whose peculiar duty it was to inspect the members 
 of the Church ; to take cognizance of all their 
 aberrations ; and to maintain a pure and Scrip- 
 tural discipline, should be unpopular, and finally 
 as much as possible crowded out of public view 
 discredited, and graduallv laid aside? 
 
76 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 But this IS not all. Shortly after the apostllc 
 age, several ecclesiastical officers, as is confessed 
 on all hands, were either invented or modified, so 
 as to suit the declining; spirituality of the times. 
 To mention but a single example. The Deacons 
 began to claim higher dignity and powers. Sub- 
 deacons were introduced to perform some of those 
 functions which had originally belonged to Dea- 
 cons, but which they had become loo proud to 
 perform. Was it either unnatural, then, or im- 
 probable — since things of a similar kind actually 
 took place — that in the course of the undeniable 
 degeneracy which was now reigning, the Ruling 
 Elders of the Church should find the employment 
 to which they had been originally destined, irk- 
 some both to themselves and others ; by no means 
 adapted to gratify either the lOve of gain, or the 
 love of pleasure, which seemed to be the order 
 of the day ; — and that both parties gradually 
 united in dropping the inspection and discipHne 
 once committed to their hands, and turning their 
 attention to objects more adapted to the taste of 
 ambitious, wordly -minded Churchmen? And this 
 result would be, at once, more likely to occur and 
 might have occurred with less opposition and 
 noise, if we suppose, as some learned men have 
 done, that the Ruling and Teaching Elders, from 
 the beginning, not only both bore the general 
 name of Elders, but were both set apart to their 
 office with the same formalities. If this were the 
 case, then there was nothing to change, in virtually 
 discarding the office of Ruling Elder, but gradually 
 to neglect all their appropriate duties, and in an 
 equally gradual manner to slide into the assump- 
 tion of duties, and especially that of public preach- 
 
THE FATHERS. Tt 
 
 mg, which, in the primiiive Church, they had not 
 been expected to perform. 
 
 Keeping these things in mind, let us examine 
 whether some, both of the early and the late 
 Fathers, do not express themselves in a manner 
 which renders it probable, or rather certain, that 
 they had in view the class of Elders of which we 
 are speaking. 
 
 In the Epistle of Clemens Romanus, who lived 
 toward the close of the first century, to the Church 
 at Corinth, we find the worthy Father remon- 
 strating with the members of that Church for 
 having risen up against their Elders, and thrust 
 them out of office, perhaps for the very reason 
 just hinted at, that they found their inspection and 
 rule uncomfortable. Accordingly, Clemens ad- 
 dresses the Corinthian Christians in the following 
 manner : " It is a shame, my beloved, yea, a very 
 great shame, to hear that the most firm and an- 
 cient Church of the Corinthians should be led, by 
 one or two persons, to rise up against their Elders.'* 
 {irpeaSvrepovi.) Again : " Let the flock of Christ 
 enjoy peace with the Elders (Tpsa^.-rcpw)') that are 
 set over it." Again : " Do ye, therefore, who 
 first laid the foundation of this sedition, submit 
 yourselves to your Elders, and be instructed into 
 repentance, bending the knee of your hearts ;'* 
 Epist. 47. 54, 57. 
 
 In these extracts we find an entire coincidence 
 with the language of the New Testament ; a plain 
 indication that in every Church there was a plu- 
 rality of Elders ; and a distinct recognition of the 
 idea that these Elders were rulers, in other words, 
 held a station of authority and government over 
 " the flock" of which they were officers. 
 
 In the Epistles of Ignatius, who lived at the 
 7* 
 
78 TESTIMONY OP 
 
 close of the first, and the beginning of the second 
 century, we find much said about Eiders, {Trpca'yv- 
 Tspoi.) The following is a specimen of the man- 
 ner in which he speaks of them, in connexion 
 with the other classes of Church officers. " Obey 
 your Bishop and the Presbytery (the Eldership) 
 with an entire afi^ection ;" Epistle to the Ephe- 
 sians, 20. " I exhort you that you study to do 
 all things in a divine concord : your Bishop pre- 
 siding in the place of God, your Elders in the 
 place of the council of the Apostles, and your 
 Deacons, most dear to me, being intrusted with 
 the ministry of Jesus Christ." Again : " Do 
 nothing without your Bishop and Elders ;" Epistle 
 to the Magnesians, 6. 7. " It is, therefore, ne- 
 cessary, that, as ye do, so without your Bishop 
 you should do nothing ; also be ye subject to 
 your Elders, as to the Apostles of Jesus Christ 
 our hope." Again : " Let all reverence the Dea- 
 cons as Jesus Christ, and the Bishop as the Fa- 
 ther, and the Elders as the Sanhedrim of God, 
 and the college of the Apostles." Again : " Fare 
 ye well in Jesus Christ ; being subject to your 
 Bishop as to the command of God, and so likewise 
 to the Presbytery, (or Eldership ;") Epistle to the 
 Trallians, 2. 3, 13. " Which also I salute in the 
 blood of Jesus Christ, which is our eternal and 
 lindefiled joy ; especially if they are at unity with 
 the Bishop and Elders, who are with him, and the 
 Deacons appointed according to the mind ol' Jesus 
 Christ. Again : " There is one cup, and one altar, 
 and also one Bishop, together with his Eldership, 
 and the Deacons, my fellow-servants." Again : 
 *' I cried whilst I was among you ; I spake with a 
 loud voice, Attend to the Bishop, to the Eldership, 
 and to the Deacons;" Epistle to the Philadel- 
 
THE FATHERS. 79^ 
 
 phians, Pref. 4. 7. " See that ye all follow your 
 Bisliop, as Jesus Christ, the Father, and the Pres- 
 bytery (or Eldership) as the Apostles ; and rever- 
 ence the Deacons as the command of God." 
 Again: " It is not lawful without the Bishop either 
 to baptize, or to celebrate the holy communion." 
 Again : " I salute your very worthy Bishop ; and 
 your venerable Eldership, and your Deacons, my 
 fellow-servants ;" Epistle to the Smyrneans, 8. 12. 
 " My soul be security for them who submit to 
 their Bishop, with their Elders and Deacons;" 
 Epistle to Poly carp, 6. 
 
 The friends of Prelacy have long been in the 
 habit of insisting much on these and similar quo- 
 tations from Ignatius, as affording decisive support 
 to their system. But I must think that their con- 
 fidence in this witness has not the smallest solid 
 ground.* For, let it be remembered that these 
 several Epistles were directed, not to large, prela- 
 tical dioceses, but to single parishes, or congrega- 
 tions ; that in each of these Churches there are 
 represented as being, a Bishop, a Presbytery, or 
 bench of Elders, and a plurality of Deacons ; and, 
 therefore, that it is parochial episcopacy, and not 
 diocesan, or prelatical, that is here described. And, 
 accordingly, we learn from different parts of these 
 Epistles, that, in the time of Ignatius, each Bishop 
 had under his pastoral charge, but " one altar," 
 " one cup," '• one loaf," i. e. one communion table, 
 and that the people under his care habitually came 
 
 * Intelligent readers are no doubt, aware that the 
 genuineness of the Epistles of Ignatius has been called 
 m question by a great majority of Protestant divines, 
 and is not only really but deeply questionable. All in- 
 quiry, however, on this subject is waived for the 
 present. 
 
80 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 togeth-r to " one place," in other words, formed 
 "one assembly." 
 
 Agreeably to this view of the subject, it is worthy 
 of notice that Ignatius calls the Presbyters, or 
 Elders of each Church which he addresses, the 
 aw£6pioi> Qtov, that is the Sanhedrim, or council of 
 God. But with what propriety could he designate 
 them by this title, the popular title of a well known 
 Jewish ecclesiastical court, if they did not consti- 
 tute a corresponding court in the Christian Church ; 
 and if the whole body of ecclesiastical officers 
 which he addressed from time to time were not the 
 rulers of a single flock? The truth is, the whole 
 language of Ignatius, in reference to the officers 
 of whom he speaks, is strictly Presbyterian, and 
 cannot be considered as affording countenance to 
 any other system without doing violence to its na- 
 tural import. 
 
 Accordingly, it is worthy of notice, that the 
 learned Mr. Joseph I\Iede, a very able and zealous 
 divine of the Church of England, and a decisive 
 advocate of diocesan Episcopacy, gives a represen- 
 tation of the state of things in the time of Ignatius, 
 which, in substance, falls in with our account of 
 the character of the Churches addressed by that 
 Father. " It should seem," says he, " that in 
 those first times, before dioceses were divided into 
 those lesser and subordinate Churches, which we 
 call parishes, and Presbyters assigned to them, 
 they had only one altar to a Church, taking Church 
 for the company or corporation of the faithful, 
 united under one Bishop or Pastor ; and that was 
 in the city or place where the Bishop had his see 
 and residence. Unless this were so, whence came 
 it else, that a schismatical Bishop was said, cori' 
 
THE FATHERS. 81 
 
 stituere^ or coUocare aliiid altarel And that a 
 Bishop and an Altar, are made correlatives?"* 
 
 The same fact is asserted hy Bishop Stilh'ng- 
 fleet, in his Sermon against Separation. "Though, 
 when the Churches increased," says he, " the oc- 
 casional meetings were frequent in several places; 
 yet still there was but one Church, and one Altar, 
 and one Baptistery, and one Bishop, with many 
 Presbyters attending him. Which is so plain in 
 antiquity, as to the Churches planted by the 
 Apostles themselves, that none but a great stranger 
 to the history of the Church can call it in question. 
 It is true, after some time, in the great cities, they 
 had distinct places allotted, and Presbyters fixed 
 among them ; and such allotments were called TV- 
 tuli at Rome, Laura at Alexandria, and parishes 
 in other places. But these were never thought, 
 then, to be new Churches, or to have any inde- 
 pendent government in themselves ; but were all in 
 subjection to the Bishop, and his college of Pres- 
 byters ; of which multitudes of examples might be 
 brought from the most authentic testimonies of an- 
 tiquity, if a thing so evident needed any proof at all. 
 And yet this distribution, (into distinct Tituli,) even 
 in cities, was looked on as so uncommon in those 
 elder times, that Epiphanius takes notice of it as 
 an extraordinary thing at Alexandria; and, there- 
 fore, it is probably supposed that there was no 
 such thing in all the cities of Crete in his time." 
 
 That the Elders spoken of so frequently by Ig- 
 natius, were all the officers of a single parish or 
 Congregation, is also evident, not only from the 
 titles which he gives to the body of Elders; but 
 also from the duties which he represents as incum- 
 
 * Discourse on Church Government, p. 48. 
 
82 TESXmONY OP 
 
 bent on the Bishop with whom these Elders were 
 connected. It is represented as the duty of the 
 Bishop to be present with his flock whenever they 
 came together; to conduct their prayers; and to 
 preside in all their religious assemblies. He is 
 spoken of as the only person who was authorized, 
 in ordinary cases, to administer Baptism, and the 
 Lord's Supper ; as the person by whom all mar- 
 riages among the people of his charge were cele- 
 brated ; whose duty it was to be personally ac- 
 quainted with all his flock ; who was bound to take 
 notice, with his own eye, of those who were ab- 
 sent from public worship ; to attend to the wants 
 of the widows and all the poor of his congregation ; 
 to seek out all by name, and not to overlook even 
 the servant men and maids under his care ; to in- 
 struct the children; to reconcile diflferences, and, 
 in short, to attend to all those objects, in detail, 
 which are considered as devolving on every faith- 
 ful parish minister. Now, all these representations 
 so plainly apply to the pastor of a single Church, 
 and are so evidently impossible to be realized by 
 any other person, that it would be a waste of time, 
 and an insult to common sense, to attempt a more 
 formal establishment of the position. 
 
 But if the Bishop of Ignatius, be a simple paro- 
 chial Bishop, in other words, the ordinary pastor 
 of a congregation ; and if the Presbytery, or bench 
 of Elders of which he so frequently speaks, are to 
 be cons^idered as all belonging to a single parish ; 
 then we can scarcely avoid the conclusion, that 
 they were not all of them employed in public 
 preaching but that their principal employment 
 was, as assistants of the pastor, and in union with 
 him, to discharge the duties of Inspectors and Ru- 
 lers of the Church. 
 
THE FATHERS. 83 
 
 Again; Polycarp, writing to the Church of Phi- 
 lippi, most evidently and unequivocally conveys 
 the idea, that there was a plurality of Presbyters, 
 (or Elders,) not only in his own Church, but also 
 in that to which he wrote; and that they were the 
 regularly appointed ecclesiastical rulers. He ad- 
 dressed them thus: "Let the Elders be tender and 
 merciful, compassionate towards all, reclaiming 
 those which have fallen into errors ; visiting all 
 that are weak ; not negligent of the widow and the 
 orphan, and of him that is poor; but ever provid- 
 ing what is honest in the sight of God and men ; 
 abstaining from all wrath, respect of persons, and 
 unrighteous judgment; avoiding covetousness; not 
 hastily believing a report against any man; not 
 rigid in judgment ; knowing that we are all faulty, 
 and obnoxious to judgment."* 
 
 Cyprian, in his 29th Epistle, directed "to his 
 brethren, the Elders and Deacons," expresses him- 
 self in the following terms : 
 
 "You are to take notice that I have ordained 
 Saturus, a reader, and the confessor Optatus, a sub- 
 deacon ; whom we had all before agreed to place 
 in the rank and degree next to that of the clergy. 
 Upon Easter day, we made one or two trials of 
 Saturus, in reading, when we were approving our 
 readers before the teaching Presbyters ; and then 
 appointed Optatus from among the readers, to be a 
 teacher of the hearers." On this passage, the Rev. 
 Mr. Marshall, the Episcopal translator and com- 
 mentator on Cyprian, remarks: "It is hence, I 
 think, apparent that all Presbyters were not teach- 
 ers, but assisted the Bishop in other parts of his 
 office." And Bishop Fell, another editor and com- 
 
 * Epistle to the Philippians, Sect. 6, 
 
81 TESTIMONY OP 
 
 mentator on Cyprian, remarks on the same passage 
 in the following words : " Inter Presbyteros rectorcii 
 et doctores olim disti7ixisse videtur divus Paulas ; 
 1 Tim. V. 17." i. e. Paul appears to have made 
 a distinction, in ancient times, between teaching 
 and ruling Elders, in 1 Timothy v. 17. Here two 
 learned Episcopal divines explicitly acknowledge 
 the distinction between teaching and ruling Elders 
 in the primitive Church; and one of them an emi- 
 nent Bishop, not only allows that Cyprian referred 
 to this distinction but also quotes as an authority 
 for it the principal text which Presbyterians adduce 
 for the same purpose. 
 
 There is another passage in Cyprian's 40th 
 Epistle, which the very learned authors of the Jus 
 Divinmn Pegiminis Ecdesiastici* consider as 
 containing an allusion to the office in question, and 
 which may not be unworthy of notice. At the 
 time when Cyprian wrote this Letter, he was in 
 a state of exile from his Church. It is directed to 
 the Eiders, Deacons, and People at large, of his 
 congregation ; and contains an expression of his 
 wish that one Numidicus should be reckoned, or 
 have a place assigned him with the Presbyters, or 
 Elders of that Church, and sit with the clergy. 
 And yet it would appear that this was only as a 
 ruling, and not as a teaching Elder that he was to 
 be received by them, for Cyprian subjoins: He 
 shall be promoted, if God permit, to a more distin- 
 guished place in his religion, (or his religious 
 function,) when, by the protection of Providence, 
 I shall return." Here, it seems, the Presbytery, 
 or Eldership in that Church were directed imme- 
 
 * Jus Divinum. &c., p. 171, 172. 
 
THE FATHERS. 85 
 
 diately to receive, or set apart, this man to the of- 
 fice of Elder among them ; and their absent pastor, 
 or Bishop, promises that, when he returns, Numi- 
 dicus shall be promoted to a still higher office. 
 Now the only supposable promotion in this case 
 was to the office of a Teaching Elder. That the 
 passage is very naturally susceptible of this con- 
 struction, none will deny. At any rate, it is adopt- 
 ed by some of the most mature divines and scho- 
 lars in England, of the seventeenth century ; how- 
 ever unceremoniously it may have been since 
 rejected by less competent judges. 
 
 Accordingly, it is worthy of notice, that the 
 famous Henry Dodwell, one of the most learned 
 and zealous Episcopal writers in the British 
 empire, of the seventeenth century, notwithstand- 
 ing his determined opposition to every thing 
 peculiarly Presbyterian ; yet, in his celebrated 
 Dissertations on Cyprian, freely grants, that, in 
 the days of that Father there were Elders or 
 Presbyters in the Christian Church who did not 
 preach. He represents this fact as undoubtedly 
 taught by Cyprian, in his Epistles, and par- 
 ticularly refers, for proof, to the first of the 
 passages cited in a preceding page. Nay, he 
 expresses a full persuasion that a similar fact 
 existed in the apostolic Church, and quotes 
 1 Timothy v. 17, as a decisive confirmation of 
 his opinion.* The notion, then, that all testimony 
 supposed to be derived from Cyprian in favour 
 of non-preaching Elders, is a dream of modern 
 sectaries, for the purpose of carrying a favourite 
 point in Church government, is plainly not tenable. 
 
 * Dissertation es Cyprianicse, vi. Sect. 4, 5, 6. 
 S 
 
86 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 Some of the best talents and most mature learn- 
 ing in the Christian Church, without any leaning 
 to Presbyterian opinions, have decisively inter- 
 preted that Father as setting forth such a class of 
 Elders. 
 
 Hippolytus, who was nearly contemporary 
 with Cyprian, repeatedly speaks of these Elders 
 as existing, and as exercising authority in his 
 day. In his Tract " jVgainst the heresy of a 
 certain Noetus," he states, in the beginning of 
 the work, that Noetus being charged with certain 
 heretical opinions, the " Elders (TrpealivTEpoi) cited 
 him to appear, and examined him in the pre- 
 sence of the Church ;" that Noetus having at 
 first denied, but afterwards openly avowed the 
 opinions imputed to him — " the Elders sum- 
 moned him a second time, condemned him, and 
 cast him out of the Church." It seems then, 
 that in the third century there were Elders, 
 whose duty it was to examine, try, and excom- 
 municate such members of the Church as were 
 found delinquent with respect to either doctrine or 
 morals. In this case, a part, at least, of the trial, 
 seems to have been conducted " in the presence 
 of the Church," of which they were rulers ; but 
 still the trial, conviction, and excommunication 
 were by the Elders. 
 
 Origen, w^ho, it is well known, flourished a 
 little more than two hundred years after Christ, 
 in the following passage, has a plain reference 
 to the class of of^cers under consideration. 
 " There are some Rulers appointed whose duty 
 it is to inquire concerning the manners and con- 
 versation of those who are admitted, that they 
 may debar from the congregation such as com- 
 
THE FATHERS. 87 
 
 mit filthiness."* This passage is replete with 
 important and conclusive testimony. It not only 
 proves, that, in the time of Origen, there were 
 Rulers in *he Christian Church ; but that the 
 chief and peculiar business of these Rulers was 
 precisely that which we assign to Ruling Elders, 
 viz. : inspecting the members of the Church ; 
 watching over all its spiritual interests ; admit- 
 ting to its communion those who, on inquiry, 
 were found worthy ; and debarring those who 
 were in any way immoral. It is perfectly evi- 
 dent from this passage alone, that, in the days 
 of this learned Father, the government and dis- 
 cipline of the Church were not conducted by the 
 body of the communicants at large, but by a 
 Bench of Rulers. 
 
 The same important fact is also indubitably 
 implied in the language of Origen in another 
 place. In his seventh Homily on Joshua, he 
 speaks of one who, " having been thrice admo- 
 nished, and being unwilling to repent, was cut 
 orT from the Church by its rulers." Those who 
 cut off then, from the communion of the Church, 
 and restored the penitent, in the time of Origen, 
 were not the body of the communicants, but a 
 bench of Elders. This great historical fact is, 
 moreover, explicitly established, as having existed 
 in the third century, (the age of Origen,) by the 
 Magdeburgh Centuriators, a body of very h^arned 
 Lutheran Divines, contemporary with iMelancthon, 
 and whose authority as ecclesiastical historians, 
 is deservedly high. "The right," say they, 
 *' of deciding respecting such as were to be ex- 
 
 * Contra Celsum. Lib. iii. p. 143. Edit. Cantab. 
 1677. 
 
88 TESTIMONY OP 
 
 communicated, or of receiving, upon their repent- 
 ance, such as had fallen, was vested in the 
 Elders of the Church."* 
 
 In the Gesta Purgationis Caeciliani et Felicis, 
 preserved at the end of Optatus, and commonly 
 referred to the beginning of the fourth century, 
 we meet with the following enumeration of 
 Church officers : " Fresbi/teri, Diaconi et Se- 
 niores,^'' i. e. " The Presbyters, the Deacons, and 
 the Elders." And a little after is added : — 
 *' Adhibete co7iclericos, et Seniores plebis, eccle- 
 siasticos viros, et inquirant diligenter qua sint 
 istcB dissensiones,^^ i. e. " Call the fellow clergy- 
 men and Elders of the people, ecclesiastical men, 
 and let them inquire diligently what are these 
 dissensions." In that assembly, likewise, several 
 letters were produced and read ; one addressed, 
 Clero et Senioribus, i. e. " to the clergy and the 
 Elders ;" and another, Clerinis et Senioribus^ i. e. 
 *' to the Clergymen and the Elders." Here, 
 then, is a class of men expressly recognized as 
 ecclesiastical men, or Church officers, who are 
 styled Elders ; who were constituent members 
 of a solemn ecclesiastical assembly, or judicatory ; 
 who are expressly charged with inquiring into 
 matters connected with the discipline of the 
 Church ; and yet carefully distinguished from the 
 Clergy, with whom they met, and officially united 
 in the transaction of business. If these be not the 
 Elders of whom we are in search, we may give 
 up all the rules of evidence. 
 
 Some, indeed, have said, that the phrase 
 ecclesiasticos viros, in one of the passages last 
 cited was not intended to designate Church 
 
 * Cent. ill. Cap. vii. p. 151. 
 
THE FATHEKS. 89 
 
 ofRcers at all ; that this phrase was early intro- 
 duced to distinguish " men of the Church," i. e. 
 Christians from Pagans, and other enemies of 
 Christ : and that it probably had some such 
 meaning, and nothing more, in the ancient re- 
 cords from which the foregoing extracts are 
 made. It is freely granted that the phrase, 
 eccleslastici viri, was, for a time employed, in 
 the Christian Church, as well as by the sur- 
 rounding heathen, in the sense, and for the pur- 
 pose just mentioned. That is, when Christians 
 were spoken of, as distinguished from Jews, 
 Infidels, Heretics, &c., they were called eccle- 
 siastical men, importing, that they did not belong 
 to Jewish Synagogues, or to heathen temples, 
 or to heretical sects ; but were adherents, or 
 members of the Church of Christ. But it is well 
 known, that this language was never employed 
 in this sense among Christians themselves, when 
 distinguishing one class of their own body from 
 another. When used in this case, it always 
 designated men in ecclesiastical office.* Besides, 
 in the passage before us, there can be no doubt 
 that the phrase under consideration was used 
 in the latter sense, and not in the former. 
 For the ecclesiastical men, in these passages 
 are represented as joined with the clergy, in 
 ecclesiastical functions; especially as directed 
 to investigate and settle ecclesiastical dissensions. 
 Surely this could neither be required nor ex- 
 pected of men who sustained no office, and were, 
 of course, invested with no authority in the 
 Church. 
 
 ♦Bingham's Origines EcclesiasUcae, Book i. chap- 
 ter i. section 8. 
 
 8* 
 
90 TESTIMONY OP 
 
 Another objection which has been confidently 
 urged against that construction which we have 
 put upon the extracts from the Gesta Purga- 
 tionis^ is that the Seniors or Elders, of which 
 they speak, are mentioned after Deacons, and, 
 therefore, are to be considered as inferior to 
 them. " Now," say these objectors, " the Ruling 
 Elders of the Presbyterian Church are always 
 considered and represented, by the advocates of 
 that denomination, as above Deacons, rather 
 than below them, on the scale of ecclesiastical 
 precedence. Of course, the Seniors here spoken 
 of, cannot belong to the class of officers for 
 which they contend." To this objection it is 
 sufficient to reply, that the mere order in which 
 titles are arranged, cannot be considered as 
 decisive of the relative rank with which these 
 titles are connected. At once to illustrate and 
 confirm this remark, a single example will suffice. 
 In the Epistles of Ignatius, when he speaks of 
 Bishops, or Pastors, Elders and Deacons, no 
 intelligent reader supposes that he means to 
 represent the second and third of these classes 
 of offices as inferior to the first. Yet, in his 
 Epistle to the Trallians, he speaks thus ; " Let 
 all reverence the Deacons as Jesus Christ ; and 
 the Bishop as the Father ; and the Presbyters 
 as the Sanhedrim of God, and the college of the 
 Apostles." This may argue carelessness or 
 haste in writing; or it may argue a mind in 
 the writer, less intent on ecclesiastical prece- 
 dence, than on more important matters ; but it 
 surf^ly cannot be considered as deciding the rela- 
 tive standing of the different officers of whom he 
 speaks. 
 
 Besides, let it be recollected, that the date of 
 
THE FATHERS. 91 
 
 these Gesta was about the year of Christ, 303, 
 when tlie ofiice of Ruling Elder, if we may 
 credit the very explicit testimony of Ambrose, 
 which will be stated presently, was going gra- 
 dually out of use. If so, nothing was more 
 natural than that the writers and speakers of 
 that day should be disposed to throw it on the 
 back ground, and rather degrade than advance 
 its appropriate rank in the scale of ecclesiastical 
 honour. 
 
 There is also a passage in Optatus, of the 
 African Church, who flourished a little after the 
 middle of the fourth century, which corroborates 
 the foregoing quotations. It is as follows : " The 
 Church had many ornaments of gold and silver, 
 which she could neither bury in the earth, nor 
 carry away with her, which she committed to 
 the Elders, (Senioribus,) as to faithful persons."* 
 There can scarcely be a doubt that these were 
 not merely aged persons, but official men ; and, 
 especially, as we know, from the writings of 
 Cyprian, who resided in the same country, that 
 there were such officers in the African Church, a 
 few years before. 
 
 Ambrose, who lived in the fourth century ,f in 
 his commentary on 1 Timothy v. 1, has the 
 following passage: "For, indeed, among all 
 nations old age is honourable. Hence it is that 
 the Synagogue, and afterwards the Church, had 
 
 *Optat. Lib. i. p. 41, edit. Paris, 1631. 
 
 fit is not forgotten that learned men have generally 
 considered the real name of this writer as Hilary. Yet 
 as the name of Ambrose is more frequently given to 
 him, especially by many writers hereafter to be quoted, 
 the latter name will be more intelligible, and, therefore, 
 more convenient. 
 
92 TESTIMONY OP 
 
 Elders, without whose counsel nothing was done 
 in the Church ; which by what negligence it 
 grew into disuse I know not, unless, perhaps, by 
 the sloth, or rather by the pride of the Teachers, 
 while they alone wished to appear something." 
 The great body of the Prelatists, as well as 
 some others, have laboured hard to divest this 
 passage of its plain and pointed testimony in 
 favour of the office of Ruling Elder. They 
 insist upon it that the pious Father had no refer- 
 ence whatever to ecclesiastical officers, but only 
 to aged persons, and that he meant to say 
 nothing more than that, formerly, in the Syna- 
 gogue, and afterwards in the Church, there were 
 old men, whom it was customary to consult; 
 which practice, however, at the time in which 
 he wrote, was generally laid aside. This per- 
 version of an obvious meaning, is really so 
 strange and extravagant, that the formality of 
 a serious refutation seems scarcely necessary. 
 Can any reflecting man believe that Ambrose 
 designed only to inform his readers that in the 
 Jewish Synagogues, there were actually persons 
 who had attained a considerable age ; that this 
 was also, afterwards the case in the Christian 
 Church ; and that these aged persons were gene- 
 rally consulted ? This would have been a sage 
 remark indeed ! Was there ever a community 
 of any extent, either ecclesiastical or civil, which 
 did not include some aged persons? Or was 
 there ever a state of society, or an age of the 
 world, in which the practice of consulting the 
 aged and experienced had fallen into disuse? 
 That thinking, candid minds, should be able to 
 satisfy themselves with such a gloss, is truly 
 wonderful. It is certainly no argument in favour 
 
THE FATHERS. 93 
 
 of this construction of the lanfTuajre of Ambrose, 
 that he prefaces his statement respecting the 
 Synagogue and the Church, by remarking, that 
 " among all nations old age is honourable." 
 Surely no remark could be more natural or 
 appropriate, when he was about to state, that 
 from the earliest period of the Christian Church, 
 and long before in the Synagogue, all their 
 affairs had been managed by colleges of Elders, 
 (u title importing a kind of homage to age and 
 experience,) without whose counsel nothing was 
 done. 
 
 But there is a clause in this extract from Am- 
 brose, which precludes all doubt that he intended 
 to allude to a class of Church officers, and not 
 merely to old age. It is this : " Which by what 
 negligence it grew into disuse, I know not, unless, 
 perhaps, by the sloth, or rather by the pride of 
 the Teachers, who wished alone to appear some- 
 thing." It is very conceivable and obvious that 
 both the pride and the sloth of the Teachers, or 
 teaching Elders, should render them willing to 
 get rid of a bench of officers of equal power with 
 themselves, as rulers in the Church, and, conse- 
 quently, able to control their wishes in cases of 
 discipline. But it cannot easily be conceived why 
 either sloth or pride should render any so particu- 
 larly averse to all consultation with the aged and 
 experienced, in preference to the young, on the 
 affairs of the Church ; especially if these aged per- 
 sons bore no office, and there was, of course, no 
 official obligation to be governed by their advice, 
 as the gloss under consideration supposes. It beinc; 
 evident, then, that a class of officers was here m 
 tended, the question arises, what class of Presby- 
 ters, or Elders, was that which had grown into 
 
94 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 disuse in the fourth century? Not teaching Pros- 
 byters, surely ; for every one knows that that class 
 of Presbyters had not become obsolete in Ambrose's 
 time. His own writings amply attest the reverse. 
 And every one also knows that this class of Church 
 officers has never been laid aside, or even dimi- 
 nished in number, to the present day. 
 
 It is worthy of very particular notice here, also, 
 as no small confirmation of the construction which 
 we put upon the words of Ambrose, that all the 
 most learned and able of the Reformers, and a 
 great number of others, the most competent judges 
 in such matters, from the Reformation to the pre- 
 sent time, have concurred in adopting the same 
 construction, and have considered the worthy 
 Father as referring to a class of Elders who held 
 the place of inspectors and rulers in the Church. 
 Learned Lutherans, and Episcopalians, as well as 
 Calvinists, almost without number, have united in 
 the interpretation of this Father, which we have 
 given with a degree of harmony truly wonderful, 
 if that interpretation be entirely erroneous. Is it 
 less likely that Luther, and Melancthon,and Bucer, 
 and VVhitgift, and Zanchius, and Peter Martyr, 
 who had no sectarian or private views to serve, 
 should be able correctly to read and understand 
 Ambrose, than that modern and more superficial 
 scholars should be betrayed into a mistaken con- 
 struction, on the side in favour of which their feel- 
 ings were strongly enlisted? No disrespect what- 
 ever is intended to the latter; but it cannot be 
 doubted that a great preponderancy of testimony, 
 both as to numbers and competency, is on the side 
 of the former. 
 
 Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, who also lived to- 
 »vard the close of the fourth century, often refers 
 
THE FATHERS. 95 
 
 to this class of oflicers in his writings. Thus, in 
 his work, Contra Crcsconlum Grammatictaii, 
 Lib. iii. Cajo, 56, he speaks of '' Feregrinus^ Frcs- 
 byter, et Sen lores Ecclesice Musf/ica?iceregionis ;^^ 
 i. e. Peregrine, the Presbyter, and the Elders of 
 the Church, of the Mustican district." And again, 
 he addresses one of his Epistles intended for his 
 Church at Hippo, in the following manner : " Di- 
 lectissniis Fratribiis, Clero, Senioribus et univer- 
 see Flebi Ecdesice Hipponensis;'''' Epist. 137 ; i. e. 
 " To the beloved brethren, the Clergy, the Elders, 
 and all the people of the Church at Hippo." 
 There were some Elders, then, in the time of Au- 
 gustine, whom he distinguishes from other Pres- 
 byters, and whom he also distinguishes from the 
 Clergy. And, lest any should suppose that the 
 Elders here spoken of were not officers, but mere 
 private members of the Church, he distinguishes 
 them from the plebs imiversa of the Church. 
 Augustine, also, in another place, [De Verb. Doni, 
 Ser;?i. 19,) speaks thus: " Cum ob errorem ali- 
 quem a Senioribus arguuntur, et imputatur alicui 
 de illis, cur ebrius fuerit ? cur res alienas perva- 
 serit?" &c., i. e. " When they are reprehended 
 for any error by the Elders, and are upbraided with 
 having been drunk, or with having been guilty of 
 theft, &c." Can any one doubt that Augustine is 
 here speaking, not of mere aged persons, but of 
 Church officers, whose duty it was to inspect the 
 morals of the members of the Church, and to " up- 
 braid," or reprove those who had been reprehen- 
 sible in their deportment ? It would be easy to pro- 
 duce, from the same Father, a number of other 
 quotations equally to our purpose. But P)ingham, 
 in his Origbies Ecclesiasiicn:^ Bishop Taylor, in 
 his " Episcopacy Asserted," and other learned Pre 
 
96 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 latists, have rendered this unnecessary, by making 
 an explicit acknowledgment, that Augustine re- 
 peatedly mentions these Seniors or Elders, as be- 
 longing to other Churches as well as his own, in 
 his time ; and that the same kind of Elders are 
 frequently referred to by other writers, both be- 
 fore and after Augustine, as then existing in the 
 Church ; as holding in it some kind of official sta- 
 tion ; and yet as distinguished from clergymen. It 
 is true, indeed, that Bingham insists upon it that 
 these were not Ruling Elders, in our sense of the 
 word ; but that they held some kind of office in the 
 Church, and yet were not public preachers, he ex- 
 plicitly grants. We ask nothing more. This is 
 quite sufficient for our purpose. 
 
 The ancient work, entitled " Apostolical Consti- 
 tutions," although by no means of Apostolical ori- 
 gin, was probably composed sometime between the 
 second and fifth centuries. The followinsr sitrnifi- 
 cant and pointed rule, extracted from that work, 
 will be considered by the intelligent reader as by 
 no means equivocal in its aspect : " To Presbyters 
 also, when they labour assiduously in the word 
 and dcM2trine, let a double portion be assigned."* 
 Here is, obviously, a distinction between Presby- 
 ters who are employed in teaching, and those who 
 are not so employed. To what duties the others 
 devoted themselves is not stated ; but it is evident 
 that teaching made no part of their ordinary occu- 
 pation. We may take for granted that their duty 
 was to assist in the other spiritual concerns of the 
 Church, viz.: in maintaining good order and disci- 
 pline. This is precisely the distinction which 
 Presbyterians make, and which they believe to 
 
 * Apostol Constit. Lib. ii. Cap. 28. 
 
THE FATHERS. 97 
 
 have been made in the primitive Church. Accord- 
 ingly the Presbyters, in the same relic of Christian 
 antiquity, and in a subsequent part of the same 
 chapter, are called " the Counsellors of the Bishop, 
 or Pastor ; and the Sanhedrim, or Senate of the 
 Church :" expressions which entirely harmonize 
 with our views of the office of Elder in the ancient 
 Church. 
 
 To the same class of officers, Isodore of Hispala, 
 who flourished in the sixth century, seems to al- 
 lude, when, in giving directions as to the manner 
 in which pastors should conduct their official in- 
 structions, he says : Prms docendi sunt Seniores 
 plebis, ut per eos infra positifacilius doceantur;^^ 
 i. e. " The Elders of the people are first to be 
 taught, that by them such as are placed under 
 them, may be more easily instructed." Here again, 
 these Seniores are evidently spoken of as Church 
 officers, who were set over the people, and yet oc- 
 cupied a station inferior to that of the pastors, or 
 public preachers. 
 
 Nor does this class of officers appear to have 
 entirely ceased in the Church at as late a period as 
 that of Gregory the great, who wrote in the latter 
 part of the sixth century. In one of his Epistles 
 he gives the following direction : " If any thing 
 should come to your ears concerning any clergy- 
 man, which may be justly considered as matter of 
 offence, do not easily believe it ; but let truth be 
 diligently investigated by the Elders of the Church, 
 who maybe at hand, and then, if the character of 
 the act demand it, let the proper punishment fall 
 on the offender."* 
 
 *Epistola3, Lib. ii. Epist. 19 — quoted from the Politica 
 Ecclesiastica of Voetius, Par. ii. Lib. ii. Tract, iii. 
 
98 TESTIMONY OP 
 
 Here there is evidently a very distinct reference 
 to such a class of officers as that of which we are 
 speaking. They are distinguished from clergy- 
 men ; and yet they are represented as ecclesiasti- 
 cal officers, to whom it properly pertained to in- 
 vestigate ecclesiastical offences ; and to give advice 
 and direction in peculiarly delicate cases of disci- 
 pline. At an earlier period of the Church, indeed, 
 these Elders, as well as all other classes of eccle- 
 siastical men, were styled clergymen ; as we shall 
 have occasion more fully to show hereafter : but 
 from the fourth century and onward, Elders of this 
 class declined in numbers and in popularity, and 
 not long afterwards were in a great measure laid 
 aside, excepting by the humble and devoted wit- 
 nesses of the truth, of whose testimony we shall 
 speak in the next chapter. 
 
 There is another species of evidence here worthy 
 of notice. The representation which the fathers 
 give of the manner in which the Bishop or Pastor 
 and his Elders were commonly seated, when the 
 Church was assembled, and during the solemnities 
 of public worship, affords very strong evidence that 
 the mass of the Elders were such as it is the ob- 
 ject of this Essay to establish. We are told by 
 several of the early Fathers, that when the Church 
 was convened for public worship, the Bishop, ar 
 Pastor, was commonly seated on the middle of a 
 raised bench, or long semi-circular seat, at one end 
 of the Church; that his Elders were seated on each 
 side of him, on the same seat, or on seats imme- 
 diately adjoining, and commonly a little lower ;' 
 and that the Deacons commonly stood in front of 
 this bench, ready to giv."^ any notice, to execute 
 any order, or to perform any service which the 
 Pastor or Elders might think proper to direct, 
 
THE FATHERS. 99 
 
 This practice was evidently drawn from the Jewish 
 Synagogue. And, indeed, the order of assembling, 
 sitting, and worship in the Christian assemblies, 
 for the first two or three centuries, so strikingly 
 resembled that of the Synagogue, that Christian 
 Churches were frequently contemned, and opposed 
 as " Synagogues in disguise."* 
 
 This general fact is so well attested by the early 
 Christian writers, that it is unnecessary to detain 
 the reader by any formal proof of it. Now, if in 
 every Church, when assembled in ordinary cir- 
 cumstances, there were present a Pastor, Overseer, 
 or Bishop, and a body of Elders, sitting with him, 
 and counselling and aiding him in the inspection 
 and discipline of the Church; it is hardly necessary 
 to say, that these Elders could not all have been 
 such Presbyters as the friends of Prelacy contend 
 for, as their "second order of clergy." The sup- 
 position is absurd. They could only have been 
 such a bench of pious and venerable men, as were 
 chiefly employed in overseeing and ruling; and 
 corresponding, substantially, with the Elders of the 
 Presbyterian Church. It is true, indeed, the ad- 
 vocates of Prelacy endeavour to persuade us that 
 these Presbyters were the stated preachers in the 
 several congregations or worshipping assemblies 
 which were, as they suppose, comprehended in 
 the Bishop's charge. But this supposition is wholly 
 unsupported. Nay, it is directly contrary to the 
 whole current of early testimony on this subject. 
 The very same writers who inform us that there 
 were any Presbyters at all in the Christian Church 
 within the first three hundred years, represent a 
 plurality of them as sitting with the Bishop or 
 
 * Thorndike's Discourse on Religious Assemblies, p. 57. 
 
100 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 Pastor, and present in every worshipping assembly. 
 There is no system with which this statement can 
 be made essentially to agree, but that which is re- 
 ceived among Presbyterians. 
 
 Another strong argument in support of the doc- 
 trine of Ruling Elders, as drawn from the early 
 Fathers, is found in the abundant evidence which 
 their writings furnish, that, during the first three 
 or four centuries after Christ, the great body of the 
 Christian Presbyters did not ordinarily preach, in- 
 deed, never but by the special permission of the 
 Bishop or Pastor. The following statement by 
 the learned Bingham, in his Origines Ecclesiasticse, 
 Book ii. chapter iii. section 4, will be found con- 
 clusive on this point: 
 
 " The like observation may be made upon the 
 office of preaching. This was in the first place 
 the Bishop's office, which they commonly dis- 
 charged themselves, especially in the African 
 Churches. Which is the reason we so frequently 
 meet with the phrase, tractante Episcopo, ' the 
 Bishop preaching,' in the writings of Cyprian. For 
 then it was so much the office and custom of 
 Bishops to preach, that no Presbyter was permitted 
 to preach in their presence, till the time of 
 Austin, who, whilst he was a Presbyter was author- 
 ized by Valerius, his Bishop, to preach before 
 him. But that, as Possidius, the writer of his life 
 observes, was so contrary to the use and custom 
 of the African Churches, that many Bishops were 
 highly offended at it, and spoke against it; till the 
 consequences proved that such a permission was 
 of good use and service to the Church ; and then 
 several other Bishops granted their Presbyters 
 power and privilege to preach before them. So 
 that it was then a favour for the Presbyters to 
 
THE FATII£RS. lOl 
 
 preach in the presence of the Bishops, and wholly 
 at the Bishop's discretion, vvhetlier they would per- 
 mit them or not ; and when they did preach, it was 
 wholly potestate accepta, by the power and autho- 
 rity of the Bishops that appointed them. In the 
 Eastern Churches Presbyters were more commonly 
 employed to preach, as Possidius observes, when 
 he says Valerius brought the custom into Africa 
 from their example. And Jerome intimates as 
 much, when he complains of it as an ill custom 
 only in some Churches to forbid Presbyters to 
 preach. Chrysostom preached several of his ela- 
 borate discourses at Antioch, while he was but a 
 Presbyter; and so did Atticus at Constantinople: 
 and the same is observed to have been granted to 
 the Presbyters of Alexandria and Csesarea, in Cap- 
 padocia, and Cyprus, and other places. But still it 
 was but a grant of the Bishops; and Presbyters did 
 it by their authority and commission. And when- 
 ever Bishops saw just reason to forbid them, they 
 had power to limit or withdraw their commission 
 again: as both Socrates and S'^zomen testify, who 
 say that at Alexandria Presbyters were forbidden 
 to preach from the time that Arius raised a disturb- 
 ance in the Church. Thus we see what a power 
 Bishops anciently challenged and exercised over 
 Presbyters in the common and ordinary offices of 
 the Church: particularly for preaching. Bishops 
 always esteemed it their office as much as any 
 other." This statement is amply illustrated and 
 confirmed by the learned author by numerous re- 
 ference to early writers of the highest reuutation, 
 which it is altogether unnecessary to recite, on ac- 
 count of the notoriety of the fact alleged. 
 
 Can such a statement be contemplated a moment 
 without perceiving, that the mass oi* the Presbyters 
 9* 
 
102 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 or Elders, during the times here spoken of, were 
 a very different class of officers from those com- 
 monly styled " Presbyters," in the Papacy after- 
 wards, and in more modern Prelatical Churches? 
 The very circumstance of preaching making no 
 part of their ordinary function ; nay, that, in ordi- 
 nary cases, they were never allowed to do it, but 
 in virtue of a special permission, which is evi- 
 dently the import of thS whole account, unless we 
 make nonsense of it; places it beyond all doubt 
 that the authority which they received at ordina- 
 tion, did not really commission them to preach at 
 all; but that the Bishop only was the commis- 
 sioned preacher. This is exactly what Presbyte- 
 rians say. And if ever Ruling Elders or Deacons 
 among us, conduct social worship, and address the 
 people in public, it is always under the direction 
 of the Bishop or Pastor ; who may encourage or 
 arrest it as he pleases. It is vain to say, that 
 Presbyters in the Protestant Episcopal Church at 
 the present day cannot preach, or perform any 
 ecclesiastical act without the Bishop's permission. 
 This is an idle evasion. The fact is that every 
 one knows, that their original ordination, as Pres- 
 byters, or " Priests," as they are called, conveys 
 the full power to preach, administer sacraments, 
 and perform every duty of the ordinary parochial 
 ministration, statedly, and without any further let 
 or impediment. The cases then, are wholly un- 
 like. There were, evidently, in the days of Igna- 
 tius and Cyprian, of Chrysostom and Augustine, 
 of Socrates and Sozomen, some Elders who did 
 not ordinarily preach, and were not considered as 
 authorized to engage in this part of the public ser- 
 vice, without a special permission ; and who stood, 
 aot exactly, indeed, but very much on the same 
 
THE FATHERS. 103 
 
 ground, as to this matter, with the Elders of our 
 denomination. 
 
 The truth is, some of the very same writers who 
 inform us that Elders and Deacons were not ordi- 
 narily allowed to preach during the first three or 
 four centuries, also inform us, that laymen, m 
 cases of necessity, might preach by the Bishop's 
 permission. This at once illustrates and strength- 
 ens the Presbyterian argument. For the same au- 
 thority which might give a special permission in 
 each case, or a general permission, for a time, to 
 an Elder or Deacon to preach ; which permission, 
 it seems, might be revoked at pleasure, without 
 touching the official standing of the individual, 
 much less deposing him from office ; might also 
 authorize the merest layman in the whole parish 
 to perform the same service, whenever it was 
 judged expedient to give the license. 
 
 The truth of the matter seems to have been this. 
 A large majority of the officers called Elders, in 
 the first three centuries, were, no doubt. Ruling 
 Elders, ordained, it is probable, in the same man- 
 ner with the Teaching Elders, i. e. with " the 
 laying on of hands," and the same external solem- 
 nity in every respect. They were not qualified, 
 and were not expected, when ordained, to be 
 preachers ; but were selected, on account of their 
 piety, gravity, prudence, and experience, to assist 
 in inspection and government. When, however, 
 the Bishop or Pastor, who was the stated preacher, 
 was sick, or absent, he might direct a Ruling El- 
 der to take his place, on a single occasion, or for 
 a few Sabbaths. But this function made no part 
 of their stated work ; and they seldom engaged in 
 it. After a while, however, these Elders, like the 
 Bishops on the one hand, and the Deacons on the 
 
104 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 Other, began to aspire ; were more and more fre 
 quently permitted to preach ; until, at length, non- 
 preaching Elders were chiefly banished from the 
 Church. As this was a gradual thing, they were, 
 of course, retained in some Churches longer than 
 others. They were, probably, first laid aside in 
 large cities, where ambition was most prevalent, 
 laxity of morals most indulged, and strict discipline 
 most unpopular. In this way things proceeded, 
 until this class of officers was almost wholly lost 
 sight of in the Christian community. 
 
 One more testimony, by no means unimportant, 
 of the existence of this office in the primitive 
 Church, is to be found in the Rev. Dr. Buchanan's 
 account of the Syrian Christians, contained in 
 his Asiatic Researches. It will be borne in mind 
 that the learned and pious author considers those 
 Christians as having settled in the East, within the 
 first three centuries after Christ, before the corrup- 
 tions of the Church of Rome had been introduced, 
 and when the original simplicity of Gospel order 
 had been but in a small degree invaded. Sepa- 
 rating from the Western Church at that early pe- 
 riod, and remaining, for many centuries, almost 
 wholly secluded from the rest of the world, they 
 were found in a great measure free from the inno- 
 vations and superstitions of the Papacy. Now, if 
 Ruling Elders had any existence in the Christian 
 Church within the first three hundred years, as 
 Ambrose expressly declares they had, we might 
 expect to find the Syrian Christians, in their seclu- 
 sion, retaining some traces at least of this office in 
 their Churches. Accordingly, Dr. Buchanan, in 
 describing the circumstances of a visit which he 
 paid one of the Churches of this simple and highly 
 interesting people, speaks as follows : " When we 
 
THE FATHERS. 105 
 
 arrived, I was received at the door of the Church 
 by three Kasheeshas, that is Presbyters, or Priests, 
 who were habited in like manner, in white vest- 
 ments. Their names were Jesu, Zacharias, and 
 Urias, which they wrote down in my journal, each 
 of them adding to his name the title Kasheeska. 
 There were also present two Skimishanas, or Dea- 
 cons. The Elder Priest was a very intelligent 
 man, of reverend appearance, having a long white 
 beard, and of an affable and engaging deportment. 
 The three principal Christians, or Lay-Elders, be- 
 longing to the Church, were named Abraham, 
 Thomas, and Alexandres."* 
 
 This remarkable fact, it is believed belongs 
 most properly to the present chapter. For if these 
 simple Syrian Christians were really settled in the 
 East, as early as Dr. Buchanan seems, with good 
 reason, to suppose, and were, for many centuries 
 entirely secluded from all foreign influence; we 
 may consider them as having in operation among 
 them, substantially, that ecclesiastical system 
 which existed through the greater part of the 
 Christian Church, at the close of the third, and the 
 beginning of the fourth century; a kind of testi- 
 mony which, of course, falls in with our purpose 
 in examining the testimony of the early ages of the 
 Church. 
 
 Such then, is the amount of the testimony from 
 the Christian Fathers. They tell us, with a una- 
 nimity and frequency truly remarkable, that, in 
 every Church, there was a bench or college of El- 
 ders: that they sat with the Bishop or Pastor, as 
 an ecclesiastical judicatory, and with him ruled 
 
 * Christian Researches in Asia, p. 65. New York 
 EdiL 12mo. 1812. 
 
106 TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS. 
 
 the Church : that this bench or body of rulers 
 "was called by various names in different parts of 
 the world ; such as, Ecdesice Consessus,^ the Ses 
 sion or Consistory of the Church ; -w*^ -pzaSwipon 
 <rvvc6piovj the court or Sanhedrim of the Elders ; Ec- 
 clesice Se?iatus, the Senate of the Church; BouX»f 
 eKK\T]mai the Council of the Church, &c. &c.: that 
 they were always present with the Bishop or Pas- 
 tor when he presided in public worship: that he 
 did nothing of importance without consulting them: 
 that they seldom or never preached, unless in 
 cases of necessity, or when specially requested to 
 do so by the Pastor ; that they were more fre- 
 quently than otherwise called clergymen, like the 
 Elders who " laboured in the word and doctrine," 
 but sometimes distinguished from the clergy: that, 
 however, whether called clergymen or not, they 
 were " ecclesiastical men," that is, set apart for 
 ecclesiastical purposes, devoted to the spiritual rule 
 and edification of the Church : that all questions 
 of discipline, such as admitting members into the 
 Church, inspecting their Christian deportment, and 
 censuring, suspending, and excommunicating, were 
 decided by these Elders : and, finally, from all it 
 is apparent, that as discipline became unpopular, 
 and ecclesiastics more aspiring, the ruling part of 
 the Elder's office was gradually laid aside, and the 
 teaching part alone retained. 
 
ao7) 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 TESTIMONY OF THE WITNESSES FOR THE TRUTH 
 DURING THE DARK AGES. 
 
 It has been the habit of zealous' and high-toned 
 Prelatists, for more than two centuries past, as 
 well as of some Independents, to assert, that 
 Ruling Elders were unknown in the Christian 
 Church until about the year 1541 ; that then 
 Calvin invented the order, and introduced it into 
 the Church of Geneva. And some worthy men, 
 of other denominations, have allowed themselves, 
 with more haste than good advisement, to adopt 
 and repeat the assertion. It is an assertion which, 
 undoubtedly, cannot be made good; as the fol- 
 lowing testimonies will probably satisfy every 
 impartial reader. 
 
 At how early a period the Old Waldenses 
 took their rise is uncertain. In some of their 
 Confessions of Faith, and other ecclesiastical 
 documents, dated at the commencement, or soon 
 after the commencement, of the Reformation by 
 Luther, they speak of their Doctrine and Order 
 as having been handed down from father to son 
 for more than five hundred years. But Reinerius, 
 who himself lived about two hundred and fifty 
 years before Luther, who had once resided 
 among the Waldenses, but afterwards became 
 one of their bitterest persecutors, seems to ascribe 
 to that people a much earlier origin. " They 
 are more pernicious," says he, " to the Church 
 of Rome than any other sect of heretics, for 
 
108 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 three reasons: — 1. Because they are older than 
 any other sect ; for some say that they have 
 been ever since the time of Pope Sylvester, 
 (who was raised to the Papal chair in 314 ;) 
 and others say, from the time of the Apostles."^ 
 2. Because they are more extensively spread 
 than any other sect ; there being scarcely a 
 country into which they have not crept. 3. Be- 
 cause other sects are abominable to God for their 
 blasphemies ; but the Waldenses are more pious 
 than any other heretics ; they believe truly of 
 God, live justly before men, and receive all the 
 articles of the creed ; only they hate the Church 
 of Rome." 
 
 Now, John Paul Perrin, the well known his- 
 torian of the Waldenses, and who was himself 
 one of the ministers of that people, in a number 
 of places recognizes the office of Elder, distin- 
 guished from that of Pastor*, or Teacher, as 
 retained in their Churches. He expressly and 
 repeatedly represents their Synods as composed 
 of Ministers and Elders. The same writer 
 tells us that, in the year 1476, the Hussites, 
 being engaged in separating and reforming their 
 Churches from the Church of Rome, understood 
 that there were some Churches of the ancient 
 Waldenses in Austria, in which the purity of the 
 gospel was retained, and in which there were 
 many eminent Pastors. In order to ascertain 
 the truth of this account, they (the Hussites) 
 
 *Reinerius flourished about A. D. 1250, more than 
 250 years before the Reformation ; and, at that time, 
 he speaks of the Waldenses as an ancient people, of 
 too remote an origin to be traced with distinctness and 
 certainty. 
 
THE WITNESSES, ETC. 109 
 
 sent two of their ministers, and two Elders, to 
 inquire and ascertain what those flocks or con- 
 gregations were.* 
 
 The same historian, in the same work, speaks 
 of the Ministers, and Elders of the Bohemian 
 Churches. t Now the Bohemian brethren, it is 
 well known, were a branch of the same people 
 called VValdenses.l They had removed from 
 Picardy, in the north of France, about two 
 hundred years before the time of Huss and 
 Jerome, to Bohemia, and there, in conjunction 
 with many natives of the country, whom they 
 brought over to their opinions, established a 
 number of pure Churches, which long main- 
 tained the simplicity of the gospel. The un- 
 doubted existence of Ruling Elders, then, among 
 the Bohemian Brethren, alfords in itself, strong 
 presumptive proof that the same class of officers 
 existed in other branches of the same body. 
 And, accordingly, a Synod, of which we have 
 an account, as held in Piedmont, in Italy, in 
 1570, is represented, repeatedly, as made up of 
 *' Pastors and Elders." Again ; in the Form 
 of Government of the same people, in the chapter 
 on Excommunication, we find the following 
 direction respecting the disorderly, who refuse 
 to listen to private admonition ; — " Tell it to the 
 Church," that is, to the " Guides, whereby the 
 Church is ruled ;" and that we may be at no loss 
 who these " Rulers" were, we are told, in a pre- 
 
 * History of the Old Waldenses, Part ii. Book I, 
 Chap. 10. Book 2, Chap. 4. Book 5, Chap. 7. 
 
 f Part ii. Book 2. Chapter 9, 10. 
 
 4: History of the Waldenses, 4to. 1G55, published by 
 order of Cromwell. 
 
 10 
 
110 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 ceding chapter, that they were Elders chosen from 
 among the people for the purpose of governing ; 
 and informed that they were distinct from the 
 pastors. 
 
 The testimony of Perrin and others, is sup- 
 ported by that of M. Gilly, another historian 
 of the Waldenses, and also one of their Pastors. 
 In the Confession of Faith of that people, in- 
 serted at length in the " Addition " to this work, 
 and stated by the historian to have been the 
 Confession of the Ancient, as well as of the 
 Modern Waldenses, it is declared, (p. 490 — 
 Art. 31,) that " It is necessary for the Church to 
 have Pastors, to preach God's word ; to admi- 
 nister the sacraments, and to watch over the 
 sheep of Jesus Christ ; and also Elders and 
 Deacons, according to the rules of good and holy 
 Church discipline, and the practice of the primi- 
 tive Church." 
 
 Sir Samuel Moreland, who visited the Wal- 
 denses in the year 1656, and took unwearied 
 pains to learn from themselves their History, as 
 well as their Doctrine and Order; informs us 
 that, besides their Synodical meetings, which took 
 place once a year, when all candidates for the 
 pastoral office were commonly ordained, they had 
 also Consistories in their respective Churches, by 
 means of which pure Discipline was constantly 
 maintained.* 
 
 Accordingly, the Rev. Dr. Ranke, in his la- 
 boriously learned History of France, gives the 
 following account of the Waldenses and Albi- 
 genses, whom he very properly represents as 
 
 * History of the Evangelical Churches of Piedmont, 
 Book i. chapter viii. 
 
The witnesses, etc. Ill 
 
 the same people. " Their government and dis- 
 cipline were extremely simple. The youth in- 
 tended for the ministry among them, were placed 
 under the inspection of some of the elder barbcs, 
 or pastors, who trained them chiefly to the 
 knowledf^e of the Scriptures ; and when satisfied 
 of their proficiency, they received them as 
 preachers, with imposition of hands. Their pas- 
 tors were maintained by the voluntary ofTerings 
 of the people. The whole Church assembled 
 once a year, to treat of their general alTairs. 
 Contributions were then obtained ; and the com- 
 mon fund was divided for the year, among not 
 only the fixed pastors, but such as were itinerant, 
 and had no particular district or charge. If any 
 of them had fallen into scandal or sin, they were 
 prohibited from preaching, and thrown out of the 
 society. The pastors were assisted in their in- 
 spection of the people's morals, by Elders, whom 
 probably both pastors and people elected, and set 
 apart for that purpose."* 
 
 Further ; not only does Perrin speak of the 
 Ministers and Elders of the Bohemian Churches, 
 thereby plainly intimating that they had a class 
 of Elders distinct from their Pastors, or Preachers; 
 but the same thing is placed beyond the possi- 
 bility of doubt or question by the Bohemian 
 Brethren themselves, who, in the year 1535, 
 presented a Confession of their Faith, to Fer- 
 dinand, king of Hungary and Bohemia, with a 
 friendly and highly commendatory Preface by 
 Luther; and who, a number of years after- 
 ward published their " Plan of Government and 
 
 * History of France, Vol. iii. p. 203, 204. 
 
112 TESTIMONY OP 
 
 Discipline," which contains the following para- 
 graph : 
 
 " Elders {Preshyteri^ aeu Censores ynorum) 
 are honest, grave, pious men, chosen out of the 
 whole congregation, that they may act as guar- 
 dians of all the rest. To them authority is 
 given, (either alone, or in connexion with the 
 Pastor) to admonish and rebuke those who trans- 
 gress the prescribed rules, also to reconcile those 
 ■who are at variance, and to restore to order 
 whatever irregularity they may have noticed. 
 Likewise in secular matters, relating to domestic 
 concerns, the younger men and youths are in 
 the habit of asking their counsel, and of being 
 faithfully advised by them. From the example 
 and practice of the ancient Church, we believe 
 that this ought always to be done; see Exodus 
 xviii.21. — Deuteronomy i. 13. — 1 Cor. vi. 2,4,5. 
 —1 Tim. V, 17." 
 
 This, they say, at the close, " is the eccle- 
 siastical order which they and their forefathers 
 had had established among them for two hun- 
 dred years ;* which they derived from the word 
 of God ; which they maintained through much 
 persecution, and with much patience, and which 
 they had observed with much happy fruit to 
 themselves, and to the people of God."t 
 
 *The "Plan of Government and Discipline," from 
 which the above extracts are made, was drawn up by 
 their "General Synod "in 1616, and printed in 1632. 
 When, therefore, they declare that they and their fore- 
 fathers had enjoyed the same order for two hundred 
 years, it carries back the date of this system to 1416, 
 that is, to the time of John Huss; and, of course, nearly 
 a century before the birth of Calvin. 
 
 f Jo. Amos Comenii Historia Fratrum Bohemorum. 
 Ratio Discipline Ordinisque, &c., 11. 56. 68. 
 
THE WITNESSES, ETC. 113 
 
 And that all mistake might be precluded respect- 
 ing the real import of the above stated clauses, the 
 Bohemian historian and commentator, Comenius, 
 makes the following remarks on the Elders in 
 question : 
 
 " Presbyter, a Greek term, signifying the same 
 with Senior, in Latin, (an Elder,) is applied by 
 the Apostles both to the Pastors of the Church, 
 and to those who assisted them in taking care 
 of the flock, * who do not labour in the word and 
 doctrine;' 1 Timothy v. 17. Such are our 
 Elders; they are styled Judges of the congre- 
 gation, or Censors of the people, and also Ruling 
 Elders. 1 am not ignorant, indeed, that Hugo 
 Grotius, has laboured hard to prove that, in the 
 Apostles' days, there were no other Presbyters 
 than Pastors ; and that he assigns a different 
 meaning to the passage in 1 Timothy v. 17. 
 Yet, inasmuch as he finally confesses, that, 
 although such Elders of the Church as sit vvith 
 the Pastors in Ecclesiastical Judicatories, be an 
 institution of human prudence, they are, never- 
 theless, very useful, and ought by all means to 
 be retained, I hope no one will easily find any 
 reasonable objection. To guard against abuses, 
 he subjoins very judicious cautions, at the close 
 of chapter xi. of the book which he entitled, 
 De Imperio Summarum Fotestatum circa 
 Sacral* 
 
 In precisely the same manner are both the theory 
 and practice of the Bohemian Brethren understood 
 by the celebrated iMartin Bucer, a very learned 
 Lutheran divine, whose fame, throughout Europe, 
 
 * Annotaiiones ad Rationem Ordinis Fratrum Bohe- 
 morum, ad Cap. i. p. 68. 
 
 10* 
 
114 TESTIMONY OP 
 
 induced Archbishop Cranmer to invite him to Eng- 
 land, during the progress of the Reformation in that 
 country, where he received patronage and prefer- 
 ment, and was held in high estimation. Bucer was 
 a contemporary of the Bohemian worthies who 
 published the exhibition of their faiih and practice 
 above quoted, and, of course, had every opportu- 
 nity of knowing both its letter and spirit. He 
 speaks of it in the following terms : 
 
 " The Bohemian Brethren, (Picardi,)* who pub- 
 lished a Confession of their faith, in the year 1535, 
 with a Preface by Luther, and who almost alone 
 preserved in the world the purity of the doctrine, 
 and the vigour of the discipline of Christ, observed 
 an excellent rule for which we are compelled to 
 give them credit, and especially to praise that God 
 who thus wrought by them, notwithstanding those 
 brethren are preposterously despised by some learn- 
 ed men. The rule which they observe was this: 
 besides Ministers of the Word and Sacraments, 
 they had, in each Church, a bench or College of 
 men, excelling in gravity, and prudence, who per- 
 formed the duties of admonishing and correcting 
 offenders composing differences, and judically de- 
 ciding in cases of dispute. Of this kind of Elders, 
 Hilary (Ambrose) wrote, when he said : " There- 
 fore the Synagogue and afterwards the Church 
 
 * Bucer styles these worthy people, Fratres Picardi^ 
 in reference to their origin from the Waldenses, or rather 
 the branch called Albigenses in France, to which those 
 who migrated to Bohemia belonged. But the people to 
 whom he refers are ascertained with unerring certainty 
 by the " Confession of Faith" which he so precisely de- 
 scribes 
 
THE WITNESSES, ETC. 115 
 
 had Elders, without whose counsel nothing was 
 done."* 
 
 It would seem difficult to deny or resist this tes- 
 timony that the Bohemian Brethren held to Ruling 
 Elders, and actually maintained this class of otficers 
 in their Churches. Could Bucer, whom Mr. Mid- 
 dleton, in his BiographiaEvangelica, represents as 
 *' a man of immense learning," and who is spoken 
 of, by Bishop Burnet, as, " perhaps, inferior to 
 none of all the Reformers for learning;" could he 
 have been ignorant, either of the real meaning of 
 a public document, put forth in his own time, or of 
 the public and uniform practice of a body of pious 
 people, whom he seems to have regarded with so 
 much respect and affection, as witnesses for God 
 in a dark world ? It cannot be imagined. And 
 what gives additional weight to the testimony of 
 this illustrious man is that he seems to have had 
 no interest whatever in vindicating this class of 
 Church officers ; for it is not known that he ever 
 had any special inducement, from a sense of repu- 
 tation, or any other cause, to exert himself in 
 maintaining them ; and the latter part of his life 
 «vas spent in England in the service of the esta- 
 blished Church of that kingdom, in the bosom of 
 which he died. 
 
 As a further confirmation of Bucer's judgment 
 in reference to the Bohemian Brethren, the cele- 
 brated John Francis Buddreus, an eminently learn- 
 ed Lutheran divine of Germany, of the seventeenth 
 century, who gave an edition, with a large preface, 
 of the work of Comenius, in which the History of 
 the Bohemian Brethren, and their Form of Go- 
 
 * Scripta duo Adversaria. Latomi, &c. in Cap. De Ec- 
 clesisB Auctoritate, p. 159. 
 
116 TESTIMONY OP 
 
 vernment, are published, evidently understands 
 their plan in reference to the office of Ruling El- 
 der, precisely as Bucer and other learned men 
 have understood it. He employs the greater part 
 of his preface in recommending this office. And, 
 although he does not seem prepared to allow that 
 it existed, as a separate office, in the apostolic 
 Church ; yet he thinks that, virtually, and in sub- 
 stance, it did make part of the apostolic system 
 of supervision and order. He thinks, moreover, 
 that, without some such office, it is wholly impos- 
 sible to maintain pure morals, and sound discipline 
 in the Church of God ; and that the Bohemian 
 Brethren rendered a most important service to the 
 cause of truth and piety in maintaining it in their 
 ecclesiastical system.* 
 
 Luther, in some of his early writings, had ex- 
 pressed an unfavourable opinion of the Bohemian 
 Brethren ; but, upon being more fully informed of 
 their Doctrine and Order, and n)ore especially of 
 their provision for maintaining sound discipline, by 
 means of their Eldership in each congregation, he 
 changed his opinion, and became willing both to 
 speak and to write strongly in their favour. Hence, 
 his highly commendatory Preface, to their " Con- 
 fession of Faith," of which mention has been 
 already made. And hence, at a still later period, 
 the following strong expressions in favour of the 
 same people. " There hath not arisen any people, 
 since the times of the Apostles, whose Church hath 
 come nearer to the apostolical doctrine and order, 
 than the Brethren of Bohemia." And again: 
 " although these Brethren do not excel us in purity 
 
 * Jo. Francisci Buddaei, Praefatio de instauranda 
 DiscipUaa Ecclesiastica — Passim. 
 
THE WITNESSES, ETC. 117 
 
 of doctrine, (all the articles of faith with us being 
 sincerely and purely taken out of the word of 
 God,) yet in the ordinary discipline of the Church 
 which they use, and whereby they happily govern 
 the Churches, they go far beyond us, and are, in 
 this respect, far more praise-worthy. And we 
 cannot but acknowledge and yield this to them, 
 for the glory of God, and of his truth ; whereas 
 our people of Germany cannot be persuaded to be 
 willing to take the yoke of discipline upon them."* 
 
 It is presumed that no one, after impartially 
 weighing the foregoing testimonies, will listen, for 
 one moment, with any respect to the allegation, 
 that the plan of a Bench of Elders for ruling the 
 Church and conducting its discipline, was invented 
 by Calvin. But we may go further. The truth 
 is that, instead of the Waldenses, or Bohemian 
 Brethren taking this order of otficers from Calvin, 
 it may be alTirmed, that precisely the reverse was 
 the fact. We have satisfactory evidence that Cal- 
 vin took the hint from the Bohemian Brethren ; 
 and that the system which he afterwards estab- 
 lished in Geneva, was really suggested and prompt- 
 ed by the example of those pious suiTerers and wit- 
 nesses for the truth, who had this class of officers 
 in their Churches long before Calvin's day. This 
 will be made clearly to appear from the following 
 statement. 
 
 When Calvin first settled in Geneva, in 1536, 
 he found the Reformed Religion already intro- 
 duced, and to a considerable extent, supported, 
 under the ministery of Farel and Virigt, two bold 
 and faithful advocates of evangelical truth. Such, 
 however, was the opposition made to the doctrines 
 
 * Joh. A. Comenii Historia Bohem. Frat. Sect. 82. 
 
lis TESTIMONY OF 
 
 which they preached, and especially to the purity 
 of discipline which they struggled hard to establish, 
 by the licentious part of the inhabitants, among whom 
 were some of the leading Magistrates ; that, in 
 1538, Calvin and his Colleagues were expelled 
 from their places in the Genevan Church, because 
 they refused to administer the Lord's Supper to 
 the vilest of the population who chose to demand 
 the privilege. In a paroxysm of popular fury, 
 those faithful ministers of Christ were commanded 
 to leave the city within two days. During this 
 temporary triumph of error and profligacy, Calvin 
 retired to Strasburg, where he was appointed Pro- 
 fessor of Divinity and Pastor of a Church, and 
 where he remained nearly four years. 
 
 In 1540, the year before he was recalled to Ge- 
 neva, he corresponded with the Bohemian Bre- 
 thren, and made himself particularly acquainted 
 with their plan of Church government, which he 
 regarded with deep interest ; an interest, no doubt 
 greatly augmented by the sufferings which ho had 
 recently undergone in fruitless efforts to maintain 
 the purity of ecclesiastical discipline ; in which 
 efforts he had been baffled chiefly by the want of 
 such an efficient system as the Bohemian Churches 
 possessed. In the course of this correspondence, 
 while yet in exile for his fidelity, Calvin addressed 
 the Bohemian Pastors in the following pointed 
 terms : " I heartily congratulate your Churches, 
 upon which, besides sound doctrine, God hath 
 bestowed so many excellent gifts. Of these gifts, 
 it is none of the least to have such Pastors to 
 govern and order them ; to have a people themselves 
 so well affected and disposed ; to be constituted 
 jnder so noble a form of government ; to be adorn- 
 ed with the most excellent discipline, which we 
 
THE WITNESSES, ETC. 119 
 
 justly call most excellent, and, indeed, the only 
 bond by which obedience can be preserved. I am 
 sure we find with us, by woful experience, what 
 the worth of it is, by the want of it ; nor yet can 
 we by any means attain to it. On this account it 
 is, that I am often faint in my mind, and feeble in 
 the discharge of the duties of my oihce. Indeed I 
 should quite despair, did not this comfort me, that 
 the edification of the Church is always the work 
 of the Lord, which He himself will carry on by 
 his own power, though all help beside should fail. 
 Yet still it is a great and rare blessing to be aided 
 by so necessary a help. Therefore, I shall not 
 consider our Church as properly strengthened, 
 until they can be bound together by that bond." 
 And the pious historian, after giving this extract 
 frovn the venerable Reformer, adds : " It so hap- 
 pened, in the course of divine providence, that, not 
 long afterwards, this eminent man was recalled to 
 minister in the Church of Geneva, where he es- 
 tablished the very same kind of discipline, which 
 is now famed throughout the world."* 
 
 Testimony more direct and conclusive could 
 scarcely be desired. Comenius, himself a Bishop 
 of the Bohemian Brethren, surely knew what kind 
 of Eldership it was which was established among 
 the Churches of his own denomination. He says 
 it was the very same with that which Calvin after- 
 wards established in Geneva. We know, too, that 
 this venerable man, before he was expelled from 
 Geneva, in 1538, and while he was struggling 
 and suffering so much for want of an efficient 
 discipline, made no attempt to introduce the insti- 
 tution in question. But, during his painful exile 
 
 * Joh. A. Comenii Historia Bohem. Frat. Sect. 80. 
 
120 TESTIMONY OP 
 
 his attention is forcibly turned to the Bohemian 
 plan. He is greatly pleased with it ; speaks in 
 the strongest terms of its excellence ; declares that 
 he has no hope of any Church prospering until it 
 is introduced ; and the very next year, on his 
 return, makes it one of the conditions of his resum- 
 ing his pastoral Charge, that this plan of conduct- 
 ing the discipline of the Church, by a bench of 
 Elders, shall be received with him, and thus 
 causes it to be adopted in Geneva. 
 
 And yet the historian of the Waldenses, John 
 Paul Perrin, has been reproached, and insinuations 
 made unfavourable to his honesty, because he has 
 represented the Bohemian Brethren as having 
 ecclesiastical Elders distinct from their Ministers 
 of the gospel. How utterly unjust such reproaches 
 are, every one must now see. If there were ever 
 Ruling Elders in Geneva, they were found in the 
 Churches of Bohemia. Nor is it any solid objec- 
 tion to the fact, as we have stated it, that they had 
 some other features in their system of Churcn 
 order, which were not strictly Presbyterian. All 
 that the- historian has to do is with facts. Having 
 stated these, he is answerable for nothing more. 
 That those Churches gave the title of Seniors^ but 
 more frequently of A?itistites, to certain elderly 
 clergymen, who were peculiarly venerable in their 
 character, and who chiefly took the lead in all 
 ordinations, is, no doubt, true; that, in their plan 
 of Church government, they distinguished their 
 Diaco?2i from their Eleemosynarii ; and that they 
 include in the list of their ecclesiastical offices, 
 some which are strictly secular, is also manifest. 
 But surely none of these invalidate the fact that 
 they had Ruling Elders ; a fact stated in a man- 
 
THE REFORMERS. 121 
 
 ner which it is impossible either to doubt or mis- 
 take. 
 
 Thus we have good evidence, that all the most 
 distinguished and laithtul witnesses for the truth, 
 during the dark ages, with whose faith and order 
 we have any minute acquaintance, carefully main- 
 tained the office for which we are contending ; 
 that some of them, at least, considered it as of 
 Divine appointment, and accordingly quote in its 
 support Scriptural authority; and that they ap- 
 pear, with good reason, to have regarded it as one 
 of the most efficient nieans, under the Divine 
 blessing, of promoting the spiritual order and 
 edification of the Church. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TESTIMONY OF THE REFORMERS, AND OTHER 
 LEARNED AND DISINTERESTED WITNESSES, 
 NEARLY CONTEMPORARY WITH THEM. 
 
 We have seen how utterly groundless is the 
 assertion, that Ruling Elders were invented and 
 first introduced by Calvin at Geneva. If there 
 be any truth in history, they were in use long 
 before Calvin was born, and in the purest Churches 
 on earth, to say nothing of their apostolical origin. 
 Nor is this all. It may further be maintained, 
 that a great majority of the Reformers, in organ- 
 izing those Churches which separated from the 
 Church of Rome, either actually introduced this 
 class of officers, or, in their published writings, 
 11 
 
122 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 freely and fully declared in its favour. And this 
 was the case, as we shall presently see, not merely 
 on the part of those who followed Calvin, both as 
 to time and opinion ; but also on the part of those 
 "who either preceded, or had no ecclesiastical con- 
 nexion whatever with that illustrious man ; and 
 who were far from agreeing with him in many 
 other particulars. Now this is surely a marvel- 
 lous fact, if, as some respectable writers would per- 
 suade us to believe, the office in question is a mere 
 figment of Genevan contrivance, toward the middle 
 of the sixteenth century. 
 
 The first Reformer whose testimony I shall 
 adduce, in favour of this office, is Ulrick Zuingle, 
 the celebrated leader in the work of Reformation 
 in Switzerland. And I mention him first, because, 
 as he never was connected with Calvm ; nay, as 
 he was removed by death, in 1531, five years 
 before Calvin ever saw Geneva, or appeared in 
 the ranks of the Reformers, and ten years before 
 the introduction of Ruling Elders into that city, 
 he cannot be suspected of speaking as the humble 
 imitator of that justly honoured individual. 
 
 On the subject of Ruling Elders, Zuingle speaks 
 thus : — " The title of Presbyter or Elder, as used 
 in Scripture, is not rightly understood by those 
 who consider it as applicable only to those who 
 preside in preaching : for it is evident that the 
 term is also sometimes used to designate Elders, 
 of another kind, that is. Senators, Leaders, or 
 Counsellors. So we read Acts xv., where it is 
 said, " the Apostles and Elders came together to 
 consider of this matter." Here we see that the 
 Elders spoken of are to be considered as Senators 
 or Counsellors. It is evident that the Trpea/SvTepoi 
 mentioned in this place were not Ministers of the 
 
THE REFORMERS. 123 
 
 word ; but that they were aged, prudent, and 
 venerable men, who, in directing and managing 
 the allhirs of the Church, were the same thing as 
 the Senators in our cities. And the title Elder is 
 used in the same sense, in many other places in 
 the Acts of the Apostles."* 
 
 Again ; Oecolampadius, who also died before 
 Calvin appeared as an active Reformer, and of 
 course before the introduction of Ruling Elders in 
 the Church of Geneva, speaks thus, in an Oration 
 which he pronounced before the Senate of Basil, 
 in 1530, about a year before his death. "But it 
 is evident that those which are here intended, are 
 certam Seniors or Elders, such as were in the 
 Apostles' days, and who of old time were called 
 npeaPvrepoi, whoso judgment, being that of the most 
 prudent part of the Church, was considered as the 
 decision of the whole Church." 
 
 Here, again, is the testimony of a man, who 
 could not have been influenced by any knowledge 
 of the opinions of Calvin, for Calvin had, as yet, 
 published no opinions on the subject: — and who 
 yet speaks in very unequivocal terms of a class of 
 officers, as not only existing afterwards, but as of 
 apostolical institution ; which, according to some, 
 were not known in the Church, either in theory 
 or practice, for ten years after the decease of this 
 distinguished reformer. 
 
 The testimony of Martin Bucer, as one of the 
 most venerable and active of the Reformers, pro- 
 perly belongs to this branch of the subject. But 
 
 * This quotation from Zningle, is taken from the Po- 
 liticse Ecclesiaslicw of Voetius, in which it is cited for 
 the same purpose as here; a cop)' of the works of the 
 Swiss Reformer not being at present within the reach 
 of the writer of the Essay. 
 
124 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 as his sentiments were so fully detailed in the 
 quotation from him, presented in the preceding 
 chapter, it is not deemed necessary to repeat the 
 statement here. From that extract it is evident, 
 not only that he approved of the office of Ruling 
 Elder, as of eminent use in the Church ; but also 
 that he considered Ambrose as asserting that offi- 
 cers of this class were found in the primitive 
 Church, and that he agreed with the pious Father 
 in maintaining this assertion. Here was another 
 eminently learned man, and a contemporary of 
 Calvin, who bears testimony, that Ruling Elders 
 were in use, in the purest portion of the Christian 
 Church, as a laudable and Scriptural institution, 
 centuries before the Reformer of Geneva was born. 
 The learned Peter Martyr, a celebrated Pro- 
 testant divine of Italy, whose high reputation 
 induced Edward VI., to invite him to England, 
 where he was made Professor of Divinity at Ox- 
 ford, and Canon of Christ Church, speaks of Rul- 
 ing Elders in the following decisive terms : — "The 
 Church" (speaking of the Primitive Church) " had 
 its Elders, or, if I may so speak, its Senate, who 
 consulted about things which were for edification 
 for the time being. Paul describes this kind of 
 ministry; not only in the 12th chapter of the 
 Epistle to the Romans, but also in the first Epistle 
 to Timothy where he thus writes : — " Let the 
 Elders that rule well, be counted worthy of double 
 honour, especially those that labour in the word 
 and doctrine. Which words appear to me to sig- 
 nify, that there were then some Elders who taught 
 and preached the word of God, and another class 
 of Elders who did not teach, but only ruled in the 
 Church. Concerning these, Ambrose speaks, when 
 he expounds this passage in Timothy. Nay, he 
 
THE REFORMERS. 125 
 
 Inquires whether it was owing to the pride or the 
 sloth of the sacerdotal order that they had then 
 almost ceased in the Church."* 
 
 The celebrated John A Lasco, a devoted and 
 eminently useful Reformer, is also a decisive wit- 
 ness on the same side. A Lasco was a Polish noble- 
 man, of excellent education, and great learning. 
 He was offered two Bishoprics one in Poland, and 
 another in Hungary : but he forsook his native 
 country, and all the secular and ecclesiastical ho- 
 nours which awaited him, from love to the reform- 
 ed religion. In his youth he enjoyed the special 
 friendship of Erasmus, who speaks of him in one 
 of his letters, (^Erasmi Epist. Lib. 28. Ep. 3,) as 
 a man of uncommon excellence and worth. The 
 Protestant Churches in the Low Countries being 
 scattered in consequence of the agitation produced 
 by the celebrated ordinance called the Interim, 
 published by Charles V., A Lasco was invited to 
 England, by King Edward VI., at the instance of 
 Archbishop Cranmer. He accepted the invitation, 
 and was chosen Superintendenfj" of the German, 
 French and Italian congregations erected in Lon- 
 don, which are said to have consisted, in the ag- 
 gregate, of more than three thousand souls. He 
 afterwards published an account of the form of 
 
 * P. Martj/ris Loci Communes. Class iv. Cap. 1, Sect. 2. 
 
 f Ii is worthy of iu)tice here that althou^^h a Superin- 
 tendent was regarded by A Lasco as one who had the in- 
 spection of several congregations; yet "he was greater 
 than his brethren only in respect of his greater trouble 
 and care, not having more authority than the other 
 Elders, either as to the ministry of the word and sacra- 
 ments, or as to the exercise of ecclesiastical discipline, 
 to which he was subject equally with the rest." 
 11* 
 
126 TESTOtOXY OF 
 
 government and worship adopted in those congre- 
 gations. The affairs of each, it is distinctly stated 
 in that account, were managed by a Pastor, Ruling. 
 Elders, and Deacons, and each of these classes of 
 officers was considered as of divine appointment. 
 We also learn, from his statement, that the Ruling 
 Elders and Deacons of these Churches, as well as 
 the Pastors, were ordained by the imposition of 
 hands. He further informs us, that, in the admi- 
 nistration of the Lord's Supper, in the Churches 
 under his superintendency, the communicants sat 
 at the table; and he occupies a number of pages 
 in showing that this posture ought to be preferred 
 to kneeling. In short, he declares " We have laid 
 aside all the relics of Popery, with its mummeries, 
 and we have studied the greatest possible simpli- 
 city in ceremonies." 
 
 Notwithstanding the publication of these senti- 
 ments, and the establishment of these practices, 
 marking so great a non-conformity with the Church 
 of England, A Lasco was highly esteemed, and 
 warmly patronized, by Archbishop Cranmer, and 
 also by the King, who granted him Letters Patent, 
 constituting him and the other ministers of the 
 foreign congregations, a body corporate, and giving 
 them important privileges and powers. These 
 letters may be seen among the Original Records 
 subjoined to Burnet's History of the Reformation, 
 ii. 202. The following remarks by A Lasco him- 
 self will serve at once to explain the design of the 
 King in granting his royal sanction to these peo- 
 ple, and also his own view of the principles upon 
 which he and his brethren acted in founding the 
 Churches in question. 
 
 " When I was called by the King, and when 
 
THE REFORMERS. 127 
 
 certain laws of tlie country stood in the way, so 
 that the public rites of divine worship used under 
 the Papacy, could not be immediately purged out, 
 (which the King himself greatly desired,) and when 
 I was anxious and earnest in my solicitations for 
 the foreign Churches, it was, at length, his plea- 
 sure, that the public rites of the English Churches 
 shall be reformed by degrees, as far as could be 
 accomplished by the laws of the country ; but that 
 strangers, who were not strictly and to the same 
 extent bound by these laws, should have Churches 
 granted to them, in which they should freely regu- 
 late all things, wholly according to apostolical doc- 
 trine and practice, without any regard to the rites 
 of the country ; that by this means the English 
 Churches also might be excited to embrace apos- 
 tolical purity, by the unanimous consent of all the 
 estates of the kingdom. Of this project, the king 
 himself, from his great piety, was both the chief 
 author and the defender. For although it was 
 almost universally acceptable to the King's Coun- 
 cil, and the Archbishop of Canterbury promoted it 
 with all his might, there were not wanting some, 
 who took it ill, and would have opposed it, had 
 not his majesty checked them by his authority, 
 and by the reasons which he adduced in favour of 
 the design." Again, in the Appendix to the same 
 book, p. 649, he says: "The care of our Church 
 was committed to us chiefly with this view, that in 
 the ministration thereof we should follow the rules 
 of the Divine Word, and apostolical observance, 
 rather than any rites of other Churches. In fine, 
 we were admonished, both by the King himself, 
 and his chief nobility, to use this great liberty 
 granted to us in our ministry, rightly and faithfully, 
 
128 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 not to please men, but for the glory of God, by 
 promoting the reformation of his worship."* 
 
 On the whole, we have in this case a witness as 
 unexceptionable and weighty as can well be de- 
 sired ; a man of eminent learning, piety, and de- 
 votedness ; a man formed, not in the school of 
 Calvin, but of Zuingle ; a man who, when the 
 transactions and publications above alluded to, 
 occurred, lived in England, where Ruling Elders 
 were unknown: and who, yet, in these circum- 
 stances, declared himself in favour of this class of 
 officers, as of Divine appointment, and as impor- 
 tant to the purity and edification of the Church. 
 
 But there is a still more conclusive fact in re- 
 ference to this stage of the Reformation in Eng- 
 land. A Lasco, it will be observed, asserts, that 
 both king Edward, and Archbishop Cranmer, were 
 strongly favourable to the plan of discipline which 
 he and others had introduced into the Churches of 
 Foreign Protestants in England. In confirmation 
 of this statement, there is evidence that Cranmer, 
 and the rest of the Commissioners, in Edward's 
 reign, did directly propose the introduction of Ru- 
 ling Elders in the national Church. They drew 
 up a body of laws, which, though not finally rati- 
 fied, partly on account of opposing influence, and 
 partly from the premature decease of the monarch ; 
 yet clearly show the opinion and wishes of Cran- 
 mer and his associates. One of the proposed laws 
 is as follows : " After evening prayers, on which 
 
 * See McCrie's Life of Knox, Vol. i. p. 392—396. See 
 also Gisberti Voetii PoliticEe Ecclesiasticse. Tom. i.420 
 —422. See also, Forma et Ratio lotius Ecclesiastici 
 Ministerii Edvardi sexti in Peregrinorum, maximeGer- 
 manorum, Eccles. Also, De Ordinatione Ecclesiarum 
 Peregrinarum in Anglia. Epist. Dedicat, et p. 649. 
 
THE REFORMERS. 129 
 
 all shall attend in their own parish Churches, the 
 principal minister or Parson, and the Deacon, if 
 they are present, or, in case of their absence, the 
 Curate and the Elders, shall consider how the 
 money given for pious uses had best be laid out ; 
 and then let discipline be exercised. For, those 
 whose sin has been public, and given offence to the 
 whole Church, should be brought to a sense of it, 
 and publicly undergo the punishment of it, that 
 so the Church may be the better for their cor- 
 rection. After that the minister shall withdraw, 
 with some of the Elders, and consult how all other 
 persons who are disorderly in their life and con- 
 versation may be conversed with ; first by some 
 sober and good men in a brotherly manner accord- 
 ing to the direction of Christ in the Gospel ; and 
 if they hearken to their advice, God is to be praised 
 for it ; but if they go on in their wickedness, they 
 are to be restrained by that severe punishment, 
 which is in the Gospel prescribed for such ob- 
 stinacy."* 
 
 The testimony of Calvin will next be introduced. 
 As he is charged with being the inventor of this 
 class of officers, the weight of his opinion as a wit- 
 ness in its favour, will probably be deemed small 
 by its opposers. But there is one point of view 
 in which his testimony will surely be regarded 
 with deep respect, and, may I not add, as decisive? 
 That he was a man of mature and profound learn- 
 ing, no one can doubt. Joseph Scaliger, himself 
 a prodigy of erudition, pronounced him to have 
 
 *Peirce's Vindication of the Dissenters, p. 23. Bax- 
 ter's Treatise of Episcopacy, part ii. p. II 2. Reformatio 
 Legum Ecclesiasticarum, ex authoritate Regis. Hen. viii. 
 ct.Edv. vi. 4to. 1640. 
 
130 TESTIl-IONY OF 
 
 been the most learned man in Europe in his day ; 
 and, particularly, " that no man understood eccle- 
 siastical history so well." Now, it is certain that 
 Calvin did not consider the office of Ruling Elder 
 as originating with himself; but that he regarded 
 it as an apostolical institution; that he refers to 
 Scripture for its support ; and that he quotes Am- 
 brose, (whose testimony has been so often referred 
 to,) as an unquestionable witness for the existence 
 of the office under consideration in the primitive 
 Church. The following extracts from his Com- 
 mentary and his Institutes, will fully establish 
 what is here asserted. 
 
 In his exposition of 1 Tim. v. 17, he speaks 
 thus : " From this passage we may gather that 
 there were then two kinds of Presbyters, because 
 they were not all ordained to the work of teaching. 
 For the words plainly mean that some ruled well, 
 to whom no part of the public instruction was com- 
 mitted. And verily there were chosen from among 
 the people, grave and approved men, who, in com- 
 mon council, and joint authority with the Pastors, 
 administered the discipline of the Church, and 
 acted the part of censors for the correction of 
 morals. This practice Ambrose complains, had 
 fallen into disuse, through the indolence, or rather 
 the pride of the teaching elders, who wished alone 
 to be distinguished." 
 
 In his Institutes, (Book iv. Chapter iii.,) he 
 has the following passage, equally explicit. " In 
 calling those who preside over Churches by the 
 appellations of "Bishops," "Elders," and "Pas- 
 tors," without any distinction, I have followed the 
 usages of the Scriptures, which apply all these 
 terms to express the same meaning. For to all 
 who discharge the ministry of the word, they give 
 
THE REFORMERS. 131 
 
 the title of "Bishops." So when Paul enjoins 
 Titus to " ordain Elders in every city," he imme- 
 diately adds, " For a Bishop must be blameless." 
 So, in another place, he salutes more Bishops than 
 one in one Church. And in the Acts of the Apos- 
 tlo«, he is declared to have sent for the Elders of 
 ihe Church of Ephesus, whom, in his address to 
 them, he calls " Bishops." Here it must be ob- 
 served, that we have enumerated only those offices 
 which consist in the ministry of the word ; nor 
 does Paul mention any other in the fourth chapter 
 of the Epistle to the Ephesians which we have 
 quoted. But in the Epistle to the Romans, and 
 the first Epistle to the Corinthians, he enumerates 
 others, as " powers," " gifts of healing," " inter- 
 pretation of tongues," "governments," "care of 
 the poor." Those functions which are merely tem- 
 porary, I omit, as foreign to our present subject. 
 But there are two which perpetually remain, " go- 
 vernments," and " the care of the poor." " Go- 
 vernors," I apprehend to have been persons of ad- 
 vanced years, selected from the people, to unite 
 with the Bishops in giving admonitions, and exer- 
 cising discipline. For no other interpretation can 
 be given of that injunction, " He that ruleth, let 
 him do it with diligence." For from the beginning, 
 every Church has had its senate, or council com- 
 posed of pious, grave, and holy men, who were 
 invested with that jurisdiction, for the correction 
 of vices, of which we shall soon treat. Now, that 
 this was not the regulation of a single age, expe- 
 rience itself demonstrates. This office of govern- 
 ment is necessary, therefore, in every age." 
 
 I ask, was Calvin, honest, or dishonest, in these 
 declarations ? If he had invented and introduced 
 the office himself, could he have been ignorant of 
 
132 TESTIMONY OP 
 
 the fact ? And whether it was so or not, who may 
 reasonably be considered as best able to judge — 
 HIMSELF, or those who live nearly three hundred 
 years after him? And who would be most likely 
 to know whether it were of ancient or modern 
 origin ; — the most learned man then, perhaps, in 
 the world, — or men with not a tenth part of his 
 erudition, at the present day ? The truth is, these 
 passages, considered in connexion with that quoted 
 in a former chapter, in which he speaks of him- 
 self, in reference to this office, as following the 
 example of the pious Witnesses of the truth who 
 preceded him ; — prove, either, that Calvin did not 
 consider himself as the inventor of the office, but 
 believed that it had been in the Church in all ages ; 
 — or that he was gratuitously and profligately re- 
 gardless of the truth to a degree never laid to his 
 charge. 
 
 Nor is the testimony to the primitive existence 
 of this class of officers, confined to those of the Re- 
 formers who were favourable to their continuance 
 in the Church. Some by no means friendly to 
 their restoration, were yet constrained to acknow- 
 ledge their early origin. 
 
 That there were Ruling Elders in the primitive 
 Church, is explicitly granted by Archbishop Whit- 
 gift, a warm and learned friend of diocesan Epis- 
 copacy. " I know," says he, " that in the Primi- 
 tive Church, they and in every ('hurch certain 
 Seniors, to whom the government of the Congre- 
 gation was committed ; but that was before there 
 was any Christian Prince or Magistrate that openly 
 professed the Gospel ; and before there was any 
 Church by public authority established." 
 
 And again : — " Both the name and office of 
 Seniors were extinguished before Ambrose's time, 
 
THE REFORMERS. 133 
 
 as he himself doth testify, writing upon the fifth 
 of the first Epistle to Timothy. Indeed, as Am- 
 brose saith, the Synagogue, and afterwards the 
 Church, had Seniors, without whose counsel 
 nothing was done in the Church ; but that was be- 
 fore his time, and before there was any Christian 
 Magistrate, or any Church estabhshed."* The 
 learned and acute Archbishop, it seems, was not 
 only convinced that there were Ruling Elders, 
 distinct from Preaching Elders, in the Primitive 
 Church, but with all his erudition and discern- 
 ment, he understood Ambrose just as the friends 
 of this class of officers now understand him. 
 
 There is another testimony on this subject, from 
 one of the most conspicuous and active friends of 
 the Reformation in England, which is worthy of 
 particular notice. I refer to that of the Rev. Dean 
 Nowell, who flourished in the reign of Queen 
 Elizabeth, and whose celebrated Catechism, drawn 
 up in 1562, obtained, perhaps, as much currency 
 and respect as any publication of that period. 
 Nor are we to consider it as expressing the senti- 
 ments of the illustrious divine whose name it bears, 
 alone ; for it was unanimously approved and sanc- 
 tioned by the same lower house of Convocation 
 which passed the 39 Articles of the Church of 
 England, and. directed to be published and used as 
 containing the true doctrine of that Church. In 
 this Catechism, toward the close, when speaking 
 of the evils of retaining unworthy members in the 
 Church, the following questions and answers 
 occur : — 
 
 " Q. What remedy for this evil can be devised 
 and applied V 
 
 * Defence against Cartwright, p. 638, 651. 
 12 
 
134 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 " A. In Churches well constituted and governed, 
 there was, as I before said, a certain plan and order 
 of government appointed and observed. Elders 
 were chosen, that is, ecclesiastical rulers, who con- 
 ducted and maintained the discipline of the Church. 
 To these pertained authority, reproof, and chastise- 
 ment; and they, with the concurrence of the Pastor, 
 if they knew any who, by false opinions, trouble- 
 some errors, foolish superstitions, or vicious and 
 profligate lives, were likely to bring a great public 
 scandal on the Church of God, and who could not 
 approach the Lord's Supper without a manifest 
 profanation, repelled them from the communion, 
 and no more admitted them until, by public peni- 
 tence, they gave satisfaction to the Church." 
 
 " Q. What is to be done?" (when those who 
 have been excluded from the Church, repent, and 
 desire to be restored to its communion.) 
 
 " A. That they may be received again into the 
 Church, and to the enjoyment of its holy myste- 
 ries, from which they have been deservedly cast 
 out, they ought humbly to supplicate and pray. 
 And, on the whole, there ought to be such mode- 
 ration used in administering public penance, that 
 neither by too much severity the offender may be 
 reduced to despondency ; nor by too much lenity, 
 the discipline of the Church relaxed, its authority 
 diminished, and others encouraged and incited to 
 similar offences. But when, in tho judgment of 
 the Elders and of the Pastor, proper satisfaction 
 shall be made, by the chastisement of the offender, 
 for an example to others, he may be admitted 
 asain to the communion of the Church."* 
 
 * See Bishop Randolph's Enchiridion Theologicum. 
 Vol. i. 326, 327. Third Edition. 
 
THE REFORMERS. 135 
 
 Nothing can be more unequivocal or decisive 
 than this testimony. In the oi)inion not only of 
 the writer of the Catechism belbre us, but also of 
 the leading clergy of the Church of England, who 
 sanctioned it, and enjoined its general use, there 
 ought to be, in every Church, besides the Pastor, 
 a bench of Elders, or ecclesiastical Rulers, whose 
 duty it should be to preside over the discipline, and, 
 in conjuction with the Pastor, to receive, admo- 
 nish, suspend, excommunicate, and restore mem- 
 bers, — in a manner precisely agreeable to the well 
 known practice of the Presbyterian Church. In 
 truth. Dr. Nowell could scarcely have expressed 
 in more distinct and unqualified terms his appro- 
 bation of this part of our system, than in telling us, 
 what, in his judgment, and that of his brethren, 
 every well regulated Church ought to have. 
 
 Ursinus, a learned German divine, contempo- 
 rary with Luther and Melancthon, speaks a lan- 
 guage still more to our purpose. " Ministers,'* 
 says he, " are either imniediately called of God, 
 or mediately^ through the instrumentality of the 
 Church. Of the former class, were Prophets and 
 Apostle's. Of the latter class there are five kinds, 
 viz. Evangelists, Bishops, or Pastors, Teachers, 
 Ruling Elders, and Deacons. Evangelists are 
 ministers appointed to go forth and preach the 
 gospel to a number of Churches. Bishops, are 
 ministers ordained to preach the word of God, and 
 hdminister the sacraments, in particular Churches. 
 Teachers are ministers appointed merely to fulfil 
 the function of teaching in particular Churches. 
 Ruling Elders are ministers elected by the voice 
 of the Church, to assist in conducting discipline, 
 and to order a variety of necessary matters in 
 the Church. Deacons are ministers elected by 
 
136 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 the Church, to take care of the poor, and distri- 
 bute alms."* 
 
 In the Confession of Saxony, drawn up by 
 Melancthon, in 1551, and subscribed by a large 
 number of Lutheran divines and Churches, we 
 find this class of officers recognized, and repre- 
 sented as in use in those Churches. Speaking of 
 the exercise of discipline, in its various branches, 
 they say : " That these things may be done 
 orderly, there be also Consistories appointed in 
 our Churches." Of these Consistories, a majo- 
 rity of members, it is well known, were Ruling 
 Elders. 
 
 Szegeden, a very eminent Lutheran divine, of 
 Hungary, contemporary with Luther, also speaks 
 very decisively of the apostolic institution of 
 Ruling Elders. The following passage is suffi- 
 cient to exhibit his sentiments. " The ancient 
 Church had Presbyters, or Elders, of which the 
 Apostle speaks, 1 Corinth, v. 4. And these 
 Elders were of two kinds. One class of them 
 preached the gospel, administered the sacraments, 
 and governed the Church, the same as Bishops ; 
 for Bishops and Presbyters are the same order. 
 But another class of Elders consisted of grave 
 and upright men, taken from among the laity, 
 who, together with the preaching Elders before 
 mentioned, consulted respecting the affairs of the 
 Church, and devoted their labour to admonishing, 
 correcting, and taking care of the flock of 
 
 Christ."t 
 
 The Magdeburgh Centuriators, who were emi- 
 
 * Ursini Corpus Doctrinae. Par, iii. p. 721. 
 I Szegedeni Loci Communes, p. 197. Edit, quint, folio 
 —Basil, 1608. 
 
THE REFORMERS. 137 
 
 nently learned Lutheran divines, contemporary 
 with Melancthon, and who have been regarded, 
 for three hundred years, as among the highest 
 authorities on questions of ecclesiastical history 
 speak in the following decisive terms with regard 
 to the office in question. And although the ex- 
 tract has been given in a former page ; yet, as it 
 is brief and pointed, it may not be improper to 
 assign it a place in this connexion. Speaking of 
 the third century, they say : " The right of de- 
 ciding respecting such as were to be excommu- 
 nicated, or of receiving, upon their repentance, 
 such as had fallen, was vested in the Elders of 
 the Church."* 
 
 The learned Francis Junius, a distinguished 
 divine and professor of Theology of the Church 
 of Holland, who lived at the commencement of 
 the Reformation in that country, and was, of 
 course, contemporary with Martyr, Bucer, Me- 
 lancthon, &c., wrote very fully and explicitly in 
 favour of the office of Ruling Elder. In his 
 work entitled Ecclesiastici^ he decisively, and with 
 great learning, maintains, that Pastors, Ruling 
 Elders, and Deacons, are the only three spiritual 
 orders of Church officers ; that Pastors, or minis- 
 ters of the word and sacraments, are the highest 
 order, and, of course, are invested with the 
 power of ordaining ; that the second class, are 
 men of distinguished piety and prudence, chosen 
 from among the members of the Church, to assist 
 the Pastor in the government of the Church ; and 
 that the Deacons are appointed to collect and dis- 
 tribute the alms of the Church. He affirms that 
 these three orders are set forth in Scripture, and 
 
 * Cent. iii. cap. vii. p. 151. 
 12* 
 
138 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 existed in the primitive Church : and that 'he dis- 
 use of Ruling Elders, as well as the introduction 
 of Prelacy, is a departure from the primitive 
 model.* 
 
 The Protestant Churches of Hungary and 
 Transylvania, although, in organizing their 
 Churches, they did not actually adopt and intro- 
 duce the office of Ruling Elder ; yet in the Pre- 
 face, and other statements, published with their 
 ecclesiastical Formularies, they spoke, in the 
 most unequivocal terms, both of the value, and 
 the early origin of this class of officers. The 
 following extract may be considered as a fair spe- 
 cimen of their testimony on this subject. " Most 
 other nations, belonging to the Evangelical Con- 
 fession, have been in the habit of choosing and 
 constituting Elders, in every village and city, 
 agreeably to the practice of the Old Church, and 
 also of the New Testament : men sound in the 
 faith, blameless, the husbands of one wife, having 
 /aithful children, chargeable with no crime, grave, 
 prudent, &c. — It is made the official duty of these 
 men diligently to watch over the lives and con- 
 versation of all the members of the Church, to 
 rebuke the dissolute, and, if need be, to refer their 
 cases to the Pastors and to the whole Eldership, 
 &c." Here they make a clear distinction be- 
 tween these Elders, and Pastors of the Churches, 
 and represent the former as assistants to the latter 
 in the spiritual concerns of the Church. They 
 then proceed to state why a class of officers so 
 useful, in most cases so necessary, and which they 
 also considered as having existed in the Apostolic 
 Church, was not received among them.f 
 
 * Ecclesiastici, sive de nat. et administrat. Ecclesias, 
 &c. Lib. ii. Cap. 2, 3, 4. 
 f See G. Voetii Polit. Eccles. Par. ii. Lib. ii. Tract, iii. 
 
THE REFORMERS. 
 
 13& 
 
 The character of Jerome Zanchius, a learned 
 divine of Italy, of the sixteenth century, who 
 greatly distinguished hinnself among the Refor- 
 mers, is so well known, that a detailed account 
 of his great accomplishments and reputation is 
 unnecessary. On the subject before us, he speaks 
 thus: "The whole ministry of the Christian 
 Church may be divided into three classes. The 
 first consists of those who dispense the word and 
 sacraments, corresponding with those who, under 
 the Old Testament, were called Priests and Le- 
 vites ; and under the New Testament, Apostles, 
 Pastors, and Teachers. The second consists of 
 those whose peculiar office it is to take care of 
 the discipline of the Church, to inspect the lives 
 and conversation of all, and to take care that all 
 live in a manner becoming Christians ; and also, 
 if at any time there should be a necessity for it, in 
 the absence of the Pastor, to instruct the people. 
 There were such under the Old Testament in the 
 Synagogue ; and such also were the Senators who 
 were added to the bishop in the administration of 
 the New Testament Church. These officers are 
 styled Presbyters, (Preshyieri^ and Elders, {Se- 
 niores^) of which the Apostle speaks, besides other 
 places, in 1 Timothy v. 17 ; " Let the Elders that 
 rule well be accounted worthy of double honour, 
 especially those who labour in the word and doc- 
 trine." In this passage the Apostle manifestly 
 speaks of two sorts or classes of Elders, as he 
 was understood by Ambrose and others, among the 
 ancients, and by almost all our modern Protestant 
 Divines, as Bullinger, Peter Martyr, &c., &c."* 
 
 The most cursory reader of this extract will 
 
 * Zanchii Opera. Tom. iv. In Quartum Prasceptum, 
 p. 727. 
 
140 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 not fail to take notice, not only that Zanchius 
 evidently approved of this oifice, but that he 
 thought it of Divine appointment ; that he inter- 
 preted as we do the famous passage in Ambrose, 
 which the opposers of Ruling Elders have ex- 
 pended so much ingenuity in labouring to explain 
 away ; and that he considered almost all the Re- 
 formed Divines as being of the same opinion with 
 himself. 
 
 The high reputation of Parseus, a learned and 
 pious German divine, contemporary with iMelanc- 
 thon and Zanchius, is also well known. His tes- 
 timony respecting the office under consideration 
 is very explicit. In his Commentary on Romans 
 xii. 8, he observes : " Here the Apostle under- 
 stands the function of that class of Elders, who, 
 united with the Pastors, watch over and correct 
 the morals and discipline of the Church. For 
 there were two classes of Elders, as may be 
 gathered from 1 Timothy v, 17 ; — some who 
 laboured in the word and doctrine, who were to 
 be accounted worthy of double honour ; such as 
 Teachers, Pastors, or Bishops; the others, such 
 as laboured in conducting discipline, who are here 
 called governments." And in his Commentary 
 on 1 Corinthians xii. 28, he says : " The Apostle 
 here, undoubtedly speaks of the Elders who pre- 
 sided in the administration of discipline. For the 
 primitive Church had its Senate, who attended to 
 the morals of the congregation, while the Apostles 
 and Teachers were left at leisure to preach. This 
 the Apostle indicates very clearly in the first 
 Epistle to Timothy v. 17, where two classes of 
 Presbyters are represented as constituted. The 
 governments here spoken of were not of Princes 
 or Prsetors, armed with the sword, but grave, ex- 
 
THE REFORMERS. 141 
 
 pprienced men, exercising authority over others, 
 chosen out of the Church, by the consent of the 
 Church, to assist the Pastors in conducting disci- 
 plin(?, and to alleviate their burdens.'" 
 
 The celebrated Piscator, who held a distin- 
 guished place among the divines who adorned 
 Germany, and maintained the Protestant cause, in 
 the sixteenth century, is equally decisive, as an 
 advocate of the office under consideration. In his 
 Commentary on 1 Tim. v. 17, he says : " The 
 Apostle distributes Elders into two classes, those 
 who presided in maintaining ecclesiastical disci- 
 pline, but did not publicly teach ; and those who 
 both taught, and co-operated in ruling, and were, 
 therefore, worthy of a greater honour, and a more 
 liberal support than the others." 
 
 Few ministers of the Church of England, 
 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, were more 
 distinguished for talents, learning, and piety, 
 than Thomas Cartwright, Professor of Divinity 
 in the University of Cambridge, the opponent of 
 the high prelatical claims of Archbishop Whit- 
 gift, and concerning whom the celebrated Beza 
 pronounced, that he thought " the sun did not 
 shine upon a more learned man." This eminent 
 divine, commenting on Matthew xviii. 17, "Tell 
 it unto the Church," &c., thus remarks : " Theo- 
 phylact upon this place, interpreteth. Tell the 
 Church, that is many, because this assembly 
 taketh knowledge of this and other things, by 
 their mouths, that is, their governors. Chry- 
 sostom also saith, that to tell the Church is to 
 tell the governors thereof. It is, therefore, to be 
 understood, that these governors of the Church, 
 which were set over every several assembly in 
 the time of the law, were of two sorts ; for some 
 
142 TESTI3I0NY OP 
 
 had the handling of the word ; some other watch- 
 ing against the offences of the Church, did, by 
 common counsel with the ministers of the word, 
 take order against the same. Those goveiliing 
 Elders are divers times in the story of the gospel 
 made mention of, under the title of' Rulers of the 
 Synagogue.' And this manner of government, 
 because it was to be translated into the Church 
 of Christ, under the gospel, our Saviour, by 
 the order at that time used among the Jews, 
 declareth what after should be done in his 
 Church. Agreeably hereunto the Apostle both 
 declared the Lord's ordinance in his behalf, and 
 put the same in practice, in ordaining to every 
 several Church, beside the ministry of the word, 
 certain of the chiefest men which should assist 
 the work of the Lord's building. This was also 
 faithfully practised of the Churches after the 
 Apostle's times, as long as they remained in 
 any good and allowable soundness of doctrine. 
 And being fallen from the Churches, especially 
 from certain of them, the want thereof is sharply 
 and bitterly cast into the teeth of the Church's 
 teachers, by whose ambition that came to pass."* 
 And as proof of this, the author quotes in the 
 margin that very passage of Ambrose, cited in 
 the preceding section, and which has always 
 given so much trouble to Prelatists and Inde- 
 pendents. 
 
 The same writer, in his Second Reply to 
 Whitgift, speaking of the class of Elders under con- 
 sideration, expresses himself thus : — " For proof 
 of these Church Elders, which, being occupied 
 
 * Cartwright's Commentary on the New Testament — 
 Against the Rhe mists. 
 
THE REFORMERS. 143 
 
 in the government, had nothing to do with the 
 Word, the testimony of Ambrose, is so clear 
 and open, that he which doth not give place 
 unto it, must needs be thought as a bat, or an 
 owl, or some other night-bird, to delight in 
 darkness. His saying is, that the Elders fell 
 away by the ambition of the Doctors ; whereby 
 opposing the Elders to Doctors, which taught, 
 he plainly declareth, that they had not to do 
 with the Word : whereupon it is manifest that 
 it was the use, in the best reformed Churches, 
 certain hundred years after the times of the 
 Apostles, to have an Eldership which meddled 
 not with the word, nor administration of sacra- 
 ments."* 
 
 The testimony of the Rev. Richard Greenham, 
 a divine of the Church of England, who flourished 
 in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and who was 
 greatly revered both for his learning and piety, 
 is very unequivocal and pointed on this subject. 
 It is in these words : — " The Apostle Paul doth 
 notably amplify the honour due to the true and 
 faithful minister. 'The Elders that rule well, 
 (saith he,) let them be had in double honour, 
 specially they which labour in the word and 
 doctrine;* 1 Timothy v. 17. As if he should 
 say, let those Elders which are appointed to 
 watch and look to the manners and behaviour 
 of the children of God, if they execute this 
 charge Aiithfully, be had in double honour: but 
 above all, let the faithful ministers, such as 
 labour in the word, be honoured: for why? 
 the other are overseers of your outward beha- 
 viour, but these have another manner of office 
 
 • Second Reply. Part Second, p. 44. 4to. 15V7. 
 
144 TESTIMONY OP 
 
 they watch over your souls which tendeth to the 
 salvation both of body and soul." And again: 
 " The rulers of the Church are called the 
 Church, to whom discipline appertaineth. Not 
 the whole company of the Jews, but the rulers 
 of the Synagogue, are called the Church of the 
 Jews."* 
 
 The celebrated Estius, the learned Popish 
 expositor and professor at Douay, in his Com- 
 mentary on 1 Tim. V. 17, delivers the following 
 opinion : — " From this passage it may manifestly 
 be gathered that, in the time of the Apostles, 
 there were certain Presbyters in the Church who 
 ruled well, and were worthy of double honour, 
 and who yet did not labour in the word and 
 Soctrine ; neither do the heretics of the present 
 day (meaning the Protestants) deny this." And, 
 in speaking of the establishment of this class of 
 Elders in Geneva, about half a century before 
 he wrote, he seems only to blame Calvin for 
 considering and styling them laymen. He ex- 
 presses a decisive opinion, that the Elders spoken 
 of by Paul, in this place, were ecclesiastical 
 men, set apart by ecclesiastical rites, and devoted 
 to ecclesiastical duties ; but they did not preach. 
 And he explicitly acknowledges that Ambrose, in 
 the fourth century, speaks of such Elders as 
 having existed long before his day. It is worthy 
 of remark, that the same learned Romanist in 
 another work, not only avows, in the most dis- 
 tinct manner, his belief in the apostolic appoint- 
 ment of non-preaching Elders, and quotes 1 Tim. 
 V. 17, in support of his opinion ; but also refers 
 
 •Works, p. 352. 842. fol. 1612. 
 
THE REFORMERS. 145 
 
 to Jerome and Augustine, as witnesses to the 
 same fact.* 
 
 The opinion of the learned Professor Whitaker, 
 a divine of the Church of England, who flourished 
 in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, as to the true 
 meaning of 1 Timothy v. 17, was given, at 
 length, in a preceding page. The same distin- 
 guished divine, in writing against Dury, expresses 
 himself thus, concerning the office under con- 
 sideration. '< Art thou so ignorant as not to 
 know that in the Church of Christ there ought 
 to be Elders who should devote themselves to the 
 work of government alone, and not to the admi- 
 nistration of the word or sacraments, as we are 
 taught in 1 Tim. v. 17 ?"t 
 
 To these testimonies might be added many 
 more, from learned men of the same distin- 
 guished character with those already mentioned, 
 and to the same effect. Chemniiius, of Ger- 
 many ; Salmasius, of Holland ; Marloratus, and 
 Danseus, of France ; Hemmingius, of Denmark,:^ 
 — with a long list of similar names, might all be 
 cited as warm advocates of the class of Elders 
 under consideration, and almost all of them deci- 
 sive advocates of its divine authority. 
 
 Nor are these individual suffrages, though 
 numerous and unequivocal, all that can be 
 alleged in favour of our cause. The great body 
 of the Protestant Churches, when they came to 
 
 * Estii Sententiarum Commentaria. Lib. iv. Par. 2. 
 Sect. 21. 
 
 f Contra Duraeum, Lib. ix. p. 807. 
 
 t See these writers, as well as a number of others, 
 referred to in the Politicaa Ecclesiastics of Voetius: 
 Par. ii. Lib. ii. Tract, iii. 
 
 13 • 
 
146 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 organize their several systems in a state of 
 separation from the Papacy, and from each other 
 differing, as they did, in many other respects, 
 were ahnost unanimous in adopting and main 
 taining the office of Ruling Elder. Instead of 
 this office being confined, as many appear to 
 suppose, to the ecclesiastical establishments of 
 Geneva and Scotland, it was generally intro- 
 duced, with the Reformation, by Lutherans as 
 well as Calvinists : and is generally retained to 
 the present day, in almost all the Protestant 
 Churches, excepting that of England. Those 
 of France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, &c., 
 received this class of Elders early, and expressly 
 represented them in their public Confessions, as 
 founded on the word of God. It is probably safe 
 to affirm, that, at the period of the Reformation, 
 more than three-fourths of the whole Protestant 
 world declared in favour of this office, not merely 
 as expedient but as warranted by Scripture, and 
 as necessary to the order and edification of the 
 Church. 
 
 Does all this, it may be confidently asked, 
 look like the office in question being a mere 
 Genevan innovation ? How shall we reconcile 
 with this extraordinary position, the undoubted 
 fact, that Lutherans and Reformed, in every part 
 of Europe ; those who never saw Calvin as 
 well as those who were within the sphere of his 
 acquaintance and influence ; nay, some of those 
 who died before the illustrious Reformer of 
 Geneva ever appeared at all, either as a writer 
 or preacher ; — are found among the decisive, 
 zealous advocates of the office in question, and 
 quoting, as of conclusive authority, in its favour, 
 the principal passages of Scripture, and the 
 
LATER DIVINES. 147 
 
 principal Father, relied on by Presbyterians to 
 establish its Apostolical warrant, and its actual 
 existence in the early ages of the ancient Church? 
 Truly, it is difficult to conceive how any one, 
 who seriously and impartially weighs these facts, 
 can resist the impression, that an Institution, in 
 behalf of which so many eminently learned and 
 pidus men, of different and distant countries, 
 without concert with each other, and without any 
 common interest to serve, in reference to this 
 matter, have so remarkably concurred in opinion, 
 must have some solid foundation, both in the 
 inspired volume, and in the nature and necessities 
 of the Church. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 TESTIMONY OF EMINENT DIVINES SINCE THE TIME 
 OF THE REF0R3IERS. 
 
 While we justly attach so much importance to 
 the persons and services of the Reformers, and 
 recur with the deepest reverence to their opinions, 
 we owe scarcely less respect to the judgment 
 of a number of other men, who have lived since 
 their time, and of whom the world was not 
 worthy ; — men whose testimony can never be 
 quoted but with veneration, and whose characters 
 give an ample pledge of research at once pro- 
 found and honest. To the decision of a few 
 of these illustrious men on the subject before 
 us, the attention of the reader is respectfully 
 requested. 
 
148 TESTIMONY OP 
 
 The decisive opinion of Dr. Owen, undoubt- 
 edly one of the greatest divines that ever adorned 
 the British nation, in favour of the Scriptural 
 warrant of the office of RuHng Elder, was given 
 in a preceding section, and need not now be 
 repeated. I may, however, add, that the more 
 weight ought to be attached to this opinion, on 
 account of Dr. Owen's ecclesiastical connexions, 
 which, as is well known, were by no means 
 adapted to give him a bias on the side of Presby- 
 terian order. 
 
 The venerable and eminently pious Richard 
 Baxter, was no Presbyterian. Yet he expresses 
 himself in the following very unequivocal lan- 
 guage, on the subject under consideration. When 
 I plead, that the order of subject Presbyters, (or 
 lay-Elders,) was not instituted in Scripture times, 
 and consequently that it is not of divine institu- 
 tion, I mean, that, as a distinct office, or species 
 of Church ministers, it is not a divine institution, 
 nor a lawful institution of man ; but that, among 
 men in the same office, some might, prudentially, 
 be chosen to an eminency of degree, as to the 
 exercise ; and that according to the difference of 
 their advantages, there might be a disparity in 
 the use of their authority and gifts, I think was 
 done in Scripture times, and might have been 
 after, if it had not then. And my judgment is, 
 that, ordinarily, every particular Church (such 
 as our parish Churches are) had more Elders 
 than one, but not such store of men of eminent 
 gifts, as that all these Elders could be such. 
 But as if half a dozen of the most judicious 
 persons of this parish were ordained to be Elders, 
 of the same office with myself; but because 
 they are not equally fit for public preaching, 
 
LATER DIVINES. 149 
 
 should most employ themselves in the rest of the 
 oversight, consenting that the public preacliing lie 
 most upon me, and that 1 be the moderator of 
 them, for order in circumstantials. This I think 
 was tlie true Episcopacy and Presbytery of the 
 first times."* 
 
 Although it may be doubted whether this vene- 
 rable man be correct in his whole view of this 
 subject ; yet it will be observed by every attentive 
 reader, that in maintaining the existence of a plu- 
 rality of Elders in each Church, in primitive 
 times, and that a great part of these Elders were 
 not, in fact, employed in preaching, but in in- 
 specting and ruling, he concedes every thing that 
 can be deemed essential in relation to the office 
 which we are considering. 
 
 The Puritan Congregationalists of England, 
 about the year 1605, in the summary of their 
 Faith and Order, entitled English Puritanism, 
 drawn up by the venerable Mr. Bradshaw, trans- 
 lated into Latin for the benefit of the foreign Pro- 
 testants, by the learned Dr. Ames, and intended 
 to express the sense of the general body of the 
 Puritans, speak thus on the subject of Ruling 
 Elders. 
 
 " Since even in the best constituted Churches, 
 they know that not a few enormous offences will 
 arise, which, if not timely met, will do injury 
 both to those who believe, and those who are 
 inquiring ; while, at the same time, they see 
 that the authority of a single person in a parish, 
 resembling the papal, is contrary to the will of 
 Christ ; they think, as the case itself requires, 
 
 * Disputations of Church Government. — Advertise 
 meat, p. 4, 5. 4to. 1659. 
 
 13* 
 
150 TESTIMONY OP 
 
 and as appointed of God, that others also should 
 be selected from the Church, as officers, who may- 
 be associated with the ministers in the spiritual 
 government. 
 
 " These are inspectors, emTifirjrai, a kind of cen- 
 sors, whose duty it is, together with the ministers 
 of the word, as well to watch over the conduct of 
 all the brethren, as to judge between them. And 
 they think that this office is instituted, that each 
 may take the more heed to himself and his ways, 
 while the ministers enjoy more leisure for study 
 and devotion, and obtain, through the assistance of 
 their co-adjutors, a more accurate view of the state 
 of the flock ; since it is the peculiar duty of the 
 inspectors to be always watchful over the manners 
 and conduct of all the members of the Church. 
 
 " To this office they think that none should be 
 preferred, but men very eminent for gravity and 
 prudence, established in the faith ; of tried integ- 
 rity ; whose sanctity of life and upright example 
 are well known to the whole society. 
 
 « In the choice of these Elders, respect should 
 always be had to their outward circumstances. 
 They should be able to support themselves in some 
 respectable manner ; though it will not be an ob- 
 jection to them that they pursue some mechanical 
 art, provided they be morally qualified."* 
 
 Nor were these venerable men the only Indepen- 
 dents who declared, in the most decisive manner, 
 in favour of this class of officers. The celebrated 
 Pr. Thomas Goodwin, one of the Westminster 
 Assembly of divines, and who is styled by An- 
 thony A. Wood, a very " Atlas and Patriarch of 
 
 *Nears History of the Puritans, Vol. i. p. 449. 4to. 
 Edit. 
 
LATER DIVINES. 151 
 
 Independency," is well known to have been one 
 of the most learned and influential Independents 
 of the seventeenth century, and one of the most 
 voluminous and instructive writers of his class. 
 In his " Church Order Explained, in a way of Ca- 
 techism," the following passage occurs : " What 
 sort of Bishops hath God set in his Church?' 
 Answer, Two ; some Pastors and Teachers ; some 
 Ruling Elders, under two heads; some labour in 
 word and doctrine, and of those, some are Pastors, 
 some Teachers ; others rule only, and labour not 
 in the word and doctrine." — Again ; " What is the 
 office and work of the Ruling Elder? Answer: 
 Seeing the kingdom of God is not of this world, 
 but heavenly and spiritual, and the government of 
 his kingdom is not lordly, but stewardly and minis- 
 terial ; and to labour in the ministry of exhortation 
 and doctrine is the proper work of the Pastors and 
 Teachers ; it remaineih, therefore, to be the office 
 and work of the Ruling Elders to assist the Pastors 
 and Teachers in diligent attendance to all other 
 aids of rule besides exhortation and doctrine, as 
 becometh good stewards of the household of God. 
 As, first, to open and shut the doors of God's 
 house, by admission of members, by ordination of 
 officers, by excommunication of notorious and ob- 
 stinate offenders. Secondly, to see that none live 
 in the Church inordinately, without a calling, or 
 idle in their calling. Thirdly, to prevent and heal 
 offences, whether in life or doctrine, that might 
 corrupt their own Church, or other Churches. 
 Fourthly, to prepare matters for the Church's con- 
 sideration, and to moderate the carriage of all mat- 
 ters in the Church assemblies. Finally, to feed 
 the flock of God, by a word of admonition, and, as 
 they shall be called, to visit and pray with their 
 
152 TESTIMONY OP 
 
 sick brethren. The ground of all this is laid down 
 in Romans xii. 8, where the Apostle, besides him 
 who exhorteth and teacheth, maketh mention of 
 another olficer, who ruleth with diligence, and is 
 distinct from the Pastors and Teachers, and that is 
 the sum of his work, to rule with diligence. Thus 
 you see the whole duty of these Ruling Elders, and 
 how they are to assist the Pastors and Teachers in 
 all other acts of rule besides word and doctrine. 
 Use 1. From hence observe the great bounty of 
 God unto Pastors and Teachers, that God hath not 
 left them alone in the Church, as Martha com- 
 plains to Christ that Mary had left her alone to 
 serve : the ministers of the Church have no such 
 cause to complain : for, as he gave the Levites to 
 the Priests, to help them in their service, so hath 
 he given Ruling Elders to such as labour in the 
 word and doctrine, that they might have assistance 
 from them in ruling the Church of God. Use 2. 
 It may serve to answer a cavil that some have 
 against this office, who say, that, if God hath given 
 these officers to the Church, he would then have 
 set down the limits of these officers, and not have 
 sent them forth with illimited power. To which 
 it is answered, that their power is strongly limited, 
 as a stewardly or ministerial power and office. It 
 is the power of the keys, which Christ hath ex- 
 pressed in his word, and it consisteth in those 
 things that have been spoken of God's house, to 
 open and shut the doors of God's house, by ad- 
 mission of members, &c. This is such a rule as 
 is no small help to the spirits and hearts of those 
 who labour in doctrine; and no small help it is 
 also to the whole Church of God ; and when they 
 are wanting, many evils will grow, and those 
 without the possibility of redress and amendment, 
 
LATER DIVINES. 153 
 
 much idleness, much confusion, many offences. 
 Though other ministers have been in the Church, 
 we may see how much, in the want of these offi- 
 cers, the Churches have been corrupted."* 
 
 The character of the Rev. Thomas Hooker, one 
 of the most learned and pious Fathers of New 
 England, and a distinguished advocate of Indepen- 
 dency, is too well known to require remark. In 
 his work, entitled " A Survey of Church Disci- 
 pline," &c., he speaks thus of the office under 
 consideration : " We begin with the Ruling Elder's 
 place, for that carries a kind of simplicity with it. 
 There be more ingredients required to make up the 
 office of Pastor and Doctor, and therefore we shall 
 take leave to trade in the first, quo simplicius ac 
 prius. That there is such an office and officer ap- 
 pointed by Christ, as the Scriptures are plain to 
 him, whose spirit and apprehension is not pos- 
 sessed and forestalled with prejudice. The first 
 argument we have from Romans xii. 7, which 
 gives in witness to this truth, where all these offi- 
 cers are numbered and named expressly. The 
 second argument is taken from 1 Cor. xii. 28. 
 The scope of the place, and Apostle's intendment 
 is, to lay open the several offices and officers that 
 the Lord hath set in his Church, and so many chief 
 members, out of which the Church is constituted 
 as an entire body." And, after making some 
 other remarks for the right discovery of the Apos- 
 tle's proceeding and purpose, he adds : " From 
 which premises, the dispute issues thus. As 
 Apostles, Prophets, and Teachers are distinct, so 
 
 * Church Order Explained, &c., page 16, 19, 22, to be 
 found in the 4th Vol of Goodwin's Works, four vols, 
 fol. London, 1697. 
 
154 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 are Helps and Governments distinct : for the Spirit 
 puts them in the same ranks, as having a parity of 
 reason which appertains to them all. But they 
 were distinct offices, and found in persons as dis- 
 tinct officers, as verse 30, Are all Apostles? Are 
 all Teachers '.' Therefore, the same is true of Go- 
 vernors. A third argument is taken from the fa- 
 mous place, 1 Timothy v. 17, vi'hich is full to our 
 purpose in hand, and intended by the Holy Spirit 
 of the Lord, to make evident the station and office 
 of Ruling Elders, unto the end of the world."* 
 
 The praise of the Rev. John Cotton, one of the 
 most distinguished of the first ministers of New 
 England, was in all the Churches, in his time. 
 In a small work entitled " Questions and Answers 
 on Church Government, begun 25th November, 
 1634," the following passages occur. " Quest. 
 What sorts of ministers or officers hath God set 
 in his Church 1 A?2stver. The ministers and offi- 
 cers of the Church are some of them extraordinary, 
 as Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists ; some ordinary, 
 as Bishops and Deacons. Quest. What sorts of 
 Bishops hath God ordained in his Church ? A?i' 
 siver. There are three sorts of them, according as 
 there be three sorts of Elders in the Church, though 
 under two heads ; some Pastors, some Teachers, 
 some Ruling Elders. That is to say, such Elders 
 as labour in the word and doctrine, and such as 
 rule in the Church of God ; 1 Tim. i. 13 ; 1 Cor. 
 xii. 28 ;' Rom. xii. 7, 8 ; 1 Tim. v. 17. Quest, 
 What is the work of a Ruling Elder? Answer. 
 Seeing the kingdom of Christ is not of this world, 
 but heavenly and spiritual ; and the government of 
 his kingdom is not lordly, but stewardly and mi- 
 
 * Survey, &c., part ii. p. 6. 8. 10. 11. 4to. London, 1648. 
 
 J 
 
LATER DIVINES. 155 
 
 nisterial ; and to labour in the administration of 
 exhortation and doctrine is the proper work of 
 Pastor and Teacher, it remains to be the office of 
 the Ruling Elder to assist the Pastor and Teacher 
 m all other acts of rule besides, as becomes good 
 stewards of the household of God. And, therelbre, 
 to put instances, as, Ftrst^ To open and shut the 
 doors of God's house, by admission of members, 
 by ordination of officers, by excommunication of 
 notorious and obstinate offenders. Secondly, To 
 see that none live in the Church inordinately, 
 without a calling, or idly in their calling. Thirdly^ 
 To prevent or heal offences. Fourtldy, To pre- 
 pare matters for the Church's consideration, and to 
 moderate the carriage of all things in the Church 
 assemblies. Fifthly, To feed the flock of God 
 with the word of admonition, and, as they shall be 
 called, to visit and pray over the sick brethren."* 
 The venerable John Davenport, it is well known, 
 held a distinguished place among the early lights 
 of the Massachusetts and Connecticut Churches. 
 In a treatise entitled " The Power of Congrega- 
 tional Churches asserted and vindicated, &c.," al- 
 though his plan did, not require, or even admit, 
 that he should treat expressly and at length on the 
 officers of the Church ; yet he repeatedly, and in 
 the most unequivocal manner alludes to the office 
 of Ruling Elder, as belonging to the Church by 
 divine appointment ; as altogether distinct from the 
 office of both Teaching Elder and Deacon ; and as 
 
 *A Treatise, 1. Of Faith. 2. Twelve Fundamental 
 Articles of Christian Religion. 3. A Doctrinal Conclu- 
 sion. 4. Questions and Answers on Church Govern- 
 ment, p. 20, 21. 
 
156 TESTIMONY OP 
 
 being of indispensable importance to the edification 
 of the Church.* 
 
 Nor are these the sentiments of detached indi- 
 viduals merely. They were adopted and pub- 
 lished, about the same time, by public bodies, in 
 the most solemn manner. In a work entitled, 
 " Church Government and Church Covenant dis- 
 cussed, in an answer of the Elders of the several 
 Churches of New England, to two and thirty 
 questions sent over to them by divers ministers 
 in England, to declare their judgment thereon ;" 
 Ruling Elders are spoken of, as of Divine in- 
 stitution, and as actually existing, at the time, 
 in the Churches of New England. The fif- 
 teenth question is: "Whether do you give the 
 exercise of all Church power of government, to 
 the whole Church, or to the Presbyters thereof 
 alone V To which it is answered , " We do be- 
 lieve that Christ hath ordained that there should 
 be a Presbytery or Eldership ; 1 Tim. iv. 14 ; and 
 that in every Church, Titus i. 5 ; Acts xiv. 28 ; 
 1 Cor. xi. 28, whose work is to teach and rule the 
 Church by the word and laws of Christ, 1 Tim. v. 
 17, and unto whom, as teaching and ruling, all the 
 people ought to be obedient, and submit them- 
 selves; Heb. xiii. 17. And, therefore, a govern- 
 ment merely popular, or democratical, (which di- 
 vines and orthodox writers do so much condemn, 
 in Morillius, and such like,) is far from the prac- 
 tice of these Churches, and, we believe, far from 
 the mind of Christ." The twenty-third ques- 
 tion is, " What authority or eminency have your 
 preaching Elders above your sole Ruling Elders; 
 
 * The Power of Congregational Churches, &c. p. 56. 
 81. 94. 115. 12mo. London, 1672. 
 
LATER DIVINES, 157 
 
 or are they both equal ? Answer. It is not the 
 manner of Elders among us, whether Ruling only, 
 or Ruling and Teaching also, to strive for authority 
 or pre-eminence one above another. As for the 
 people's duty toward their Elders, it is taught them 
 plainly in that place, 1 Thess. v. 12, 13, as also in 
 that of 1 Tim. v. 17 ; and this word (especially) 
 shows them that, as they are to account all their 
 Elders worthy of double honour, so in special 
 manner their Teaching or Preaching Elders."* 
 
 But there is another testimony of the same class, 
 of still higher authority. In a volume entitled, 
 " The Result of three Synods, held by the Elders 
 and Messengers of the Churches of Massachusetts 
 Province, New England," there is abundant evi- 
 dence to the same effect. These Synods met in 
 1648, 1662, and 1679 : Each of them was called 
 by the General Court, or Legislature of the Pro- 
 vince, and the results published by the court, with 
 their sanction. 
 
 The Synod of 1648, consisting of the divines of 
 Massachusetts and Connecticut, and which drew 
 up what is commonly known as the Cambridge 
 Platform, distinctly recognized the office under 
 consideration as of Divine appointment. It speaks 
 as follows, (Chapter vii.) The Ruling Elder's 
 office is distinct from the office of Pastor and 
 Teacher. Ruling Elders are not so called to ex- 
 clude the Pastors and Teachers from ruling; be- 
 cause ruling and government is common to these 
 with the other : whereas attending to teach and 
 preach the word, is peculiar unto the former ; Ro- 
 mans xii. 7, 8, 9; 1 Timothy v. 17; 1 Corin- 
 thians xii. 27 ; Hebrews xiii. 17." 
 
 * The Power of Congregational Churches, &c. p. 47, 
 48.76 
 
 14 
 
158 TESTIMONY OP 
 
 The Synod of 1679 gave its sanction, most un- 
 equivocally to the same doctrine ; not only by 
 unanimously renewing their approbation of the 
 Platform of 1648, but also by new acts of the most 
 decisive character. Two questions proposed to 
 the Synod of 1679 were. First, " What are the 
 evils that have provoked the Lord to bring his 
 judgments on New England ? Secondly, What is 
 to be done, that so many evils may be removed ? 
 in their answer to the second question, the Synod 
 say, " It is requisite that the utmost endeavours 
 should be used, in order to a full supply of officers 
 in the Church, according to Christ's institution. 
 The defect of these Churches, on this account, is 
 very lamentable ; there being, in most of the 
 Churches, only one Teaching officer for the bur- 
 dens of the whole congregation to lie upon. The 
 Lord Christ would not have instituted Pastors, 
 Teachers, and Ruling Elders, (nor the Apostles 
 ordained Elders in every Church,) if He had not 
 ^een that there was need of them for the good of 
 nis people. And, therefore, for men to think they 
 ,an do well enough without them, is both to break 
 lie second Commandment, and to reflect upon the 
 i'lsdom of Christ, as if he did appoint unnecessary 
 :)fRces in his Church."* It may not be improper 
 
 add, that this Synod assembled in consequence 
 jf the " General Court of the Colony having called 
 ipon all the Churches therein to send their Elders 
 and Messengers, that they might meet in form of 
 
 1 Synod, in order to a most serious inquiry into 
 the questions propounded to them ; and that the 
 liesult, when proposed, was read once and again, 
 aach paragraph being duly and distinctly weighed 
 
 ♦ Result of Three Synods, &c., p. 109. 
 
LATER DIVINES. 159 
 
 in ' the balance of the sanctuary,' and then, upon 
 mature deliberation, the whole unanimously voted, 
 as to the substance and scope thereof."* 
 
 It is well known that in the Westminster As- 
 sembly of divines there was a small number of 
 learned and zealous Independents, who opposed 
 some of the most prominent features in the Pres- 
 byterian form of government with much ardour 
 and pertinacity, and who protracted the debates 
 respecting them for many weeks. But it is equally 
 well known, that all the most ableof those divines 
 were warm advocates of the office of Ruling Elder, 
 not only as a useful office, but as of Divine institu- 
 tion. The recorded opinion of one of them, the 
 Rev. Dr. Goodwin, has been already stated. No 
 less pointed in maintaining the same opinion, were 
 Messrs. Bridge, Burroughs, and Nye, forming with 
 Dr. Goodwin, a majority of the whole number. 
 And, accordingly, in their " Reasons against the 
 Third Proposition concerning Presbyterial govern- 
 ment," they admit, that " the Scripture says much 
 of two sorts of Elders, Teaching and Ruling; and 
 in some places so plain, as if of purpose to distin- 
 guish them ; and, further, that the whole Reform- 
 ed Churches had these different Elders. "f 
 
 The following very explicit extract from the 
 well known work of the learned Herbert Thorn- 
 dike, (a divine of the Church of England,) on 
 " Religious Assemblies," chapter iv. p. 117, will 
 show his opinion on the subject before us. Speak- 
 ing of the language of the Apostle, in 1 Cor. xii. 
 2S, he says : " There is no reason to doubt that the 
 men whom the Apostle here calleth doctors, are 
 those of the Presbyters which had the abilities of 
 
 * Preface, p. 5, 6. f Reasons, &c. p. 3, 40. 
 
160 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 preaching and teaching the people at their as- 
 semblies ; that those of the Presbyters that preach- 
 ed not, are here called by the Apostle govern- 
 ments." 
 
 The following remarks of the Rev. Cotton 
 Mather, well known as an eminent Congrega- 
 tionalist of Massachusetts, and author of the Mag- 
 nalia Christi Americana, have too much point, and 
 convey too much instruction, to be omitted in this 
 list of testimonies. " There are some who cannot 
 see any such officer as what we call a Ruling 
 Elder, directed and appointed in the word of God ; 
 and partly through a prejudice against the office ; 
 and partly, indeed chiefly, through a penury of 
 men well qualified for the discharge of it, as it has 
 been heretofore understood and applied, our 
 Churches are now generally destitute of such helps 
 in government. But unless a Church have divers 
 Elders, the Church government must needs be- 
 come either prelatic or popular. And that a 
 Church's needing but one Elder, is an opinion, 
 contrary not only to the sense of the faithful in all 
 ages, but also to the law of the Scriptures, where 
 there can be nothing plainer than Elders who rule 
 well, and are worthy of double honour, though 
 they do not labour in the word and doctrine ; 
 whereas, if there were any teaching Elders, who 
 do not labour in the word and doctrine, they would 
 be so far from worthy of double honour, that they 
 would not be worthy of any honour at all. To- 
 wards the adjusting of the difference which has 
 thus been in the judgments of judicious men, some 
 essays have been made, and one particularly in 
 such terms as these. Let it be first recognised, 
 ihat all the other Church officers are the assistants 
 of the Pastor, who was himself intrusted with the 
 
LATER DIVINES. 161 
 
 whole care of all, until the further pity and kind- 
 ness of our Lord Jesus Christ, joined other officers 
 unto him for his assistance in it. I suppose none 
 will be so absurd as to deny this at least, that all 
 the Church officers are to take the advice of the 
 Pastor with them. Upon which I subjoin, that a 
 man may be a distinct otiicer from his Pastor, and 
 yet not have a distinct office from him. The 
 Pastor may be the Ruling Elder, and yet he may 
 have Elders to assist him in ruling, and in the 
 actual discharge of some things which they are 
 able and proper to be servicable to him in. This 
 consideration being laid, I will persuade myself, 
 every Pastor among us will allow me, that there 
 is much work to be done for God in preparing of 
 what belongs to the admission and exclusion of 
 Church members ; in carefully inspecting the way 
 and walk of them all, and the first appearance of 
 evil with them ; in preventing the very beginnings 
 of ill blood among them, and instructing of all from 
 house to house, more privately, and warning of all 
 persons unto the things more peculiarly incumbent 
 on them ; in visiting all the afflicted, and inform- 
 ing of, and consulting with the ministers, for the 
 welfare of the whole flock. And they must allow 
 me, that this work is too heavy for any one man ; 
 and that more than one man, yea, all our Church<3s, 
 do suffer beyond measure, because no more of this 
 work is thoroughly perlbrmed. Moreover, they 
 will acknowledge to me, that it is an usual thing 
 with a prudent and faithful Pastor himself, to 
 single out some of the more grave, solid, aged 
 brethren in his congregation, to assist him in many 
 parts of this work, on many occasions in a year ; 
 nor will such a Pastor, ordinarily, do any impor- 
 tant thing in his government, without having first 
 14* 
 
162 TESTIMONY OP 
 
 heard the counsels of such brethren. In short, 
 there are few discreet Pastors, but what make 
 many occasional Ruling Elders every year. I 
 say, then, suppose the Church, by a vote, recom- 
 mend some such brethren, the fittest they have, 
 and always more than one, unto the stated assist- 
 ance of their Pastor, in the Church rule, wherein 
 they may be helps unto him. I do not propose 
 that they should be biennial, or triennial only, 
 though I know very famous Churches throughout 
 Europe have them so. Yea, and what if they 
 should by solemn fasting and prayer be commend- 
 ed unto the benediction of God in what service 
 they have to do ? What objection can be made 
 against the lawfulness 1 I think none can be 
 made against the usefulness of such a thing. 
 Truly, for my part — if the fifth chapter of the first 
 Epistle to Timothy would not bear me out, when 
 conscience, both of my duty and my weakness 
 made me desire such assistance, I would see 
 whether the first chapter of Deuteronomy would 
 not."* 
 
 After these strong attestations in favour of the 
 office of Ruling Elder from the most pious and 
 learned of the early Independents, or Congrega- 
 tionalists, of New England — it will naturally occur 
 to every reader, as an interesting question, how it 
 came to pass, that Churches which once unani- 
 mously held such opinions, laid so much stress on 
 them, and practised accordingly, for about three- 
 fourths of a century, should have, long since, as 
 unanimously, discontinued the office ? The first 
 company of emigrants, in 1620, brought a Ruling 
 
 * Magnalia, &c. Book v. Part ii. p. 206, 207, octavo 
 edition, 1820 
 
LATER DIVINES. 163 
 
 Elder with them ; and the office was universally 
 retained for many years afterwards. Yet, in 1702, 
 when Dr. Cotton Mather published the first edition 
 of his Magnalia, it had been, as would seem, from 
 the quotation just made, in a great measure, laid 
 aside; and before the middle of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury, it had entirely disappeared from the Churches 
 of New England. A well informed and discerning 
 friend has suggested, that the chief reason of this 
 remarkable fact, is probably to be traced to another 
 fact alluded to in the following extract. In a small 
 volume, printed in Boston, in 1700, and entitled, 
 " The Order of the gospel, professed and practised 
 by the Churches of Christ in New England, &c.;" 
 by Increase Mather, President of Harvard College, 
 and Teacher of a Church in Boston : — In this 
 work, one of the questions discussed is : — " Whe- 
 ther or not our Brethren, and not the Elders of the 
 Churches only, are to judge concerning the quali- 
 fications and fitness of those who are admitted into 
 their communion ?" In answering it, he says :• — 
 " If only Elders have power to judge who are fit 
 to come to the sacrament, or to join to the 
 Churches ; then, in case there is but one Elder in 
 a Church, (as there are very few Churches in 
 New England that have more Elders than one,) 
 the sole power will reside in that one man's 
 hands."* On this passage, the friend above re- 
 ferred to remarks, " I am inclined to think that 
 he here means Ruling Elders; for, 1. Several 
 Churches (whether in consequence of the recom- 
 mendation of the Synod of 1679, I do not know) 
 had then two ministers. 2. This question and 
 answer of Dr. I. Mather's is annexed to a reprint 
 
 ♦ Order of the Gospel, &c., p. 25. 
 
164 TESTIMONY OP 
 
 in Boston (now lying before me) of " A Vindica- 
 tion of the Divine authority of Ruling Elders in the 
 Church of Christ, asserted by the ministers and 
 Elders met together in a Provincial Assembly, 
 Nov. 2d, 1649, and printed in London, 1650." 
 But whether this was his meaning or not, it is 
 abundantly evident from various other sources, 
 that the Churches of New England, while they re- 
 tained the office of Ruling Elder, had but one such 
 Elder at a time, and his business was especially 
 to attend to discipline. The office was, of course, 
 an unwelcome one ; and it became more and more 
 difficult to find men willing to assume it." 
 
 It appears, then, that our excellent brethren, the 
 Puritan Independents, while they zealously main- 
 tained the Divine warrant, and the great impor- 
 tance of the Ruling Elder's office, misapprehended 
 its real nature, and placed it under an aspect be- 
 fore the Churches evidently adapted to discredit 
 and destroy it. Instead of appointing a plurality 
 of those Ruling Elders, they seldom or never had 
 more than one in each Church ; and instead of 
 uniting the Pastor with him, and forming a regular 
 judicial bench for regulating the affiiirs of the 
 Church, they seemed to have placed each in a 
 sphere entirely separate, and independent of each 
 other ; nay, to have made the offices of Teacher 
 and Ruler, wear an appearance of being rivals for 
 influence and power. Certain it is, that the views 
 entertained by each, of his proper department of 
 duty, often, in fact, brought them into collision, 
 and made the situation of the Ruler both uncom- 
 fortable and useless. Can it be matter of sur- 
 prise, that, in these circumstances, the office of 
 RuUng Elder in the Congregational Churches of 
 New England, gained but little favour with the 
 
LATER DIVINES. 165 
 
 body of the people ; that it came to be considered 
 as, at once, odious and useless ; would be under- 
 taken by few ; and, at length, fell into entire 
 disuse ? 
 
 The testimony of the Rev. Dr. John Edwards, 
 an eminently pious and learned divine of the 
 Church of England, who flourished during the 
 latter half of the seventeenth century, is equally 
 decisive in favour of this office. His language is 
 as follows : — 
 
 " This office of a Ruling Elder is according to 
 the practice of the Church of God among the 
 Jews, his own people. It is certain that there was 
 this kind of Elders under that economy. There 
 were two sorts of Elders among the Jews, the 
 Ruling ones, who governed in their Assemblies 
 and Synagogues, and the Teaching ones, who 
 read and expounded the Scriptures. Accordingly, 
 Dr. Lightfoot, in his Harmony of the New Tes- 
 tament, inclines to interpret 1 Timothy v. 17, of 
 the Elders in the Christian congregations, who an- 
 swer to the lay-Elders in the Jewish Synagogue. 
 For this learned writer, who was well versed in 
 the Jewish customs and practices, tells us, that in 
 every Synagogue among the Jews, there were 
 Elders that ruled chiefly in the affairs of the 
 Synagogue, and other Elders, that laboured in the 
 word and doctrine." " And so it was in the 
 Christian Church ; there was a mixture of Clergy 
 and Laity in their consults about Church matters, 
 as we see frequently in the Acts of the Apostles. 
 The Christian Church retained this usage, for 
 which they quote St. Augustine's 137th Epistle, 
 where he mentions the Cleriry and the Elders, and 
 the people. So in his third book against Cresco- 
 nius, he mentions Deacons and Seniors, that is 
 
166 TESTIMONY OP 
 
 lay-Elders, for he distinguishes them from other 
 Presbyters. One of his Epistles to his Church in 
 Hippo, is thus superscribed, ' To the Clergy and 
 the Elders.' See chapter 56th, in the fore-named 
 book against Cresconius, wPiere he mentions Pere- 
 grinus, the Presbyter, and the Elders (Seniores.)* 
 And nothing can be plainer than that of St, Am- 
 brose — ' Both the Synagogue and afterwards the 
 Church, had their Elders, without whose counsel 
 nothing was done in the Church, &c.' Further, we 
 read of these Seniors in the writings of Oplatus, 
 p. 41, and in the Epistles annexed to him, which 
 the reader may consult. Thus it appears that 
 this was an ancient office in the Church, and 7iot 
 invented by Calvin^ as some have thought and 
 writ." t 
 
 " And then as to the reason of the thing, there 
 should be no ground of quarrelling with this office 
 in the Church, seeing it is useful. It was insti- 
 tuted for the ease of the preaching Elders, that 
 they might not be overburdened with business, and 
 
 * It will not escape the notice of the discerning 
 reader, that these testimonies from Augustine, Am- 
 brose, and Optatus, which some have ventured, very 
 unceremoniously, to treat with contempt, when brought 
 forward on this subject, are regarded by this very 
 learned Episcopalian, as evidence of the most conclu- 
 sive character. 
 
 j- The old and hackneyed allegation, which has been 
 the theme of high-toned Episcopalians and Independ- 
 ents, for more than two hundred years, that Calvin in- 
 vented and first introduced Ruling Elders, it will be 
 observed, is confidently rejected by this truly learned 
 Episcopal divine, who, from his ecclesiastical con- 
 nexion, cannot be supposed to have had any other in- 
 ducement to adopt the opinion which he has expressed, 
 than his love of truth. 
 
LATER DIVINES. 167 
 
 that they might more conveniently apply them- 
 selves to that employment which is purely eccle- 
 siastical and spiritual. Truly if there was no 
 such office mentioned in the Scripture, we might 
 reasonably wish for such a one, it being so useful 
 and serviceable to the great purposes of religion. 
 What can be more desirable than that there should 
 be one or more appointed to observe the conver- 
 sation of the flock, in order to the exercising of 
 discipline? The Pastor himself cannot be sup- 
 posed to have an eye on every one of his charge ; 
 and, therefore, it is fitting, that out of those who 
 are fellow-members, and daily converse with one 
 another, and, therefore, are capable of acquaint- 
 ing themselves with their manners and behaviour, 
 there should be chosen these Elders I am speak- 
 ing of, to inspect the carriage and deportment of 
 the flock." * 
 
 The judgment of the Rev. Dr. Jerome Kro- 
 mayer, a very learned Lutheran divine, and Pro- 
 fessor of Divinity in the University of Leipsic, 
 who lived in the seventeenth century, is very de- 
 cisive in favour of the apostolical institution of 
 Ruling Elders. " Of Presbyters, or Elders," says 
 he, " there were formerly two kinds, those who 
 taught, and those who exercised the office of 
 rulers in the Church. This is taught in 1 Timo- 
 thy v. 17 ; ' Let the Elders that rule well be ac- 
 counted worthy of double honour, especially they 
 who labour in the word and doctrine.' The latter 
 were the same as our Ministers ; the former, were 
 like the members of our Consistories." f 
 
 * Theoloeia Reformata, Vol. i. Ninth Article of the 
 Creed, p. 526. 528. 
 
 f Historia Ecclesiastica, auctore Hieronymo Kro- 
 mayero, D. D. S. S. T. D. in Acad. Leips. 4to. p. 59. 
 
168 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 A similar testimony may be adduced from Fre- 
 derick Baldwin, another distinguished Lutheran 
 divine and Professor, of the same century, who 
 is no less decisive in favour of the class of offices 
 under consideration.* 
 
 The celebrated John Casper Suicer, an emi- 
 nently learned German divine and Professor, in 
 his Thesaurus Ecdesiasticus^ after speaking 
 particularly of Teaching Presbyters or Elders, 
 in the first place, proceeds to speak of another 
 class of Elders, who, (he says,) " chosen from 
 among the people, (or laity,) are united with the 
 Pastors, or Ministers of the Word, that they may 
 be guardians of the discipline of the Church. 
 To these the Apostle Paul refers in 1 Timothy 
 V. 17, where, by the Elders who labour in the 
 word and doctrine, he evidently understands that 
 class of Elders of which we have spoken in the 
 preceding section : and by those who rule well 
 he plainly refers to the class of which we now 
 speak. For if he had intended to speak of only 
 one class, why did he add, especially those who 
 labour in the word and doctrine? This class 
 are also designated by the term TrpoKTranevovs, in 
 Romans xii. 8, and by the term KvpepvnTeis, in 
 1 Cormthians xii. 29."| 
 
 The very explicit testimony of Dr. Whitby, 
 of the Church of England, was produced in a 
 preceding chapter, when we were discussing the 
 Scriptural evidence in favour of the office under 
 consideration. It need not, therefore, here be 
 repeated, excepting simply to remind the reader 
 of its decisive character. The concessions also 
 
 * Fred. Balduini Tnstitut. Ministrorum Verbi. Cap. 10 
 •j- Suiceri Thesaurus Ecclesiasticus, Art. npea^vrtpos. 
 
LATER DIVINES. 169 
 
 of Bishop Fell, the Rev. Mr. Marshall, and the 
 celebrated Mr. Dodvvell, of the same Church, 
 will also, in this connexion, be borne in mind. 
 They may be found in the fourth chapter, in 
 connexion with the testimony from the Fathers. 
 
 The pious and excellent Dr. Watts, though 
 not a Presbyterian, must be considered as in- 
 directly doing homage to this part of the Pres- 
 byterian system, when he says, (in his Treatise 
 on the Foundation of the Christian Church, 
 p. 125,) " If it happens that there is but one 
 Minister or Presbyter in a Church, or if the 
 ministers are young men of small experience 
 in the world, it is useful and proper that some 
 of the eldest, gravest, and wisest members be 
 deputed, by the Church, to join with and assist 
 the ministers in the care and management of 
 that affair, (the admission and exclusion of 
 members.") 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Doddridge, universally known 
 as an eminently learned and pious divine of 
 England, of the Independent denomination, in 
 reference to the office in question speaks thus : 
 "It seems to be solidly argued, from 1 Timothy 
 v. 17, that there were, in the primitive Church, 
 some Elders, who did not use to preach. No- 
 thing very express is said concerning them : 
 only it seems to be intimated, James v. 14, that 
 they prayed with the sick. It may be very 
 expedient, even on the principles of human pru- 
 dence, to appoint some of the more grave and 
 honourable members of the society to join with 
 the Pastor in the oversight of it, who may con- 
 stitute a kind of council with him, to deliberate on 
 affairs in which the society is concerned, and 
 prepare them for being brought before the Church 
 15 
 
170 TESTIMONY OP 
 
 for its decision, to pray with the sick, to reconcile 
 differences, &:c."* 
 
 The same distinguished writer, in his Com- 
 mentary on 1 Timothy v. 17, has the following 
 remark : " Especially they who labour, &c. 
 This seems to intimate that there were some 
 who, though they presided in the Church, were 
 not employed in preaching. Limborch, indeed, 
 is of opinion that Koirio>vT£i signifies those who did 
 even fatigue themselves with their extraordinary 
 labours, which some might not do, who yet, in 
 the general, presided well, supposing preaching 
 to be a part of their work. But it seems to me 
 much more natural to follow the former inter- 
 pretation." 
 
 The celebrated Professor Neander, of Berlin, 
 was mentioned in a preceding chapter, as pro- 
 bably, the most profoundly learned Christian 
 antiquarian now living. In addition to the 
 quotation from him presented in that chapter, 
 the following, from the same work, is worthy of 
 notice. 
 
 *' That the name emaKo^roi, was of the same 
 signification with -rptaiivrtpoi, is manifest from those 
 places in the New Testament where these words 
 are exchanged the one for the other ; Acts xx. 
 17. 28 ; Tit. i. 5. 7 ; and from those passages 
 where, after the office of Bishop that of Deacon 
 is mentioned ; so that no other office can be 
 imagined between them. If the name ciziaKOTrog had 
 been used to distinguish any of these Elders 
 from the rest, as a ruler in the Church Senate, a 
 
 * Lectures on Divinity, Proposition 150, Scholium 
 5th. 
 
LATER DIVINES. 171 
 
 prirnus inter pares, this use of it interchangeably 
 with npcGpvTcpoi would not have obtained." 
 
 " These Presbyters, or Bishops, had the over- 
 sight of the whole Church, in all its general 
 concerns ; but the ofBce of teaching was not 
 appropriated exclusively to them ; for, as we 
 have above remarked, all Christians had a right 
 to speak in their meetings for the edification of 
 the members. It does not follow from this, 
 however, that all the Church members were 
 capable of giving instruction : and it is important 
 to distinguish a faculty for instruction which was 
 under the command of an individual, from the 
 miraculous and sudden impulses of inspiration, 
 as in prophecy, and the gift of tongues ; and 
 which might be bestowed upon those not re- 
 markably favoured by natural gifts. The care 
 of the Churches, the preservation and extension 
 of pure evangelical truth, and the defence of it 
 against the various forms of error, which early 
 appeared, could not be left entirely to depend 
 upon these extraordinary and often transient 
 impulses. The weakness of human nature to 
 which was committed the treasure of the gospel, 
 as in "earthen vessels," seemed to render it 
 necessary that there should be, in every Church, 
 some possessed of the natural endowments neces- 
 sary to instruct their brethren in the truth, to 
 warn and exhort them against error, and lead 
 them forward in the way of life. Such endow- 
 ments presuppose a previous course of instruction, 
 clearness and acuteness of thought, and a power 
 to communicate their ideas ; and when these 
 were present, and the Spirit of God was im- 
 parted to animate and sanctify, the man became 
 possessed of the " xap'^^a f^t^aaKaXtaj." Those pos- 
 
172 TESTIMONY OF 
 
 sessed of this xap^Jiia, were, on this account, 
 calculated for all the purposes above alluded to, 
 without excluding the remainder from exercising 
 the gift imparted to them, of whatever kind it 
 might be. On this account, the xapicri^a StSacKaXtas, 
 and the situation of teachers, (SiSaaKoXoi,) who 
 were distinguished by this gift, was represented 
 as something entirely distinct and peculiar. 
 (1 Cor. xii. 28. xiv. 6; Ephes. iv. 11.) All 
 members of a Church could, at times, speak 
 before their brethren, either to call upon God, 
 or to praise him, when so inclined ; but only 
 a few were 6i6aaKa\oi, in the full sense of that 
 term." 
 
 " It is very clear too, that this talent for teach- 
 ing, was different from that of governing, (i. e. 
 xapKTiid Kvpcpvncewg,) which was especially necessary 
 for him who took his seat in the Council of the 
 Church, that is for a npcaSvrepoi or emaKOTroi, One 
 might possess the knowledge of external matters, 
 the tact, the Christian prudence necessary for this 
 duty, without the mental qualities so peculiarly de- 
 sirable in a teacher. In the first apostolic Church, 
 from which every thing like mere arbitrary ar- 
 rangements concerning rank was very distant, 
 and all offices were looked upon only as they pro- 
 mised the attainment of the great end of the Chris- 
 tian faith, the offices of teacher and ruler, oiSaaKaXog 
 and ^oiiinv were separated. For this distinction, 
 see Romans xii. 7, 8. In noticing this well de- 
 fined distinction, we may be led to the opinion, 
 that originally, those called, by way of preference, 
 teachers, did not belong to the class of rulers, or 
 overseers. Also, it is not clearly proved that they 
 did always belong to the class ol" -^pr^rSvrepoi. Only 
 this is certain, that it was considered as desirable 
 
LATER DIVINES. 173 
 
 that, among the rulerg thore should be those capa- 
 ble of teaching also. When it is enjoined ujxm 
 the Presbyters in general, as in the farewell of 
 Paul to the Church of Ephesus, (Acts xx.) to 
 watch over the Church and preserve its doctrine 
 pure, it does not necessarily follow that the duty 
 of teaching, in its strict sense, was insisted on ; 
 but rather a general superintendence of the affairs 
 of that body. But when, in the Epistle to Titus, 
 it is demanded in an ettickottos that he not only 
 *' hold fast the form of sound words" in his pri- 
 vate capacity, but that he should be able to 
 strengthen others therein ; to overcome opposers, 
 and " convince gainsayers," it seems to be implied 
 that he should possess the " gift of teaching." 
 This must have been, in many situations of the 
 Churches, exposed as they were to errors of every 
 kind, highly desirable. And on this account, in 
 1 Tim. v. 17, those among the npsaSvrepoi^ who 
 united the gift of teaching (^StSaaKaha) with that 
 of governing, (^Kvpeputjais) were to be especially 
 honoured. This distinction of the two gifts shows 
 that they were not constantly or necessarily 
 united."* 
 
 The same writer says ; — " We find another 
 office in the apostolic times — that of Deacons. 
 The duties of this office were from the first only 
 external, (Acts vi.,) as it seems to have taken its 
 rise for the sole purpose of attending to the distri- 
 bution of alms. The care of the poor, however, 
 
 * It is worthy of notice that this profoiina ecclesiastical 
 historian in another place, quotes Hilary (Ambrose) as 
 speaking of the Ruling Elders, in the Synagogue, and in 
 the Church, and interprets him as plainly teaching the dis- 
 tinction here made between teaching and ruling Elders, 
 substantially as we have done in a preceding chapter. 
 15* 
 
174 TESTIMONY OF LATER DIVINES. 
 
 and of the sick, and many, other external duties 
 were, in process of time, imposed upon those ia 
 this station. Besides the Deacons, there were also 
 Deaconesses appointed, who could have free access 
 to the female part of the Church, which was, on 
 account of the peculiar manners of the East, denied, 
 to a great extent, to men. Here the female had 
 an opportunity of exercising her powers for the ex- 
 tension of the true faith, without overstepping the 
 bounds of modesty and propriety, and in a field 
 otherwise inaccessible. It was their duty, too, as 
 experienced Christian mothers, to give advice and 
 support to the younger women, as seems to have 
 been the case from Tertullian, De Virgi?t. Veland, 
 c. 9."* 
 
 Only one authority more shall be adduced on 
 this subject, and that shall be from the pen of our 
 venerable and eloquent countryman, the Rev. Dr. 
 Dwight, whose character for learning, talents, and 
 piety, needs no attestation from the writer of this 
 Essay. Though himself a Congregationalist, and 
 without any other inducement to declare in favour 
 of Ruling Elders, than that which the force of 
 truth presented, he expresses himself concerning 
 their office in the following unequivocal terms : — 
 " Ruling Elders are, in my apprehension, scrip- 
 tural officers qftlie Christia?i Church ; and I can- 
 not but think our defection, with respect to these 
 officers, from the practice of the first settlers of 
 New England, an error in ecclesiastical 'govern' 
 me?ity-\ 
 
 This array of witnesses might be greatly extend- 
 ed, were it proper to detain the reader with further 
 
 * Kirchengeschichte. 
 
 •j- Theology Explained and Defended, Vol. iv. p. 399. 
 
ELDERS NECESSARY. 175 
 
 extracts. But it is presumed that those which 
 have been produced are abundantly sufficient. It 
 will be observed that no Presbyterian has been 
 cited as an authority in this case. The names, 
 indeed, of multitudes of that denomination, might 
 have been produced, equal to any others that can 
 be shown on the catalogue of piety, talents, and 
 learning. But the testimony of more impartial 
 witnesses may be preferred. Recourse has been 
 had, then, to those who could not possibly have 
 been swayed by a Presbyterian bias. And a suffi- 
 ciency of such has been produced, it is hoped, to 
 make a deep impression on candid minds. Ro- 
 manists, Protestant Episcopalians, Lutherans, and 
 Independents, have all most remarkably concurred 
 in vindicating an office, the due admission and 
 scriptural use of which are, perhaps, of more im- 
 portance to the best interests of the Church of 
 God, than this, or any other single volume can 
 fully display. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 KULING ELDERS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY IN THE 
 CHURCH. 
 
 By this is meant, that the laws which Christ has 
 appointed for the government and edification of 
 his people, cannot possibly be executed without 
 such a class of officers in fact, whatever name they 
 may bear. But that which is the necessary result 
 of a Divine institution, is of equal authoiJty with 
 the institution itself. All powers or instruments 
 
176 RULING ELDERS 
 
 really indispensable to the faithful and plenary 
 execution of laws which an infinitely wise Go- 
 vernor has enacted, must be considered as implied 
 in those laws, even should they not be formally 
 specified. 
 
 Now, all serious impartial readers of the Bible 
 believe, that, besides the preaching of the gospel, 
 and the administration of the sacraments, there is 
 very much to be done for promoting the order, 
 purity, and edification of the Church, by the main- 
 tenance of a scriptural discipline. They believe 
 that the best interest of every ecclesiastical com - 
 munity requires, that there be a constant and faith- 
 ful inspection of all the members and families of 
 the Church; that the negligent be admonished; 
 that wanderers be reclaimed ; that scandals be re- 
 moved ; that irregularities be corrected ; that dif- 
 ferences be reconciled ; and every proper measure 
 adopted to bind the whole body together by the 
 ties of Christian purity and charity. They con- 
 sider it as vitally important that there be added to 
 the labours of the pulpit, those of teaching "from 
 house to house," visiting the sick, conversing with 
 serious inquirers, catechizing children, learning as 
 far as possible the character and state of every 
 member, even the poorest and most obscure, of the 
 flock and endeavouring, by all scriptural means, 
 to promote the knowledge, holiness, comfort and 
 spiritual welfare of every individual. They be- 
 lieve, in fine, that none ought to be admitted to the 
 communion of the Church, without a careful ex- 
 amination in reference to their knowledge, ortho- 
 doxy, good moral character, and hopeful piety, 
 that none ought to be permitted to remain in the 
 bosom of the Church, without maintaining, in some 
 tolerable degree, a character proper for professing 
 
ARE NECESSARY. 177 
 
 Christians; that none ought to be suspended from 
 the enjoyment of Churcii privileges but after a fair 
 trial; and that none should be finally excommuni- 
 cated from the covenanted family of Christ, with- 
 out the most patient inquiry, and every suitable 
 effort to bring them to repentance and reformation. 
 
 It is, no doubt, true, that the very suggestion 
 of the necessity and importance of discipline in 
 the Church is odious to many who bear the Chris- 
 tian name. The wordly and careless portion of 
 every Church consider the interposition of eccle- 
 siastical inspection and authority in reference to 
 the lives and conversation of its members, as 
 officious and offensive meddling with private con- 
 cerns. They would much rather retain their ex- 
 ternal standing, as professors of religion, and, at 
 the same time, pursue their unhallowed pleasures 
 without control. They never wish to see a min- 
 ister, as such, but in the pulpit ; or any Church 
 officer in any other place than his seat in the 
 sanctuary. To such persons, the entire absence 
 of the class of officers for which we are pleading, 
 together with the exercise of all their apprc^^riate 
 functions, would be matter rather of felicitation 
 than regret. Hence the violent opposition made 
 to the introduction of Ruling Elders into the 
 Church of Geneva, by the worldly and licentious 
 part of her members. And hence the insuperable 
 repugnance to the establishment of sound and 
 scriptural discipline, manifested so repeatedly, 
 and to this day, by some of the largest national 
 Churches of Europe. 
 
 But I need not say to those who take their 
 views of the Christian Church, and its real pros- 
 perity, from the Bible, and from the best expe- 
 rience, that enlightened, and faithful discipline is, 
 
178 RULING ELDERS 
 
 not only important, but absolutely essential to the 
 purity and edification of the body of Christ. It 
 ought to be regarded as one of the most precious 
 means of grace, by which offenders are humbled, 
 softened, and brought to repentance ; the Church 
 purged of unworthy members; offences removed; 
 the honour of Christ promoted ; real Christians 
 stimulated and improved in their spiritual course ; 
 faithful testimony borne against error and crime; 
 and the professing family of Christ made to ap- 
 pear holy and beautiful in the view of the world. 
 Without wholesome discipline, for removing 
 offences, and excluding the corrupt and profane, 
 there may be an assembly ; but there cannot be a 
 Church. The truth is, the exercise of a faithful 
 watch and care over the purity of each other in 
 doctrine, worship, and life, is one of the principal 
 purposes for which the Christian Church was 
 established, and on account of which it is highly 
 prized by every enlightened believer. And, 1 
 have no doubt, it may be safely affirmed, that a 
 large part of all that is holy in the Church, at the 
 present day, either in faith or practice, may be 
 ascribed, under God, as much to sound ecclesius- 
 tinal discipline, as to the faithful preaching of the 
 gospel. 
 
 And if the maintenance of discipline be all im- 
 portant to the interests of true relig'ion, it is a 
 matter of no less importance that it be conducted 
 with mildness, prudence, and wisdom. Rashness, 
 precipitancy, undue severity, malice, partiality, 
 popular fury, and attempting to enforce rules 
 which Christ never gave, are among the many 
 evils which have too often marked the dispensa- 
 tion of authority in the Church, and not unfre- 
 quently defeated the great purpose of discipline. 
 
ARE NECESSARY. 179 
 
 To conduct it aright, is, undoubtedly, one of the 
 most delicate and arduous parts of ecclesiastical 
 administration ; requiring all the piety, judgment, 
 patience, gentleness, maturity of counsel, and 
 prayerfulness which can be brought to bear upon 
 the subject. 
 
 Now the question is, by whom shall all these 
 multiplied, weighty and indispensable services be 
 performed '? Besides the arduous work of public 
 instruction and exhortation, who shall attend to 
 all the numberless and ever-recurring details of 
 inspection, warning and visitation, which are so 
 needful in every Christian community? Will any 
 say, it is the duty of the Pastor of each Church 
 to perform them all ? The very suggestion is 
 absurd. It is physically impossible for him to do 
 it. He cannot be every where, and know every 
 thing. He cannot perform what is expected from 
 him, and at the same time so watch over his 
 whole flock as to fulfil every duty which the in- 
 terest of the Church demands. He must " give 
 himself to reading;" he must prepare for the ser- 
 vices of the pulpit ; he must discharge his various 
 public labours; he must employ much time in 
 private, in instructing and counselling those who 
 apply to him for instruction and advice ; and he 
 must act his, part in the concerns of the whole 
 Church with which he is connected. Now, is it 
 practicable for any man, however diligent and 
 active, to do all this, and at the same time to per 
 form the whole work of inspection and govern 
 ment over a congregation of the ordinary size 
 We might as well expect and demand any impos 
 sibility ; and impossibilities the great and mercifu 
 Head of the Church requires of no man. 
 
 But even if it were reasonable or possible, that 
 
180 KULING ELDERS 
 
 a pastor should, alone, perform all these duties, 
 ought he to be willing to undertake them ; or 
 ought the Church to be wiUing to commit them to 
 him alone? We know that ministers are subject 
 to the same frailties and imperfections with other 
 men. We know, too, that a love of pre-eminence 
 and of power is not only natural to them, in com- 
 mon with others ; but that this principle, very 
 early after the days of the Apostles, began to 
 manifest itself as the reigning sin of ecclesiastics, 
 and produced, first Prelacy, and afterwards 
 Popery, which has so long and so ignobly en- 
 slaved the Church of Christ. Does not this 
 plainly show the folly and danger of yielding un- 
 defined power to pastors alone ? Is it wise or 
 safe to constitute one man a despot over a whole 
 Church ? Is it proper to intrust to a single indi- 
 vidual the weighty and complicated work of in- 
 specting, trying, judging, admitting, condemning, 
 excluding, and restoring, without control ? Ought 
 the members of a Church to consent that all their 
 rights and privileges in reference to Christian com- 
 munion, should be subject to the will of a single 
 man, as his partiality, kindness, and favouritism, 
 on the one hand ; or his caprice, prejudice, or 
 passion, on the other, might dictate? Such a 
 mode of conducting the government of the Church, 
 to say nothing of its unscriptural character, is, in 
 the highest degree, unreasonable and dangerous. 
 It can hardly fail to exert an influence of the 
 most injurious character, both on the clergy and 
 laity. It tends to nurture in the former, a spirit 
 of selfishness, pride and ambition ; and instead of 
 ministers of holiness, love, and mercy, to trans- 
 form them into ecclesiastical tyrants. While its 
 tendency, with regard to the latter, is gradually 
 
ARE NECESSARY. 181 
 
 to beget in them a blind, implicit submission to 
 clerical domination. The ecclesiastical encroach- 
 ments and despotism of former times, already- 
 alluded to, read us a most instructive lesson on 
 this subject. The fact is, committing the whole 
 government of the Church to the hands of pastors 
 alone, may be affirmed to carry in it some of the 
 worst seeds of Popery; which, though under the 
 administration of good men, they may not at once 
 lead to palpable mischief, will seldom fail in pro- 
 ducing, in the end, the most serious evils, both to 
 those who govern, and those who obey. 
 
 Accordingly, as was intimated in a preceding 
 chapter, we have no example in Scripture of a 
 Church being committed to the government of a 
 single individual. Such a thing was unknown in 
 the Jewish Synagogue. It was unknown in the 
 apostolic age. And it continued to be unknown, 
 until ecclesiastical pride and ambition introduced 
 it, and with it a host of mischiefs to the body of 
 Christ. In all the primitive Churches we find a 
 plurality of "Elders," and we read enough in the 
 early records, in some particular cases, to perceive 
 that these " Elders " were not only chosen by the 
 members of the Church, out of their own number, 
 as their representatives, to exercise over them the 
 functions of inspection and ruling ; but that, when- 
 ever they ceased to discharge the duties of their 
 office acceptably, they might be removed from its 
 actual exercise at the pleasure of those by whom 
 they were chosen ; thus plainly evincing, that 
 the constitution of the primitive Church was emi- 
 nently adapted to guard against ecclesiastical ty- 
 iranny ; and that if that constitution had been pre- 
 served, the evils of clerical encroachment would 
 have been avoided. Accordingly, it is remarkable 
 IG 
 
182 RULING ELDERS 
 
 that the pious Ambrose, a venerable Father of the 
 fourth century, quoted in a former chapter, ex- 
 pressly conveys an intimation of this kind, when 
 speaking of the gradual disuse of the office of 
 Ruling Elder. " Which order," says he, " by 
 what negligence it grew into disuse, I know not, 
 unless, perhaps, by the sloth, or rather by the 
 pride of the teachers, who alone wished to appear 
 something." 
 
 " It is a vain apprehension," says the venerable 
 Dr. Owen, " to suppose that one or two teaching 
 officers in a Church, who are obliged to give them- 
 selves unto the word and prayer, to labour in the 
 word and doctrine, to preach in and out of season, 
 would be able to take care of, and attend with dili- 
 gence unto, all those things that do evidently be- 
 long unto the rule of the Church. And hence it 
 is, that Churches at this day do live on the preach- 
 ing of the word, and are very little sensible of the 
 wisdom, goodness, love, and care of Christ in the 
 institution of this rule in the Church, nor are par- 
 takers of the benefits of it unto their edification. 
 And the supply which many have hitherto made 
 herein, by persons either unacquainted with their 
 duty, or insensible of their own authority, or cold, 
 if not negligent in their work, doth not answer the 
 end of their institution. And hence it is, that the 
 authority of government, and the benefit of it, are 
 ready to be lost in most Churches. And it is both 
 vainly and presumptuously pleaded, to give coun- 
 tenance unto a neglect of their order, that some 
 Churches do walk in love and peace, and are edi- 
 fied without it ; supplying some defects by the 
 prudent aid of some members of them. For it is 
 nothing but a preference of our own wisdom, unto 
 the wisdom and authority of Christ ; or at best an 
 
ARE XECESSARY. 183 
 
 unwillingness to make a venture on the warranty 
 of his rule, for fear of some disadvantages that 
 may ensue thereon."* 
 
 If, in order to avoid the evils of the pastor stand- 
 ing alone in the inspection and government of his 
 Church, it be alleged that the whole body of the 
 Church members may be his auxiliaries in this 
 arduous work ; still the difficulties are neither re- 
 moved nor diminished. 
 
 For, in the first place, a great majority of all 
 Church members, we may confidently say, are 
 altogether unqualified for rendering the aid to the 
 pastor which is here contemplated. They have 
 neither the knowledge, the wisdom, nor the pru- 
 dence necessary for the purpose ; and to imagine 
 a case of ecclesiastical regimen, in which every 
 weak, childish, and indiscreet individual, who, 
 though serious and well-meaning enough to enjoy 
 the privilege of Christian communion, is wholly 
 unfit to be an inspector and ruler of others, should 
 be associated with the pastor, in conducting the 
 delicate and arduous work of parochial regulation, 
 is too preposterous to be regarded with favour, by 
 any judicious mind. Can it be believed for a mo- 
 ment, that the all-wise Head of the Church has 
 appointed a form of government for his people ia 
 which ignorance, weakness, and total unfitness for 
 the duty assigned them, should always, and 
 almost necessarily, characterize a great majority 
 of those to whom the oversio;ht and "[uidance of 
 the Church were committed? Surely this is 
 altogether incredible. 
 
 And if this consideration possess weight in re- 
 gard to old and settled Churches, established in 
 
 * True Nature of a Gospel Church, p. 177, 178. 
 
1S4 BULING ELDERS 
 
 countries which have been long favoured with the 
 light and order of the Gospel ; how much more to 
 Pagan lands, and to Churches recently gathered 
 from the wilds of iVfrica, the degraded inhabitants 
 of the Sandwich Islands, or the miserable devotees 
 of Hindoo idolatry ? If in the best instructed and 
 best regulated Churches in Christendom, a majo- 
 rity of the members are utterly unqualified to par- 
 ticipate in the government of the sacred family; 
 "what can be expected of those recent, and neces- 
 sarily dubious converts from blind heathenism, 
 who must, of course, be babes in knowledge and 
 experience, who are surrounded with ignorance 
 and brutality, and have just been snatched them- 
 selves from the same degradation ? Surely, if we 
 may say, with propriety, of some nations, who 
 have recently thrown off the chains of slavery, to 
 which they had long been accustomed, that they 
 were not prepared for a republican form of govern- 
 ment ; with still more confidence can we main- 
 tain, that, whoever may be prepared to take part 
 in the government of the Church, the poor novices, 
 in the situation supposed, are totally unqualified. 
 Even if the popular form of ecclesiastical polity 
 could be considered as well adapted to the case of a 
 people of more enlightened and elevated character, 
 which may well be questioned ; it must be pro- 
 nounced altogether unfit for a Church made up of 
 such materials. Now it is the glory of the gospel, 
 that it is adapted to all people, and all states of 
 society. Of course, that form of ecclesiastical 
 government which is not of a similar stamp, 
 affords much ground of suspicion that it is not of 
 God, and ought to be rejected. 
 
 But further ; if the greater part of the mem- 
 bers of the Church were much better qualified 
 
ARE NECESSARY. 185 
 
 than they commonly are, for co-operating in its 
 government, would their co-operation be likely 
 to be really obtained in a prompt, steady, and 
 faithful manner ? All experience pronounces 
 that it would not. We know that there are few 
 things, in the government and regulation of the 
 Church, more irksome to our natural feelings, 
 than doing what fidelity requires in cases of 
 discipline. When the ministers of religion are 
 called upon to dispense truth, to instruct, to 
 exhort, and to administer sacraments, they en- 
 gage in that in which we may suppose pious 
 men habitually to delight, and to be always 
 ready to proceed with alacrity. But we may 
 say of the business of ecclesiastical discipline, 
 that it is the " strange work," even of the pious 
 and fiithful. It is, in its own nature, an unac- 
 ceptable and unwelcome employment. To take 
 cognizance of delinquencies in faith or practice ; 
 to admonish offenders ; to call them, when neces- 
 sary, before the proper tribunal ; to seek out 
 and array proof with fidelity ; to drag insidious 
 error, and artful wickedness from their hiding 
 places ; and to suspend, or excommunicate from 
 the privileges of the Church, when the honour 
 of religion, and the best interests of the body of 
 Christ, call for these measures ; — is painful work 
 to every benevolent mind. It is work in which 
 no man is willing to engage, unless constrained 
 by a sense of duty. Even those who are bound 
 by official obligation to undertake the task, are 
 too apt to shrink from it ; but where there is 
 no particular obligation lying on any one member 
 of the Church more than another to take an 
 active interest in this work — the consequence 
 will probably be, that few will be disposed to 
 16* 
 
186 RULING ELDERS 
 
 engage in the self-denying duty. Where ail are 
 equally bound, all may be equally backward, or 
 negligent, without feeling themselves chargeable 
 with any special delinquency. And, what is 
 "Worthy of notice, those who will be most apt to 
 go forward in this work, and proffer their aid 
 with most readiness, will generally be the bold, 
 the vain, the ardent, the rash, the impetuous ; — 
 precisely those who are, of all persons living, 
 the most unfit for such an employment. But 
 even if it were otherwise ; if all the members 
 of the Church were equally forward and active, 
 what might be expected in a religious com- 
 munity, when every member of that community 
 was equally a ruler; and when the most ignorant 
 and childish busy-body among them, might be 
 continually tampering with its government, and 
 fomenting disturbances, with as much potency as 
 the most intelligent and wise? The truth is, in 
 such a community, tranquillity, order, and peace, 
 could scarcely be expected, long together, to have 
 any place. 
 
 We could scarcely have a more instructive 
 comment on these remarks than the practice of 
 those Churches which reject Ruling Elders. 
 Our Episcopal brethren reject them. But they 
 are obliged to have their vestrymen and church 
 wardens, who, though no divine warrant is 
 claimed for them, and they are not set apart in 
 the same manner, or formally invested with 
 the same powers with our Ruling Elders, yet 
 perform many of the same functions, in sub- 
 stance, and are, in fact, official counsellors and 
 helps. True, indeed, these officers are not 
 clothed with the power, and seldom perform any 
 acts, of ecclesiastical discipline, properly so 
 
AKE NECESSARY. 197 
 
 called, yet they may be, and sometimes, perhaps, 
 are, consulted on subjects of this nature. And, 
 where this is not the case, we may say, without 
 impropriety, that, in Churches of that denomi- 
 nation, no discipline is exercised. In the Church 
 of Engbmd, as is confessed on all hands, no 
 scriptural discipline exists. The most profligate 
 and vile are not excluded from the communion 
 of the establishment. This is deeply lamented 
 by many of the pious members of that establish- 
 ment ; and at an early period, after the com- 
 mencement of the Reformation in that country, 
 it was earnestly wished and proposed, as we 
 have seen in a preceding chapter, to introduce 
 Ruling Elders, as a principal means of restoring 
 and maintaining discipline. And although the 
 absence of discipline does not exist, to the same 
 extent, in the Churches of the Protestant Epis- 
 copal denomination in the United States ; yet, it 
 may be altogether wanting, as to any pure and 
 efficient exercise, in all those Episcopal Churches 
 in which some leading, pious laymen are not 
 habitually consulted and employed in maintain- 
 ing it. A pious minister, indeed, of that denomi- 
 nation, may and does, conform to his rubrics, 
 in giving the people proper instruction, and 
 warning, as to a suitable approach to the com- 
 munion which he dispenses. But here he is 
 commonly obliged to stop ; or, at any rate, does, 
 in practice, usually stop. All efficient inspec- 
 tion of the moral condition of the whole Church, 
 admonishing the careless, bringing back the 
 wanderers, and causing those who persist in error 
 or in vice, to feel the discipline of ecclesiastical 
 correction, is, notoriously, almost unknown in 
 the Churches of the denomination to which we 
 
188 RULING ELDKRS 
 
 refer. And this deficiency is, manifestly, not 
 owing to the want of intellio-ent and conscien- 
 tious piety in many of the ministers of those 
 Churches; but, beyond all doubt, to the entire 
 want of an organization which alone renders the 
 exercise of a faithful and impartial discipline at 
 all practicable. 
 
 Our Congregational brethren also reject Ruling 
 Elders. Yet it is well known that, while they 
 adopt a form of government which, in theory, 
 allows to every member of the Church an equal 
 share in the exercise of discipline; their most 
 judicious pastors, warned by painful experience 
 of the troublesome character, and uncertain 
 issues, of popular management, in delicate and 
 difficult cases which involve Christian character — 
 are careful to have a committee of the most 
 pious, intelligent, and prudent of their Church 
 members, who consider each case of discipline 
 before-hand in private, and prepare it for a 
 public decision ; and thus perform, in fact, some 
 of the most important of the duties of Ruling 
 Elders. This is what the venerable Dr. Cotton 
 Mather, doubtless, means when he says, as 
 quoted in a preceding chapter, that " there are 
 few discreet pastors but what make many occa- 
 sional Ruling Elders every year ;" and when he 
 gives it as his opinion, in the same connexion, 
 that without something of this kind, Churches 
 njust suffer unspeakably with respect to discipline. 
 And, where nothing of this kind is done, the 
 experience of Independent and Congregational 
 Churches, in conducting discipline, it is well 
 known, is often such as is calculated to give deep 
 and lasting pain to those who love the peace and 
 order of the Church. Strife, tumult, and division 
 
ARE NECESSARY. 189 
 
 of the most distressing kind, are oOen the conse- 
 quences of attempting to rid the Church of one 
 corrupt member. 
 
 But perhaps it will be said, let the Pastor habi- 
 tually call to his aid, in conducting the discipline 
 of the Church, a few of the most judicious and 
 pious of his communicants; those whom he knows 
 to be most conscientious and wise in counsel. 
 But neither is this an adequate remedy. The 
 Pastor may consult such if he please. But he may 
 choose to omit it, and be governed entirely by his 
 own counsels. Or, if he consult any, he may 
 always select his particular friends, who he knows, 
 will encourage and support him in his favourite 
 measures; thus furnishing no real relief in the end. 
 How much better to have a bench of assistant 
 Rulers, regularly chosen by the people, and with 
 whom he shall be bound to take counsel in all im- 
 portant measures ! 
 
 Thus it is that those Churches which reject the 
 class of officers which it is the object of this Essay 
 to recommend, do practically bear witness that it 
 is impossible to conduct discipline in a satisfactory 
 manner, without having a set of individuals, virtu- 
 ally, if not formally, vested with similar powers. 
 -Where no such efficient substitute is employed, 
 discipline is either in a great measure neglected ; 
 or its maintenance is attended with inconveniences 
 of the most serious kind. In other words, the 
 opponents of Ruling Elders are obliged either to 
 neglect discipline altogether, or, for maintaining it, 
 to have recourse to auxiliaries of similar character 
 and power, while they deny that there is any di- 
 vine warrant for them. Now, is it probable, is it 
 credible, that our blessed Lord, and all-wise King 
 and Head of his Church, and his Apostles, guided 
 
190 BULING ELDERS 
 
 by his own Spirit, should entirely overlook this 
 necessity, and make no provision for it ] It is not 
 credible. We must, then, either suppose, that 
 some such officers as those in question were di- 
 vinely appointed ; or that means, acknowledged by 
 the practice of all to be indispensable in conduct- 
 ing the best interests of the Church were forgotten 
 or neglected by her divine Head and Lord. Surely 
 the latter cannot be imputed to infinite Wisdom. 
 
 There are some, however, who acknowledge 
 that there ought to be, and must be, in every 
 Church, in order to the efficient maintenance of 
 discipline, a plurality of Elders. They confess 
 that such a body or bench of Elders was found in 
 the Jewish Synagogue ; that a similar Eldership 
 existed in the primitive Church; and that the 
 scriptural government of a Christian congregation 
 cannot be conducted to advantage without it. But 
 they contend that these Presbyters, or Elders, 
 ought all to be of the teaching class; that there is 
 no ground for the distinction between Teaching 
 and Ruling Elders; that every Church ought to 
 be furnished with three or more ministers, all 
 equally authorized to preach, to administer the 
 sacraments, and to bear rule. 
 
 It requires Utile discernment to see that this plan 
 is wholly impracticable; and that if attempted to 
 be carried into execution, the effect must be, either 
 to destroy the Church, or to degrade, and ulti- 
 mately to prostrate the ministry. It is with no 
 small difficulty that most Churches are enabled to 
 procure and support one qualified and acceptable 
 minister. Very few would be able to afford a suit- 
 able support to two ; and none but those of extra- 
 ordinary wealth, could think seriously of under- 
 taking to sustain three or more. If, therefore, the 
 
ARE NECESSARY. 191 
 
 principle of a plurality of Teaching Elders in each 
 Church were deemed indispensable ; and if a re- 
 gular and adequate training for the sacred office, 
 were also, as now insisted on ; and if it were, at 
 the same time, considered as necessary that every 
 minister should receive a competent pecuniary 
 support; the consequence, as is perfectly manifest, 
 would be, that nineteen out of twenty of our 
 Churches would be utterly unable to maintain the 
 requisite organization, and must, of course, be- 
 come extinct. Nay, the regular establishment of 
 Gospel ordinances, in pastoral Churches, would 
 be physically possible only in a very few great 
 cities, or wealthy neighbourhoods. Surely this 
 cannot be the system enjoined by that Saviour 
 who said, " to the poor the Gospel is preached." 
 
 The only remedy for this difficulty would be to 
 reduce the preparation and acquirements for the 
 ministry ; to make choice of plain, illiterate men 
 for this office; men of small intellectual and theo- 
 logical furniture; dependent on secular employ- 
 ments for a subsistence ; and, therefore, needing 
 little or no support from the Churches which they 
 serve. This is the plan upon which several sects 
 of Christians proceed; and it is easy to see that, 
 upon this plan, the feeblest Churches may have a 
 plurality of such ministers as these, and, indeed, 
 any number of them without being burdened by 
 their pecuniary support. But then, it is equally 
 evident, that the execution of this plan must result 
 in degrading the ministerial character, and in 
 finally banishin<j all well qualified ministers from 
 the Church. They could no longer be "able 
 ministers of the New Testament, workmen that 
 need not be ashamed." They could no longer 
 "give themselves wholly" to the labours of the 
 
192 RULING ELDERS 
 
 sacred office. They could no longer " give them 
 selves to reading," as well as to exhortation and 
 teaching. In short, the inevitable consequence ot 
 maintaining, as some do, that there must be a 
 bench, that is, a plurality of Elders, in every 
 Church, for the purpose of inspection and govern- 
 ment, as well as of teaching ; and, at the same 
 time, that all these Elders must be of the same 
 class, that is, that they must all be equally set 
 apart for teaching and ruling, cannot fail to be, to 
 bring the ministerial character, and, of course, ulti- 
 mately, the religion which the ministry is destined 
 to explain and recommend, into general contempt. 
 The Sandemanians, and a few^ other sects, have, 
 substantially, held the opinion, and made the ex- 
 periment here stated : and invariably, it is believed, 
 with the result which has been represented as una- 
 voidable. 
 
 To obviate these difficulties, some have said, 
 let Deacons, whom all agree to be scriptural offi- 
 cers, be employed to assist the Pastor in conduct- 
 ing the government and discipline of the Church. 
 This proposal, together with some principles con- 
 nected with it, will be considered in a subsequent 
 chapter. All that it is deemed necessary or proper 
 to say in this place, is, that an entirely different 
 sphere of duty is assigned to Deacons in the New 
 Testament. No hint is given of their beino; em- 
 ployed in the government of the Church. For this 
 proposal, therefore, there is not the shadow of a 
 divine warrant. Besides, if we assign to Deacons 
 the real office, in other words, the appropriate 
 functions of Ruling Elders, what is this but grant- 
 ing the thing, and only disputing about the title? 
 If it be granted, that there ought to be a plurality 
 of officers in every Church, whose appropriate 
 
ARE NECESSARY. 193 
 
 duty it is to assist the Pastor in inspecting and 
 ruling the flock of Christ, it is the essence of what 
 is contended for. Their proper title is not worth 
 a contest, except so far as it may be proper to imi- 
 tate the lanf^uage of Scripture. 
 
 If, then, me maintenance of discipline be essen- 
 tial to the purity and edification of the Church ; 
 if enlightened, impartial, and efficient inspection 
 and discipline, especially over a large congrega- 
 tion, cannot possibly be maintained by the Pastor 
 alone ; if it would be unsafe, and probably mis- 
 chievous in its influence on all concerned, to 
 devolve the whole authority and responsibility of 
 conducting the government of a Church on a 
 single individual ; if it would, especially, in all 
 probability, essentially injure the clerical cha- 
 racter to be thus systematically, made the depo- 
 sitory of so much power, without control, and 
 without appeal ; if every other mode of furnish- 
 ing each Church with a plurality of rulers, besides 
 that for which we contend, would either deprive 
 a great majority of our Churches of the means 
 of grace altogether; or, by bringing ministers 
 within their reach, reduce and degrade the minis- 
 terial office far below the standard which the 
 Scriptures require; if these things be so, then 
 we are conducted unavoidably to the conclusion, 
 that such officers as those for which we contend, 
 are absolutely necessary : that, although a Church 
 may exist, and, for a time, may flourish without 
 them; yet, the best interests of the Church can- 
 iiot be systematically and steadfastly pursued 
 without those or some other officers of equivalent 
 powers and duties. 
 
 But all the dilficultios which have been sup- 
 posed, are obviated, and all the advantages refei»- 
 17 
 
194 EULING ELDERS 
 
 red to, attained, by the plan of employing a judi- 
 cious class of Ruling Elders in each Church, to 
 assist in counsel and in government. In this plan 
 we have provided a body of grave, pious, and pru- 
 dent men, associated with the Pastor ;^ chosen out 
 of the body of the Church members ; carrying 
 with them, in some measure, the feelings and views 
 of their constituents ; capable of counselling the 
 Pastor in all delicate and doubtful cases; coun- 
 teracting any undue influence, or course of mea- 
 sures into which his partiality, prejudice, or want 
 of information might betray him ; exonerating 
 him at once trom the odium, and the temptation 
 of having all the power of the Church in his own 
 hands; conducting the difficult cases which often 
 arise in the exercise of discipline with the intelli- 
 gence, calmness, and wisdom, which cannot be 
 expected to prevail in a promiscuous body of com- 
 municants ; and, in a word, securing to each 
 Church all the principal advantages which might 
 be expected to result from being under the pas- 
 toral care of four or five ministers, vested with 
 plenary preaching as well as ruling power ; with- 
 out, at the same time, burdening the Church with 
 the pecuniary support of such a number of or- 
 dinary Pastors. In a word, the insuperable diffi- 
 culty of doing without this class of officers, on 
 the one hand ; the great and manifest advantages 
 of having them, on the other; and the perfect ac- 
 cordance of the plan which includes them, with 
 that great representative system, which has per- 
 vaded all well regulated society, from its earliest 
 existence, and received the stamp of Divine ap- 
 probation — form a mass of testimony in favour of 
 the office before us, which, independently of other 
 
AHE NECESSARY. 195 
 
 considerations, seems amply sufficient to support 
 its claims, 
 
 I shall close this chapter with the following ex- 
 tract from Dr. Owen, when speaking of the im- 
 portance and necessity of the office of Ruling 
 Elders in the Church. "It is evident," says he 
 " that neither the purity nor the order, nor the 
 beauty or glory of the Churches of Christ, nor 
 the representation of his own majesty and au- 
 thority in the government of them, can long be 
 preserved without a multiplication of Elders in 
 them, according to the proportion of their respec- 
 tive members, for their rule and guidance. And 
 for want hereof have Churches of old, and of 
 late, either degenerated into anarchy and confu- 
 sion, their self-rule being managed with vain dis- 
 putes and janglings, unto their division and ruin ; 
 or else given up themselves unto the domination 
 of some prelatical teachers, to rule them at their 
 pleasure, which proved the bane and poison of all 
 the primitive Churches ; and they will and must 
 do so in the neglect of this order for the future."* 
 
 We have thus completed our view of the first 
 part of the inquiry before us, viz. our warrant 
 for the office of Ruling Elders. If this office 
 was found in the Old Testament economy ; — if it 
 plainly had a place in the apostolic Church ; — if 
 a number of the early Fathers evidently recog- 
 nize its existence in their day ; — if the witnesses 
 for the truth, in the darkest times, and the great 
 body of the Reformers, sanctioned and retained 
 it, as of Divine appointment ; — if some of the 
 most learned Episcopal and Inde[)endent divines, 
 since the Reformation, have borne decisive testi- 
 mony to this cilice, as of apostolical adthority : — 
 
 • Owen's True Nature of a Gospel Church, 4io. p. 178. 
 
196 NATURE AND DUTIES 
 
 and if some such office be mar>ifestly indispensable 
 to the purity and order of the Church ; — we may 
 confidently conclude that our warrant for it is 
 complete. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE NATURE AND DUTIES OF THE OFFICE. 
 
 Having considered, so much at large, the war- 
 rant for the office of Ruling Elder, chiefly because 
 there is no part of the subject more contested ; 
 we now proceed to other points connected with 
 the general inquiry. And the first of these which 
 presents itself is, the Nature and Duties of the 
 office in question. 
 
 The essential character of the officer of whom 
 we speak is, that of an Ecclesiastical Ruler. 
 " He that ruleth, let him do it with diligence," is 
 the summary of his appropriate functions, as laid 
 down in Scripture. The Teaching Elder is, in- 
 deed, also a ruler. In addition to this, however, 
 he is called to preach the gospel, and administer 
 sacraments. But the particular department as- 
 signed to the Ruling Elder is to co-operate with 
 the Pastor in spiritual inspection and government. 
 The Scriptures, as we have seen, speak not only 
 of " Pastors and Teachers," but also of " govern- 
 ments ;" — of " Elders that rule well, but do not 
 labour in the word and doctrine." 
 
 There is an obvious analogy between the office 
 of Ruler in the Church, and in the civil commu- 
 nity. A Justice of the Peace in the latter, has a 
 
OF THE OFFICE. 197 
 
 wide and important range of duties. Besides the 
 function which he discharges vvlien called to take 
 his part on the bench of the judicial court in which 
 he presides, he may be, and often is, employed 
 every day, though less publicly, in correcting 
 abuses, compelling the fraudulent to do justice, re- 
 straining, arresting, and punishing criminals, and, 
 in general, carrying into execution the laws, 
 formed to promote public tranquillity and order, 
 which he has sworn to administer faithfully. 
 
 Strikingly analogous to this, are the duties of 
 the ecclesiastical Ruler. He has no power, in- 
 deed, to employ the secular arm in restraining or 
 punishing offenders against the laws of Christ. 
 The kingdom under which he acts, and the autho- 
 rity which he administers, are not of this world. 
 Hehasjof course, no right to fine, imprison, or exter- 
 nally to molest the most profligate offenders against 
 the Church's purity or peace ; unless they be guilty 
 of what is technically called, " breaking the 
 peace," that is, violating the civil rights of others, 
 and thus rendering themselves liable to the penalty 
 of the civil law. And even when this occurs, the 
 ecclesiastical ruler, as such, has no right to pro- 
 ceed against the offender. He has no other than 
 moral power. He must apply to the civil magis- 
 trate for redress, who can only punish for break- 
 ing the civil law. Still there is an obvious analogy 
 between his office and that of the civil magistrate. 
 Both are alike an ordinance of God. Both are 
 necessary to social order and comfort. And both 
 are regulated by principles which commend them- 
 selves to the good sense and the conscience of 
 those who wish well to social happiness. 
 
 The Ruling Elder, no less than the Teaching 
 Elder, or Pastor, is to be considered as acting 
 17* 
 
198 NATURE AXD DUTIES 
 
 under the authority of Christ, in all that he right- 
 fully does. If the office of which we speak was 
 appointed in the apostolic Church by infinite 
 wisdom ; if it is an ordinance of Jesus Christ, just 
 as much as that of the minister of the gospel ; then 
 the former, equally with the latter, is Christ's 
 officer. He has a right to speak and act in his 
 name ; and though elected by the members of the 
 Church, and representing them, in the exercise of 
 ecclesiastical rule ; yet he is not to be considered 
 as deriving his authority to rule from them, any 
 more than he who " labours in the word and doc- 
 trine " derives his authority to preach and admi- 
 nister other ordinances, from the people who make 
 choice of him as their teacher and guide. There 
 is reason to believe that some, even in the Presby- 
 terian Church, take a different view of this subject. 
 They regard the Teaching Elder as an officer of 
 Christ, and listen to his official instructions as to 
 those of a man appointed by Him, and coming in 
 his name. But with respect to the Ruling Eider, 
 they are wont to regard him as one who holds an 
 office instituted by human prudence alone, and, 
 therefore, as standing on very ditTerent ground in 
 the discharge of his official duties, from that which 
 's occupied by the " ambassador of Christ." This 
 IS undoubtedly an erroneous view of the subject, 
 and a view which, so far as it prevails, is adapted 
 to exert the most mischievous influence. The 
 truth is, if the office of which we speak is of 
 apostolic authority, we are just as much bound to 
 sustain, honour, and obey the individual who fills 
 It, and discharges its duties according to the Scrip- 
 tures, as we are to submit to any other officer or 
 institution of our Divine Redeemer. 
 
 We are by no means, then, to consider Ruling 
 
OF THE OFFICE. 199 
 
 Elders as a mere ecclesiastical convenience, or as 
 a set of counsellors whom the wisdom of man 
 alone has chosen, and who may, therefore, be re- 
 verenced and obeyed, as little, or as much, as hu- 
 man caprice may think proper; but as bearing an 
 office of divine appointment — as the "ministers of 
 God for good " to his Church — and whose lawful 
 and regular acts ought to command our conscien- 
 tious obedience. 
 
 The Ruling Elders of each Church are called to 
 attend to a public and formal, or to a more private 
 sphere of duty. 
 
 With regard to the first, or the public and formal 
 duties of their office, they form, in the Church to 
 which they belong, a bench or judicial Court, 
 '".ailed among us the "Church Session," and in 
 some other Presbyterian denominations, the Con- 
 sistory ; both expressions importing a body of 
 ecclesiastical men, sitting and acting together, as 
 the representatives, and for the benefit of the 
 Church. This body of Elders, with the Pastor at 
 their head, and presiding at their meetings, form 
 a judicial assembly, by which all the spiritual in- 
 terests of the congregation are to be watched over, 
 regulated, and authoritatively determined. Accord- 
 ingly, it is declared in the ninth chapter of our 
 Form of Government — "The Church Session is 
 charged with maintaining the spiritual government 
 of the congregation ; for which purpose they have 
 power to inquire into the knowledge and Christian 
 conduct of the members of the Church ; to call be- 
 fore them otTenders and witnesses, being members 
 of their own congregation, and to introduce other 
 witnesses, where it may be necessary to bring the 
 process to issue, and when they can be procured 
 to attend ; to receive members into the Church ; :o 
 
200 NATURE AND DUTIES 
 
 admonish, to rebuke, to suspend, or exclude from 
 the sacraments, those who are found to deserve 
 censure ; to concert the best measures for pro- 
 moting the spiritual interests of the congregation ; 
 and to appoint delegates to the higher judicatories 
 of the Church." 
 
 The general statement of the powers and duties 
 of the Church Session, it will be perceived, takes 
 in a wide range ; or rather, to speak more pro- 
 perly, it embraces the whole of that authority and 
 duty with which the great Head of the Church has 
 been pleased to invest the governing powers of 
 each particular congregation, for the instruction, 
 edification and comfort of the whole body. To the 
 Church Session it belongs to bind and loose ; to 
 admit to the communion of the Church, with all 
 its privileges ; to take cognizance of all departure 
 from the purity of faith or practice ; to try, cen- 
 sure, acquit, or excommunicate those who are 
 charged with offences ; to consult and determine 
 upon all matters relating to the time, place, and 
 circumstances of worship, and other spiritual con- 
 cerns ; to take order about catechizing children, 
 congregational fasts or thanksgiving days, and 
 all other observances, stated or occasional ; to cor- 
 rect, as far as possible, every thing that may tend 
 to disorder, or is contrary to edification ; and to 
 digest and execute plans for promoting a spirit of in- 
 quiry, of reading, of prayer, of order, and of uni- 
 versal holiness among the members of the Church. 
 It is also incumbent on them, when the Church 
 over which they preside is destitute of a pastor, to 
 take the lead in those measures which may conduce 
 to the choice of a suitable candidate, by calling the 
 people together for the purpose of an election, 
 when they consider them as prepared to make it 
 with advantage. 
 
OF THE OFFICE. 201 
 
 Although, in ordinary cases, the pastor of the 
 Church may he considered as vested with the 
 right to decide whom he will invite to occupy his 
 pulpit, either when he is present, or occasionally 
 absent ; yet, in cases of difliculty or delicacy, 
 and especially when ministers of other denomina- 
 tions api)ly for the use of the pulpit, it is the 
 prerogative of the Church Session, to consider 
 and decide on the application. And if there be 
 any fixed difference of opinion between the 
 Pastor, and the other members of the Session, in 
 reference to this matter, it is the privilege and 
 duty of either party to request the advice of their 
 Presbytery in the case. 
 
 In the Church Session, whether the Pastor 
 be present and presiding or not, every member 
 has an equal voice. The vote of the most 
 humble and retiring Ruling Elder, is of the 
 same avail as that of his Minister. So that no 
 Pastor can carry any measure unless he can 
 obtain the concurrence of a majority of the 
 Eldership. And as the whole spiritual govern- 
 ment of each Church is committed to its bench 
 of Elders, the Session is competent to regulate 
 every concern, and to correct every thing which 
 they consider as amiss in the arrangements or 
 affairs of the Church, which admits of correction. 
 Every individual of the Session, is of course, 
 competent to propose any new service, plan, or 
 measure, which he believes will be for the benefit 
 of the congregation, and if a majority of the 
 Elders concur with him in opinion, it may be 
 adopted. If, in any case, however, there should 
 be a diiTerence of opinion between the Pastor and 
 the Elders, as to the propriety or practicability 
 ©f any measure proposed, and insisted on by the 
 
202 NATURE AND DUTIES 
 
 latter, there is an obvious and effectual constitu- 
 tutional remedy ; a remedy, however, which 
 ought to be resorted to with prudence, caution, 
 and prayer. The opinions and wishes of the 
 Pastor ought, undoubtedly, to be treated with the 
 most respectful delicacy. Still they ought not 
 to be suflered, when it is possible to avoid it, to 
 stand in the way of a great and manifest good. 
 When such an alternative occurs, the remedy 
 alluded to may be applied. On an amicable 
 reference to the Presbytery, that body may decide 
 the case between the parties. 
 
 And as the members of the Church Session, 
 whether assembled in their judicial capacity or 
 not, are the Pastor's counsellors and colleagues, 
 in all matters relating to the spiritual rule of the 
 Church ; so it is their official duty to encourage, 
 sustain, and defend him, in the faithful discharge 
 of his duty. It is deplorable, when a minister 
 is assailed for his fidelity, by the profane or the 
 worldly, if any portion of the Eldership, either 
 take part against him, or shrink from his active 
 and determined defence. It is not meant, of 
 course, that they are to consider themselves as 
 bound to sustain him in every thing he may say 
 or do, whether right or wrong ; but that, when 
 they really believe him to be faithful, both to 
 truth and duty, they should feel it to be their 
 duty to stand by him, to shield him from the 
 arrows of the wicked, and to encourage him, as 
 far as he obeys Christ. 
 
 But besides those duties which pertain to 
 Ruling Elders, with the Pastor, in their collective 
 capacity, as a judicatory of the Church ; there 
 are others which are incumbent on them at all 
 times, in the intervals of their judicial meetings, 
 
or THE OFFICE. 203 
 
 and by the due discharge of which they may be 
 constantly edifying the body of Christ. It is 
 their duty to have an eye of inspection and care 
 over all the members of the congregation ; and, 
 for this purpose, to cultivate a universal and 
 intimate acquaintance, as far as may be, with 
 every family in the flock of which they are 
 made " overseers." They are bound to watch 
 over the children and youth, and especially bap- 
 tized children, with paternal vigilance, recog- 
 nizing and affectionately addressing them on all 
 proper occasions ; giving them, and their parents 
 in reference to them, seasonable counsel, and 
 putting in the Lord's claim to their hearts and 
 lives, as the children of the Church. It is their 
 duty to attend to the case of those who are 
 serious, and disposed to inquire concerning their 
 eternal interests ; to converse with them, and, 
 from time to time, to give information concern- 
 ing them to the Pastor. It is their duty to take 
 notice of, and admonish, in private, those who 
 appear to be growing careless, or falling into 
 habits in any respect criminal, suspicious, or 
 unpromising. It is their duty to visit and pray 
 with the sick, as far as their circumstances 
 admit, and to request the attendance of the Pastor 
 on the sick, and the dying, when it may be 
 seasonable or desired. It is incumbent on them 
 to assist the Pastor in maintainino; meetinji-s for 
 social prayer, to take part in conducting the 
 devotional exercises in those meetings; to pre- 
 side in them when the Pastor is absent ; and, if 
 they are endowed with suitable gifts, under his 
 direction, occasionally to drop a word of in- 
 struction and exhortation to the people in those 
 social meetings. If the officers of the Church 
 
204 NATURE AND DUTIES 
 
 neglect these meetings, (the importance of which 
 cannot be estimated,) there is every reason to 
 apprehend that they will not be duly honoured 
 or attended by the body of the people. It is 
 the duty of Ruling Elders, also, to visit the 
 members of the Church and their families, with 
 the Pastor, if he request it ; without him, if he 
 do not ; to converse with them ; to instruct the 
 ignorant ; to confirm the wavering ; to caution 
 the unwary ; to reclaim the wandering ; to 
 encourage the timid, and to excite and animate 
 all classes to a faithful and exemplary discharge 
 of duty. It is incumbent on them to consult 
 frequently and freely with their Pastor, on the 
 interests of the flock committed to their charge ; 
 to aid him in forming and executing plans for 
 the welfare of the Church ; to give him, from 
 time to time, such information as he may need, 
 to enable him to perform aright his various 
 and momentous duties ; to impart to him, with 
 affectionate respect, their advice ; to support 
 him with their influence ; to defend his reputa- 
 tion ; to enforce his just admonitions ; and, in a 
 word, by every means in their power, to pro- 
 mote the comfort, and extend the usefulness of 
 his labours. 
 
 Although the Church Session is not competent 
 to try the Pastor, in case of his falling into any 
 delinquency, either of doctrine or practice ; yet 
 if the members observe any such delinquency, 
 it is not only their privilege, but their duty, to 
 admonish him, tenderly and respectfully, yet 
 faithfully, in private; and, if necessary, from 
 time to time; and, if the admonition be without 
 effect, and they think the edification of the Church 
 admits and demands a public remedy, they ought 
 
OF THE OFFICE. 205 
 
 to represent the case to the Presbytery, as before 
 sug'^csted in other cases, and request a redress 
 of the grievance. 
 
 But the functions of the Ruling Elder are not 
 confined to the cono;re^ation of which he is one 
 of the rulers. It is his duty at such times, and 
 in such order as the constitution of the Church 
 requires, to take his seat in the higher judicato- 
 ries of the Church, and there to exercise his 
 ofiicial share of counsel and authority. In every 
 Presbytery, Synod, and General Assembly of the 
 Presbyterian Church, at least as many Ruling as 
 Teaching Elders are entitled to a place ; and in 
 all the Ibrmer, as well as the latter, have an op- 
 portunity of exerting an important influence in 
 the great concerns of Zion. Every congregation, 
 whether provided with a Pastor or vacant, is en- 
 titled, besides the Pastor, (where there is one,) to 
 be represented by one Ruling Elder, in all meet- 
 ings of the Presbytery and Synod ; and, as in 
 those bodies, vacant congregations, and those 
 which are supplied with Pastors, are equally re- 
 presented, each by an Elder, it is manifest that, 
 if the theory of our ecclesiastical constitution be 
 carried into effect, there will always be a greater 
 number of Ruling Elders than of Pastors present. 
 In the General Assembly, according to our con- 
 stitutional plan, the numbers of each are pre- 
 cisely equal. 
 
 In these several Judicatories the Ruling Elder 
 has an equal vote, and the same power, in every 
 respect, with the Pastors. He has the s:ime pri- 
 vilege of originating plans and measures, and of 
 carrying them, provided he can induce a majority 
 of the body to concur in his views; and thus may 
 become the means of imparting his impressions, 
 18 
 
206 NATURE AND DUTIES 
 
 and producing an influence greatly beyond the 
 particular congregation with which he is con- 
 nected, and, indeed, throughout the bounds of the 
 Presbyterian Church in the United States. This 
 consideration serves to place the nature and the 
 importance of the office in the strongest light. 
 He who bears it, has the interest of the Church, 
 as a spiritual trust, as really and solemnly, though 
 not in all respects to the same extent, committed 
 to him, as the Elder, who " labours in the word 
 and doctrine." He not only has it in his power, 
 but is daily called, in the discharge of his official 
 duties, to watch over, inspect, regulate, and edify 
 the body of Christ : to enlighten the ignorant ; to 
 admonish the disorderly ; to reconcile differences ; 
 to correct every moral irregularity and abuse 
 within the bounds of his charge ; and to labour 
 without ceasing for the promotion of the cause of 
 truth, piety, and universal righteousness in the 
 Church to which he belongs, and wherever else he 
 has an opportunity of raising his voice, and ex- 
 erting his influence. 
 
 But when it is considered that those who bear 
 the office in question, are called upon, in their 
 turn, to sit in the highest Judicatories of the 
 Church ; and there to take their part in deliberat- 
 ing and deciding on the most momentous questions 
 which can arise in conducting ecclesiastical affairs: 
 — when we reflect that they are called to deliberate 
 and decide on the conformity of doctrines to the 
 word of God : to assist, as judges, in the trial of 
 heretics, and every class of offenders against the 
 purity of the Gospel ; and to take care in their 
 respective spheres, that all the ordinances of 
 Christ's house be preserved pure and entire:— 
 when, in a word, we recollect that they are o]> 
 
OF THE OFFICE. 207 
 
 dained for the express purpose of overseeing and 
 guarding the most precious concerns of the 
 Church on earth ; — concerns which may have a 
 bearing, not merely on the welfare of a single 
 individual or congregation ; but on the great in- 
 terests of orthodoxy and piety among millions; — 
 we may surely conclude without hesitation, that 
 the office which they sustain is one, the impor- 
 tance of which can scarcely be overrated ; and 
 that the estimate which is commonly made of its 
 nature, duties, and responsibility, is far — very far 
 from being adequate. 
 
 If this view of the nature and importance of 
 the office before us, be admitted, the question very 
 naturally arises, whether it be correct to call this 
 class of Elders, Lay-Klders ; or whether they 
 have not such a strictly ecclesiastical character 
 as should prevent the use of that language in 
 speaking of them ? This is one of the points in 
 the present discussion, concerning which, the 
 writer of this Essay frankly confesses that he has, 
 in some measure, altered his opinion. Once he 
 was disposed to confine the epithet clerical to 
 Teaching Elders, and to designate those who 
 ruled only, and did not teach, as lay-K\ders. But 
 more mature inquiry and reflection have led him 
 first to doubt the correctness of this opinion, and 
 finally to be persuaded, that so far as the distinc- 
 tion between Clergy and Laity is proper at all, 
 it ought not to be made the point of distinction 
 between these two classes of Elders ; and that, 
 when we speak of the one as Clergymen, and 
 the other as Laymen, we are apt to convey an 
 idea altogether erroneous, if not seriously mis- 
 chievous. 
 
 Some judicious and pious men have, indeed, 
 
208 NATURE AND DUTIES 
 
 expressed serious doubts whether the terms 
 Clergy and Laity ought ever to have been intro- 
 duced into our theological nomenclature. But it 
 is not easy to see any solid reason for this doubt. 
 Is it wise to contend about terms, when the things 
 intended to be expressed by them are fully under- 
 stood, and generally admitted ? The only ques- 
 tion, then, of real importance to be decided here, 
 is this — Does the New Testament draw any dis- 
 tinct line between those who hold spiritual offices 
 in the Church, and those who do not? Does it 
 represent the functions pertaining to those offices 
 as confined to them, or as common to all Chris- 
 tians ? Now, it seems impossible to read the Acts 
 of the Apostles, and the several Apostolical Epis- 
 tles, especially those to Timothy and Titus ; and 
 to examine in connexion with these, the writings 
 of the " Apostolical Fathers," without perceiving 
 that the distinction between those who bore office 
 in the Church, and private Christians, was clearly 
 made, and uniformly maintained, from the very 
 origin of the Church. That the terms. Clergy 
 and Laity, are not found in the New Testament, 
 nor in some of the earliest uninspired writers, is 
 freely granted. But is not the distinction intended 
 to be expressed by these terms evidently found in 
 Scripture, and in all the early Fathers ? Nothing 
 can be more indubitably clear. The titles of 
 " Rulers" in the house of God ; — " Ambassadors 
 of Christ ;" — " Stewards of the mysteries of 
 God ;" — " Bishops, Leaders, Overseers, Elders, 
 Shepherds, Guides, Ministers," &c., as distin- 
 guished from those to whom they ministered, are 
 so familiar to all readers of the New Testament, 
 that it would be a waste of time to attempt to 
 illustrate or establish a point so unquestionable. 
 
OF THE OFFICE. 209 
 
 If the inspired writers every where represent cer- 
 tain spiritual offices in the Church as appointed 
 by God ; if they represent those who sustain 
 these offices, as alone authorized to perform cer- 
 tain sacred functions ; and teach us to consider 
 all others who attempt to perform them, as 
 criminal invaders of a Divine ordinance ; then 
 surely the whole distinction intended to be ex- 
 pressed by the terms Clergy and Laity, is evi- 
 dently, and most distinctly laid down by the same 
 authority which founded the Church. 
 
 The word K^poi properly signifies a lot.. And 
 as the land of Canaan — the inheritance of the 
 Israelites — was divided among them by lot, the 
 word, in process of time, came to signify an in- 
 heritance. In this figurative, or secondary sense, 
 the term is evidently employed in 1 Peter v. 3, 
 Under the Old Testament dispensation, the peculiar 
 people of God were called (Septuagint translation) 
 his K\r\po<i, or inheritance. Of this we have exam- 
 ples in Deuteronomy iv. 20, and ix. 29. The 
 term in both these passages, is manifestly applied 
 to the whole body of the nation of Israel, as God's 
 inheritance, or peculiar people. Clemens Ro- 
 manus, one of the "Apostolical Fathers," speaking 
 of the Jewish economy, and having occasion to 
 distinguish between the priests and the common 
 people, calls the latter XaiVoj. Clemens Alexan- 
 drinus, towards the close of the second century, 
 speaks of the Apostle John as having set apart such 
 persons for "clergymen" {K\r\ii>Qi) as were signified 
 to him by the Holy Ghost. And in the writings 
 of Tertullian, Origen, and Cyprian, the terms 
 " clergy" and " laity" occur with a frequency 
 which shows that they were then in general use. 
 Jerome observes, that ministers are called Clericiy 
 18* 
 
210 NATURE AND DUTIES 
 
 either because they are peculiarly the lot and por- 
 tion of the Lord ; or because the Lord is their lot, 
 that is, their inheritance. Hence that learned and 
 pious Father takes occasion to infer; — "That he 
 who is God's portion ought so to exhibit himself, 
 that he may be truly said to possess God, and to 
 be possessed by Him."* 
 
 And as we have abundant evidence that eccle- 
 siastical men were familiarly called Clerici^ or 
 " Clergymen," from the second century ; so we 
 have the same evidence that this term was em- 
 ployed to designate all ecclesiastical men. That 
 is, all persons who had any spiritual office in the 
 Church, were called by the common name of Cle- 
 rici, or " Clergymen." It was applied, continu- 
 ally to Elders and Deacons, as well as to Bishops 
 or Pastors. Nay, in the third century, when not 
 only the inceptive steps of Prelacy became visible, 
 but when the same spirit of innovation had also 
 brought in a number of inferior orders; such as 
 sub-Deacons, Readers, Acolyths, &c., these infe- 
 rior orders were all Clerici. Cyprian, speaking of 
 a sub-Deacon, and also of a Reader, calls them 
 both Clerici. The ordination of such persons, 
 (for it seems they were all formally ordained,) he 
 calls Ordinationes Clericoi ; and the letters which 
 lie transmitted by them, he styles Literce Clericce, 
 The same fact may be clearly established from the 
 writings of Ambrose, Hilary, and Epiphanius, and 
 from the canons of the Council of Nice. Indeed 
 there seems reason to believe, that in the fourth 
 and fifth centuries, and subsequently, the title of 
 Clerici was not only given to all the inferior orders 
 of ecclesiastical men, but was more frequently and 
 
 * Epist. 2. ad Nepotian. 5. 
 
OF THE OFFICE. 211 
 
 punctiliously applied to them, than to their supe- 
 riors, who were generally addressed by their 
 more distinctive and honourable titles. Those 
 who recollect that learning, during the dark ages, 
 was chiefly confined to the ministers of religion ; 
 that few, excepting persons of that profession, were 
 able to read and write ; and that the whimsical 
 privilege, commonly called " benefit of Clergy," 
 grew out of the rare accomplishment of being able 
 to read; will be at no loss to trace the etymology 
 of the word clerk (clericus^) or secretary, as used 
 to designate one who officiates as the reader and 
 writer of a public body. 
 
 To distinguish the mass of private Christians 
 from those who bore office in the Church, they 
 were designated by several names. They were 
 sometimes called XaiVcoi, laid, laymen, from Xaoj, 
 popuhjs ; sometimes jJtwroi, " private men," from 
 t^'Of, privatus, (Acts iv. 13;) sometimes /3iwri>co(, 
 i. e. ♦' seculars," from /?«»?, which signifies a secu- 
 lar life. Soon after the apostolical age, common 
 Christians were frequently called a»'^p£f cv^Xrjo-faart/cof, 
 "men of the Church," i. e. persons not belonging 
 either to Jewish Synagogues, or Pagan temples, or 
 heretical bodies, but members of the church of 
 Christ. Afterwards, however, the title Ecclesi- 
 astics, became gradually appropriated to persons in 
 oflice in the Church.* 
 
 The quotations made, in a former chapter, from 
 Augustine, and the writings of some other Fathers 
 about his time, in which they seem to distinguish 
 between the Clergy and the Elders may seem to 
 militate with the foregoing statement. But in re- 
 
 * See Stephani Thesaurus, and Bingham's Origines 
 Ecclesiastical 
 
212 NATrRE AND DUTIES 
 
 ference to these passages, the learned Voetius, 
 vhile he quotes them, as decisive of the general 
 fact of the early existence of the Eiders under 
 consideration, supposes that the office, in the fourth 
 and lifth centuries, was beginning to fall into dis- 
 use ; and that, of course, though it was still found 
 in some Churches, it began to be spoken of with 
 less respect and sometimes to be denied a place 
 among the offices strictly clerical.* 
 
 But, after all, there is no real difficulty as to this 
 point. For although the terms "clergy" and 
 *' clerical" were pretty generally applied to all 
 classes of Church officers, even the lowest, in the 
 third, fourth, and fifth centuries, yet this was not 
 always the case. Thus in the Apostolical Canons, 
 which were probably composed in the fourth or 
 fifth centuries, there is an express distinction made 
 between the Deacons and the Clergy. In the 
 third and fourth Canons, having ordered what 
 sorts of first fruits should be sent to the Church, 
 and what to the home of the Bishop and Presby- 
 ters, it ordains as follows : " Now it is manifest 
 that they are to be divided by them among the 
 Deacons and the Clergy." From cases of this 
 kind we may evidently infer that, although all 
 kinds of ecclesiastical officers were generally 
 ranked among the Clergy, during the period just 
 mentioned, yet this was not invariably so ; and, of 
 course, no inference can be drawn from occasional 
 diversity of expression as to this matter. 
 
 Now, if this historical deduction of the titles, 
 Clergy and Laity, be correct, it is plain that, ac- 
 cording to early and general usage. Ruling Elders 
 ought not to be styled laymen, or lay-Elders. 
 
 * Politicae Ecclesiasticae, par. ii. Lib. ii. Tract, iii. 
 
OF THE OFFICE. Si 3 
 
 They are as really in office ; they as really bear 
 an office of Divine appointment, an office of a high 
 and spiritual nature, and an office, the functions 
 of which cannot be rightfully performed, but by 
 those who are regularly set apart to it, as any other 
 officer of the Christian Church. They are as 
 really a portion of God's lot; as really set over 
 the laity, or body of the people as the most distin- 
 guished and venerated minister of Jesus can be, 
 VVhether, therefore, we refer to early usage, or to 
 strict philological import. Ruling Elders are as 
 truly entitled to the name of Clergy, in the only 
 legitimate sense of that term, that is, they are as 
 truly ecclesiastical officers as those who " labour 
 in the word and doctrine." 
 
 The scope of the foregoing remarks will not, it 
 is hoped, be mistaken. The author of this Essay 
 has no zeal either for retaining or using the terms 
 Clergy and Laity. So far as the former term has 
 been heretofore used, or may now be intended, to 
 convey the idea of a " privileged order " in the 
 Church ; a dignified body, lifted up, in rank and 
 claim, above the mass of the Church members ; in 
 a word, as designating a set of men, claiming to 
 be vicars of Christ, keepers of the human con- 
 science, and the only channels of grace, he dis- 
 claims and abhors it. He is a believer in no such 
 meaning or men. But so far as it is intended to 
 designate those who are clothed with ecclesiastical 
 office, under the authority of Christ, and autho- 
 rized to discharge some important spiritual func- 
 tions, which the body of the Church members are 
 not authorized to perform, and to mark the dis- 
 tinction between these two classes, the writer is 
 of the opinion that the language may be defended, 
 and that either that, or some other of equivalent 
 
214 NATURE AND DUTIES 
 
 import, ought to be used, nay, must be used, if we 
 would be faithful to the New Testament view of 
 ecclesiastical office, as an ordinance of Jesus Christ. 
 And if the term Clergy, in this humble. Christian, 
 and only becoming sense, be applied to those who 
 preside in the dispensation of public ordinances ; 
 it may with equal propriety, be applied to those 
 who preside with pastors, in the inspection and 
 rule of the Church. 
 
 If any should be disposed to remark, on this 
 subject, that the use of the term Clergy is so ap- 
 propriated by long established public habit, to a 
 particular class of ecclesiastical officers, that there 
 can be no hope that the mass of the community 
 will be reconciled to an extension of the title to 
 Ruling Elders ; — the answer is — be it so. The 
 writer of this volume is neither vain enough to ex- 
 pect, nor ambitious enough to attempt, a change 
 in the popular language to the amount here sup- 
 posed. But he protests against the continued use 
 of the term lay-Elder, as really adapted to make 
 an erroneous impression. Let the class of officers 
 in question be called Ruling Elders. Let all 
 necessary distinction be made by saying : — 
 ** Ministers, or pastors. Ruling Elders, Deacons, 
 and the Laity, or body of the people." This will 
 be in conformity with ancient usage. This will 
 DC maintaining every important principle. This 
 can offend none ; and nothing more will be desired 
 by any. 
 
 Were the foregoing views of the nature and 
 duties of the Elder's office generally adopted, duly 
 appreciated, and faithfully carried out into prac- 
 tice, what a mighty change would be effected in 
 our Zion ! With what a different estimate of the 
 obligations and responsibilities which rest upon 
 
OF THE OFFICE. 215 
 
 them, would the candidates for this office enter on 
 Iheir sacred work ! And with what different feel- 
 .ngs would the mass of the people, and especially 
 all who love the cause of Christ, regard these 
 spiritual Counsellors and Guides, in their daily- 
 walks, and particularly in their friendly and offi- 
 cial visits ! This is a change most devoutly to be 
 desired. The interests of the Church are more in- 
 volved in the prevalence of just opinions and prac- 
 tice in reference to this office, than almost any 
 other that can be named. Were every congrega- 
 tion, besides a wise, pious and faithful pastor, fur- 
 nished wifh eight or ten Elders, to co-operate with 
 him in all his parochial labours, on the plan which 
 has been sketched ; men of wisdom, faith, prayer, 
 and Christian activity ; men willing to deny and 
 exert themselves for the welfare of Zion ; men 
 alive to the importance of every thing that relates 
 to the orthodoxy, purity, order and spirituality of 
 the Church, and ever on the watch for opportuni- 
 ties of doing good ; men, in a word, willing to 
 *' take the oversight " of the flock in the Lord, 
 and to labour without ceasing for the promotion 
 of its best interests : — were every Church furnish- 
 ed with a body of such Elders — can any one doubt 
 that knowledge, order, piety, and growth in grace, 
 as well as in numbers, would be as common in 
 our Churches, as the reverse is now the prevailing 
 state of things, in consequence of the want of fide- 
 lity on the part of those who are nominally the 
 overseers and guides of the flock ? 
 
 While discussing the nature of this officp, and 
 ihe duties which pertain to it, it seems to be natu- 
 ral to offer a few remarks on the manner in w hich 
 those who bear it ought to be treated by the 
 members of the Church : in other words, on the 
 
210 NATURE A^D DUTIES 
 
 duties which the Church owes to her Ruling 
 Elders. 
 
 And here the discerning and pious mind will be 
 at no loss to perceive that these duties are correla- 
 tive to those which the Rulers owe to the Church. 
 That is, if they are the spiritual Rulers of the 
 Church, and bound to perform daily, and with 
 fidelity and zeal, the duties which belong to this 
 station ; it is evident that the members of the 
 Church are bound to recognize them in the same 
 character, and to honour and treat them as their 
 spiritual guides. Were it, then, in the power of 
 the writer of this volume to address the members 
 of every Presbyterian Church in the United States, 
 he would speak to them in some such language as 
 the following : 
 
 Christian Brethren. 
 
 Every consideration which has been urged to 
 show the importance of and duties belonging to. the 
 office of Ruling Elders, ought to remind you of 
 the important duties which you owe to them. Re. 
 member, at all times, that they are your ecclesias- 
 tical Rulers ; Rulers of your own choice ; yet by 
 no means coming to you in virtue of mere human 
 authority ; but in the name and by the appoint- 
 ment of the great Head of the Church, and, of 
 course, the " ministers of God to you for good." 
 
 In all your views and treatment of them, recog- 
 nize this character. Obey them "in the Lord," 
 that is, for his sake, and as far as they bear rule 
 agreeably to his word. " Esteem them very highly 
 in love for their work's sake." And follow them 
 daily with your prayers, that God would bless 
 them, and make them a blessing. Reverence them 
 as your leaders. Bear in mind the importance of. 
 
OF THE OFFICE. 217 
 
 their office, the arduousncss of their duties, and 
 the difficulties with which they have to contend. 
 Countenance, and sustain them in every act of 
 fidelity ; make allowance for their infirmities ; and 
 be not unreasonable in your expectations from 
 them. 
 
 Many are ready to criminate the Elders of the 
 Church, for not taking notice of particular offences, 
 as speedily, or in such manner, as they expect. 
 And this disposition to find fault is sometimes in- 
 dulged by persons who have never been so faith- 
 ful themselves as to give that information which 
 they possessed, respecting the alleged oflfences ; or 
 wiio, when called upon publicly to substantiate 
 that which they have privately disclosed, have 
 drawn back, unwilling to encounter the odium or 
 the pain of appearing as accusers, or even as wit- 
 nesses. Such persons ought to be the last to cri- 
 minate Church officers for supposed negligence 
 of discipline. Can your Rulers take notice of that 
 which never comes to their knowledge? Or can 
 you expect them, as prudent men, rashly to set on 
 foot a judicial and public investigation of things, 
 concerning which many are ready to whisper in 
 private, but none willing to speak with frankness 
 before a court of Christ .' Besides, let it be recol- 
 lected, that the session of almost every Church 
 is sometimes actually engaged in investigating 
 charges, in removing offences, and in composing 
 ctifiercnccs, which many suppose they are utterly 
 neglecting, merely because they do not judge it to 
 be for edification, in all cases, to proclaim what 
 they have done, or are doing, to the congregation 
 at large. 
 
 Your Elders will sometimes be called — God 
 grant that it may seldom occur ! — but they will 
 19 
 
218 NATURE A>'D DUTIES 
 
 sometimes be called to the painful exercise of 
 discipline. Be not offended with them for the 
 performance of this duty. Rather make the 
 language of the Psalmist your own ; — " Let the 
 righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness ; and 
 let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil, 
 which shall not break my head." Add not to 
 the bitterness of their official task, by discovering 
 a resentful temper, or by indulging in reproach- 
 ful language, in return for their fidelity. Surely 
 the nature of the duty is sufficiently self-denying 
 and distressing, without rendering it more so by 
 unfriendly treatment. Receive their private 
 warnings and admonitions with candour and 
 affectionate submission. Treat their public acts, 
 however contrary to your wishes, with respect 
 and reverence. If they be honest and pious 
 men, can they do less than exercise the discipline 
 of Christ's house, against such of you as walk 
 disorderly '? Nay, if you be honest and pious 
 yourselves, can you do less than approve of. 
 their faithfulness in exercising that discipline? 
 If you were aware of all the difficulties which 
 attend this part of the duty of your Eldership, 
 you would feel for them more tenderly, and 
 judge concerning them more candidly and indul- 
 gently than you are often disposed to do. Here 
 you have it in your power, in a very important 
 degree, to lessen their burdens, and to strengthen 
 their hands. 
 
 When your Elders visit your families, for the 
 purpose of becoming acquainted with them, and 
 of aiding the Pastor in ascertaining the spiritual 
 state of the flock, remember that it is not 
 officious intrusion. It is nothing more than their 
 duty. Receive them, not as if you suspected 
 
OF THE OFFICE. 219 
 
 t])em of having come as spies or busy intruders, 
 but vvitli respect and cordiality. Convince them, 
 by your treatment, that you are glad to see 
 them ; that you wish to encourage them in pro- 
 moting the best interests of the Church; and 
 that you honour them for their fidelity. Give 
 them an opjiortunity of seeing your children, 
 and of ascertaining whether your households are 
 making progress in the Christian life. Nay, 
 encourage your children to put themselves ia 
 the way of the Elders, that they may be per- 
 sonally known to them, and may become the 
 objects of their afleclionale notice, their occa- 
 sional exhortation, and their pious prayers. 
 Converse with the Elders freely, as with fathers, 
 who " have no greater joy than to see you 
 walking in the truth." And ever give them 
 cause to retire under the pleasing persuasion, 
 that their office is honoured, that their bene- 
 volent designs are duly appreciated, and that 
 their labours " are not in vain in the Lord." 
 In short, as every good citizen will make con- 
 science of vindicating the fidelity, and holding 
 up the hands of the faithful Magistrate, who 
 firmly and impartially executes the law of the 
 land : so every good Christian ought to feel 
 himself bound in conscience and honour, as 
 well as in duty to his Lord, to strengthen the 
 hands, and encourage the heart of the spi- 
 ritual Ruler, who evidently seeks, in the fear of 
 God, to promote the purity and edification of the 
 Church. 
 
 The nature of the office before us also leads to 
 another remark, v/ith which the present chapter 
 will be closed. It is, that there seems to be a 
 
220 NATURE AND DUTIES OF THE OFFICE. 
 
 peculiar propriety in the Ruling Elders (and the 
 same principle will apply to the Deacons, if 
 there be any of this class of officers in a con- 
 gregation) having a seat assigned them for sitting 
 together, in a conspicuous part of the Church, 
 near the Pulpit, during the public service, where 
 they can overlook the whole worshipping assem- 
 bly, and be seen by all. The considerations 
 which recommend this, are numerous. It was 
 invariably so in the Jewish Synagogue. The 
 same practice, as we have seen in a former 
 chapter, was adopted in the early Church, as 
 soon as Christians began to erect houses for 
 public worship. This official and conspicuous 
 accommodation for the Elders is constantly pro- 
 vided in the Dutch Reformed Church, in this 
 country, and it is believed by most of the 
 Reformed Churches on the continent of Europe. 
 It is adapted to keep the congregation habitually 
 reminded who their Elders are, and of their 
 official authority ; and also to remind the Elders 
 themselves, of their functions and duties. And 
 it furnishes a convenient opportunity for the 
 Pastor to consult them on any question which 
 may occur, either before he ascends the Pulpit, 
 or at the close of the service. 
 
(221) 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE OFFICES OF THE 
 RULING ELDER AND DEACON. 
 
 These offices have been so often confounded, and 
 opinions atterppted to be maintained, which tend 
 to merge the former in the latter, that it is judged 
 proper to make the difference between them the 
 subject of distinct consideration. 
 
 The only account that we have in Scripture of 
 the origin of the Deacon's office is found in the 
 following passage, in the Acts of the Apostles 
 vi. 1 — 6. "And in those days, when the num- 
 ber of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a 
 murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, 
 because their widows were neglected in the 
 daily ministration. Then the twelve called the 
 multitude of the disciples unto them, and said : 
 It is not reason that we should leave the word 
 of God and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, 
 look ye out among you seven men, of honest 
 report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom 
 we may appoint over this business. But we will 
 give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the 
 ministry of the word. And the saying pleased 
 the whole multitude ; and they chose Stephen, 
 a man full* of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and 
 Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, 
 and Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte of 
 Antioch : whom they set before the Apostles ; 
 and when they had prayed, they laid their hands 
 on them." 
 
 19* 
 
222 DIFFERENCE BETWEEW 
 
 On this plain passage various opinions have 
 been entertained. It will be to our purpose to 
 notice a few of them. 
 
 1. Some have doubted whether these were the 
 first Deacons chosen by the direction of the 
 inspired Apostles. The learned Dr. Mosheim 
 supposes that the Church of Jerusalem, from 
 its first organization, had its inferior ministers, 
 in other words, its Deacons ; and that there is 
 a reference to these, in the fifth chapter, of the 
 Acts of the Apostles, under the title of young 
 men, (^vecjrepoi and veavicKoi,"^ who assisted in the 
 interment of Ananias and Sapphira. He is 
 confident that the Seven Deacons spoken of in 
 the passage just cited, were added to the ori- 
 ginal number; and that they were intentionally 
 selected from the foreign Jews, in order to 
 silence the complaints on the part of the Gre- 
 cians, of partiality in the distribution of the 
 offerings made for the relief of the poor. To 
 this opinion there seems to be no good reason 
 for acceding. The objections to it are the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 1. It is by no means probable that a class of 
 officers of great importance to the comfort and 
 prosperity of the Church, should have been 
 instituted by Divine authority, and yet that the 
 original institution should have been passed over 
 by all the inspired writers in entire silence. 
 
 2. In this narrative of the election and ordi- 
 nation of the seven Deacons, there is not the 
 most distant allusion to any pre-existing officers 
 of the same character or functions. The mur- 
 muring spoken of, seems to have proceeded from 
 the body of the Grecian, or foreign Christians, 
 
ELDERS AND DEACONS. 223 
 
 and to have been directed against the body of the 
 native, or Hebrew Christians. 
 
 3. It is evident, from the spirit of the nar- 
 rative, that the appointment of these Deacons 
 was expressly designed to relieve the Apostles 
 themselves of a laborious service, with which 
 they had been before encumbered, but which 
 interfered with their discharge of higher, and 
 more important duties. Surely the address of 
 the Apostles would have been strange, if not 
 unmeaning, had there been already a body of 
 officers who were intrusted with the whole of 
 this business ; and they had only been soli- 
 cited to appoint an additional number, or to put 
 a more impartial set in the place of the old 
 incumbents. 
 
 4. It is plain that these officers were not 
 chosen from among the young men of the Church, 
 as Dr. Mosheim seems to imagine ; nor was the 
 office itself one of small trust or dignity. The 
 multitude were directed to " look out seven 
 men of honest report," or established reputation, 
 *' full of the Holy Ghost and of wisdom ;" and 
 when the Apostle Paul afterwards writes to 
 Timothy, and points out the character of those 
 who ought to be selected for this otHce, he speaks 
 of them as married men, fathers of families, 
 distinguished for their gravity : men who had 
 been " first proved," and found " blameless," 
 as orthodox, just, temperate, holy men, regu- 
 lating their own households with /firmness and 
 prudence. 
 
 5. Dr. Mosheim is not borne out by the best 
 authorities in his interpretation of the words m.j-f/soj, 
 and veai'tffKoi. The most skilful lexicographers 
 assign to them no such official meaning. Be- 
 
224 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 
 
 sides, the nature and responsibility of the office, 
 and the high qualifications lor it pointed out by 
 the Apostles at the time of this first choice, and 
 required by the Apostle Paul afterwards, when 
 writing to Timothy, respecting proper persons to 
 be chosen and set apart as Deacons, by no means 
 answer to the view which Dr. Mosheim takes of 
 the inferiority of the office, or the propriety of 
 bestowing it on young men as the Church's 
 servants. 
 
 6. Finally ; it may be doubted whether there 
 had been any real need of the Deacon's office, 
 until the time arrived, and the events occurred 
 which are recorded in the sixth chapter of the 
 Acts of the Apostles. But a short time had 
 elapsed since the Church had been organized on 
 the New Testament plan. At its first organiza- 
 tion, the number of the poor connected with it 
 was probably small. But very shortly after the 
 day of Pentecost, the number of foreigners, who 
 had come up to the feast, and had there been 
 converted to the Christian faith, was so great, 
 and the number of those who, at a distance from 
 all their wonted pecuniary resources, and their 
 friends, stood in need of pecuniary aid, had also 
 become so considerable, that the task of " im- 
 parting to those who had need," became, suddenly, 
 a most arduous employment. This had been 
 accomplished, however, for a short time, under 
 the direction of the Apostles, and without ap- 
 pointing a particular class of officers for the pur- 
 pose. But, when the foreign Jews came forward, 
 and made complaint of partiality in this business, 
 the Apostles, under the direction of heavenly 
 wisdom, called upon the " multitude" to make 
 choice of competent persons whom they might 
 
ELDERS AND DEACONS. 225 
 
 appoint over this branch of Christian ministra- 
 tion. This appears to be a plain history of the 
 case, and to resort to Dr. Mosheim's supposition, 
 is to throw a strange and perplexed aspect over 
 the whole narrative. 
 
 II. There are others who have doubted whether 
 the " seven," whose election and ordination are 
 recorded in the 6th chapter of the Acts of the 
 Apostles, were Deacons at all. They allege that 
 the office to which they were chosen and set 
 apart was a mere temporary function, not de- 
 signed to be a permanent one in the Christian 
 Church, and which, probably, did not last much 
 if any longer than what is commonly called, " the 
 community of goods," which existed sometime 
 after the day of Pentecost. 
 
 Against this supposition, the following reasons 
 are, in my view, conclusive. 
 
 1. If this supposition were admitted, then it 
 would follow, that there is no account whatever 
 in the Scriptures of the origin or nature of the 
 Deacon's office. The office is mentioned again 
 and again in the New Testament ; but if the 
 narrative in the beginning of the sixth chapter of 
 the Acts of the Apostles, be not a statement of its 
 origin, nature, and duties, we have no account of 
 them any where. Can this be considered as 
 probable ? 
 
 2. Is it likely, judging on the principles, and 
 from the analogy of Scripture, that a short occa- 
 sional trust, a mere temporary trusteeship, if I 
 may so speak, would be appointed with so much 
 formality and solemnity ; — marked not only by 
 a formal election of the people, but also by the 
 prayers and " the laying on of the hands" of the 
 Apostles J What greater solemnities attended an 
 
226 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 
 
 investiture with the highest and most permanent 
 offices in the Christian Church ? 
 
 3. It is a well known fact, that in the Jewish 
 Synagogue which was assumed as the model of 
 the primitive Church, there was a class of officers, 
 to whom the collection and distribution of alms 
 for the poor, were regularly committed. We 
 may venture to presume, then, that the appoint- 
 ment of similar officers in the Church would be 
 altogether likely. 
 
 4. When it is considered what an important 
 and arduous part of the Church's duty it was, in 
 the apostolic age, and for some time afterwards, 
 to provide for the very numerous poor who looked 
 to her for aid, it is incredible that there should be 
 no class of officers specifically set apart for this 
 purpose. Yet if the " seven" are not of this class, 
 there is no account of any such appointment in 
 the New Testament. 
 
 5. The language of some of the earlier, as well 
 as the later Christian Fathers on this subject, 
 clearly evinces that they considered the appoint- 
 ment recorded in the chapter of the Acts of the 
 Apostles, now under consideration, as the ap- 
 pointment of Christian Deacons — and as exhibit- 
 ing the nature of that office, and the great purpose 
 for which it was instituted. A small specimen 
 of the manner in which they speak on the subject 
 will be sufficient to establish this position. Her- 
 mas, one of the apostolical Fathers in his Simili- 
 tude, 9 — 27, expresses himself thus : — " For what 
 concerns the tenth mountain, in which were the 
 trees covering the cattle, they are such as have 
 believed, and some of them have been Bishops, 
 that is presidents of the Churches. Then such as 
 have been set over inferior ministries, and have 
 
ELDERS AND DEACONS. 227 
 
 protected the poor and the widows." Origen, 
 (Tract. 16, in Matt.,) evidently considered the 
 Deacons as charged with the pecuniary concerns 
 of the Church. " The Deacons," says he, " pre- 
 side over the money tables of the Church." And 
 again, " Those Deacons, who do not manage 
 well the money of the Churches committed to 
 their care, but act a fraudulent part, and dispense 
 it, not according to justice, but for the purpose 
 of enriching themselves; these act the part of 
 money-changers, and keepers of those tables 
 which our Lord overturned. For the Deacons 
 were appointed to preside over the tables of the 
 Church, as we are taught in the Acts of the 
 Apostles." Cyprian speaks (Epist. 25,) of a 
 certain Deacon who had been deposed from his 
 *' sacred Diaconate, on account of his fraudulent 
 and sacrilegious misapplication of the Church's 
 money to his own private use ; and for his de- 
 nial of the widow's and orphan's pledges deposited 
 with him." And, in another place, (Epist. 3, ad 
 Rogatianum,) he refers the appointment of the first 
 Deacons to his choice and ordination at Jeru- 
 salem. It seems, then, that the Deacons, in the 
 days of Cyprian, were intrusted with the care of 
 widows and orphans, and the funds of the 
 Church destined for their relief. It is incidentally 
 stated in the account of the persecution under the 
 emperor Decius, in the third century, that by 
 order of the emperor, Laurentius, one of the 
 Deacons of Rome, was seized, under the expec- 
 tation of finding the money of the Church, col- 
 lected for the use of the poor, in his possession. 
 It is further stated, that this money had really 
 been in his possession : but that, expecting the 
 
228 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 
 
 Storm of persecution, he had distributed it before 
 his seizure. 
 
 Eusebius; (Lib. ii. cap. 1,) says; — There were 
 also " seven approved men ordained Deacons, 
 through prayer and the imposition of the Apostles 
 hands," and he immediately afterwards speaks of 
 Stephen as one of the number. Dorothoeus, Bishop 
 of Tyre, contemporary with Eusebius, also says; 
 (Lives of the Prophets, 6z;c.,) ^' Stephen, the first 
 Martyr, and one of the seven Deacons, was stoned 
 by the Jews at Jerusalem, as Luke testifieth in 
 the Acts of the Apostles." 
 
 Ambrose, in speaking of the fourth century, the 
 time in which he lived, says (Comment, in Ephes. 
 iv.) " The Deacons do not publicly preach." Chry- 
 sostom, who lived in the same century, in his com- 
 mentary on this very passage, in Acts vi., observes, 
 that " the Deacons had need of great wisdom, al- 
 though the preaching of the word was not com- 
 mitted to them ;" and remarks further, that " it is 
 absurd to suppose that they should have both the 
 offices of preaching and taking care of the poor 
 committed to them, seeing it is impossible for them 
 to discharge both functions adequately." Sozomen, 
 the ecclesiastical historian, who lived in the fifth 
 century, says ; (Lib. v. cap. 8,) that "the Deacon's 
 office was to keep the Church goods." In the 
 Apostolical Constitutions, which, though undoubt- 
 edly spurious as an apostolical work, may pro- 
 bably be referred to the fourth or fifth centuries, it 
 is recorded ; (Lib. 8, cap. 28.) " It is not lawful 
 for the Deacons to baptize, or to administer the 
 Eucharist, or to pronounce the greater or smaller 
 benediction." Jerome, in his letter to Evagrius, 
 calls Deacons " ministers of tables and widows." 
 Oecumcniusj a learned commentator, who lived 
 
ELDERS AND DEACONS. 229 
 
 several centuries after Jerome, in his Commentary 
 on Acts vi.. expresses himself thus : — " The Apos- 
 tles laid their hands on those who were chosen 
 Deacons, not to confer on them that rank which 
 they now nold in the Church, but that they might, 
 with all diligence and attention, distribute the ne- 
 cessaries of life to widows and orphans." And the 
 Council of Constantinople, in the sixth century, ex- 
 pressly asserts (Can. 16,) that the seven Deacons 
 spoken of in the x\cts of the Apostles, are not to be 
 understood of such as ministered in divine service, 
 or in sacred mysteries, but only of such as served 
 tables, and attended the poor. 
 
 Another consideration, which shows beyond 
 controversy that the early Christians universally 
 considered the seven spoken of in the sixth 
 chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, as the proper 
 New Testament Deacons, is that, for several cen- 
 turies, many of the largest and most respectable 
 Churches in the world considered themselves as 
 bound, in selecting their Deacons to confine them- 
 selves to the exact number seven, whatever might 
 be their extent and their exigencies, on the avowed 
 principle of conformity to the number of this class 
 of oflicers first appointed, in the mother Church at 
 Jerusalem. The Council of Neoccesarea enacted 
 it into a canon, that there should be but seven 
 Deacons in any city, however great, because this 
 was according to the rule laid down in the Acts 
 of the Apostles. And the Church of Rome, both 
 before and after this Council, seems also to have 
 looked upon that example as binding ; for it is evi- 
 dent from the Epistles of Cornelius, written in the 
 middle of the third century, that there were but 
 seven Deacons in the Church of Rome at that time, 
 though there were forty-six Presbyters. Prudentius 
 20 
 
230 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 
 
 intimates that it was so in the time of Sixtus, also 
 in the year 261 ; for speaking of Laurenlius, the 
 Deacon, he terms him the chief of those " seven 
 men," who had their station near the altar, mean, 
 ing the Deacons of the Church. Nay, in the 
 fourth and fifth centuries, the custom in that city 
 continued the same, as we learn both from Sozo- 
 men and Hilary, the Roman Deacon, who wrote 
 under the name of Ambrose.* 
 
 6. The current opinion of all the most learned 
 and judicious Christian divines, of all denomina- 
 tions, for several centuries past, is decisively in 
 favour of considering the passage in Acts vi., as 
 recording the first appointment of the New Testa- 
 ment Deacons. Among all classes of theologians, 
 Catholic and Protestant, Lutheran and Calvinistic, 
 Presbyterian and Episcopal, this concurrence of 
 opinion approaches so near to unanimity, that we 
 may, without injustice to any other opinion, con- 
 sider it as the deliberate and harmonious judgment 
 of the Christian Church. 
 
 The very learned Suicer, a German Professor 
 of the seventeenth century, in his Thesaurus Ec- 
 clesiasticus, (Art. Ata/coj/o?,) makes the following 
 statement on this subject : " In the apostolic 
 Church, Deacons were those who distributed alms 
 to the poor, and took care of them : in other words, 
 they were the treasurers of the Church's charity. 
 The original institution of this class of officers is 
 set forth in the sixth chapter of the Acts of the 
 Apostles. With respect to them, the 16th canon 
 of the Council of Constantinople (in Trullo) says : 
 *' They are those to whom the common adminis- 
 
 * Bingham's Origines Ecclesiasticae, B. ii. ch. 20, 
 sect. 19. 
 
ELDERS AND DEACONS. 231 
 
 tering to poverty is committed ; not those who 
 administer the sacraments." And Aristinus, in his 
 Synopsis of the Canons of the same Council, 
 Canon 18th, says : " Let him who alleges that the 
 seven, of whom mention is made in the Acts of 
 the Apostles, were Deacons, know that the ac- 
 count there given is not of those who administer 
 the sacraments, but of such as " served tables." 
 Zonaras, ad Canon. 16, Trullanum. p. 145, says, 
 those who by the Apostles were appointed to the 
 Diaconate, were noi ministers of spiritual things, 
 but ministers and dispensers of meats. Oecume- 
 nius also, on the 6th chapter of the Acts of the 
 Apostles, says: "They laid their hands on the 
 Deacons who had been elected, which ofBce was by 
 no means the same with that which obtains at the 
 present day in the Church, (i. e. under the same 
 name;) but that with "the utmost care and dili- 
 gence, they might distribute what was necessary to 
 the sustenance of orphans and widows." 
 
 From these considerations, I feel myself war- 
 ranted in concluding with confidence, that the 
 " seven," chosen at Jerusalem, to " serve tables," 
 were scriptural Deacons, and the first Deacons; 
 and that, of course, every attempt to evade the 
 necessary consequence of admitting this fact, is 
 wholly destitute of support. 
 
 III. A third opinion held by some on this sub- 
 ject is, that, although the passage recorded in the 
 beginning of the sixth chapter of the Acts of the 
 Apostles, is an account of the first appointment of 
 New Testament Deacons ; and though their pri- 
 mary function was to take care of the poor, and 
 "serve tables;" yet the appropriate duties of 
 their office were afterwards enlarged. Thus the 
 Prelatists say, that Philip, one of the "seven," is 
 
232 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 
 
 found, soon after his appointment as Deacon, 
 preaching and baptizing. Hence they infer that 
 these functions of right pertain to the Deacon's 
 office, and have belonged to it from the beginning. 
 On the other hand, some Independents say, that 
 the word Deacon, according to its Greek etymo- 
 logy, means minister or servant ; that this general 
 term may cover a large field of ecclesiastical ser- 
 vice ; and that New Testament Deacons were, 
 probably, at first intended, and now ought to be 
 employed, to assist the pastor in counsel and go- 
 vernment, as well as in serving the Lord's table, 
 and attending to the relief of the poor. And even 
 some Presbyterians have expressed the opinion, 
 that our Ruling Elders were a kind of Deacons in, 
 disguise, and ought so to be considered and called ; 
 and that there ought not to be, and cannot be, con- 
 sistently with Scripture, any office bearer, charged 
 with the duty of assisting the Pastor in counsel 
 and rule, other than the Deacon. 
 
 I am fully persuaded that this is an erroneous 
 opinion. It appears to me manifest, not only that 
 it is inconsistent with the form of government of 
 the Presbyterian Church ; but what is a much 
 more serious difficulty, that it is altogether irre- 
 concilable with the New Testament. For, 
 
 1. An attentive and impartial perusal of the re- 
 cord of this first institution of Deacons, must con- 
 vince any one, that preaching, baptizing, or par- 
 taking in the spiritual rule and government of the 
 Church, were so far from being embraced in the 
 original destination of the New Testament Deacon, 
 that they were all absolutely precluded, by the 
 very terms, and the whole spirit of the represen- 
 tation given by the inspired historian. The things 
 complained of by the Grecian believers, are, not 
 
ELDERS AND DEACONS. 233 
 
 that the preaching was defective, or that the go- 
 vernment and discipline of the Church were badly 
 managed. Not a hint of this kind is given. The 
 only complaint was, that the poor " widows had 
 been neglected ;" in other words, had not had the 
 due share of attention to their wants, and of relief 
 from the ("hurch's bounty. To remove all cause 
 of complaint on this score, the " seven " were 
 chosen and set apart. The sphere of duty to 
 which they were appointed, was one which the 
 Apostles declared they could not fulfil without 
 " leaving the word of God to serve tables."* They 
 say, therefore, to the members of the Church, 
 " look ye out seven men of honest report, full of 
 the Holy Ghost and of wisdom, whom we may 
 appoint over this business," i. e. over the " serving 
 of tables." " And we will give ourselves to prayer 
 and the ministry of the word." Now, to suppose 
 that these very Deacons were appointed to officiate 
 in " the ministry of the word and prayer," is an 
 inconsistency, nay, an absurdity, so glaring, ihat 
 the only wonder is how any one can possibly 
 adopt it after reading the passage in question. If 
 
 * It has been supposed by many that the phrase, 
 "servins: tables," in the history of the institution of the 
 Deacon's office, had a reference either to the Lord's table, 
 or to overseeing and supplying the tables of the poor, or 
 perhaps both. But I am inclined to believe that this is 
 an entire mistake. The word, rpaw^a, signifies, indeed, 
 a table; but, in this connexion, it seems obviously to 
 mean a money-table, or a counter, on which money was 
 laid. Hence rpaTrfCtr^jf a money-changer, or a money 
 merchant. See Matt. xxi. 12, xxv. 27; Mark xi. 15; 
 Luke xix. 23. The plain meaning, then, of Acts vi. 
 seems to be this: "It is not suitable that we should 
 leave the word of God, and devote ourselves to pecu- 
 niary aftairs." 
 
 20* 
 
234 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 
 
 the object had been to adopt a supposition fitted to 
 exhibit the Apostles, and the " muUitude " too, as 
 acting Hke insane men, or children, one more 
 directly adapted to answer the end, could not have 
 been thought of. 
 
 2. The circumstance of Philip, sometime after 
 his appointment as Deacon, being found preaching 
 and baptizing, in Samaria, and other places, does 
 not afford the smallest presumptive evidence 
 against this conclusion. Soon after his appoint- 
 ment to the deaconship in Jerusalem, the members 
 of the Church in that city were chiefly " scattered 
 abroad by persecution." Philip was, of course, 
 driven from his residence. Now, the probability 
 is, that about this time, seeing he was a man " full 
 of the Holy Ghost and of wisdom," and therefore, 
 eminently qualified to be useful in preaching the 
 gospel, he received a new ordination as an Evan- 
 gelist, and in this character went forth to preach 
 and baptize. He is expressly called an " Evan- 
 gelist," by the same inspired writer who gives us 
 an account of his appointment as a Deacon ; (Acts 
 xxi. 8.) Until it can be proved, then, that he 
 preached and baptized as a Deaeon, and not as an 
 Evangelist, the supposition is utterly improbable 
 and aitogther worthless. It is really an imposi- 
 tion on credulity to urge it. And that certainly 
 never can be proved as long as the sixth chapter 
 of the Acts of the Apostles remains a part of the 
 inspired volume. As to Stephen, another of the 
 " seven," disputing with gainsayers in private, and 
 defending himself before the Council ; it was not 
 official preaching at all. It was nothing more than 
 every professing Christian is at all times not only 
 at liberty, but under obligation to do, when assailed 
 
ELDERS AND DEACONS. 235 
 
 by unbelievers, or when brought before an unjust 
 tribunal. 
 
 The truth is, the practice of connecting the func- 
 tions of preaching and baptizing with the Dea- 
 con's office, is one of the various human inventions 
 which early begun to spring up in the Church, 
 and which turned ahuost every ecclesiastical office 
 which had been divinely instituted more or less 
 from its primitive character. " But from the be- 
 ginning it was not so." It is a departure from the 
 apostolical model. We find, indeed, in several of 
 the writers of the first three or four centuries, fre- 
 quent intimations of Deacons being permitted to 
 preach, and administer the ordinance of baptism. 
 But in almost every instance, it is represented as 
 done in virtue of a specific permission from the 
 pastor or Bishop in each case, and as entirely un- 
 lawful without such permission. A very dilferent 
 thing from a function inherent in an office, and 
 always lawful when a proper occasion for its exer- 
 cise occurred ! In fact, ecclesiastical history, I be- 
 lieve, will bear me out in saying, that, within the 
 first three centuries, it would be just as correct to 
 assert that private Christians in general had a 
 right to preach and baptize, as to maintain that 
 Deacons, in virtue of their office as such, had this 
 right, because we meet with some instances of 
 their being both called upon to do so in cases of 
 supposed necessity, or when specially permitted 
 by superior ecclesiastics. Mr. Bingham, the learn- 
 ed Episcopal antiquary, explicitly tells us, on the 
 authority of several early writers, that private 
 Christians, who sustained no office whatever in 
 the Church, were sometimes called upon to ad- 
 dress the people, in the absence, or at the special 
 request of him whose official duty it was to preach. 
 
236 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 
 
 The same learned author goes on to state, that, in 
 the apostolic age, or as long as the special gifts of 
 the Holy Spirit, enabling men to prophesy, con- 
 tinued, all who possessed such special gifts, whe- 
 ther in ofRce or not, might use " the word of ex- 
 hortation " in the Church. "But then," he adds, 
 " as such extraordinary gifts of the Spirit of pro- 
 phecy, were in a manner peculiar to the apostoli- 
 cal age, this could not be a rule to the following 
 ages of the Church. And, therefore, when once 
 these gifts were ceased, the Church went prudently 
 by another rule, to allow none but such as were 
 called by an ordinary commission to perform this 
 office, except where some extraordinary natural 
 endowments (such as were in Origen before his 
 ordination) answering in some measure to those 
 special gifts, made it proper to grant a license to 
 laymen to exercise their talents for the benefit of 
 the Church ; or else, when necessity imposed the 
 duty on Deacons, to perform the office of preach- 
 ing, when the Bishop and Presbyters were by 
 sickness, or other means debarred from it. For 
 the aforesaid author (Ambrose) plainly says, that 
 Deacons, in his time, were not ordinarily allowed 
 'prcedicare in j)opulo^ i. e. preach to the people, as 
 being an office to which they had no ordinary com- 
 mission. And the same is said by the author of 
 the Apostolical Constitutions, and many others. 
 Therefore, since Deacons were not allowed this 
 power, but only in some special cases ; it is the 
 less to be wondered at, that, after the ceasing of 
 spiritual gifts, it should, generally, be denied to 
 laymen."* 
 
 A mistake on this point, in reference to the 
 
 • Bingham's Origines EcclesiasticEe, B. 14. Ch. 4. sect. 4» 
 
ELDERS AND DEACONS. 237 
 
 Deacon's office, has arisen from nnisinterpreting 
 certain terms which are used by some of the early- 
 writers to express their public service. The 
 words Knpi'Yiiaj fnp'i, Knpiiaaw^ &c., are frequently 
 used in the New Testament to express the public 
 preacher, and preaching of the gospel. Now, 
 when the same words are applied by some of the 
 earlier Greek Fathers, and the corresponding 
 words, prcBco, prcedicatio, and prcedicare, by the 
 Latins, to the Deacon's office, it has been hastily 
 concluded that they were, habitually, preachers, 
 in the New Testament sense of the term. But 
 the truth is, as every one in the least degree ac- 
 quainted with those writers, knows, these terms, 
 when used by the Fathers, signify an entirely 
 different thing. The Deacons, in the third, fourth, 
 and fifth centuries, are every where represented 
 as the common heralds or criers of the Church. 
 That is, when any public notice was to be given ; 
 when the catechumens or the penitents were to 
 be called upon aloud to come forward, or to with- 
 draw; or when any public proclamation was to 
 be made, in the course of the service in the 
 Church; — it belonged to the Deacon's office to 
 perform this duty. Hence he was called the 
 Knp^U or crier, and was said Kr^pmaeiv, to cry aloud, 
 or make proclamation. It belonged to the Dea- 
 cons, also, to keep order at the doors, when the 
 service was beginning; to see that the worship- 
 pers were seated in a quiet and orderly manner; 
 to stand around the communion table, when it 
 was spread, and with fans, made either of dried 
 skins, or peacocks feathers, to keep off the flies 
 from the consecrated elements ; and, after the con- 
 secration of the sacramental elements, to bear 
 them to the communicants. These, and a variety 
 
238 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 
 
 of subordinate duties, were considered as pertain- 
 ing to their office, and hence they were regarded, 
 not as having any part of the priesthood, accord- 
 ing to the language of that day ; but as being the 
 " Church's servants." All this is so explicitly 
 acknowledged, and so abundantly proved, by the 
 learned Bingham, (^Origines EcdesiasticcB, Book 
 ii. Chap. 20, and Book xiv. Chap. 4,) that any 
 further enlargennent on the subject is altogether 
 unnecessary. The original office of the Deacon 
 was one of high trust and dignity ; requiring 
 much piety, wisdom, prudence, and diligence. 
 But when the purity of the Church, both in doc- 
 trine and practice, declined, and especially, when 
 the ardour of her charity to the poor had greatly 
 slackened, that officer, having little to do in his 
 appropriate department, sunk, for a time, into a 
 kind of ecclesiastical menial. 
 
 3. The directions afterwards given by Paul to 
 Timothy, (1 Tim. iii.) respecting the proper 
 qualifications of candidates for the Deacon's 
 office, are decisively opposed to the view of the 
 subject which I am now examining. When the 
 Apostle speaks of the qualifications indispensable 
 in a Teaching Elder, or Bishop, he says he must 
 not only be grave, pious, and of good report, but 
 also "«pi to teack^'' &c. But he prescribes no 
 such condition in the choice of Deacons. He 
 gives no intimation that teaching made any part 
 of their official work. It is said, indeed, that they 
 ought to be men " holding the mystery of the 
 faith in a pure conscience." By which I under- 
 stand to be meant, that they must be men holding 
 the true faith in sincerity ; in other words, that 
 they must be orthodox, and pious ; qualifications 
 
ELDERS AND DEACONS. 231/ 
 
 which ought to bo found in all who bear ofTice in 
 the Church of God. 
 
 4. We have not the least evidence, from any 
 source, that the function of government was ever 
 connected with the Deacon's office. VVc read 
 of Ruling Elders, but never of Ruling Deacons. 
 Among all the multiplied witnesses drawn from 
 the Synagogue and the Ciiurch, and from almost 
 all denominations of Christians, ancient and 
 modern, in favour of a bench of Elders in each 
 congregation for conducting its government and 
 discipline, I recollect no example of the members 
 of that bench being called Deacons, or of Dea- 
 cons having any place among them. Nay, it is 
 perfectly manifest, that if, according to the scrip- 
 tural model, there ought to be a bench or college, 
 made up of a plurality of Elders in each Church, 
 to be intrusted with the inspection and rule of the 
 whole body ; then there is not a shadow of evi- 
 dence to support the claim of the Deacons to a 
 seat in that body. But if such a bench of Rulers, 
 under the name of Elders, or Presbyters, be given 
 up, then, I will venture to assert, there is not a 
 shred of evidence, either in or out of the foible, 
 that similar powers were ever assigned to Dea- 
 cons, as such. VVc may, indeed, call our Ruling 
 Elders, by the name of Deacons, if we please. 
 And so we may call them Dervises, or Imams, 
 with the Turks ; and say that we mean by these 
 titles, to designate the members of the parochial 
 Presbytery, or Consistory, in each Church. But 
 the real questions which present themselves for 
 solution are such as these : — Is it agreeable to the 
 New Testament model, that there be in every 
 Christian congregation a [ilurality of pious and 
 prudent men, invested with the office of inspec- 
 
240 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 
 
 tion and government in the Church ? Or, oughc 
 all ecclesiastical authority and discipline to be ex- 
 ercised by the Pastor alone? If the former be 
 admitted, then, ought the body of spiritual rulers 
 to be styled Elders or Deacons? If the latte* 
 name be contended for, as the more scriptural, 
 then what passage of Scripture, or of early unin- 
 spired history, can be mentioned, which counte- 
 nances the application of this title to ecclesiastical 
 rulers, as such? The truth is, it is not perceived 
 how any can consistently maintain, that the 
 officers whom Presbyterians are wont to call 
 Ruling Elders, are really Deacons, and ought to 
 be so designated, without abandoning the Church 
 Session, as destitute of all scriptural warrant. Pie 
 who does this, however, must hold, either that the 
 Pastor of each Church has the whole government 
 and discipline in his own hands, and that the per- 
 sons called Elders, or Deacons, are only a set of 
 convenient advisers, without any rightful judicial 
 authority ; or that all authority ought to be exer- 
 cised by the body of the communicants, and every 
 question of admission or discipline submitted to 
 their vote. In the latter case, he may be a very 
 pious and excellent Independent ; but he has no 
 claim to the character of a Presbyterian. 
 
 It is deeply to be regretted, that the office of 
 Deacon, in its true nature, and its highly impor- 
 tant and scriptural character, is not to be found 
 in many Presbyterian Churches. In some, this 
 office is wholly dropped. Neither the name nor 
 the thing is to be found in them. In others, the 
 Ruling Elders, or the members of the Church 
 Session, are constantly styled Deacons, and 
 scarcely ever designated by any other title ; while 
 the office really indicated in Scripture by that title 
 
ELDERS AND DEACONS. 241 
 
 is not retained. And in a third class of our 
 Churches, those who are meant for real Deacons, 
 that is, who are chosen and set apart as such, as 
 well as called by that name, are employed in 
 functions for which the office of Deacon was 
 never instituted. The cases, it is feared, are few 
 in which the offices of Elder and Deacon are 
 both retained, and the appropriate functions of 
 each distinctly maintained. 
 
 Perhaps in a majority of our Churches the 
 office of Deacon, strictly so called, is entirely 
 dropped. This, it is believed, is also virtually 
 the case, to a considerable extent in the Church 
 of Scotland, and among the large and respectable 
 body of Presbyterians in the North of Ireland. 
 The origin of this extensive disuse of an unques- 
 tionable scriptural office, is probably to be traced 
 to the peculiar form of the provision made in 
 some countries for the support of the poor, which 
 was supposed to render the deaconship, as a sepa- 
 rate otlice, unnecessary. Deacons had a place in 
 the original organization of the Protestant Church 
 of Scotland ; and, for many years after the Re- 
 formation, were universally retained and much 
 employed in that Church, as a distinct class of 
 officers. But, in later times the office has either 
 been suffered to fall into desuetude altogether, or, 
 as is more common, has been united with that of 
 Ruling Elder, in the same individual. So that 
 the Ruling Elders in the Church of Scotland, are 
 generally expected, and undertake, to act as Dea- 
 cons also. The same arrangement, it is believed, 
 is also generally adopted among the Presbyte- 
 rians in Ireland. 
 
 As to those Churches in our own country in 
 which the office of Deacon has been sutfered to 
 21 
 
242 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 
 
 fall into disuse altogether, this event is certainly, 
 on a variety of accounts, to be regretted: — 
 among others, for the following reasons: 
 
 1. Every scriptural precedent is worthy of 
 serious regard. The office of Deacon was 
 evidently brought into the Church by inspired 
 nnen. And although it is not contended that "it is 
 essential to an organized Church to have officers 
 of this class, inasmuch as the Church, undoubt- 
 edly, did without them, for a short time, after its 
 first organization ; yet as the office is an institu- 
 tion of infinite wisdom, and necessary to a full 
 array of all the officers which belong to the visible 
 Church, it seems expedient to retain it, in all 
 cases in which it is possible. 
 
 2. We know that, in every, Jewish Synagogue, 
 before the coming of Christ, there was a class of 
 officers whose peculiar dut)'- it was to collect 
 and dispense the moneys contributed for the 
 support of the poor. This seems to have been 
 an invariable part of the Synagogue system. 
 And as that system was evidently the model 
 on which the Christian Church was formed, we 
 may presume that a feature of it so strongly 
 recommended by age and experience, is worthy 
 of adoption. 
 
 3. Although some Churches may plead an 
 excuse for discontinuing the use of this office, 
 that they have no Church poor, and, therefore, 
 no occasion for the appropriate services of 
 Deacons ; yet the question is, ought they to 
 allow this to be the case? What though the 
 laws of the State make provision of a decent 
 kind for all the poor? Are there not within the 
 bounds, and even among the communicants, of 
 every Church of any extent, and of the ordinary 
 
ELDERS AND DEACONS. 243 
 
 standing in point of age, generally found a 
 greater or less number of persons who have 
 seen more comfortable days, but are now re- 
 duced ; — aged widows ; persons of delicate, re- 
 tiring spirits, who are struggling with the most 
 severe privations of poverty in secret, but cannot 
 bring themselves to apply to the civil officer for 
 aid as paupers ; who, at the same time, would 
 be made comparatively comfortable by a pittance 
 now and then administered in the tender and 
 affectionate spirit of the gospel ? Now, ought 
 the Church to take no measures for searching 
 out such members, who are not and cannot be 
 reached by the legal provision, and kindly minis- 
 tering' to their comfort? But if there be no class 
 of officers whose appropriate duty it is to make 
 this whole concern an object of their attention, 
 it will too often be neglected, and thus the inte- 
 rest of Christian charity seriously suffer. It is 
 not a sufficient answer to this argument to say, 
 as those who philosophize on the subject of 
 pauperism say, and, to a certain extent, with 
 great truth, that this very provision would pro- 
 bably invite application, and perhaps, in some 
 instances, induce improper reliance upon it, to 
 the neglect of economy and diligence. Sup- 
 posing this, in some degree, to be the case ; 
 would it not be better to relieve some portion 
 of the poverty brought on by improvidence, 
 than to allow humble, tender piety to pine in 
 secret, unpitied, and unrelieved, under the pres- 
 sure of that helpless penury, which was induced 
 by the hand of a sovereign God ? Nay, is no 
 pity, no active sympathy due from the Church 
 even to indigence notoriously induced by sin? 
 The considerations which have been suggested, 
 
244 DIFFEREACE BETWEEN 
 
 furnish, indeed, a good argument for having 
 Deacons of suitable character ; — men of piety, 
 wisdom, benevolence, practical acquaintance with 
 the world, and with human nature, who would 
 be likely to perform their duty with discernment, 
 prudence, and unfeigned Christian charity, cau- 
 tiously guarding against the evils to which the 
 relief they are commissioned to bear is exposed ; 
 but no argument at all against affording such 
 relief when really needed. 
 
 4. It is a great error to suppose that Deacons 
 cannot be appropriately and profitably employed 
 in various other ways besides ministering to the 
 poor of the Church. They might, with great 
 propriety be made the managers of all the 
 money-tables, or fiscal concerns of each congre- 
 gation ; and, for this purpose, might be incor- 
 porated, if it were thought necessary, by law, 
 that they might be enabled regularly to hold and 
 employ all the property, real and personal, of the 
 Church. But, even if it were thought inexpedient 
 that boards of Deacons should be allowed thus 
 to supersede the boards of " Trustees," which 
 are, at present, commonly employed to manage 
 each ecclesiastical treasury ; still there are very 
 important services in reference to pecuniary 
 concerns, which they might manage, and which, 
 it is believed, would be greatly beneficial to the 
 Church if they were considered as at all times 
 bound to manage, and should actually manage 
 with wisdom, energy, and zeal. I refer to the 
 Church's contribution to the various great objects 
 of Christian enterprise which distinguish the 
 present day. That these contributions to the 
 cause of the Bible ; of Missions, foreign and 
 domestic ; of Sabbath Schools ; and of the va- 
 
ELDERS AND DEACONS. 245 
 
 rious other Christian and henevolent undertakings 
 i'or promoting knowledge, virtue, and happiness, 
 temporal and eternal, among men, ought to be 
 continued, and greatly inereased, no one who 
 looks into the Bible, or who knows any thing of 
 the Christian spirit, can for a moment doubt. 
 It is quite evident, too, that these contributions 
 ought to be perfectly voluntary, and thai any 
 attempt to render them otherwise, would be both 
 unscriptural and mischievous. But would it not 
 tend to render the whole business oi' liberality 
 to the cause of Christ more regular, more easy, 
 more abundant, and ultimately more productive, 
 if it were placed under the enlightened advice, 
 and wise management of six or eight Deacons in 
 each Church? Suppose the Pastor and the 
 Elders of every congregation to be animated 
 with a proper spirit on this subject, and to be 
 habitually uttering and diffusing proper senti- 
 ments ; and suppose the whole business of col- 
 lecting the contributions, and paying them over 
 to the respective treasuries for which they were 
 destined, were devolved on the Deacons, as an 
 executive board, who might call to their aid, 
 and would really confer, as well as receive a 
 benefit, by calling to their aid, in the details of 
 collection, a number of active, pious sub-agents. 
 Can any one doubt that the contributions of 
 the Churches would be more systematic, more 
 regular, more conveniently received, better pro- 
 portioned, and a part, at least, and, in some 
 cases, a large part, of the expenses ya'\d to tra- 
 velling agents, saved for the cause o[ Christ? 
 The truth is, an enlightened, active, pious board 
 of Deacons might place this whole subject on 
 such a footing, and when they had gotten it fairly 
 21* 
 
246 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 
 
 arranged, and under way, might manage it in 
 such a manner, as without adding in the least 
 degree to the burdens of the people, would 
 render their contributions more productive, as 
 well as more easy and economical in every part 
 of their management. 
 
 With respect to the mode of disposing of the 
 Deacon's office adopted extensively in our sister 
 Churches of Scotland and Ireland,* and in a few 
 instances, in this country, namely, laying it on 
 the Ruling Elders, and uniting both offices in the 
 same individual — it is, undoubtedly, liable to very 
 strong objections, as will appear from the follow- 
 ing considerations. 
 
 1. One office is quite enough to be borne by 
 the same person ; especially an office so import- 
 ant, so responsible, so abundantly sufficient to 
 employ the heart, the hands, and the time of the 
 most active and zealous, as that of the Ruling 
 Elder. However pious, wise, and unwearied he 
 may be, he will find the work pertaining to his 
 office as Elder, enough, and more than enough, 
 especially in this day of enlarged Christian 
 activity, to put in requisition all his powers. 
 Why, then, add another office to one already 
 occupied, if he be faithful, to the utmost extent of 
 his faculties] Similar remarks may be made, 
 to a considerable extent, concerning the Deacon's 
 office. It is enough, when foithfuUy discharged, 
 to occupy all the leisure time of the most active 
 and faithful incumbent. Both certainly cannot 
 be undertaken by the same individual, without 
 
 * The same mixture of offices has also long existed, it 
 -s believed, in the Church of Geneva. See Le Mercier's 
 Oh. Hist, of Gen. p. 214. 
 
ELDERS AND DEACONS. 247 
 
 some of the duties pertaining to one or the other 
 being neglected. 
 
 2. Where there are suitable candidates for 
 office among the communicants of a Church, it 
 is commonly wise to distribute offices as exten- 
 sively among them as circumstances will con- 
 veniently admit. If, indeed, there be a dearth 
 of proper materials for making ecclesiastical offi- 
 cers, the difficulty must be surmounted in the 
 best way that is practicable. But if there be 
 individuals enough to sustain it, the diffusion of 
 office power among a considerable number, is so 
 far from being an evil, that it is manifestly, and 
 may be highly, advantageous. It brings a greater 
 number to take an interest in the affiiirs of the 
 Church. It makes a greater number intimately 
 acquainted with the concerns of the Churcb. 
 And by calling a greater number to pray, and 
 speak and act in behalf of the Church, it tends 
 to promote the spiritual, and, it may be, the 
 everlasting benefit of them and their children. 
 Why, then, heap a plurality of offices upon a 
 single person? It is depriving the Church of a 
 manifest advantage ; and may be the means of 
 depriving the individuals themselves of both com- 
 fort and edification. 
 
 3. If there be not an absohite incompatibility 
 l»etween the offices of Ruling Elder and Deacon, 
 Ihere is at least, such an interference between 
 their respective duties, as is certainly undesirable, 
 and ought by all means to be avoided. There 
 is a collision in this case analogous to that which 
 takes place when a man visits the sick in the 
 double character of a physician and a minister of 
 the Gospel. For although, in many cases, the 
 duties and services of each character may happily 
 
248 DIFFERENCE BETWEN 
 
 harmonize, and help one another; yet, perhaps, 
 in many more, it will appear to the discerning 
 eye that they had better be separated. When 
 an Elder, as such, goes Ibrlh to the discharge of 
 his official duties, it is to promote the spiritual 
 interest of the flock of which he is made one of 
 the " overseers." To this purpose it is important 
 that he should have the most unreserved and 
 confidential access to all the members of the flock, 
 and their children ; and that nothing should be 
 allowed to intervene which was adapted to dis- 
 guise the feelings, to divide the attention, or to 
 clog the operations of either party. But if, when 
 this Elder visits the poor for the sake of benefit- 
 ing their souls, they receive him with smiles, 
 with apparent cordiality, and with much pious 
 talk, chiefly for the concealed purpose of in- 
 creasing the allowance which, as Deacon, he may 
 be disposed to minister to them : or, when he 
 visits them as a Deacon, they feel jealous, or 
 alienated, on account of some supposed deficiency 
 in that allowance, and of course, in some mea- 
 sure close their minds against him as their spirit- 
 ual guide : or, when the mind of the Presbyter- 
 Deacon himself becomes divided and perplexed 
 between the rival claims of these two classes of 
 duties, less good is done; less pure unmingled 
 feeling exercised ; and less comfort enjoyed on 
 either side.* 
 
 On all these accounts, the two offices in ques- 
 tion, as they are entirely different in their nature, 
 ought undoubtedly, to be separated in practice, to 
 be discharged by different persons, and to be care- 
 
 * See this subject treated in a striking manner, and 
 at considerable length, in Dr. Chalmers' Christian and 
 Civic Economy of Large Towns. Vol. i. Chapter vii. 
 
ELDERS AND DEACONS. 249 
 
 fully guarded against that interference which is 
 adapted to render both less useful. 
 
 We are led, then, by the foregoing facts and 
 arguments, to the following conclusions : 
 
 1. That the Deacon is a divinely instituted 
 officer, and ought to be retained in the Church. 
 
 2. That the function to which the Deacon was 
 appointed by the Apostles, was to manage the 
 pecuniary affairs of the Church, and especially to 
 preside over the collections and disbursements for 
 the poor. 
 
 3. That Deacons, therefore, ought not only 
 to be men of piety, but also of judgment, pru- 
 dence, knowledge of the world, and weight of 
 character. 
 
 4. That preaching was not, in the primitive 
 Church, any part of the Deacon's duty, but came 
 in, among other human innovations, as corrup- 
 tion gained ground. 
 
 5. That there is no warrant whatever for as- 
 signing to Deacons the function of government 
 in the Church ; and that their undertaking any 
 such function, is nothing less than ecclesiastical 
 usurpation. 
 
 G. That confounding the office of Deacon with 
 that of Ruling Elder, is an unwarranted confusion, 
 boih of names and offices, which are entirely dis- 
 tinct. 
 
 7. That even the uniting of these two offices in 
 the same persons, is bv no means advisable, and 
 tends materially to impair the comfort and useful- 
 ness of both. 
 
 8. That Deacons ought to be ordained by the 
 imposition of hands. In this ordination the 
 hands of the Pastor and of the Eldership ought to 
 be laid on. I know not the shadow of a reason 
 
250 aUALIFICATIONS FOR 
 
 why this solemnity should be omitted. The 
 venerable Dr. Dwight, in his System of Theology, 
 when treating on the office of Deacons, unequi- 
 vocally declares his conviction that the laying on 
 of hands ought always to be employed in setting 
 them apart ; and pronounces the omission of it to 
 be " incapable, so far as he knows, of any de- 
 fence." The disregard of scriptural example in 
 the omission, is as painful, as it is obvious and 
 unquestionable. 
 
 9. That the Deacons, although they ought 
 always, if possible, to be present at the meetings 
 of the Church Session, for the sake of giving 
 information, and aiding in counsel, can have no 
 vote as Church Rulers ; and, therefore, cannot 
 give their vote in the admission or exclusion of 
 members, or in any case of ecclesiastical dis- 
 cipline. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE aUALIFICATIO?fS PROPER FOR THIS OFFICE. 
 
 The account which has been given of the nature 
 
 and duties of the office of Ruling Elder, is adapted 
 
 to reflect much light on the qualifications by which 
 
 he who bears it ouo;ht to be dislincruished. Those 
 
 • • • J 
 
 who are called to such extensive, interesting, and 
 
 highly important spiritual duties ; duties which 
 
 enter so deeply into the comfort and edification of 
 
 the Church of God ; it surely requires no formal 
 
 argument to show, ought to possess a character in 
 
THIS OFFICE. 251 
 
 some degree corresponding with the sphere in 
 which they are appointed to move. There cannot 
 be a plainer dictate of common sense. Yet to 
 attempt a brief sketch of the more important of the 
 qualifications demanded for this oflke, may not be 
 altogether unprofitable. 
 
 And here, it may be observed, in the outset, that 
 it is by no means necessary that Ruling Elders 
 should be aged persons. For although it cannot 
 be doubted that the title is, literally, expressive of 
 age ; and although it is eqally certain, that ori- 
 ginally, the office was generally conferred on men 
 somewhat advanced in life, as being most likely, 
 other things being equal, to possess wisdom, pru- 
 dence, experience, and weight of character; yet 
 the term, from a very early period, came to be a 
 mere title of office, without any respect to the years 
 of the individual who bore it. This is evident, 
 not only from the history of Jewish practice, but 
 also from the statements of the New Testament. 
 If Timothy was not merely a Ruling, but also a 
 Teaching Elder, though so young a man, that the 
 Apostle said, to him, "let no man despise thy 
 youth ;" and if, in every age of the Church, young 
 men have been considered as qualified on the score 
 of age, to be Elders that labour in the word and 
 doctrine, as well as rule; there can be no doubt 
 that young men, if otherwise well qualified, may 
 with propriety be appointed Elders to assist in 
 ruling the Church of God. Nay, where such 
 persons, with other suitable qualifications are to 
 be found, it is expedient to introduce some in 
 younger life into the Eldership of every Church, 
 not only that there may be individuals in the 
 body fitted for more active duties ; but also that 
 some of the number may have the kind of official 
 
252 QUALIFICATIONS FOR 
 
 training, and that faniiliarity with ecclesiastica 
 business, which early experience, and long habil 
 alone can give. 
 
 It may be remarked, however, that, although 
 neither Scripture, nor the Constitution of the Pres- 
 byterian Church, prescribes any absolute rule with 
 respect to the age of those who may be considered 
 as candidates for the Eldership ; yet it is very 
 manifest, that those who are either minors in age, 
 or " novices " in the Christian character and pro- 
 fession, ought by no means, in ordinary circum- 
 stances, to be elected to this office. In the Church 
 of Scotland, the rule is, that no one can be chosen 
 an Elder who is not twenty-one years of age. A 
 similar regulation, it is believed, exists in some 
 other foreign Churches; and it may be considered 
 as a dictate of common prudence. 
 
 But, though the circumstance of age, as a gene- 
 ral rule, does not enter into the essential qualifica- 
 tions of Ruling Elders, there are other qualifica- 
 tions which are highly important, and, indeed, in- 
 dispensable. These are stated by the inspired 
 Apostle, in writing to Timothy, in the following 
 comprehensive, and pointed language: — "An 
 Elder must be blameless, the husband of one wife, 
 having faithful children; one that ruleth well his 
 own house, having his children in subjection with 
 all gravity; not accused of riot, or unruly; not 
 self-willed ; not soon anjjjry ; not given to wine; no 
 striker ; not given to filthy lucre ; but a lover of 
 hospitality ; a lover of good men ; sober, just, holy, 
 temperate, sound in the faith, in charity, in pati- 
 ence." See Timothy lii. compared with Titus i. 
 6 — 8, and ii. 2, which passages evidently appear, 
 on tracing the connexion, to be equally applicable 
 to Teachino: and Ruling Elders. 
 
THIS OFFICE. 253 
 
 The design of appointing persons to the office 
 of Ruling Elder is not to pay them a compliment ; 
 not to give them an opportunity of figuring as 
 speakers in judicatories; not to create the pageants 
 of ecclesiastical ceremony ; hut to secure able, 
 faithful, and truly devoted counsellors and rulers 
 of the Church ; to obtain wise and efficient 
 guides, who shall not only go along with the flock 
 in their journey heavenward, but go before them 
 in every thing that pertains to Christian duty. 
 
 It cannot be doubted, indeed, that every mem- 
 ber of the Christian Church is bound to exhibit a 
 holy, devout, and exemplary life ; to have his mind 
 well stored with religious knowledge : to be able 
 to give an answer to every one that asketh a 
 reason of the hope that is in him; and to avoid 
 every thing that is criminal in itself, that may 
 be just cause of offence to his brethren, or that may 
 have even the appearance of evil. But it is equally 
 manifest that all these qualifications are still more 
 important, and required in a still higher degree, in 
 those who are intrusted with the spiritual inspec« 
 tion and regulation of the Church. As they occupy 
 a place of more honour and authority than the 
 other members of the Church ; so they also occupy 
 a station of greater responsibility. The eyes of 
 hundreds will be upon them as Hlders, which were 
 not upon them as private Christians. Their 
 brethren and sisters over whom they are placed 
 in the Lord, will naturally look up to them for 
 advice, for instruction, for aid in the spiritual life, 
 and for a shining example. The expectation is 
 reasonable, and ought not to be disappointed. The 
 qualifications of Elders, therefore, ought, in some 
 good measure, to correspond with it. 
 
 1. An Elder, then, ought, first of all, to be a 
 22 
 
254 QUALIFICATIONS FOR 
 
 man of unfeigned and approved piety. It is to be 
 regretted when the piety of any member of the 
 Church is doubtful, or evidently feeble and waver- 
 ing. It is deplorable when any who name the 
 name of Christ manifest so much indecision in 
 their profession ; so much timidity and unsteadi- 
 ness in their resistance to error and sin ; so much 
 conformity to the world ; and so little of that un- 
 daunted, ardent, and thorough adherence to their 
 professed principles, — as to leave it dubious with 
 many, whether they are " on the Lord's side" or 
 not. But how much more deplorable when any 
 thing of this kind appears in those who are ap- 
 pointed to watch, to preside, and to exert an exten- 
 sive influence, over a portion of the family of 
 Christ ! VVhat is to be expected, when " watch- 
 men on the walls of Zion," — for such Ruling 
 Elders are undoubtedly to be regarded — appear as 
 beacons, to warn private Christians of what ought 
 to be avoided, rather than as models, to guide, to 
 attract, and to cheer them on to all that is spiri- 
 tual, and holy, and becoming the gospel '? 
 
 Can he who is either destitute of piety, or who 
 has but a small portion of it, engage in the arduous 
 and deeply spiritual duties of the Ruling Elder 
 with comfort to himself, or with any reasonable 
 hope of success? It cannot be supposed. To fit 
 ecclesiastical Rulers for acting in their appropriate 
 character, and for performing^ the work which per- 
 tains to it, with cordial diligence, faithfulness, and 
 perseverance, will require cordial and decisive 
 attachment to the service of the Church ; minds 
 intent upon the work ; hearts filled with love to 
 Jesus, and to the souls of men, and preferring Je- 
 rusalem above their chief joy. Unless they are 
 animated with this affectionate interest in their 
 
THIS OFFICE. 255 
 
 work; unless they are habitually impelled by an 
 enlightened and cordial attachment to the great 
 cause in which they are engaged, they will soon 
 become weary of their arduous and self-denying 
 labours ; they will find waiting on the flock, visit- 
 ing and praying with the sick, instructing the 
 serious and inquiring, correcting the disorderly, 
 watching over the spiritual interests of all, and at- 
 tending the various judicatories of the Church, an 
 irksome task. But with such a zeal as has been 
 described, they will be ready to contend for the 
 truth, to engage in the most self-denying duties, 
 nay, to " spend and be spent," for Christ. To 
 promote the best interests of Zion will be their 
 " meat and drink." No labours, no trials, no dif- 
 ficulties will move them ; neither will they count 
 their lives dear unto themselves, so that they may- 
 finish their course with joy, and accomplish the 
 work which they have received of the Lord Jesus. 
 A few such Elders in every Church, would, with 
 the divine blessing, do more to silence infidelity, 
 to strike even the scorner dumb — to promote the 
 triumph of gospel truth — and to rouse, sustain, 
 and bear forward the cause of vital piety, than 
 hundreds of those Ministers and Elders, who act 
 as if they supposed that supplying the little details 
 of an ecclesiastical formality was the whole pur- 
 pose of their official appointment. And, in truth, 
 we have no reason to expect, in general, that the 
 piety of the mass of members in any Church will 
 rise much higher than that of their Rulers and 
 Guides. Where the latter are either lifeless for- 
 malists, or, at best, but " babes in Christ," we 
 shall rarely find many under their care of more 
 vitality, or of superior siature. 
 
 2. Next to piety, it is important that a Ruling 
 
256 QUALIFICATIONS FOR 
 
 Elder be possessed of good sense and sound judg- 
 ment. Without this he will be wholly unfit to act 
 in the various difficult and delicate cases which 
 may arise in the discharge of his duty. A man of 
 weak and childish mind, however fervent his piety, 
 is by no means adapted to the station of an eccle- 
 siastical Ruler, counsellor, and guide. He who 
 bears the office in question, is called to have inter- 
 course with all classes of people ; to engage in the 
 most arduous and trying duties ; and to deliberate 
 and decide on some of the most perplexing ques- 
 tions that can come before the human mind. Can 
 it be doubted that good sense, and solid judgment 
 are indispensable to the due discharge of such 
 official work as this? How would a judge on the 
 bench, or a magistrate in his office, be likely to 
 get along without this qualification ? Much more 
 important is it, if possible, that the ecclesiastical 
 Ruler be enlightened and judicious ; because he 
 deliberates and decides on more momentous sub- 
 jects ; and because he has no other than moral 
 power with which to enforce his decisions. Moses, 
 therefore, spoke the language of good sense, as 
 well as of inspired wisdom, when he said to the 
 people of Israel (Deut. i. 13,) "Take ye wise 
 men, and understanding, and known among your 
 tribes, and I will make them Rulers over you." 
 This point, indeed, it would seem, can scarcely be 
 made more plain than common sense makes it ; 
 and might, therefore, be considered as foreclosing 
 all illustration, did not some Churches appear dis- 
 posed to make the experiment, how far infinite 
 Wisdom is to be believed, when it pronounces, by 
 the prophet, a woe against those who make choice 
 of babes to rule over them. 
 
 3. A Ruling Elder ought to be sound in the 
 
THIS OFFICE. 257 
 
 faith, and well informed in relation to gospel truth. 
 The Elder who is not orthodox in his creed, in- 
 stead of contributing, as he ought, to build up the 
 Church in the knowledge and love of the truth, 
 will, of course, be the means of scattering error, as 
 far as his influence extends. And he who is not 
 well informed on the subject of Christian doctrine, 
 will not know whether he is promoting the one or 
 the other. Accordingly, when this class of officers 
 is ordained in our Church, we call upon them to 
 do what we do not require from the private mem- 
 bers of the Church, viz.: solemnly and publicly to 
 adopt the Confession of Faith, "as containing the 
 system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures." 
 When this is considered ; and also that they are 
 expected to be, to a certain extent, instructors and 
 guides in Divine thmgs to many of those committed 
 to their oversight; and, above all, that they will 
 be often called to deliberate on charges of heresy, 
 as well as immorality; and to sit in judgment on 
 the doctrinal belief, not only of candidates for ad- 
 mission into the Church, as private members; but 
 also on cases of alleged aberration from the truth 
 in ministers of the gospel ; the necessity of their 
 being " sound in the faith," and of their having 
 enlightened and clear views of the system of re- 
 vealed truth, is too plain to need argument for its 
 support. 
 
 The truth is, the Ruling Elder who is active, 
 zealous, and faithful, will have occasion, almost 
 every day, to discriminate between truth and error; 
 to act as a guardian of the Church's orthodoxy; 
 to pass his judgment, either privately or judicially, 
 on real or supposed departures from it; and to in- 
 struct the inexperienced and the doubling in the 
 great doctrines of our holy religion. And although 
 22* 
 
258 aUALIFICATIOXS FOR 
 
 all Elders are not expected to be profound theolo- 
 gians, any more than all ministers; yet that the 
 former, as well as the latter, should have a general 
 and accurate acquaintance with the gospel system, 
 and be ready to defend its leading doctrines, by a 
 ready, pertinent, and conclusive reference to scrip- 
 tural testimony, and thus be able to " separate be- 
 tween the precious and the vile," in theory as well 
 as in practice, is surely as little as can possibly be 
 demanded of those who are placed as leaders and 
 guides in the house of God. 
 
 4. Again : an Elder ought to be a man of emi- 
 nent prudence. By prudence here is, of course, 
 not meant, that spurious characteristic, which calls 
 Itself by this name, but which ought rather to be 
 called timidity, or a criminal shrinking from duty, 
 on the plea that " there is a lion in the way." 
 Yet, while we condemn this as unworthy of a 
 Christian, and especially unworthy of a Christian 
 Counsellor and Ruler ; there is a prudence which 
 is genuine, and greatly to be coveted. This is no 
 other than practical Christian wisdom, which not 
 only discerns what is right, but also adopts the 
 best mode of doing it ; which is not at all incon- 
 sistent with firmness, and the highest moral cou- 
 rage ; but which happily regulates and directs it. 
 It has been often observed, that there is a right and 
 a wrong way of doing the best things. The thing 
 done, may be excellent in itself; but may be done 
 in a manner, at a time, and attended with circum- 
 stances, which will be likely to disgust and repel, 
 and thus prevent all benefit. Hence a man who is 
 characteristically eccentric, undignified, rash, pre- 
 cipitate, or indiscreetly talkative, ought by no 
 means to be selected as an ecclesiastical ruler. He 
 "will, probably, do more mischief than good ; will 
 
THIS OFFICE. 259 
 
 generally create more divisions than he heals; and 
 will rather generate offences than remove them. 
 Perhaps there is no situation in human society 
 which more imperiously calls for delicacy, cau- 
 tion, reserve, and the most vigilant discretion, than 
 that of an ecclesiastical Ruler. If popular rumour 
 hegin to charge a Church member with some de- 
 linquency, either in faith or practice, let one of 
 the Elders, under the notion of being faithful, im- 
 plicitly credit the story, go about making inquiries 
 respecting its truth, winking and insinuating, and 
 thus contributing to extend its circulation ; and 
 however pure his motives, he may before he is 
 aware, implicate himself in the charge of slander, 
 and become so situated in respect to the supposed 
 culprit, as to render it altogether improper that he 
 should sit in judgment on his case. The maxim 
 of the wise man, " be swift to hear, slow to speak, 
 slow to wrath," applies to every human being; 
 especially to every professing Christian , but above 
 all to every one who is appointed to maintain truth, 
 order, purity, peace, and love in the Church of God. 
 It requires much prudence to judge when it is 
 proper to commence the exercise of discipline 
 against a supposed offender. Discipline is an 
 important, nay, a vital matter, in the Christian 
 Church. But it may be commenced indiscreetly; 
 vexatiously ; when that which is alleged cannot 
 be shown to be an offence against the Divine law ; 
 or when, thouoh a really censurable oflbnce, 
 there is no probability that it can be proved. To 
 attempt the exercise of discipline in such cases, 
 is to disgrace it ; to convert it, from one of the 
 most important means of grace, into an instru- 
 ment of rashness, petulance, and childish pre- 
 cipitancy. Often, very often, has the very name 
 
260 QUALIFICATIONS FOR 
 
 of discipline been rendered odious, the peace of 
 families and neighbourhoods grievously disturbed, 
 the influence of ecclesiastical judicatories de- 
 stroyed, and the cause of religion deeply wounded, 
 by judicial proceedings, which ought either never 
 to have been commenced, or to which the small- 
 est measure of prudence would have given a very 
 ditferent direction. 
 
 The importance of the subject constrains me 
 to add, that prudence, much prudence is also 
 imperiously demanded, in the exercise of a dig- 
 nified and cautious reserve while ecclesiastical 
 process is pending. One great reason why it is 
 thought better by Presbyterians, to exercise dis- 
 cipline rather by a bench of wise and pious eccle- 
 siastical Senators, than by the vote of the whole 
 body of Church members, is, that the public dis- 
 cussion and decision of many things concerning 
 personal character, which the exercise of disci- 
 pline necessarily discloses, respecting others, as 
 well as the culprit, is adapted in many cases, to 
 do more harm than good, especially before the 
 process is closed. To guard against this evil, it 
 is very important that the Elders carefully avoid 
 all unseasonable disclosures in respect to the 
 business which may be at any time before the 
 Session. Until they have done what shall be 
 deemed proper, in a delicate case, it is surely 
 unwise, by thoughtless blabbing, to throw ob- 
 stacles in their own way, and perhaps to defeat 
 the whole purpose which they have in view. 
 Yet how often, by one imprudent violation of 
 this plain rule, has the discipline of the Church 
 been degraded or frustrated, and the character 
 of those who administered it exposed to ridicule? 
 
 These, and similar considerations, serve clearlj 
 
THIS OFFICE. 261 
 
 to show, that no degree of piefy can supersede 
 the necessity of prudence in ecclesiastical rulers ; 
 and that, of all characters in a congregation, an 
 indiscreet, meddling, garrulous, gossipping, tattling 
 Elder, is one of the most pestiferous. 
 
 5. It is important that an Elder be " of 
 good report of them that are ivitkout^ The 
 circumstance of his being chosen to the ofRce 
 by the members of the Church, does, indeed, 
 afford strong presumption that he sustains among 
 them an unexceptionable character. But it is 
 also of great importance that this class of offi- 
 cers, as well as those who " labour in the 
 word and doctrine," should stand well with those 
 who are without, as well as those who are 
 within the pale of the Christian community. 
 The ecclesiastical ruler may often be called, in 
 discharging his official duties, to converse with 
 the worldly and profane, who have no particular 
 regard either for his Master, or his office. Nay, 
 he must be, almost every day that he lives, the 
 object of the scrutiny of such men. In this case, 
 it is peculiarly desirable that his personal char- 
 acter be such as to command universal respect 
 and confidence ; that it be not liable to any par- 
 ticular suspicion or imputation ; but that, on the 
 contrary, it possess such weight and respecta- 
 bility in the community, as will render him an 
 aid and a blessing to his ecclesiastical connexion. 
 To this end, his unbending integrity in all the 
 walks of life ; his spotless probity and honour in 
 every pecuniary transaction ; his gravity and 
 dignity in all the intercourse of society ; his 
 exem[)lary government of his own family ; his 
 abstraction from all unhallowed conformity to 
 the world ; — ought to present in some good 
 
262 QUALIFICATIONS FOR 
 
 measure, a pattern of Christian consistency. It 
 IS saying little in favour of a Church officer, to 
 allege that his reputation is such that he does no 
 harm to the ecclesiastical body with which he is 
 connected. It is to be regretted, if he do not 
 promote its benefit every day by his active ser- 
 vices, and extend its influence by the lustre of his 
 example. 
 
 6. A Ruling Elder ought to be a man of pub- 
 lic spirit and enlarged views. He who is called 
 by his official duty to plan and labour for the 
 extension of the Redeemer's kingdom, surely 
 ought not, of all men, to have a narrow and 
 illiberal mind ; to be sparing of labour, parsimo- 
 nious in feeling and habit, or contented with 
 small attainments. It is eminently desirable, 
 then, that a Ruling Elder be a man of expanded 
 heart toward other denominations, as far as is 
 consistent with entire fidelity to scriptural truth 
 and order ; that he aim high in spiritual attain- 
 ment and progress ; that he be willing to give 
 much, to labour much, and to make sacrifices 
 for the cause of Christ ; and that he be con- 
 tinually looking and praying for the further en- 
 largement and prosperity of Zion. Such a man 
 will not be willing to see the Church fall asleep, 
 or stagnate. Such a man's mind will be teeming 
 with desires, plans, and prayers for the advance- 
 ment of the Saviour's cause. Such a man will 
 not content himself, nor be satisfied to see others 
 contenting themselves, with a little round of 
 frigid formalities, or with the interests of a single 
 parish : — but the aspirations of his heart, and the 
 active efforts of his life will be directed to the 
 extension and prosperity of the Church in all its 
 borders, and to the universal establishment and 
 
Tins OFFICE. 263 
 
 triumph of that gospel which is " the power of 
 God unto salvation to every one that bclieveth," 
 
 The qualification of which we speak has been, 
 in all ages, and from the nature of the case, must 
 ever be, of inestimable importance in every 
 Ruler and Guide of the Church. But we may 
 venture to pronounce that it never was so im- 
 portant to the Church that she should have such 
 Rulers as it is at the present day. Now, that 
 she is awaking from her slumber, and arousing 
 to a sense of her long forgotten obligations : now 
 that she is, as we hope, arising from the dust, and 
 *' putting on her beautiful garments," and look- 
 ing abroad in the length and breadth of those 
 conquests which have been promised her, by her 
 Almighty Head — now that all her resources, 
 physical and moral, are called for, in every 
 direction, with an emphasis and a solemnity 
 never before equalled — is it not manifest that 
 all who, in such a stage of her course, undertake 
 to be her counsellors and guides, ought to be 
 neither drones nor cowards ; neither parsimonious 
 of labour and sacrifice, nor disposed to sit down 
 contented with small acquisitions 1 Ruling Elders, 
 at the present day, have, perhaps, an opportunity 
 of serving the Church more extensively and 
 effectually than ever before. How desirable and 
 important, then, that they have a heart, in some 
 measure, commensurate with the calls and op- 
 portunities of the day in which their lot is cast ! 
 How desirable that they cherish those enlarged 
 and liberal views, both of duty and of effort, 
 which become those who are called to act a con- 
 spicuous and interesting part in a cause which is 
 dear to all holy beings! So important is this, 
 that it is probable we shall generally find that, 
 
264 QUALIFICATIOTS'S FOR 
 
 in liberality of contribution to the various objects 
 of Christian effort, and in enlargement of mind 
 to desire and seek the extension of the Redeem- 
 er's kingdom, the mass of the members of any 
 Church may commonly be graduated by the 
 character of their Elders. If the leaders and 
 guides of the Church be destitute of public spirit, 
 and be not found taking the lead in large plans, 
 labours, and sacrifices for extending the reign of 
 knowledge, truth, and righteousness ; it will be 
 strange indeed if a more enlarged spirit be found 
 prevailing among the generality of their fellow- 
 members. 
 
 7. The last qualification on which I shall 
 dwell, as important in the office before us, is 
 ardent zeal, and a spirit of importunate prayer. 
 Large views, and liberal plans and donations, 
 will not answer without this. The truth is, the 
 Church of God has the most serious and un- 
 ceasing obstacles to encounter, in every step of 
 her progress. As long as she is faithful, her 
 course is never smooth or unobstructed. In 
 maintaining truth ; — in guarding the claims of 
 gospel holiness ; — and in sustaining discipline — 
 the enmity of the human heart will not fail to 
 manifest itself, and to offer more or less resist- 
 ance to that which is good. The worldly and 
 profane will ever be found in the ranks of deter- 
 mined opposition. And alas ! that some who 
 bear the name of Christ, are not unfrequently 
 found in the same ranks; thus grieving the 
 hearts, and trying the patience of those who are 
 called to act as the representatives and leaders 
 of the Church. To meet and overcome difficul- 
 ties of this kind, requires all the fixedness of pur- 
 pose, and all the zeal in the service of Christ, 
 
THIS OFFICE. 265 
 
 which his most devoted servants can bring to their 
 work. 
 
 Besides all this, there is much in the daily 
 duties of the Ruling Elder, which puts to a very- 
 serious test all his devotedness to the cause of his 
 Master. He is called to live, like a minister of 
 the gospel, in the very atmosphere of prayer and 
 religious conversation. In the chamber of the 
 sick and dying; in conversing with the anxious 
 inquirer, and the perplexed or desponding believer; 
 in the private circle, and in the social meeting for 
 prayer ; abroad and at home, in the house, and 
 by the way — it must be " his meat and drink" to 
 be found ministering to the best interests of his 
 fellow-men. So that if he have but little zeal ; 
 but little taste for prayer ; but little anxiety for 
 the welfare of immortal souls ; he will not, he 
 cannot, enter with proper feeling into his appro- 
 priate employments. But if he be animated with 
 a proper spirit, he will find it pleasant to be thus 
 employed. Instead of shunning scenes and op- 
 portunities of usefulness, he will diligently seek 
 them. And instead of finding them wearisome, 
 he will feel no happiness more pure and rich than 
 that which he experiences in such occupations as 
 these. 
 
 It is evident, then, not only that the ecclesias- 
 tical Ruler ought to have unfeigned piety ; but 
 that his piety ought to be of that decisive charac- 
 ter, and accompanied with that fervent zeal, 
 which bears its possessor forward, without we;iri- 
 ness in the discharge of self-denying duties. The 
 higher the degree in which he possesses this cha- 
 racteristic, provided it be accompanied with wis- 
 dom, prudence, and a knowledge of human nature, 
 the greater will probably be his usefulness in the 
 23 
 
266 QUALIFICATIO>'S FOR THIS OFFICE. 
 
 Church which he serves ; and the greater, as- 
 suredly, will be his own personal enjoyment in 
 rendering that service. 
 
 It is more than possible that this view of the 
 qualifications proper for the office which we are 
 considering, may cause some, when solicited to 
 undertake it, to draw back, under the conscien- 
 tious impression, that they have not the charac- 
 teristics which are essential to the faithful dis- 
 charge of its duties. And it would be wrong to 
 say that there are not some cases, in which such 
 an impression ought to be admitted. There can 
 be no doubt that there are those who bear this 
 office, who ought never to have accepted it. To 
 this class, unquestionably, belong all those who 
 have no taste for the appropriate duties of the 
 office, and who do not resolve sedulously and 
 faithfully to perform them. But let no humble, 
 devoted follower of Jesus Christ, who truly desires 
 to serve and glorify him, and who is willing, from 
 the heart, to do all that God shall enable him, 
 for the promotion of the Redeemer's kingdom, 
 be deterred, by the representation which has 
 been given, from accepting the office, if called 
 to it by his Christian brethren. The deeper his 
 sense of his own unfitness, the more likely will 
 he be to apply unceasingly and importunately for 
 heavenly aid ; and the nearer he lives to the 
 throne of grace, the more largely will he partake 
 of that wisdom and strength which he needs 
 There are, no doubt, some, as was said, who are 
 really unqualified for this office ; but in general, 
 it may be' maintained, that those who have the 
 deepest impression of the importance and ardu- 
 ousness of its duties, and of their own want of 
 adequate qualifications, are far better prepared for 
 
ELECTION OF RULING ELDERS. 2G7 
 
 those duties, than such as advance to the dis 
 chartje of them with unwaverin<i confidence and 
 
 self-complacency 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ON THE ELECTION OF RULING ELDERS. 
 
 Under this general head, a variety of questions 
 occurs, the solution of which is important. 
 
 I. In the first place, who are the proper elec- 
 tors of Ruling Elders ] This question is not defi- 
 nitely resolved by the "Form of Government" of 
 the Presbyterian Church in the United States. Its 
 language is as follows : " Every congregation 
 shall elect persons to the office of Ruling Elder, 
 and to the office of Deacon, or either of them, in 
 the mode most approved and in use in that con- 
 gregation. But in all cases the persons elected 
 must be male members in full communion in the 
 Church in which, they are to exercise their office." 
 
 When a new Church is to l)e organized, and 
 when, of course, there are no Elders already in 
 office, application ought to be made to the Pres- 
 bytery, stating the wishes of those who contem- 
 plate forming the Church, requesting their sanc- 
 tion, and also the appointment of one or more of 
 their number to preside in the election and ordina- 
 tion of the candidates for the respective olfices 
 of Elders and Deacons. The person or persons 
 thus appointed by the Presbytery to act in the 
 case, alter causing due and regular notice of their 
 appointment and its object, to be given, ought to 
 
268 ELECTION OF 
 
 meet with the members of the congregation ; to 
 preach on the subject which occasions the meet- 
 ing ;' to explain the nature and importance of the 
 office; and, having done this, to call upon those 
 who may be qualified as electors, to give their 
 votes for such of their number as they would wish 
 to have as their spiritual rulers. Having done 
 this openly, in the face of the congregation, the 
 ordination of the Elders elect, may either take 
 place on the spot, before the assembly shall sepa- 
 rate ; or may be postponed to a future time, as 
 may be judged most expedient. By this is meant, 
 that the election in this case, being made imme- 
 diately by a popular vote of the members of the 
 Church, there is no need of postponing the ordina- 
 tion, for the purpose of propounding the names 
 of the persons elected, from the pulpit, as is ne- 
 cessary, and practised in other cases. In the 
 case supposed, the full concurrence of the per- 
 sons entitled to vote in the choice made, has been 
 already ascertained by their suffrages. 
 
 In this choice, the votes may be given either 
 viva voce, or by ballot. The latter method, how- 
 ever, is by far the most common, and, is evi- 
 dently, the most proper, for a variety of reasons, 
 some of which will readily occur to every en- 
 lightened and delicate mind. 
 
 Concerning the persons who are properly en- 
 titled to vote in such an election, there has been 
 some diversity of opinion. That all the male 
 members of the Church, in what is called " full 
 communion,* have this right, there can be no 
 question. In this all are agreed. But it has 
 been maintained, not, indeed, with the same 
 unanimity, yet, it is believed, by a large majority 
 of the most judicious and enlightened judges, and 
 
RULING ELDERS. 260 
 
 probably on the most correct principles, that all 
 baptized members of the Church, who must be, 
 of course, regarded as subject to the governinent 
 and discipline administered by these Rulers, are 
 entitled to a voice in their election. And when 
 there are female heads of families, who bear the 
 relation of membership to the Church, in either 
 of the senses just mentioned, and who are not re- 
 presented by some qualified male relative, on the 
 occasion, it has been judged proper to allow them 
 to vote in the choice of Ruling Elders, as is gene- 
 rally the case in the choice of a Pastor. 
 
 There seems, however, to be some good reason 
 for restricting the right to vote for Ruling Elders 
 within narrower bounds, than are commonly 
 assigned in the choice of a Pastor. In that 
 choice, in most congregations, all pew-holders, 
 and all stated worshippers who are stated con- 
 tributors to the support of the Pastor, in their 
 just proportion, whether baptized or not, whether 
 willing to submit to the exercise of discipline or 
 not, and whether of fair moral character or not, 
 are considered as entitled to a vote. But, in the 
 election of a Pastor, there is one security against 
 an improper choice, which does not exist in the 
 case of a Ruling Elder ; namely, that the call 
 must be submitted to the Presbytery, and receive 
 the sanction of that body before it can be pro- 
 secuted ; whereas no such security exists in 
 the case of a Ruling Elder. Of course, if all 
 pew-holders, and pecuniary supporters, without 
 any reference to membership or character, were 
 allowed to vote in the election of the latter class 
 of officers, they might choose persons to the 
 last degree unsuitable for the office, and adapted 
 to destroy rather than benefit the Church. Be» 
 23* 
 
270 ELECTION OP 
 
 sides ; overy one, however heterodox or immoral, 
 may be a stated attendant on public worship : — 
 and every stated attendant on the worship of any 
 Church, may be said to have an interest in the 
 character ot' the Pastor, and a right, as far as 
 may be, to be pleased in the choice. But no one 
 can be said to have any part, or particular inte- 
 rest in the discipline of the Church, excepting 
 those who are subject to its operation ; which can 
 be the case with none but those who are members 
 of the Church. 
 
 Accordingly, the General Assembly of the 
 Church which met in 1829, in answer to a 
 question solemnly referred to it by one of the 
 Western Presbyteries,* — adopted, and sent to the 
 Churches the following judgment in relation to 
 the subject before us. " It is the opinion of this 
 General Assembly, that the office of RuHng 
 Elder is an office in the Church of Christ; that 
 Ruling Elders, as such, according to our Con- 
 fession of Faith, Book i., on Government, Chap- 
 ter v., are the representatives of the people, by 
 whom they are chosen, for the purpose of exer- 
 cising government and discipline in the kingdom 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ; that the discipline 
 lawfully exercised by them, is the discipline 
 exercised through them by their constituents, in 
 whose name, and by whose authority they act 
 in all that they do."]" To suppose, therefore, that 
 
 * The question submitted was in these words — 
 " Ought an unbaptized person, who yet pays his pro- 
 portion for the support of a congregation, to be per- 
 mitted to vote for Ruling Elders'!" 
 
 f It is well known that the General Assembly, in 
 this clause of their judgment, did not mean to deny 
 that Ruling Elders, in the rightful discharge of their 
 
RULING ELDERS. 271 
 
 an unbaptized person, not belonging to the visible 
 kingdom of the Redeemer, might vote at the 
 election of Ruling Elders, would be to establish 
 the principle, that the children of this world 
 might, through their representatives, exercise 
 discipline in the Church of God ; which is mani- 
 festly unscriptural, and contrary to the standards 
 of our Church. Resolved, therefore, that the 
 question in the said overture be answered in the 
 negative." 
 
 Where there is already an existing Church 
 Session, and the object is to add to the number 
 of its members, in this case the election of the 
 new Elders may be made in any one of 
 several methods: — either by the vote of the 
 members of the Church at large, as already 
 stated ; or by a nomination on the part of the 
 existing Elders, proposed to the Church, and 
 considered as their choice, if not objected to ; 
 or by the nomination of double the number pro- 
 posed to be chosen, by the Session, and a choice 
 by the members of the Church out of the list so 
 nominated. 
 
 In the Church of Scotland " new Elders are 
 chosen by the voice of the Session.* After 
 
 duties, act in the name and by the authority of Christ. 
 This great truth is plainly recognized in a preceding 
 clause ; but merely to say, that they act as the 
 representatives, and on the behalf of the members 
 of the Church at large; so that when a complaint 
 is brought to the Eldership, it is, strictly speaking, 
 according to ancient language, "telling it to the 
 Church." 
 
 * In the infancy of the Reformed Church in Scot- 
 land, the mode of electing Ruling Elders was by no 
 means uniform. In some Churches, the existing 
 
272 ELECTION OF 
 
 their election has been agreed upon, their names 
 are read from the pulpit, in a paper called an 
 Edict, appointing a day, at the distance of not 
 less than ten days, for their ordination. If no 
 member of the congregation offer any objection 
 upon that day ; or if the Session find the 
 objections that are offered frivolous, or unsup- 
 ported by evidence, the minister proceeds in the 
 face of the congregation, to ordain the new 
 Elders.* 
 
 The same method of adding new Elders to 
 existing Church Sessions, is adopted, in sub- 
 stance, by many Presbyterian Churches in the 
 United States. The Church Sessions, in these 
 congregations, judge when it is proper to make 
 an addition to the number of Elders ;■!■ deliberate 
 on the proper candidates ; ascertain privately 
 v/hether they will serve if appointed ; and after 
 completing, with due consideration and care, 
 
 Session made a nomination to the Church members, 
 out of which a choice was made by the latter. In 
 other Churches, the choice was made immediately by 
 the communicants at large. In some Churches, the 
 Session appointed electors ; and in others they acted 
 as electors themselves. It was a number of years 
 before the practice stated above as the prevalent one, 
 became general. M'Crie's Life of Melville, ii. 477, 
 478. 
 
 * Hill's Institutes. Part ii. Section 4rh, 212, 213. 
 
 •j- It is hardly necessary to say, that when the 
 Church Session, in any such congregation shall be 
 considered as unduly delaying to make a suitable 
 addition of new Elders to their number, it is the privi- 
 lege of the members of the Church, after due appli- 
 cation and remonstrance to the Session, without effect, 
 to apply to the Presbytery for the redress of their 
 alleged grievance. 
 
RULING ELDERS. 273 
 
 their lists, cause them to be announced by their 
 moderator, from the pulpit, on several successive 
 Sabbaths ; after which, at the proper time, their 
 ordination takes place. This plan of choosing 
 has some real advantages. When wisely exe- 
 cuted, it may be supposed likely to lead to a 
 more calm, judicious, and happy choice, than 
 would probably result from a popular vote, espe- 
 cially where no consultation and understanding 
 had taken place among the more grave, pious, 
 and prudent of the Church members. And, 
 thereibre, where this plan has been long in use, 
 and unanimously acquiesced in, it had, perhaps, 
 better not be changed. Yet it seems to be more 
 in harmony with the general spirit of Presby- 
 terian Church government, and certainly with 
 the prevailing character of our institutions, to 
 refer the choice, where it can conveniently be 
 done, after due consultation and care, to the 
 suffrages of the members of the Church. 
 
 Accordingly, the General Assembly of our 
 Church, which convened in 1827, in reply to a 
 complaint made respecting the mode of electing 
 Elders adopted in one of the Churches under the 
 care of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, pronounced 
 the followin<T iud<iment. 
 
 " While the Assembly would recognize the 
 undoubted right of each congregation to elect 
 their Elders in the mode most approved and in 
 use among them, they would recommend that, in 
 all cases where any dissatisfaction appears to 
 exist, the congregation be promptly convened, to 
 decide on their future mode of election. And they 
 are inclined to believe that the spirit of our con- 
 stitution would be most fully sustained by having, 
 
274 ELECTION OP 
 
 in all cases, a direct vote of the conojregation in 
 the appointment of their Elders." 
 
 In the Church of Holland, the following is the 
 general rule in regard to the election of this class 
 of officers: " The Elders shall be chosen by the 
 suffrages of the Consistory, and of the Deacons. 
 In making this choice, it shall be lawful, as shall 
 best suit the situation of each Church, either to 
 nominate as many Elders as shall be judged 
 necessary for the approbation of the members in 
 full communion, and upon their being approved, 
 and found acceptable, to confirm them with pub- 
 lic prayers and engagements ; or, to propose a 
 double number, that the one half of those nomi- 
 nated may be chosen by the members, and in the 
 same manner confirmed in their office." Ac- 
 cordingly, in that country, although an election 
 by the members of the Church sometimes takes 
 place, yet the common method, it is believed, is 
 for the Consistory, or Eldership of the Church, 
 together with the Deacons, to make choice of new 
 Elders and Deacons, in other words, to form a 
 list of proper candidates for the office, to nomi- 
 nate them, agreeably to a certain rule, to the 
 Church, and if no objection be made, to con- 
 sider the person so nominated as the choice of 
 the Church. 
 
 In the " Explanatory Articles" of government 
 adopted by the Reformed Dutch Church in the 
 United States, the following article explains the 
 practice of that Church in this country. " The 
 manner of choosing Elders and Deacons is not 
 rigidly defined. A double number may be nomi- 
 nated by the Consistory, out of which the mem- 
 bers of the Church may choose those who shall 
 serve. Or, all the members of the Church may 
 
RULING ELDERS. 275 
 
 unite in nominating and choosing the whole num- 
 bei, without the interlerence' of the Consistory. 
 Or, the Consistory, for the time being, as repre- 
 senting all the members, may choose the whole, 
 and refer the persons thus chosen, by publishing 
 them in the Church, for the approbation of the 
 people. The last method has been found most 
 convenient, especially in large Churches, and has 
 long been generally adopted. But where that, 
 or either of the other modes, has for many years 
 been followed in any Church, there shall be no 
 variation or change, but by previous application 
 to the Classis, and express leave first obtained for 
 altering such custom." * 
 
 In the Church of Geneva, the choice of Elders 
 and Deacons is made in the manner which the 
 foregoing article declares to be most common in 
 the Dutch Church in the United States, namely, 
 by a selection and nomination by the consistorial 
 assembly, which, if not opposed, is final, and fol- 
 lowed by the usual ordination, without the " lay- 
 ing on of hands. ""I* 
 
 The same method, also, of electing Elders and 
 Deacons was early established in the Protestant 
 Churches of France. The Consistory nomi- 
 nated, and the nomination was announced from 
 the pulpit, for the approbation of the people.;}: 
 
 II. The next question which arises, is how 
 often ought this election to be made? Is it for 
 life, or for a limited time? 
 
 According to the original constitution of the 
 
 * See the Constitution of the Reformed Dutch Church 
 in the United States. 
 
 f See Mercier's Church History of Genev^a, p. 209. 
 i Quick's Synodicon, i. 27. 
 
270 ELECTION OF 
 
 Reformed Church of Scotland, the Elders and 
 Deacons were chosen but for one year. This 
 was the arrangement adopted in the " First 
 Book of Discipline," formed in 1560, and also in 
 the " Second Book of Discipline," drawn up in 
 1578, and which continued for a number of years 
 in the Scottish Church. This plan seems to 
 have been suggested by the earnest wish of the 
 first elders themselves, who, finding the office 
 burdensome, as it then involved much care and 
 labour, begged permission to resign it to others 
 after a single year. But although the election. 
 at that time, was made annually, and a large 
 portion of the incumbents of the office were 
 actually changed every year ; yet the same men 
 might be elected from year to year, if they were 
 willing to serve, and it sometimes happened in 
 fact, that a few, whose piety, and leisure ren- 
 dered due attention to the duties of the office 
 easy and pleasant, were re-elected for many suc- 
 cessive years. The same form of ordination 
 seems to have been repeated after every annual 
 election, as well with respect to those who had 
 often been ordained before, as to those who had 
 never submitted to this solemnity. 
 
 This practice, however, has been long since 
 laid aside in the Church of Scotland ; and the 
 office of the Ruling Elder been, for many years, 
 regarded as an office for life, as much as that of 
 the ministry of the Gospel. 
 
 In the Protestant Churches of France also, the 
 office in question was, from the beginning, and it 
 is believed still is, temporary. The rule on this 
 subject, found in the Book of " Discipline of the 
 Reformed Churches of France," as drawn up by 
 the first National Synod, in 1559, is in these 
 
RULING ELDERS. 277 
 
 remarkable words : " The office of Elders and 
 Deacons, as it is now in use among us, is not 
 perpetual ; yet because changes are not commo- 
 dious, they shall be exhorted to continue in their 
 offices as long as they can ; and they shall not 
 lay them down without having first obtained leave 
 from their Churches." * 
 
 The Reformed Dutch Church in the United 
 States, after the example of her parent Church in 
 Europe, adopts the following plan for the election 
 of Elders and Deacons: "In order to lessen the 
 burden of a perpetual attendance upon ecclesias- 
 tical duties, and by a rotation in office to bring 
 forward deserving members, it is the established 
 custom in the Reformed Dutch Church, that 
 Elders and Deacons remain only two years in 
 service, after which they retire from their re- 
 spective offices, and others are chosen in their 
 places ; the rotation being always conducted in 
 such a manner, that only one half of the whole 
 number retire each year. (See Syn. Dord. Art. 
 27.) But this does not forbid the liberty of 
 immediately choosing the same persons again, 
 if from any circumstances it may be judged 
 expedient to continue them in office by a re- 
 election. "f 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding this annual election, those 
 who have ever borne the office of Elder or Deacon 
 in the Dutch Church, are still considered, though 
 never re-elected, as bearing, while they live, a cer- 
 tain relation to the offices which they have sustain- 
 ed respectively. This appears from the following 
 
 * Quick's Synodicon, p. 28. 
 
 f Constitution of the Kelbrmed Dutch Church in the 
 U. Slates. 
 
 24 
 
278 ELECTION OF 
 
 additional article, found in the same code. " Wiien 
 matters of peculiar importance occur, particularly 
 in calling a Minister, building of Churches, or 
 whatever relates immediately to the peace and 
 welfare of the whole congregation, it is usual (and 
 it is strongly recommended, upon such occasions, 
 always) for the Consistory to call together all those 
 who have ever served as Elders or Deacons, that 
 by their advice and counsel they may assist the 
 members of the Consistory. These, when assem- 
 bled, constitute what is called the " Great Consis- 
 tory." From the object or design of their assem- 
 bling, the respective powers of each are easily as- 
 certained. Those who are out of office, have only 
 an advisory or couselling voice ; and, as they are 
 not actual members of the board or corporation, 
 cannot have a decisive vote. After obtaining their 
 advice, it rests with the members of the Consistory 
 to follovv the counsel given them, or not, as they 
 shall judge proper." 
 
 But in the Presbyterian Church in the United 
 States, the office of Ruling Elder is now, and has 
 been from the beginning, perpetual. The election 
 to it, is once for all. It, of course, continues 
 through life, unless the individual be deposed from 
 office. Like a minister of the gospel, he cannot 
 lay aside his office at pleasure.* He may, indeed, 
 
 * The writer is here stating what is the actual consti- 
 tution of the Presbyterian Church as to this point. He 
 does not suppose, however, that there is any infringe- 
 ment of Presbyterian principle in the annual elections 
 of Ruling Elders, formerly practised in the Church of 
 Scotland, and still practised in the Dutch and 'French 
 Churches. Where a Church is large, containing a 
 sufficient nunnber of grave, pious and prudent members, 
 to furnish an advantageous rotation and where the 
 
RULING ELDERS. 279 
 
 from ill health, or for other reasons, cease, if he 
 think proper, to perlbrm the active duties of the 
 ollice. But he is still an Elder; and if he recover 
 his health, or the reason which induced him to 
 withdraw, be removed, he may resume the duties 
 of the office without a new ordination. Of this, 
 however, more in a subsequent chapter. 
 
 in. A third question which arises under this 
 liead, is — How many Elders ought to be elected 
 in each Church? In answer to this question little 
 more than considerations of expediency can be 
 suggested. No absolute rule can be laid down. 
 
 In the Jewish Synagogue, we are told, there 
 were commonly at least three Ruling Elders found 
 in each ecclesiastical Senate. In the time of Cy- 
 prian, in the third century, there were, in the 
 single Church of Carthage, of which he was 
 Bishop, or pastor, eight Elders, of whom five were 
 opposed to his being received as their pastor. 
 Soon after the opening of the Reformation in Scot- 
 land, and while there was only a single Protestant 
 congregation in the city of Edinburgh, there were 
 twelve Elders, and sixteen Deacons, belono;ino; to 
 that Church. Dunlop, ii., 638. In the year 1560, 
 four years before the decease of Calvin, there were 
 twelve Ruling Elders in the Church of Geneva. 
 Calv. Episl. Gaspari Olivetano. 
 
 duties of the office are many and arduous, it may not 
 be without its advantas^es to keep up so.iie ciian^e of 
 incumbency in this office. But, in general, it seems 
 manit'est, that the spiritual interests of a conf::regatioii 
 will be likely to be rnanai^ed most steadily and to edifi- 
 cation by permanent otlicers, who are never even tem- 
 porarily withdrawn from the sphere of duty in which 
 ihey move, and who are daily gaining more knowledge 
 of the Church, and more experience. 
 
280 ELECTION OF 
 
 The Form of Government of the Presbyterian 
 Church in the United States, does not define the 
 proper number of Elders in each Church. Speak- 
 ing of the Church Session, it declares (Chapter 9. 
 Sect. 2.) that of this Judicatory, " two Elders, if 
 there be as many in the congrecration, with the 
 pastor, shall be necessary to constitute a quorum." 
 From this rule, it seems to be a legitimate infer- 
 ence, that if there be only one Elder in the con- 
 gregation, he with the pastor, may constitute a re- 
 gular Session, for the transaction of business. 
 The existence of so small a number as even two, 
 however, is greatly to be regretted, and ought by 
 no means to be submitted to, if proper candidates 
 for the office can be found. In the smallest Church 
 it is desirable that there should be at least from 
 five to seven Elders. Without some such number, 
 there cannot be that weight in their judicial coun- 
 sels, and that influence drawn from every part of 
 the congregation in aid of the pastor, and the best 
 interests of the whole body, which a well selected 
 bench of officers of that number, would be likely 
 to impart. In large Churches, there ought to be 
 at least ten or twelve : and in Churches much 
 beyond the usual size, fourteen or fifteen would 
 not be more than enough to gain all the advan- 
 tages which the best arrangement with regard to 
 this office might be expected to secure. 
 
 It ought to be borne in mind, however, that there 
 is no advantage whatever to be gained by electing 
 unsuitable men to this office, for the sake of adding 
 mere numbers to the Church Session. It is much 
 better to get along with three or four pious, wise 
 and prudent Elders, than to add two or three 
 dozens to their ranks of men of an opposite stamp 
 who, by their want of piety and wisdom, might be 
 
RULING ELDERS. 281 
 
 a nuisnnco instead of a comfort : a curse instead 
 of a blessing. Pastors, then, and their Churches, 
 instead of making h;iste to till up the ranks of their 
 congregational Senators with unsuitable members, 
 had better wait patiently until tlie Head of the 
 Church shall provide for them candidates in some 
 measure " after his own heart." 
 
 IV. The last question which will be proposed 
 for solution is, who may be considered as eligible 
 to this office ? 
 
 The proper personal qualifications for this office 
 have been considered in a preceding chapter. 
 These are not intended to be brought into view 
 here. All that is designed is, a reference to two 
 or three points of legal qualification, which are 
 necessary to render a candidate eligible in the 
 view of the ecclesiastical casuist. 
 
 And first, no one can be elected an Elder in 
 any Church, who is not a member in full com- 
 munion in the Church of which he is to be chosen 
 an ollicer. The extreme impropriety of choosing 
 men who were not themselves in full communion 
 with the body of Christ to represent the members 
 of the Church, and to sit in judgment on the 
 standing, deportment, and Church membership of 
 others, is so glaring as to need no comment. 
 
 But the eligible candidate for this choice must 
 be a male member. Some, indeed, have seriously 
 doubted whether there were not in the apostolic 
 Church, female Elders, or Elderesses ; and also 
 whether there ought not to be a similar class of 
 Elders in every Church at the present day. A 
 great majority, however, who have treated of this 
 subject, believe, that the female ofiicers apparently 
 referred to in Titus ii. 3, and a few other passages 
 ill the New Testament, were intended to be merely 
 24* 
 
282 ELECTION OF RULING ELDERS. 
 
 a temporary appointment, arising out of that state 
 of seclusion in which females lived, and do still 
 live, in the Eastern world, and not at all neces- 
 sary in those countries where females may be ap- 
 proached and instructed without the intervention 
 of individuals of the other sex. The Presbyterian 
 Church has judged and acted in conformity with 
 this view of the subject.* 
 
 It has been queried, whether a person who is 
 an acting Ruling Elder in one Church, may be 
 chosen to the same office in another, and thus be 
 an acting member of two Church Sessions at the 
 same time. This question ought, undoubtedly, to 
 be answered in the negative. An Elder can no 
 more be a member of two different Sessions, and 
 responsible, of course, to both, at the same time, 
 than a private Christian can be enrolled as a mem- 
 ber of two diflerent Churches at the same time, 
 and equally amenable to both ; or than a minister 
 of the Gospel can be a member of two Presby- 
 teries, at the same time, and liable to be called to 
 an account by both, simultaneously, and to have 
 entirely inconsistent requisitions made by each. 
 An Elder in one Church, then, is not eligible to the 
 Eldership in another, unless on the principle of his 
 taking a dismission from the former, for the pur- 
 pose of forming a regular and official relation to 
 the latter. 
 
 *The Moravians, or United Brethren, and the society 
 of Friends, or Quakers, are the only ecclesiastical bodies 
 in Protestant Christendom, so far as is now recollected, 
 in whose system of Church order Female Eiders actuallj 
 have a place. 
 
(283) 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 OF THE ORDINATION OF RULING ELDERS. 
 
 By Ordination is meant that solemn rite, or act, 
 by which a candidate for any office in the Church 
 of Christ, is authoritatively designated to that 
 office, by those who are clothed with power for 
 the purpose. 
 
 It cannot require formal argument to prove, that 
 this rite, or something analogous and equivalent to 
 it, is indispensable in conducting all regular eccle- 
 siastical government. If certain officers have been 
 appointed in the Church by Jesus Christ, her King 
 and Head ; — if certain qualifications have been de- 
 clared by Him indispensable to fit men for serv- 
 ing the Church in these offices, without which 
 they ought not to be permitted to occupy them ; — 
 and if an extraordinary and immediate designation 
 to office by Jesus Christ himself, be not now to be 
 expected in any case ; — if these things be so, it in- 
 evitably follows, that some person or persons must 
 have power committed to them by the Head of the 
 Church, to examine or try candidates for these 
 offices; to judge of their qualifications; and if ap- 
 proved to invest them with office. The idea that, 
 with such directions as the New Testament con- 
 tains on this subject, men should be left at liberty 
 to take these offices upon themselves, by their own 
 act, and at their own pleasure — is full of absurdity ; 
 and, if realized, would undoubtedly lead to end- 
 less disorder and mischief. Only suppose the 
 secular offices of a nation to be thus assumed by 
 
284 ORDINATION OP 
 
 men at will ; and by none more readily than the 
 vain, the ignorant, the self-sufficient, and the ambi- 
 tious; — as would inevitably be the case, if such 
 were the path of access to office ; — and there would 
 he an end of all order. But if it be neither safe 
 nor permitted for men to intrude into official sta- 
 tions uncalled ; and if an immediate investiture by 
 the Master himself be out of the question; we are 
 driven to the conclusion, that all regular and lawful 
 introduction to office, must be through the medium 
 of human ordainers, acting in the name of Christ, 
 and governing themselves by his declared will. 
 
 Accordingly,' while the Saviour himself, in the 
 days of his flesh, immediately invested with office 
 the twelve Apostles, and all others whom he per- 
 sonally called and sent forth ; no sooner had He 
 ascended to heaven, than the practice of intro- 
 ducing to office by the instrumentality of men, 
 began, and, so far as we are informed, was uni- 
 formly continued. Then the ministers of Christ 
 began to act upon the principle afterwards so ex- 
 plicitly communicated to Timothy, and enjoined 
 upon him: — "That which thou hast heard of me, 
 among many witnesses, the same commit thou to 
 faithful men, who shall be able to teach others 
 also." Here we are plainly taught that men are 
 not to seize upon the sacred office themselves. It 
 is to be " committed to them ;" and that not by 
 every one; but by those only who have regularly 
 *' received" it themselves. We find, too, that the 
 method of ordination which had been in use in the 
 Jewish Synagogue, and to which all the first 
 Christians had been accustomed, was transferred 
 to the Church, and became a stated part of eccle- 
 siastical order. Paul and Barnabas were set apart 
 to a particular service, by a plurality of ecclesias- 
 
RULING ELDERS. 285 
 
 tical men, with prayer, imposition of hands, and 
 fasting. VV^hen tliey, in their turn, went forth to 
 execute the vvoric to which they had been called, 
 we find them, wherever they went, "ordaining 
 Elders," and committing to them the care of the 
 Church. Timothy was invested with o(hce " by 
 the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery :" 
 and even the Deacons, were called to their ollice 
 in the same manner. It was referred to the people 
 to " look out" and elect the candidates ; but having 
 done so, they brought them to the Apostles, who 
 " laid their hands upon them," and conferred on 
 them the important office to which they were ap- 
 pointed. 
 
 It is no part of the belief of Presbyterians, that 
 Ordination imparts any direct influence, either 
 physical or moral, to him who receives it. They 
 have no idea that, in this act, by a kind of oj)us 
 operatum, according to the Romanists, an " inde- 
 lible character" is communicated. They do not 
 suppose that any hallowed energy proceeds from 
 the hands of the ordainers to him on whose head 
 they lay them, in the act of imposition. But they 
 regard it simply as that official act, by which a 
 man is pronounced, declared, and manifested, to 
 be actually put in possession of the office to which 
 he has been chosen. It is, in one word, the actual 
 induction into office of one elected to fill it. The 
 case is precisely analogous to that of civil rulers. 
 The man who is appointed to the office of Judge 
 on a secular bench, has no real addition made, 
 either to his intellect, his learning, or his moral 
 excellence, by taking the oath of office, and com- 
 plying with those formalities which actually in- 
 troduce him to his official station ; and yet, so 
 important are these formalities, that h's power 
 
286 ORDINATION OP 
 
 lawfully to act as Judge absolutely depends upon 
 them. Before they take place, he is not really in 
 office; and after they take place, he is clothed 
 with that plenary power, which qualifies him for 
 the regular discharge of every official duty. And 
 so of every other civil officer in the land. Thus it 
 is in the Church. Ordination is the essence of a 
 lawful external call to ecclesiastical office. It is 
 that act, before which, the ecclesiastical officer is 
 not prepared, regularly, to discharge a single 
 function appropriated to the station to which he is 
 elected ; but after which, he is prepared for their 
 regular and valid performance. 
 
 That Ruling Elders, besides being regularly 
 chosen to office, should be ordained ; that is, pub- 
 licly and solemnly designated and introduced to 
 office by appropriate formalities ; our ecclesiastical 
 Constitution requires, and prescribes a Form for 
 the purpose, concerning which I shall only say, 
 that, as far as it goes, it is well devised, impres- 
 sive, and excellent. I say, as far as it goes ; for 
 it has been, for many years, my settled conviction, 
 that the Ordination service in question, in not 
 nnaking the imposition of hands a stated constitu- 
 ent part of it, is chargeable with an omission, 
 which, though not essential, and, therefore, not 
 a matter for which it is proper to interrupt the 
 peace of the Church, yet appears to me inca- 
 pable of a satisfactory defence ; and which it is 
 my earnest hope may not much longer continue 
 to be, as I know it is with many, matter of serious 
 lamentation. 
 
 The " imposition of hands," as a constituent 
 part of Ordination, is an old and impressive rite. 
 it was, notoriously, a familiar mode of designa- 
 tion to office, through the whole of the Old Tes- 
 
RULING ELDERS. 287 
 
 lament economy. It is, if 1 mistake not, univer- 
 sally acknowledged to have been employed in 
 ordaining all the Elders of the Jewish Synagogue. 
 We fwid it is used in every Ordination, without 
 exception, the particulars of which are detailed 
 in the New Testament history. And even in set- 
 ting apart the Deacons, nothing can be more ex- 
 plicit than the statement, that it was done with the 
 "imposition of hands." So far, then, as we are 
 bound to reverence and follow ancient, primitive, 
 and uniform usage, I know of no solid reason why 
 it should be omitted in any case. 
 
 Some, indeed, have attempted to defend the 
 omission of this rite, by alleging, that the impo- 
 sition of hands, in the days of the Apostles, was 
 connected with the supernatural gifts of the Holy 
 Spirit, which were then common ; and that with 
 those special gifts, it ought to have ceased. In 
 support of this allegation, they commonly adduce 
 such passages as those recorded in Acts viii. 17, 
 18 ; xix. 6 ; Heb. vi. 2, &c. This argument, 
 however, if it has any force, ought to banish the 
 imposition of hands from all ordinations ; but can 
 never justify the omission of it in ordaining 
 Ruling Elders and Deacons, while it is retained 
 in the ordination of those who " labour in the 
 ■word and doctrine." But the validity of the 
 whole argument, it is believed, may be set aside 
 without difficulty. 
 
 We read in the New Testament, of four cases, 
 or kinds of " laying on of hands." The first, by 
 Christ himself, to express an authoritative bene- 
 diction ; (Malt. xix. 15 ; Mark x. 16;) the second, 
 in the healing of diseases; (Mark xvi. 18; Acts 
 xxviii. 8 ;) the third, in conferring extraordinary 
 gifts of the Spirit; (Acts viij- 17; xix. 6;) and 
 
2S8 ORDINATION OF 
 
 the fourth, in setting apart persons to sacred 
 office ; (Acts vi. 6 ; xiii. 3 ; 1 Tim. iv. 14.) The 
 venerable Dr. Owen, in his commentary on Heb. 
 vi. 2, expresses the opinion, that the " laying on 
 of hands," mentioned in that passage, is to be 
 considered as belonging to the third kind or class 
 of cases, and, of course, as referring to the ex- 
 traordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit. Others have 
 supposed, that it rather belongs to the fourth ex- 
 ample here enumerated, and, therefore, applies to 
 the ordination of ministers. On this point I decide 
 nothing. But my reasons for supposing that the 
 imposition of hands in* the ordination of Church 
 Officers, had no reference to the imparting of 
 supernatural gifts, and consequently, ought not to 
 be deemed an extraordinary and temporary rite, 
 are such as these: 1. This rite has been em- 
 ployed in all ages of the Church in setting apart 
 persons to ecclesiastical office. 2. It is one of 
 the most natural and significant modes of desig- 
 nating a person who is intended to be consecrated 
 or devoted to a particular service. 3. It was 
 manifestly employed in a number of cases which 
 occur in the sacred history, where no special gifts 
 were intended to be conveyed ; and therefore, 
 though sometimes connected with those gifts, yet 
 we are sure it was not in all cases thus con- 
 nected.* 4. When hands were laid on Paul and 
 
 * " Imposition of hands was a Jewish ceremony, in- 
 troduced, not by any Divine authority, but by custom; 
 it being the practice among those people, whenever 
 they prayed to God for any person, to lay their hands 
 upon his head. Our Saviour observed the same cus- 
 tom, both when he conferred his blessings on children, 
 and when he healed the sick, adding prayers to the 
 ceremony. The Apostles likewise laid hands on thos« 
 
BULIXG ELDERS. 289 
 
 Barnabas, at Antioch, it was not that they might 
 receive these gifts, for they were possessed of 
 them prior to this solemnity. 5. In this case, 
 too, it is remarkable that they seem to have been 
 ordinary pastors and teachers who laid their 
 hands upon one, at least, of extraordinary gifts 
 and character. 6. And, finally, in 1 Tim. v. 22, 
 the whole rite of ordination seems to be compre- 
 hended in this act : " Lay hands suddenly on no 
 man," &c. And if we consider the act of laying 
 hands on the head of the candidate for sacred 
 office, as intended, at once, solemnly to designate 
 his person ; to express an oTlicial benediction ; and 
 to indicate his entire consecration to the service 
 of God ; we could scarcely conceive of an act 
 more simple, and yet more appropriate, and full 
 of meaning. And although those who lay on 
 hands in this transaction altogether disclaim, as 
 was before stated, the power of conveying the 
 Holy Ghost to the individual ordained ; yet as an 
 emblem of what he needs, and ought unceasingly 
 to seek, and of wliat his brethren desire and pray 
 for on his behalf, it is, surely, in a high degree 
 expressive, and by no means open to the charge 
 of either presumption or superstition. I would 
 say, therefore, concerning this part of the 
 solemnity of ordination, in the language of the 
 venerable Calvin : " Although there is no express 
 
 upon whom they bestowed the Holy Ghost. The priests 
 observed the same custom when any one was received 
 into their body. And the Apostles themselves under- 
 went the imposition of hands afresh, when they entered 
 upon any new design. In the ancient Church, imposi- 
 tion of hands was even practised on persons when they 
 were married; which custom the Abyssinians still ob- 
 serve." — I3urder's Oriental Customs, ii. 35. 
 95 
 
?90 ORDINATION OP 
 
 precept for the imposition of hands ; yet since we 
 find it to have been constantly used by the Apos- 
 tles, such a punctual observance of it by them 
 ought to have the force of precept with us. And 
 certainly this ceremony is highly useful both to 
 recommend to the people the dignity of the min- 
 istry, and to admonish the person ordained, that 
 he is no longer his own master, but dt-voted to the 
 service of God and the Church. Besides, it will 
 not be an unmeaning sign. For if the Spirit of 
 God institute nothing in the Church in vain, we 
 shall perceive that this ceremony, which proceeded 
 from Him, is not without its use, provided it be 
 not perverted by a superstitious abuse."* 
 
 But if this rite be so reasonable, so scriptural, 
 so expressive, and so generally adopted by almost 
 all Christian denominations, in ordaining those 
 Elders who " labour in the word and doctrine ;" 
 how comes it to pass that it should be so gene- 
 rally, not to say universally omitted in the 
 ordination of Ruling Elders? I have lonor 
 deplored this omission jf and cannot help be- 
 
 * Institutes, Lib. iv. Cap. iii, 16. 
 
 ■\ Many years ago, the author of this volume, under 
 the deep and unwavering conviction that he had 
 scriptural authority to sustain him, when called upon 
 to ordain Elders and Deacons in a vacant Church, 
 added to the usual solemnity on such occasions, the 
 act of "laying on of hands" in the ordaining prayer. 
 Finding, however, that many of his brethren considered 
 it as an innovation, and were by no means prepared to 
 introduce the practice; believing that diversity of 
 practice in relation to this matter would be very 
 undesirable; and persuaded, moreover, that the act in 
 question ought not to be deemed an essential in any 
 ordination — he resolved not to repeat it, until it could 
 
RULING ELDERS. 291 
 
 lieving that the restoration of so appropriate 
 and impressive a part of the ordaining service 
 would, in all probability, be attended with bene- 
 ficial etfects. 
 
 It is not easy to ascertain the origin of the 
 omission in question. The apostolic office of 
 Ruling Klder, was preserved, as we have seen, 
 by the witnesses of the truth, during the dark 
 ages. Whether the pious VValdenses and Bohe- 
 mian Brethren were in the habit of setting apart 
 this class of officers with the imposition of hands, 
 cannot now, so far as I know, be determined. 
 The Reformers received the office under con- 
 sideration from those pious Waldenses ; and 
 were well aware, as their writings evince, that 
 all ordinations in the Synagogue, and in the 
 primitive Church, had been accompanied with 
 the laying on of hands. Still, however, while 
 they with one accord, retained this rite in the 
 ordination of Teaching Elders, they seem, quite 
 as unanimously, to have discarded it in the 
 ordination of Ruling Elders.* Of the cause of 
 this, their writings give us no intimation; nor 
 
 be used without offence, and with better prospects of 
 edification to the Church. 
 
 * It is worthy of remark that our Independent 
 brethren, at early periods of their history, adhered 
 more closely to the scriptural method of ordaining 
 Ruling Elders and Deacons, than even Presbyterians. 
 See the Cambridge Platform, chapters vii. and ix. 
 See also a Confession of Faith, adopted by some 
 Anti-pcedobaptists, (to the amount of 100 congrega- 
 tions,) in England and Wales, in 1689; and ratified 
 and adopted by a Baptist Association met at Philadel- 
 phia, in 1742; chapter 27. Also a "Short Treatise oa 
 Church Discipline," appended to it by the latter. 
 Chapters 3 and 4. 
 
293 ORDINATION OP 
 
 has it ever been my lot to hear, from any 
 quarter, a single reason for the omission, which 
 was in the least degree satisfactory. To be told, 
 that the omission has " long been established ;" 
 — that, while all the Protestant Churches in the 
 world, except that of England, receive this class 
 of officers, in one form or another, they are " no 
 where ordained by the imposition of hands ;" — 
 that this is " the custom of the Church ;" — that 
 to depart from it would be "to innovate" and 
 " give offence," &.C., that this rite " may be 
 omitted without injury, not being an essential 
 part of ordination," &c. — is surely little adapted 
 to satisfy an inquiring mind, desirous of receiving, 
 as well as of being able to give a reason for 
 every practice. 
 
 But although, as has been already said, no 
 reason is formally assigned, or even hinted, in 
 the writings of the Reformers, for laying aside 
 the imposition of hands in the ordination of 
 Ruling Elders ; it is not, perhaps, difficult to 
 conjecture how it happened. One mistake, I 
 suspect, naturally led to another. They began 
 by considering the office as a temporary one ; 
 or, rather allowing those who bore it, if they 
 saw fit, to decline sustaining it for more than a 
 single year. There was a new election of these 
 Elders annually. The same individuals, indeed, 
 if they were acceptable to the people, and were 
 willing to continue to serve the Church, might 
 be re-elected for a series of years, or, if they 
 consented, even for life. But this seldom oc- 
 curred. There was, for the most part, annually, 
 a considerable change in the individuals, and, 
 annually, a new ordination. The tenure of the 
 office being thus temporary , and, in many 
 
RULING ELDERS. 293 
 
 cases, but for a single year; — no wonder that 
 there should seem to the discerning and pious 
 men who took the lead in organizing the Re- 
 formed Churches, some incongruity between this 
 annual renewal of the official investiture and 
 obligation, and setting apart men to the office 
 in question, each time, with the very same for- 
 malities which attended the ordination of mi- 
 nisters of the gospel, whose tenure of office was 
 for life. This incongruity, it is probable, struck 
 them with so much force, that they could not 
 reconcile it with their feelings to set apart to 
 their office, these temporary incumbents, with 
 the same rites and solemnity which they em- 
 ployed in ordaining ministers of the Word and 
 Sacraments.* Nor is it matter of wonder that 
 such feelings should have had an influence on 
 their minds. Those who take such a view of 
 the tenure of the office in question as they did, 
 will never be very cordial or decisive either in 
 addressing those who bear it, or in setting them 
 apart, as men consecrated for life to the service 
 of the Church. But that in the Church of Scot- 
 land,! ^"^ ^^ the Presbyterian Church in this 
 
 * This representation is not wholly gratuitous. It 
 appears from the Compendium Theologice Christianaj 
 of Marck, and from the opinion of Fredericlc Span- 
 heim, quoted with approbation by De Moor, the Com- 
 mentator on Marck, that all three of these divines of 
 the Reformed Church had no other objection to the 
 hiying on of hands in the ordination of Ruling Elders, 
 than that which I have suggested. — De Moori Com. 
 Perpet. Vol. vi. p. 330. 
 
 j- At what period in the history of the Church of 
 Scotland it was that the annual election of Elders was 
 laid aside, and the oflice made permanent, it has not 
 25* 
 
294 ORDINATION OF 
 
 country ; where, it is believed, correct views 
 of the office of Ruling Elder, as perpetual, 
 are universally received, the scriptural mode 
 of setting apart to this office should have been 
 so long and so generally disused, is a fact for 
 which it is not easy to assign a satisfactory 
 reason. 
 
 We are now prepared to take a brief sur- 
 vey of the arguments by which the propriety 
 of ordaining Elders by the imposition of hands 
 may be maintained. They are such as the fol- 
 lowing: 
 
 1. We find, throughout the whole Jewish 
 history, that solemnly laying the hands on the 
 head of a person who was intended to be par- 
 ticularly honoured, blessed, or devoted to sacred 
 functions, was a rite of frequent, not to say 
 constant use; and even in cases in which the 
 conveyance of the miraculous gifts of the Holy 
 Spirit, could not possibly have been designed. 
 
 2. The inspired Apostles, in organizing the 
 New Testament Church, took as their model 
 the Synagogue system of government, to which 
 the first Christians had been all their lives accus- 
 tomed. 
 
 3. It is certain that in every Jewish Syna- 
 gogue there was a bench of RuHng Elders ; and 
 it is just as certain that these Elders were always 
 ordained by the imposition of hands. 
 
 4. There is not a single instance of an 
 ordination, to any ecclesiastical office whatever, 
 
 fallen in the author's way to obtain information. He 
 is disposed to believe, however, that the change took 
 place either late in the sixteenth, or early in the seven- 
 teenth century. 
 
RULING ELDERS. 295 
 
 of which we have any account in the New 
 Testament, in which the ceremony of the lay- 
 ing on of hands does not appear to have been 
 used. 
 
 5. The first Deacons, though not intrusted 
 with an office so purely spiritual, or so arduous, 
 as that of Ruling Elder, were yet, as all acknow- 
 ledge, set apart to the Diaconate by the imposition 
 of hands. Of course, those who bear a superior 
 office ought not to be introduced to it with less 
 solemnity. 
 
 6, To imagine that there is any peculiar mean- 
 ing or mystical influence, in the laying on of 
 hands, which is above the dignity of the Ruling 
 Elder's office, involves, at once, a superstitious 
 estimate of a simple, emblematical act, and an 
 unworthy degradation of an important order in 
 the Christian family. 
 
 Accordingly, it is observable, that almost all 
 classes of writers whose judgment in reference 
 to this matter is worthy of particular notice, 
 freely concede the propriety of setting apart both 
 Ruling Elders and Deacons in the manner for 
 which I contend ; and scarcely offer any other 
 reason, for omitting it, than that such has been 
 " long the custom " of the Reformed Churches, 
 and that the ceremony is not " essential " to a 
 valid ordination. The following specimen of the 
 manner in which the subject is treated by such 
 writers, will be quite sufficient to establish my 
 position. 
 
 The very learned authors of the Theses Ley- 
 denses^ who were zealous Presbyterians, in speak- 
 ing of the biennial election of Ruling Elders and 
 Deacons, in the Church of Holland, acknowledge 
 that, in the Apostolic Church, those offices were 
 
296 ORDINATION OF 
 
 both perpetual, and concede that the different 
 plan adopted among themselves was an imper- 
 fection ;* plainly intimating, that their mode of 
 ordaining these officers had grown out of this 
 imperfection. 
 
 The foreign Protestants, who established them- 
 selves in London, during the reign of Edward 
 the sixth, not only had RuHng Elders and 
 Deacons, in all their Churches ; but also uni- 
 formly ordained them by the imposition of hands, 
 as we have seen in the preceding chapter. 
 
 The Rev. John Anderson, of Scotland, the 
 able and zealous defender of Presbyterianism 
 against Rhind, who lived a little more than a 
 century ago, speaking of the ordination of Ruling 
 Elders by the imposition of hands, has the 
 following passage. " Nobody doubts it is very 
 lawful ; and, for my own part, J heartily wish 
 it were practised ; but I deny that it is abso- 
 solutely necessary, there being no precept enjoin- 
 ing it."t 
 
 The Rev. Archibald Hall, also of Great Britain, 
 and a thorough-going advocate for Presbyterian 
 order, speaks on the same subject in the following 
 terms. " The call of Ruling Elders, like the call 
 of the Elders who 'labour in the word and doc- 
 trine,' consists in two things, viz., election and 
 ordination. Their election should be popular, and 
 their ordination judicial, and performed with lay- 
 ing on of hands." And, in a subsequent page, he 
 expresses an opinion that Deacons ought to be 
 ordained in the same manner.J 
 
 ♦ Synopsis Purioris Theologise. Disput. 42. p. 621. 
 •j- Defence, &c. Chap. ii. Sect. vi. p. 179. 
 i Scriptural View of the Gospel Church, Chapters 13 
 and 15, p. 67, 102. 
 
RULING ELDERS. 207 
 
 The venerable John Brown, of Haddington, one 
 of the most decisive, consistent and devoted Pres- 
 byterians that ever lived ; — after giving an ac- 
 count of the nature and warrant of the oiYice of 
 Ruling Elders, observes — "Their ordination ought 
 to be transacted in much the same manner, as 
 that of teaching Elders, or pastors."* 
 
 The learned and pious Dr. Cotton Mather, deli- 
 vers the following opinion on the subject before 
 us. " The imposition of hands in the ordination 
 of a Church officer, is a rite not only lawful to be 
 retained ; but it seems by a divine institution di- 
 rected and required; so that although the call of a 
 person to Church office may not become null and 
 void, where that rite may have been omitted, as it 
 is in the Seniors and Deacons in most of the Re- 
 formed Churches ; yet we cannot approve the 
 omission of it. A ceremonial defect may be 
 blameworthy. "t 
 
 The Rev. President Dwight, gives an opinion 
 concerning the ordination of Deacons, which is 
 decisive of his opinion concerning that of Ruling 
 Elders, in favour of which latter class of officers, 
 he very explicitly, as we have before seen, de- 
 clares his judgment. He speaks thus : 
 
 " Deacons are to be ordained by the imposition 
 of hands, and by prayer." 
 
 " When the brethren had set these men before 
 the Apostles," Luke informs us, " they prayed and 
 laid their hands upon them." 
 
 " This also is an authoritative example of the 
 manner in which Deacons are to be introduced 
 into every Church. It is the example of inspired 
 
 * Compendious View. Book vii. Chapter u. p. 640. 
 t Magnalia, Vol. ii. p. 218. 
 
298 ORDINATION OF 
 
 men ; and was, therefore, the pleasure of the Spirit 
 of God. There is no hint in the New Testament, 
 nor even in ecclesiastical history, that they were 
 ever introduced in any other manner. At the 
 same time, there is no precept, revoking, or alter- 
 ing the authority, or influence of this example. It 
 stands, therefore, in full force ; and requires that 
 all persons chosen by the Church to this office, 
 should be consecrated to the duties of it in the 
 same manner." 
 
 " It is to be observed, further, that if any such 
 alteration had existed in periods subsequent to the 
 apostolic age, it would have been totally destitute 
 of any authority to us. This modo of consecra- 
 tion has, in fact, been disused in New England, 
 to a considerable extent. For this, however, there 
 seems to have been no reason of any value. So 
 far as I have been able to gain information on the 
 subject, the disuse was originated at first, and has 
 been gradually extended by mere inattention ; nor 
 is it capable, so far as I know, of any defence."* 
 These are a few of the authorities which might 
 be quoted in favour of the same general position. 
 In fact, I have met with no Presbyterian or Inde- 
 pendent writer, who believed in the propriety of 
 the imposition of hands in any case of ordination, 
 who did not either explicitly, or virtually grant, 
 that there was no reason for withholding this cere- 
 mony in the case of Ruling Elders, but the custom 
 of the Church, or some similar consideration. 
 
 On the supposition, then, that the imposition of 
 hands ought always to be employed in the ordina- 
 tion of Ruling Elders, the question naturally 
 arises ; — Whose hands ought to be laid on in such 
 
 • Theology explained and defended. Vol. iv. p. 291. 
 
RULING ELDERS. 299 
 
 ordinations ? And here, if we attend to the sim- 
 plest principles of all government it would seem 
 that we could scarcely be at a loss for a satisfac- 
 itory answer. 
 
 It seems to be a fundamental principle in every 
 department, both of the natural and moral world, 
 that every thing must be considered as capable of 
 begetting its like. If this be so, does it not follow 
 as a plain dictate of common sense, that, in or- 
 daining Ruling Elders, the members of the Ses- 
 sion already in office should lay on hands, with 
 the pastor, in setting apart an additional number 
 to the same office? In other words, if there be 
 such a body already in existence in the Church, 
 the hands of the parochial Presbytery ought to be 
 laid on, in adding to its own number ; — and the 
 " right hand of fellowship " given, at the close of 
 the service, by each member of the Session, to 
 each of his newly ordained brethren. This ap- 
 pears to me equally agreeable to reason and 
 Scripture, and highly adapted to edification. And 
 if there be no Eldership already in the Church in 
 which the ordination takes place — then the Pres- 
 bytery, upon proper application being made to 
 them, ought to appoint at least one minister, and 
 two or more Ruling Elders, to attend, at the time 
 and place most convenient, to perform the ordina- 
 tion. How much more impressive and acceptable 
 would be such a scene, than the cold and naked 
 manner in which this service is too offen per- 
 formed ! 
 
 A question may here arise in the minds of 
 some whether those Elders who, when ordained, 
 had no hands laid on them, may, without impro- 
 priety, join in the imposition of hands on the 
 heads of their younger brethren, who may be or- 
 
300 ORDINATION OP 
 
 dained in this manner. To this question, beyond 
 all doubt, we may confidently return an affirma- 
 tive answer. They may unite in the imposition 
 of hands, without the least scruple, and with the 
 utmost propriety. All reasonable men grant, that 
 the rite in question though rational and scriptural, 
 is not essential to a valid ordination. Our vener- 
 able Fathers of the Scotch Reformation did not 
 deem the imposition of hands necessary, even in 
 the ordination of Ministers of the gospel ; and, 
 therefore, in their First Book of Discipline did not 
 prescribe it. Elders, therefore, who have been 
 regularly set apart to their office, agreeably to the 
 Formula prescribed in the Presbyterian Church, 
 have received an ordination completely valid. 
 They are fully invested with the office, and with 
 all the powers and privileges which it includes. It 
 is contrary to the whole genius of the gospel to 
 make a mere ceremonial defect fatal to the sub- 
 stance of an otherwise regular investiture. If 
 Elders who have been thus ordained, be deemed 
 competent to any part of their official work, they 
 are competent to every part ; and, of course, to 
 partake in the solemnity which I am here endea- 
 vouring to recommend. 
 
 If the foregoing principles be correct, then 
 Ruling Elders ought also to lay on hands, with 
 the Pastor, in the ordination of Deacons ; their 
 office as Rulers vesting them with full power for 
 this act, and rendering it strictly proper. But 
 inasmuch as Deacons make no part of the paro- 
 chial presbytery, and are not vested with any 
 portion of the function of spiritual government ; 
 it does not seem proper that they should lay on 
 hands in any case of ordination. In that of 
 Ruling Elders, it would be manifestly incongruous j 
 
RULING ELDERS. 301 
 
 since their office is altogether unlike. But even 
 in the ordination of Deacons, it would be incon- 
 sistent with regular order. Ordination is an act 
 not only official, but also authoritative. It is an 
 act of government : but to no participation in this 
 are Deacons appointed. This office, as we have 
 seen, is highly important, and requires much 
 wisdom, piety, prudence, and diligence ; but 
 their sphere of duty is entirely different from that 
 of those who are " set over the flock in the Lord," 
 and who are appointed to " watch for souls as 
 they that must give account." 
 
 If, after this whole discussion, any should be 
 disposed to ask, what additional advantage may 
 be expected to flow from ordaining our Elders by 
 the imposition of hands, and with similar external 
 solemnities to those which are employed in setting 
 apart ministers of the gospel — I answer — It will 
 be a return to scriptural example, and primitive 
 usage — which is always right, and will, we have 
 reason to hope, by the grace of God, be connected 
 with a blessing. It will be doing warranted and 
 appropriate honour to a class of officers too long 
 deprived of their due estimation and authority. 
 When the people see those whom they have elect- 
 ed to this office, devoutly kneeling before the 
 Lord, and the hands of the parochial Presbytery 
 laid on their heads, with fervent prayer, and with 
 a solemn charge and benediction; — they will 
 naturally attach to the office itself more import- 
 ance, and to those who bear it, more reverence. 
 Nay, perhaps it is not unreasonable to believe, 
 that such solemnities may be made the means of 
 salutary impressions on the minds even of their 
 immediate subjects. If the writer of these lines 
 does not greatly mistake, he has known the 
 26 
 
302 ORDINATION OF 
 
 solemnities attending the ordination of Pastors, 
 productive of deep and lasting impressions, both 
 on the ordained, and the spectators. But he has 
 no recollection of ever witnessing any such result 
 from our comparatively cold and lifeless mode of 
 setting apart the official Rulers in Christ's house. 
 " This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamen- 
 tation." 
 
 A claim has been recently made with regard to 
 the Ruling Elder, in respect to the point of Ordi- 
 nation, which, perhaps, ought to be cursorily 
 noticed in this connection. The claim is, that 
 Ruling Elders, when present, as members of 
 Presbytery, ought always to unite with Teaching 
 Elders, or Pastors, in the imposition of hands, in 
 the ordination of Pastors. After the most careful 
 and impartial examination that I am able to give 
 this subject, I feel warranted in affirming, that 
 such a claim or practice was never known or 
 heard of in any Presbyterian Church on earth 
 until within a very few years, and in a remote 
 part of our own country. I say such a practice 
 was never known or heard of in any Presbytei'ian 
 Church. Among Independents, indeed, it has 
 been both contended for and practised ; as it na- 
 turally resulted from their erroneous views of the 
 nature and functions of the office. But among 
 Presbyterians it was never thought of until re- 
 cently. And as the practice is wholly without 
 precedent, so I believe it to be, contrary to essen- 
 tial Presbyterian principle. I arrive at this con- 
 elusion, with unwavering confidence, from the 
 foUowinfT considerations. 
 
RULING ELDERS. 803 
 
 I. It is evident from the word of God, and is 
 expressly recognized in our Formularies, that the 
 Pastoral office is the highest in the Christian 
 Church ; and, of course, it ought to be so 
 exhibited in all our ecclesiastical proceedings. 
 Every thing, therefore, which tends to destroy all 
 distinction between Pastors and Ruling Elders ; 
 to hold them up to view as one in order and in 
 power, tends, in fact, to supersede the Elder's 
 office in its primitive design and function. It was 
 this mistake which had nearly banished that 
 office from the Church fourteen hundred years 
 ago ; and the recurrence of the same mistake, if 
 adopted, will result in the same calamity again. 
 It is manifest that this office can never occupy 
 its appropriate place, nor render to the Church 
 its appropriate services, when its real nature is 
 misapprehended, and when it is confounded with 
 another and a very different office. Ruling 
 Elders have no authority to preach the Gospel, 
 or to administer sacraments. How, then, can 
 they with propriety unite in those symbolical acts 
 which imply the imparting of this authority to 
 others? And how can they take the ordained 
 minister by the hand, on rising from his knees, 
 and say, " VVe give you the right hand of fellow- 
 ship, to take part of this ministry with us?" Is 
 the Ruling Elder ever called a minister in the 
 language of our public formularies? Is his office 
 ever st^-led a ministry? With what propriety, 
 then, can he take part in such a significant and 
 authoritative act? 
 
 II. If the office of the Teaching and Ruling 
 Elder are the same : if they are officers of the 
 same order, and possess the same rights and au- 
 thority, then it is plain, every Church Session 
 
304 ORDINATION OP 
 
 may, without scruple, ordain Pastors, as well as 
 Ruling Elders; and, if this be admitted, we may 
 bid farewell to the Ruling Elder's office in any 
 thing like its present peculiar form. It is true, 
 some advocates of the new claim, perceiving that 
 the adoption of the new principle would be so 
 serious an invasion of the present constitution of 
 the Church, have forborne to carry it to this 
 length. But if the first step in this innovation, 
 embracing the radical principle, be admitted, it is 
 not difficult to foretel that every other will speedily 
 follow. 
 
 III. For the last three hundred years, since 
 the Ruling Elder's office has been revived and 
 established in the Reformed Churches, this class 
 of officers has scarcely ever been themselves 
 ordained with the imposition of hands, and, of 
 course, have not been called upon, in their turn, 
 to impose hands on others. That which made no 
 part of the ceremonial of their own induction into 
 office, it was evident they could not regularly be 
 allowed to partake in, in investing others with a 
 different and higher office. It is true, this omis- 
 sion in the ordination of Ruling Elders is not to 
 
 J be commended, as I have stated in a former part 
 of this chapter ; but still this admitted fact must 
 be considered as conclusive against the new claim, 
 so far as the usage of the Church furnishes any 
 index of duty. 
 
 IV. The testimony of the whole Presbyterian 
 Church, in all periods and countries, is conclusive 
 against the whole claim in question. It is not 
 only certain that Ruling Elders themselves have 
 not been, for the last three centuries, usually 
 ordained with the imposition of hands ; but it is 
 equally manifest that, during the whole of that 
 
RULING ELDERS. 305 
 
 period, no regular Presbyterian Church has ever 
 set the example of allowing Ruling Elders to lay- 
 on hands in the ordination of Pastors. 
 
 (1.) In the Church oi' Scotland, uhder the First 
 Book of Discipline, which occupied an authorita- 
 tive place between the years 1560 and 1578, no 
 one pretends that Ruling Elders laid on hands in 
 the ordination of Teaching Elders or Pastors. 
 The fact is know to be, that in the First Book of 
 Discipline, and during its reign, there was no 
 laying on of hands at all, either prescribed or in 
 use in the ordination even of Pastors. During 
 that time this rite was repudiated as unnecessary 
 if not improper. It was supposed to be connected, 
 in the Apostolic age, with the miraculous gifts of 
 the Holy Spirit, and to be no longer either appro- 
 priate or suitable when those gifts were consid- 
 ered as having ceased. Concerning this period, 
 then, there is' no need of adding another word. 
 No one has ever ventured to assert, that, during 
 that period, Ruling Elders either claimed or ex- 
 ercised the right in question. 
 
 (2.) It is equally certain that the same thing 
 may be made out as to the period under the 
 Second Book of Discipline ; that is, that from the 
 formation of that book in 1578, until the meeting 
 of the Westminster Assembly, in 1G43, both the 
 claim and the exercise of this right were unknown 
 in the Church of Scotland. On this subject no 
 witness can be accounted either more competent 
 or more credible than the celebrated David Cald- 
 erviood., the venerable historian of the Church of 
 Scotland, whose piety, talents, learning and inde- 
 fatigable labours and suircrings in that Church 
 are universally known. The Altare Damasce' 
 7ium of that great man was published in 1623, of 
 26* 
 
306 ORDINATION OP 
 
 course just twenty years before the Westminster 
 Assembly met, and while the writer was under a 
 sentence of banishment in Holland, for his fidelity 
 to the Presbyterian cause. 
 
 The Altare Damascenum is a controversial 
 work, directed to the refutation of many adversa- 
 ries. Among these, Tllenus, once a Presbyterian 
 and Calvinistic Professor in the Seminary at 
 Sedan ^ but then an apostate from the truth, and 
 bitterly and blindly bigoted against all that he 
 had formerly espoused, was one of the most for- 
 ward and conspicuous. Tilenus objected to the 
 Presbyterian system, because Ruling Elders were 
 not considered as having a right to lay on hands 
 in the ordination of Pastors : — that they were 
 members of the Presbytery, and yet, in an ordi- 
 nation performed by the Presbytery, were not 
 allowed to take part in this significant and solemn 
 act. Calderwood explicitly admits the fact, that 
 they did not^ in any case, partake in this act; 
 but denies the consequence which Tilenus draws 
 from it. He contends that Elders might, if there 
 were any necessity for it, lay on hands, without 
 infringing any essential principle, as, in his 
 opinion, that act was not an essential part of or- 
 dination, and did not really convey, in itself, 
 either authority or grace. But he adds, " I con- 
 cede that that imposition of hands which is joined 
 with prayer and benediction, is confined to Pas- 
 tors or Teaching Elders only. Nevertheless, as 
 a sign of consent and assistance, the Ruling El- 
 ders 7nigh,t lay on hands. They do not lay them 
 on because it is not necessary : nor, indeed, do 
 all the co-Presbyters of any one Classis (or Pres- 
 bytery) lay on hands, but only a part in the name 
 of the rest. Even one might act in the name of 
 
RULING ELDERS. 307 
 
 all." *' Finally, says Caldcrwood, though we 
 should grant this act (the laying on of hands) to 
 be a sacrament, and that the administrators of 
 this sacrament are Pastor-Presbyters only — still 
 the others (the Ruling Elders) will not thereby be 
 excluded from the Presbytery, (1 Tim. iv. 14) be- 
 cause the laying on of hands does not belong to 
 tJtem^ for the imposition of hands may be called 
 the imposition of the hands of the Presbytery, 
 although each and every one of the Presbytery 
 have not the power of imposing hands. It is 
 enough that the leading part of the Presbytery 
 have that power ; just as the tribe of Levi is said 
 to offer incense, when it was the prerogative of 
 the Priests only." 
 
 (3.) The celebrated Alexander Henderson^ one 
 of the most conspicuous and influential leaders of 
 the Church of Scotland, in his work entitled — 
 " The Government and order of the Church of 
 Scotland," published in 1641, in speaking of the 
 minute details observed in the ordination of Pas- 
 tors, says. Section 11. : "The minister cometh 
 from the pulpit, and, with as many of the 7fiini3- 
 ters present as may conveniently come near, lay 
 their hands upon his head, and, in the name of 
 Jesus, do appoint him to be the Pastor of that 
 Church." 
 
 (4.) In another treatise, by the well known 
 Samuel Rutherford^ entitled, " A Peaceable Plea 
 for Paul's Presbytery in Scotland," published in 
 1642, the same fact is repeatedly brought out, and 
 the practice defended on scriptural grounds, as 
 well as the nature of the ministerial office. He 
 says, " Every where, in the word, where Pastors 
 and Elders are created, there they are ordained 
 by Fastors,^^ p. 37. " Ordination of Pastors is 
 
308 ORDINATION OP 
 
 never given to people, or believers, or to Ruling 
 Elders, as is clear from 1 Tim. v. 22 ; Titus i. v ; 
 Acts vi. 6; xiii. 3; 2 Tim. i. 6 ; 1 Tim. iv. 14," 
 p. 190. In this Treatise, Rutherford argues on 
 the principle that if believers who are not Pastors, 
 may ordain Pastors, they may again depose and 
 excommunicate, " which, says he, are the highest 
 acts of jurisdiction ; and then may they preach 
 and baptize, not being called as Ministers, then 
 may the Sacraments be administrate where there 
 are no Pastors, which is absurd even to the sepa- 
 ratists themselves," p. 57. 
 
 (5.) The excellent James Guthrie, of Sterling, 
 in his Treatise " of Elders and Deacons," ob- 
 serves — " Howbeit the execution of some decrees 
 of the Church assemblies, — such as the imposition 
 of hands, — the pronouncing the sentence of ex- 
 communication — the receiving penitents — the in- 
 timation of the deposition of ministers, and such 
 like, do belong to ministers alone^ 
 
 (6.) In the Westminster Assembly of Divines, 
 the testimony borne on this subject is perfectly 
 clear and explicit. Their language is — " Every 
 minister of the word is to be ordained by imposi- 
 tion of hands and prayer, and fasting, by those 
 preaching Presbyters to whom it doth belong. 
 1 Tim. V. 22 ; Acts xiv. 23, and xiii. 3." 
 
 (7.) With the uniform language of the Church 
 of Scotland, and the decisive judgment of the West- 
 minster Assembly, the recorded opinion of the 
 venerable Calvin perfectly harmonized. Calvin's 
 language on this subject is too explicit and pointed 
 to admit of doubt or controversy. " The imposi- 
 tion of hands in the ordination of ministers is con- 
 fined to Pastors alone.'''' Instit. Lib. iv. Cap. iii. 
 Sect. 16. And this, by the way, may be considered 
 
BULIN6 ELDERS. 309 
 
 as a sufficient index of the practice of the Church 
 of Geneva^ in which Calvin had a patriarchal 
 authority. 
 
 In accordance with all these, it is notorious 
 that our venerated Fathers, who framed the pre- 
 sent Formularies of the Presbyterian Church in 
 the United States, and who might be supposed 
 best to know the import of their own work, never 
 claimed or allowed for Ruling Elders the right in 
 question. In no b-anch of European or Ameri- 
 can Presbyterianism was such a claim ever heard 
 of, until very lately, in a small portion of our 
 Body. 
 
 In vain is it alleged, then, that the language 
 of our prescribed form of ordination seems to im- 
 ply that all the members of the Fre&hytery shall 
 lay hands on the head of the candidate, and take 
 him by the hand, with an official salutation on 
 rising from his knees. That none but the stated, 
 permanent ministerial members of the Presbytery 
 are intended by these terms, is perfectly manifest, 
 from the common laws of language ; from all the 
 sources whence these formularies were derived; 
 and, above all, from the uniform acknowledged 
 practice of their framers themselves for more than 
 fifty years : for it was more than half a century 
 from the time of the adoption of our present con- 
 stitution, before the new claim in question was 
 proposed or thought of. 
 
(310) 
 
 CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 OF THE RESIGNATION OF RULING ELDERS ; THEIR 
 REMOVAL FR03I ONE CHURCH TO ANOTHER ; 
 AND THE METHOD OF CONDUCTING DISCIPLINE 
 AGAINST THEM. 
 
 As it is a fundamental principle of the Presbyte- 
 rian Church that the office of Ruling Elder is 
 permanent ; that when a man is once set apart to 
 it, he IS always an Elder, while he lives, unless 
 deposed by regular constitutional process ; a 
 variety of questions, naturally resulting from this 
 principle, claims our notice. Among these, some 
 of the more obvious and important will be briefly 
 considered in the present chapter. 
 
 A Ruling Elder, after being regularly and 
 solemnly set apart to his office, with, perhaps, as 
 full an intention of faithfully performing its duties 
 ^ to his life's end, as ever man had, may lose his 
 health, and thus become physically and perma- 
 nently unable to perform those duties. Or he may 
 become, unavoidably, so situated, with regard to 
 liis temporal business as to render the regular ful- 
 filment of his duties altogether impracticable. In 
 this case, the individual supposed, may resign his 
 place in the Session ; in other words, he may 
 cease to be an acting Overseer, or Inspector and 
 Ruler of that Church. He will, of course, still 
 retain his place and privileges as a regular member 
 of the Church ; but he will no longer lake any 
 part in its spiritual government. This is so rea- 
 sonable a provision, that it can scarcely be thought 
 
RESIGNATION, ETC., OF RULING ELDERS. 311 
 
 to require either illustration or defence. We all 
 know that a Teaching Elder, or Minister of the 
 Word and fSacraments, after being for a time a 
 pastor, may, if the state of his health, or any other 
 circumstance should imperiously demand it, resign 
 his pastoral charge, and retire, as long as the cause 
 of his resignation continues to operate, to private 
 life. He who does this, it is well known, thouo;h 
 he ceases to be a pastor, still continues to be a 
 minister, fully invested with the powers of an 
 " Ambassador of Christ." He may still, if he 
 think proper, reside within the bounds of the con- 
 gregation which he formerly served ; and he may, 
 occasionally, if mutually convenient and agreeable, 
 minister to them in sacred things. But he is no 
 longer their minister; and he may never think 
 proper again to take a pastoral charge. 
 
 All these principles apply to the Ruling Elder. 
 If he verily think that he cannot any longer per- 
 form the duties of his office in a manner acceptable 
 either to the Head of the Church, or to his people ; 
 he may withdraw from active service. When he 
 does this, however, he does not lay down his 
 office. He does not cease to be an Elder. He 
 only ceases to be an acting Elder. If his health 
 should ever be restored, or his temporal circum- 
 stances undergo a favourable alteration, he may 
 resume the duties of his office, and again take his 
 place in the Session from which he withdrew, or 
 some other, without a new ordination. When an 
 Elder thus wishes to resign his station, he is to 
 give official notice of his desire to the Session ; 
 they are to declare if they think proper, their 
 acceptance of his resignation ; the whole transac- 
 tion is to be distinctly recorded in the Sessional 
 Book J and report made to the Presbytery that the 
 
312 RESIGNATION, ETC., OP 
 
 indiv/dual in question has ceased to be an acting 
 member of thai Session. 
 
 Again ; an Elder may become wholly incapable 
 of serving the Church with which he is connected, 
 by the entire loss of his popularity. He may not 
 have become either heterodox in his theological 
 opinions, or so irregular in any part of his prac- 
 tice, as to render himself hable to process or 
 deposition from office ; and yet he may, by indis-- 
 cretions, or by undignified conduct, so lose the 
 respect and confidence of the people, or, in a 
 moment of prejudice or passion, the popular feel- 
 ing, without any just ground of blame on his part, 
 may be so strong against him, that he may be no 
 longer able to serve the Church either acceptably, 
 or to edification, as a spiritual Ruler. In either of 
 these cases, he ought voluntarily to resign his place 
 in the Session, as stated in the preceding para- 
 graph ; and the Session, after taking a vote of 
 acceptance on the resignation, ought distinctly to 
 record the same in the minutes of their proceedings, 
 and make regular report of it, for the information 
 of the Presbytery. In all this there will be recog- 
 nized an almost exact similarity to the usual course 
 of proceeding, when a pastor is sensible that he 
 has become unpopular, and wishes to resign his 
 charge. 
 
 It may be, however, that the Elder, whose popu- 
 larity is thus prostrated, may not be sensible of his 
 real situation ; may be unwilling to believe that he 
 is not popular, and may, therefore, refuse, even 
 when requested, to resign his station. In this 
 case, the course prescribed in our Form of Govern- 
 ment, is, that the Session make due report of the 
 whole matter to the Presbytery, giving due notice 
 to the Elder in question of the time and place at 
 
RULING ELDERS, 313 
 
 which it is intended to niake the report ; and that 
 the Presbytery decide, after due inquiry and deli- 
 beration, whether he ought to resign, or continue 
 his connexion with the Session. On the one hand, 
 no Church ought to be burdened by the incumbency 
 of an unpopular and obstinate Elder, who, instead 
 of edifying, is injuring it. And, on the other hand, 
 no innocent and really exemplary Elder ought to 
 be abandoned to the fury of popular prejudice, and 
 permitted to be trampled under feet, when, per- 
 haps, he ought to be sustained and honoured for 
 his fidelity. 
 
 Further; Ruhng Elders, like other Church 
 members, may find it their duty to remove their 
 residence from the bounds of the Church which 
 called them to office, to another. Such cases not 
 unfrequently arise. The question is, when they 
 do occur, how is the official standing of such a 
 removing Elder to be disposed of? He, of course, 
 when he goes, ought to take with him a regular 
 certificate of good standing, as a private Christian, 
 and a dismission and recommendation to the 
 Church to which he removes. The certificate 
 ought also to bear an attestation of his regular 
 standing as an Elder, and of his official as well 
 as personal dismission from his former Church. 
 With this certificate he will repair to the Church 
 to which he is recommended, and will, of course, 
 be received as a private member in good standing. 
 If the existing Eldership and members of the 
 Church to which he removes, think it for their 
 edification that he be introduced into their Session, 
 he may be elected in the manner " most approved 
 and in use in that congregation;" that is, either 
 by a nomination by the Session, or by a popular 
 vote of the Church members; and if thus elected, 
 27 
 
314 RESIGNATION, ETC., OP 
 
 introduced to an official relation to that people, not 
 by a new ordination, which ought never to be re- 
 peated ; but by being regularly installed as their 
 Elder. This is effected by the candidate appear- 
 ing in the face of the congregation, as one about 
 to be ordained ; answering in the affirmative the 
 fourth question directed to be put to candidates for 
 the Eldership at their ordination ; the members 
 of the congregation publicly professing to receive 
 him as their spiritual Ruler, agreeably to the last 
 question, in the same formula ; declaring him one 
 of the Ruling Elders of that Church; and closing 
 with prayer for the Divine blessing on the trans- 
 action. 
 
 It may be, however, that when an individual, 
 who has served one conorrearation as an Elder, 
 removes into the bounds of another, that other may 
 not, on the whole, think best to elect him as one 
 of their Elders. They may already have as many 
 as they think there ought to be in one Church. 
 Or his character, though unexceptionably good, 
 may not be such as to promise great benefit by 
 taking him into their parochial Presbytery. In this 
 case, they are under no obligation to elect him one 
 of their Elders. And if they do not think best to 
 employ him in this character, he may live among 
 them as a private member of the Church. At this 
 he ought to take no offence. It would be a hard 
 case, indeed, if Churches were not left at liberty 
 to act agreeably to their own views of propriety 
 and duty in such cases. If a preaching Elder, or 
 pastor, be liberated from his pastoral charge, and 
 remove his residence within the bounds of another 
 Church, however excellent his character, that 
 Church is not bound to employ him. To suppose 
 it bound, would indeed be ecclesiastical slavery. 
 
RULING ELDERS. 315 
 
 A preacher inferior to him, in every respect, might 
 be preferred. Every Church must be left to its 
 own unbiassed choice. Slill the Elder, as well as 
 the minister, in the case supposed, though in re- 
 tirement, and without othcial employment, retains 
 his office, and is capable of being employed in that 
 office, whenever the judicatories of the Church 
 think proper to avail themselves of his ser- 
 vices. 
 
 When Ruling Elders become chargeable with 
 heresy or immorality, and, of course, liable to the 
 discipline of the Church, they are amenable to the 
 bar of the Church Session. By that body they 
 are to be arraia;ned and tried. Process against 
 them is to be conducted according to the same 
 general rules which regulate the trial of private 
 members of the Church, excepting that, as their 
 character is, in some respects, more important, 
 and their example more influential, than the cha- 
 racter and example of those who bear no office in 
 the Church ; so there ought to be peculiar caution, 
 tenderness, and care in receiving accusations, and 
 in commencing process against them. " Against 
 an Elder," says the inspired Paul, " receive not 
 an accusation, but before two or three witnesses." 
 If, therefore, any person observe or hear of any 
 thing in a Ruling Elder which he considers as 
 rendering him justly liable to censure, he ought 
 by no means immediately to spread it abroad ; 
 but to communicate what he has observed or heard 
 to the pastor of the Church, and take his advice 
 as to the proper course to be pursued ; and if the 
 pastor cannot be seen and consulted, then similar 
 consultation and advice should be had with one, 
 at least, of the brother Elders of the supposed de- 
 linquent : and all this, before any hint respecting 
 
316 RESIGNATION, ETC., OP 
 
 the alleged delinquency is lisped to any other 
 human being. 
 
 As the Church Session is the tribunal to which 
 the Ruling Elder is, at least in the first instance, 
 always amenable ; so it is generally proper that he 
 should be tried by that judicatory. Yet where 
 there is any thing peculiar or delicate in the case 
 of process against an Elder, a Presbytery should 
 be consulted. 
 
 There are cases, however, so very peculiar as 
 to preclude the possibility of an impartial trial, 
 and sometimes, indeed, of any trial at all, before 
 the Session. A few such cases may be specified. 
 
 An instance occurred, a few year since, in 
 which there were only two Elders in a certain 
 Church Session, and the moral conduct of both 
 these Elders became impeached. It was, of course, 
 impossible to try them in the usual manner. 
 
 In another case, the Session was composed of 
 two Elders beside the pastor. These Elders were 
 own brothers. One of them was charged with 
 immoral conduct ; and it was judged altogether 
 improper that any attempt should be made to try 
 the delinquent in that Session. 
 
 In a third class of cases, when process against 
 members of Church Sessions had been commenced, 
 it was found that so many of the brother Elders 
 of the delinquents were cited as witnesses, that 
 there was no prospect of a dispassionate and im- 
 partial trial by the remainder. 
 
 In all these cases, it was wisely judged proper 
 to apply immediately to the Presbytery, to take 
 the several causes in hand, and to commence and 
 issue process. 
 
 It has been sometimes proposed, in exigencies 
 similar to those which have been stated, without 
 
RULING ELDERS. 317 
 
 applying to the Presbytery, to call in the aid of 
 tlie Eldership of a neighbouring Church, and to 
 submit the case to their decision. To this course 
 their are two objections. First — the Constitution 
 of the Presbyterian Church knows of no such 
 body. It has no where provided for the forma- 
 tion of a parochial tribunal in such a manner. 
 And, secondly, the adoption of this plan would be 
 to set one Church as a judge over a neighbouring 
 sister Church. 
 
 To avoid this incongruity, it has been sometimes 
 proposed to form a tribunal for the trial of delin- 
 quent Elders, by selecting one or two of the same 
 class of olBcers, from each of several neighbouring 
 Sessions. This was intended as an expedient to 
 avoid the impropriety of setting one Church in 
 judgment over another. But this expedient, be- 
 sides that it is unauthorized by any constitutional 
 provision, is liable to the charge of a selection of 
 judges which may not always be fair and impar- 
 tial. It is far better on every account, and espe- 
 cially more in harmony with the nature of the 
 case, and with the spirit of our general principles 
 to go immediately to the Presbytery. That 
 body is the natural resort in all cases in which 
 the Church Session is unable, in its ordinary struc- 
 ture and situation, to perform the contemplaied 
 work. 
 
 27 
 
(318) 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A.DVANTAGES OF COrfDUCTING DISCIPLINE ON THE 
 PRESBYTERIAN PLAN. 
 
 It is not forgotten, in entering on this chapter, that 
 most denominations of Christians are so far pre- 
 judiced, and sometimes so blindly prejudiced, in 
 favour of their own particular government and for- 
 mularies, that their judgment in reference to this 
 matter, can seldom be regarded as impartial. The 
 writer of this Essay, though he does not allow 
 himself to indulge in such prejudices, yet does not 
 claim to be wholly free from them. Instead, there- 
 fore, of troubling the reader with his bare impres- 
 sions and preferences in regard to the Presbyterian 
 mode of conducting discipline, which would, of 
 course, go for nothing ; it is proposed to present 
 such a series of principles and reasonings as will 
 enable the intelligent inquirer to judge for himself, 
 how far the conclusions of the writer are sustained 
 by solid argument. 
 
 I. And, in the first place, the plan of discipline 
 for which we plead, is founded, essentially, on the 
 principle of representation, which, in a greater or 
 ^ess degree, pervades all human society. When a 
 community of any extent wishes to frame laws for 
 its own government, Dy whom is this service 
 usually performed? By the whole body of citi- 
 zens, wise and unwise, orderly and disorderly, 
 coming together, and debating on the propriety and 
 the form of every proposed enactment ? No, never. 
 An attempt of this kind would soon show the plan 
 
ADVANTAGES OF THIS PLAN. 319 
 
 to be equally foolish and impracticable. Again; 
 when a Court is to be fornried, for applying the 
 laws already in force, to human actions, of what 
 materials is this tribunal commonly composed? 
 Does any one ever think of summoning the whole 
 mass of the male population, excepting the culprit, 
 or the complainant, whose cause is to be tried, to 
 come together, and decide on the case? Who 
 would ever expect either a tranquil or a wise de- 
 cision from such a judicial assembly ? In both 
 these cases, the good sense of men, in all civilized 
 society, dictates the choice of a select number of 
 individuals, representatives of the whole body, and 
 supposed to possess a competent share of know- 
 ledge, wisdom, and integrity, to form the laws of 
 the community ; and another body, smaller, in- 
 deed, but constituted upon similar principles, judi- 
 cially to apply them when enacted. And so in 
 every department of society. The representative 
 system was one of the earliest that appeared in 
 the progress of mankind. It is recommended by its 
 reasonableness, its convenience, its wisdom, and 
 its efhciency. In fact, the more deeply we look 
 into the history and state of the world, the more 
 clearly we shall see that large bodies of men can- 
 not take a step without it. 
 
 And, as this system pervades all civil society ; 
 so we may say, without fear of contradiction, that 
 it equally pervades the whole economy of re- 
 demption and grace. Is it not reasonable, then, 
 that we should tind it in the visible Church? U 
 we did not, it would, indeed, be a strange depar- 
 ture from a general principle of Jehovah's king- 
 dom. 
 
 The Presbyterian plan, then, of conducting the 
 government of each congregation, is recommended 
 
320 ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 by its conformity wiih this, almost universal, prin- 
 ciple. It deposits the power of applying the laws 
 which Christ has enacted, and given to his people, 
 not with the whole professing population of the 
 Church ; but with a select body of the communi- 
 cants, most distinguished for their piety, know- 
 ledge, judgment, and experience. It does no 
 make judges indiscriminately of the young ana 
 old, the enlightened and the ignorant, the wise 
 and the unwise. It selects the exemplary, the 
 pious, the prudent, the grave, and the experienced, 
 for this important work. " It sets those to judge 
 who are most esteemed in the house of God." 
 This is the theory ; and, in most cases, we sup- 
 pose, the actual practice. And where it is really 
 so, who does not see that there is eyery security 
 which the nature of the case admits, that the 
 judgment will be the most calm, judicious, and 
 edifying, that the amount of wisdom and of piety 
 in that Church could pronounce? 
 
 The inconvenience, nay, the positive mischiefs, 
 of committing the judgment, in the most delicate 
 and difficult cases of implicated Christian cha- 
 racter, to the whole mass of Christian professors, 
 have been alluded to in a preceding chapter. 
 And the more closely they are examined, the 
 more serious will they appear. No confidential 
 precaution; no calm, retired inquiry; no delibe- 
 rate consultation of sensitive feelings, with fidelity, 
 and yet with fraternal delicacy, can possibly take 
 place, in ordinary cases, but by the adoption of 
 an expedient, which amounts to the temporary 
 appointment of Elders. On the contrary, upon 
 any other plan, the door is wide open for tale- 
 bearing ; for party heat ; for the violation of all 
 those nicer sensibilities which in Christian society 
 
THIS PLAN. 321 
 
 are of so much value ; and after all, for a deci- 
 sion with which, perhaps, no one is satisfied. It 
 would, truly, be passing strange, if a sober, wise, 
 and consistent decision should be pronounced by 
 such a tribunal. We are surely, then, warranted 
 in setting it down as one of the manifest advan- 
 tages of conducting discipline on the Presbyterian 
 plan, that, by the adoption of the representative 
 system, it provides, in all ordinary cases, for the 
 purest, the wisest, and the most edifying decisions 
 of which the nature of the case admits. 
 
 II. Further ,* as was hinted, in a preceding 
 chapter, this method of conducting discipline, 
 presents one of the firmest conceivable barriers 
 against the ambition and encroachments of the 
 clergy. It is not intended again to enlarge on the 
 liableness of ministers of the gospel to feel that 
 love of power which is natural to man. Very 
 few of them, it is believed, in this land of reli- 
 gious liberty, have ever really aimed at ecclesias- 
 tical encroachment. But as laws are made for 
 the disobedient ; and as ministers are but men ; 
 so that system of ecclesiastical polity may be con- 
 sidered as the best, which, while it is attended 
 with the greatest amount of positive advantage, is 
 adapted most effectually to obviate those evils to 
 which human nature is exposed. 
 
 Now, it is evident, that the method of conduct- 
 ing discipline at present under consideration, as- 
 signs to every Pastor a Council, or Senate of 
 pious, wise, prudent men, chosen from among the 
 body of the communicants; and though not strictly 
 laymen, yet commonly so viewed, and, at any rate, 
 carrying with them the feelings of the mass of 
 their brethren. The pastor is simply the chair- 
 man of this body of six, eight, or ten men, who 
 
322 ADVANTAGES OP 
 
 are charged with the whole spiritual rule, and 
 " without whose counsel nothing is done in the 
 Church." He can carry no measure but with 
 their consent. He can neither admit nor exclude 
 a single member, without their concurrence. If 
 he engage in any sinister or foul plan, as many 
 are fond of supposing the clergy inclined to at- 
 tempt, he certainly cannot accomplish ir, either in 
 his own Church, or in neighbouring Churches, 
 unless he can prevail on these men to join with 
 him in conspiring to elevate himself, at their own 
 expense. VVill he be likely to work such a won- 
 der as this ? At any rate, there seems to be the 
 best barrier against it, that the nature of human 
 society admits. 
 
 The same general safeguard pervades all the 
 Judicatories of the Presbyterian Church. In all 
 of them Ruling Elders have a place, and in all 
 of them, excepting the General Assembly, the 
 Elders, if the theory of our system were carried 
 into perfect execution, would be a majority. In 
 the General Assembly alone, if completely full, 
 they would stand on an equality in votes with the 
 Pastors. And these Ruling Elders are not merely 
 present in all these bodies. They mingle in all 
 the business ; are appointed on all committees ; 
 and have every possible opportunity of becoming 
 acquainted, in the most intimate manner, with all 
 that is proposed or done. There can be no con- 
 cealment. The proceedings of all our Judicato- 
 ries, excepting the Church Session, where the 
 Elders form an overwhelming majority, are open 
 and public as the light of day. And every 
 Ruling Elder has at his disposal a vote as potent 
 as that of his most eloquent and learned neigh- 
 bouring Pastor. 
 
THIS PLAN. 323 
 
 ' It may be asked, then, whether there is not 
 here a barrier against clerical ambition and en- 
 croachment as fixed and firm as can well be con- 
 ceived or desired ? It is, undoubtedly, a far more 
 firm barrier than is presented by the popular plan 
 in use among our Independent brethren. For as, 
 in every Church, a majority of the members have 
 but little discernment, and are, of course, easily 
 influenced and led ; so an artful, designing Pastor, 
 if such an one should appear in a Church thus 
 constituted, might generally succeed in conciliat- 
 ing to his own person and schemes a majority of 
 the votes, to the utter discomfiture of the more 
 wise, pious, and prudent portion of the members. 
 But, upon the Presbyterian plan, it is precisely 
 this best class of his Church members who are 
 associated with him in authority and counsel ; 
 who are with him, ecclesiastically speaking, 
 abroad and at home, in the house and by the 
 way, in going out and in coming in ; from whose 
 notice he cannot escape, and without whose co- 
 operation he can do nothing. Truly, this is the 
 very last method that designing, ambitious minis- 
 ters would adopt to forward their projects ! — 
 Nothing could be conceived more unfriendly to 
 corrupt schemes, than such a band of official col- 
 leagues. And accordingly, as we have more than 
 once seen, in the foregoing chapters, the honest 
 and pious old Ambrose, of the fourth century, 
 expressly tells us, that it was a wish to get rid 
 of such colleagues, on the part of the Teaching 
 Elders, that first led to the gradual disuse of 
 Ruling Elders in the Church, alter the first three 
 centuries. 
 
 III. Again ; as the Presbyterian plan of ad- 
 ministering discipline is adapted to present one 
 
324 ADVANTAGES OP 
 
 of the strongest conceivable barriers against 
 clerical ambition, so it also furnishes one of the 
 best securities for preserving the rights of the 
 people. And here nothing will be said on the 
 supposed congeniality between the Presbyterian 
 form of Church Government, and the republican, 
 representative systems under which we live ; and 
 the alleged tendency of the former to prepare 
 men for understanding, prizing, and maintaining 
 the latter ; I say, on these allegations I shall not 
 dwell ; not because I do not consider both as 
 perfectly well founded ; but because the discus- 
 sion might be deemed, by some readers invi- 
 dious ; and because it forms no necessary part 
 of my argument. Independently of these con- 
 siderations, it may be confidently maintained, 
 that the Presbyterian plan of administering dis- 
 cipline, furnishes far better security for preserving 
 unimpaired the rights of private Christians, than 
 any plan with which we are acquainted. It is not 
 forgotten that this assertion will appear a paradox 
 to many ; but it rests, nevertheless, on the most 
 solid grounds. 
 
 There is no oppression more heavy, no ty- 
 ranny more unrelenting, thnn that of an excited, 
 infuriated popular assembly ; no body with which 
 the rights and privileges of an inculpated in- 
 dividual are less safe; especially when headed 
 and controlled by an eloquent, artful, and highly 
 popular Pastor, who has taken part against that 
 individual. Suppose, then, as the annals of 
 Independency have too often exemplified, that a 
 member is on trial, for some alleged delinquency, 
 before a Church of that denomination. Suppose 
 the alleged offence to be one which has deeply 
 alienated from him his Pastor, and all the par- 
 
THIS PLAN. 325 
 
 ticular friends of the Pastor. Suppose these, as 
 one man, rise up against him, and resolve to 
 crush him. And suppose this Pastor to be so 
 generally admired and beloved by his people, 
 that he is able to command an overwhelming 
 majority of their votes, in support of all his 
 favourite measures. What chance would such 
 an accused person stand of an impartial trial 
 before such a tribunal ? Not the smallest. He 
 might be guilty, indeed, and deserve the heaviest 
 sentence ; but even if innocent, his acquittal, in 
 such circumstances, could be anticipated by 
 none. He must become the victim of popular 
 resentment ; and if he thus fall, he has no 
 remedy. There is no tribunal to which he can 
 appeal. He must lie down under the oppressive 
 sentence. And there he must lie as long as he 
 lives. He cannot regularly, (that is, according 
 to that ecclesiastical rule which pervades all 
 religious denominations) go to another Church ; 
 for the supposition is that he is excommuni- 
 cated, and cannot be recommended as in " good 
 standing" to any other ecclesiastical body. He 
 must submit to the operation of the sentence, 
 however unjust, until the excited and impas- 
 sioned body which laid it upon him, shall be dis- 
 posed to relent, and consent to remove the deadly 
 weight. 
 
 It is not denied that there may be moments 
 of prejudice and passion in the Presbyterian 
 Church, in which even the grave and expe- 
 rienced Elders may be so wrought upon by 
 different sorts of influence, as to dispense justice 
 very imperfectly, or, even, in a particular case, 
 to refuse it entirely. But then, in every such 
 case, upon the Presbyterian plan, there is an 
 28 
 
326 ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 immediate and perfect remedy. An individual 
 who supposes himself wronged, may appeal to a 
 higher tribunal, where his cause will be heard 
 by judicious, enlightened, impartial men, who 
 had no concern in its origin, and who, if wrong 
 have been done, may be expected to afford 
 prompt and complete redress. The oppressive 
 sentence may be reversed. He may be rein- 
 stated, in spite of popular excitement, in all his 
 Christian privileges ; and even, where his own 
 reluctance, or that of his former connexions, may 
 forbid his return to the bosom of the same con- 
 gregation in which he recently received such 
 treatment ; yet he may easily and regularly be 
 attached to a nei^hbourinor one of the same deno- 
 mination, and thus find the whole difficulty satis- 
 factorily removed. 
 
 It is not asserted then, that other Churches, 
 in the exercise of discipline, do, in fact, more 
 frequently injure and oppress the subjects of 
 their discipline than the Presbyterian Church. 
 Such an assertion, indeed, might, perhaps, be 
 made without invidiousness ; inasmuch as deci- 
 sions formed and pronounced by the popular 
 voice, may be deemed, without disparagement 
 to the individuals who form them, less likely to 
 be wise, and impartial, than when formed by a 
 select body of enlightened and pious judges. 
 But on this point no comparative estimate will 
 be attempted. It is, however, confidently asserted, 
 that when such wrong, as that of which we 
 speak unhappily occurs, the Presbyterian sys- 
 tem affords more complete relief from oppression, 
 and, therefore, furnishes more fixed security for 
 the rights of the people, than is found in any 
 other denomination. No single man, in our 
 
THIS PLAN. 327 
 
 Church, whatever title he may bear, can, by his 
 single, perhaps capricious, veto^ deprive a pro- 
 fessing Christian of his privileges as a Church 
 member ; nor can it be done by a feverish, 
 popular assembly, impelled by its own prejudice 
 or passion, or held under the sovereign control 
 of one man. The best array of piety, wisdom, 
 and knowledge which the society alTords, must 
 sit in judgment in the case, and even if this judi- 
 catory should give an unjust sentence, the religious 
 rights of the individual are not prostrated or fore- 
 closed ; but may be reviewed by an impartial 
 tribunal, and every privilege which he ought to 
 enjoy, be secured. 
 
 IV. Further; the plan of conducting Church 
 government with the aid of Ruling Elders, 
 secures to Ministers of the Word and Sacra- 
 ments, counsel and support, in all their official 
 proceedings, of the best possible kind. Suppos- 
 ing ministers of the gospel to be honest, pious, 
 disinterested, and zealous in their appropriate 
 work ; to have no disposition, at any time, to 
 encroach on the rights of others ; and to be 
 above the reach of that passion and prejudice, 
 which are so apt to assail even the honest, and 
 which need a check in all ; even suppose mi- 
 nisters of the gospel to be above the reach of 
 these evils; still they need counsel, information, 
 and support in a multitude of cases, and cannot, 
 with either safety or advantage, proceed without 
 them. In all the affairs of the Church, it is 
 of the utmost importance that the interests of 
 the whole body be constantly consulted, and 
 that the whole body act an appropriate part in 
 conducting its atl'uirs. As there are no privi- 
 leged orders to be aggrandized and elevated; so 
 
328 ADVANTAGES OP 
 
 there are no ecclesiastical secrets to be kept ; 
 no private or selfish schemes to be tolerated. 
 The more completely every plan is laid open to 
 public view, understood, and appreciated by 
 every member, sustained by unanimous and 
 willing effort, and made to promote the know- 
 ledge, purity, and order of the whole, the better. 
 Of course, that plan of ecclesiastical regimen 
 which is best adapted to attain these ends, and 
 to attain them in the most certain, direct, quiet, 
 and comfortable manner, is most worthy of our 
 choice. 
 
 Such a plan it is firmly believed, is the Presby- 
 terian. In every department of official duty, the 
 Pastor of this denomination has associated with 
 him, a body of pious, wise, and disinterested 
 counsellors, taken from among the people ; ac- 
 quainted with their views ; participating in their 
 feelings ; able to give sound advice as to the 
 wisdom and practicability of plans which require 
 general co-operation for carrying them into effect ; 
 and able also, after having aided in the formation 
 of such plans, to return to their constituents, and 
 so to advocate and recommend them, as to secure 
 ^general concurrence in their favour 
 
 This is an advantage, strictly speaking, pecu- 
 liar to Presbyterianism. For although other 
 forms of Church government provide for asso- 
 ciating laymen with the clergy in ecclesiastical 
 business ; yet, according to them, there is no 
 divine warrant for it. It is a mere human ex- 
 pedient, to meet an acknowledged exigency, for 
 which those who make this acknowledgment, 
 suppose that the law of Christ makes no provi- 
 sion. And the human provision which they thus 
 make, is, manifestly, liable to many objections. 
 
THIS PLAN. 829 
 
 It consists cither in constituting the whole body 
 of the communicants the Pastor's counsellors — 
 which is liable to all the objections stated at large 
 in a former chapter ; or, in providing for him a 
 committee, or small delegation of laymen, who 
 may be changed every year, or oftener, and, of 
 course, may have very little experience ; and in 
 some Churches these lay delegates are not re- 
 quired to be communicants, or even baptized per- 
 sons ; and, consequently, may have no real eccle- 
 siastical responsibility for their conduct. 
 
 V. The method of conducting discipline under 
 consideration, has also the advantage on the score 
 of despatch and energy^ as well as of wisdom and 
 the security of equal rights. 
 
 Where all the discipline that is exercised is in 
 the hands of a single individual, without appeal, it 
 must be confessed that, in this case, provision for 
 despatch and energy cannot be, at least in theory, 
 more perfect. But where it is in the hands of 
 the whole body of the Church members, there is 
 no saying how long litigation may be protracted, 
 or in what perplexities and delays the plainest 
 case may be involved. There are so many 
 minds to be consulted, and every case, upon this 
 plan, is so open to capricious or malignant in- 
 terposition, that it is impossible, in ordinary 
 circumstances, to calculate results, or to foresee 
 an end. 
 
 Even on the Presbyterian plan, there is no 
 doubt that delay and perplexities may, in some 
 cases, arise. But where the whole management 
 of discipline, from its inceptive steps to the con- 
 summation of each case, is entirely committed to 
 a select body of pious, intelligent, prudent, and 
 experiencec^ men, accustomed to the work, and 
 28* 
 
330 ADVANTAGES OP 
 
 aware of the dangers to which their course is ex- 
 posed, we may reasonably calculate on their 
 decisions being as speedy, as unembarrassed, 
 and as much lifted above the temporizing feeble- 
 ness, or the tempestuous irregularity and confu- 
 sion, incident to popular management, as human 
 infirmity will allow. 
 
 VI. The plan of conducting discipline by means 
 of a succession of judicatories, admitting of ap- 
 peal, provides for redressing many grievances 
 which do not appear, otherwise, to admit of a 
 remedy. According to the Independent, or 
 strictly Congregational system, as suggested in a 
 preceding page, when a member of a Church has 
 been unjustly censured or cast out, he has no 
 appeal. There is no tribunal to which he can 
 apply for relief. Yet his case may be an ex- 
 ceedingly hard one, loudly calling for redress. 
 The cause of religion in his neighbourhood may 
 be suffering severely by the situation in which he 
 is placed. Ought there not to be some regular 
 and adequate method of meeting and removing 
 such a difRculty ? In such of the Churches of 
 Connecticut as have entered into the plan of Con- 
 sociational union, such a method has been, to a 
 certain extent, provided. But it has been by 
 adopting, to precisely the same extent, a leading 
 principle of Presbyterianism. When difficulties 
 arise in a particular Church, a tribunal is formed, 
 by a number of neighbouring ministers, together 
 with one or more lay-delegates, from each of the 
 Churches represented, who may review, and, if 
 need be, redress the alleged grievance. This is 
 a Presbyterian feature in their system, and, so far 
 as it goes, excellent and effectual. In the judg 
 ment, however, of the venerable President Dwight, 
 
THIS PLAN. 33X 
 
 this plan is still defective, and defective precisely 
 in the point at which it stops short of Presbytc- 
 rianism. The opinion which this distinguished 
 Congregational Minister has expressed, in re- 
 ference to the subject before us, will best ap- 
 pear by presenting it in its connexion. It is as 
 follows : — 
 
 " There are many cases in which individuals 
 are dissatisfied, on reasonable grounds, with the 
 judgment of a Church. It is perfectly obvious, 
 that, in a debate between two members of the 
 same Church, the parties may, in many respects, 
 stand on unequal ground. One of them may be 
 ignorant ; without family connexions ; in humble 
 circumstances ; and possessed of little or no per- 
 sonal influence. The other may be a person o^ 
 distinction ; opulent ; powerfully connected ; of 
 superior understanding ; and of great personal 
 influence, not only in the Church, but also in the 
 country at large. As things are in this world, it 
 is impossible that these persons should possess, 
 in any controversy between them, equal advan- 
 tages. Beyond all this, the Church itself may 
 be one party, and a poor and powerless member 
 the other. In this case, also, it is unnecessary 
 to observe, the individual must labour under 
 every supposable disadvantage, to which a right- 
 eous cause can be subjected. To bring the parties 
 in these, or any similar circumstances, as near 
 to a state of equality as human atTairs will per- 
 mit, it seems absolutely necessary that every 
 ecclesiastical body should have its tribunal of 
 appeals ; a superior Judicature, established by 
 common consent, and vested with authority to 
 issue finally all those causes, which, before a 
 
S32 ADVANTAGES OP 
 
 single Church, are obviously liable to a partial 
 decision." 
 
 " Such a tribunal, in all the Nevv-England States, 
 except thi**, (Connecticut,) is formed by what is 
 called a Select Council ; that is a council mutually 
 chosen by the contending parties. This has long 
 appeared to me a Judicatory most unhappily con- 
 stituted. The parties choose, of course, such 
 persons, as they suppose most likely to favour 
 themselves. If, therefore, they commit no mis- 
 take in the choice, the Council may be considered 
 as divided in opinion, before it assembles ; and as 
 furnishing every reason to believe, that it will not 
 be less divided afterwards. Its proceedings will 
 frequently be marked with strong partialities; and 
 Its decisions, if made at all, will, not unfrequently, 
 be those of a bare majority. Coming from different 
 parts of the country, it will have no common rules 
 of proceeding. Afler its decisions, its existence 
 ceases. Its responsibility vanishes with its exist- 
 ence ; as does also the sense of its authority. As 
 the members frequently come from a distance, it 
 can have no knowledge concerning those numerous 
 particulars, which respect the transactions to be 
 judged of, and the characters, interests, views, and 
 contrivances of those who are immediately con- 
 cerned. As individuals, these members may, in 
 some instances, have much weight ; and in certain 
 circumstances, may, by their wisdom and piety, do 
 much good. But all this must arise solely from 
 their personal character. As a Council, as a judi- 
 catory, they can scarcely have any weight at all ; 
 for as they disappear when the trial is ended, they 
 are forgotten in their united character ; and having 
 no permanent existence, are regarded with no 
 habitual respect, and even with no prejudice in 
 
THIS PLAN. 333 
 
 their favour. Very often, also, as they are chosen 
 on partial principles, they are led, of course, to 
 partial decisions ; and leave behind them very 
 unhappy opinions concerning ecclesiastical govern- 
 ment at large." 
 
 "In this state, (Connecticut,) a much happier 
 mode has been resorted to, for the accomplishment 
 of this object. The tribunal of appeal is here a 
 Consociation ; a standing body ; composed of the 
 settled Ministers within an associational district, 
 and Delegates from the Churches in the same dis- 
 trict ; a body always existing ; of acknowledged 
 authority ; of great weight ; possessed of all the 
 impartiality incident to human affairs ; feeling its 
 responsibility as a thing of course; a Court of Re- 
 cord, havinjj a regular system of precedents ; and, 
 from being frequently called to business of this na- 
 ture, skilled, to a good degree, in the proper modes 
 of proceeding." 
 
 " The greatest defect in this system, as it seems 
 to me, is the want of a still superior tribunal, to 
 receive appeals, in cases where they are obviously 
 necessary. These, it is unnecessary for me to par- 
 ticularize. Every person extensively acquainted 
 with ecclesiastical affairs, knows that such cases 
 exist. The only remedy provided by the system 
 of discipline established in this State, for those 
 who feel aggrieved by a Consociational judgment, 
 is to introduce a neighbouring^ Consociation, as 
 assessors with that which has given the judgment, 
 at a new hearing of the cause. The provision 
 of this partial, imperfect tribunal of appeals, is 
 clear proof, that those who formed the system, 
 perceived the absolute necessity of some appellate 
 jurisdiction. The judicatory which they have fur- 
 nished of this nature, is perhaps the best, which 
 
834 ADVA?fTAGES OF 
 
 the Churches of the State, would at that, or any 
 succeeding period, have consented to establish. 
 Yet it is easy to see that, were they disposed, 
 they might easily institute one which would be in- 
 comparably belter." 
 
 " The only instance found in the Scriptures 
 of an appeal, actually made for the decision of an 
 ecclesiastical debate, is that recorded in t^.ie fifteenth 
 chapter of the Acts, and mentioned for another pur- 
 pose in a former discourse. A number of the Jews 
 in the Church at Antioch, insisted that the gentile 
 converts should be circumcised and be obliged to 
 keep the law of Moses. Paul and Barnabas stre- 
 nuously controverted this point with them. As no 
 harmonious termination of the debate could be had 
 at Antioch, an appeal was made " to the Apostles 
 and Elders at Jerusalem." But, as I observed, in 
 the discourse mentioned, it was heard and deter- 
 mined by the Apostles, Elders, and Brethren. As 
 this judicatory was formed under the direction of 
 the Apostles themselves, it must be admitted as a 
 precedent for succeeding Churches ; and teaches 
 us, on the one hand, that an appellate jurisdiction 
 is both lawful and necessary in the Church ; and, 
 on the other, that it is to be composed of both 
 Ministers and Brethren, necessarily acting, at the 
 present time, by delegation,"* 
 
 In this quotation, and in the remarks which pre- 
 ceded it, a reference, it will be perceived, is prin 
 cipally had to cases in which individual private 
 members have considered themselves as aggrieved 
 by the decisions of particular Churches. But the 
 same remarks, in substance, are applicable to those 
 cases in which difficulties arise between Ministers 
 
 * Theology Explained and Defended, Vol. iv. 399—401. 
 
THIS PLAN. 335 
 
 and their Congregations, or between two neigh- 
 bouring Congregations of the same name. No 
 form of Church government provides for the settle- 
 ment of such dilliculties so promptly or so well 
 as the Presbyterian. Independency, strictly so 
 called ; that is Independency, in strict adherence 
 to its essential principles, furnishes, for such evils, 
 no remedy whatever. Other sects furnish a no- 
 minal or partial remedy, by investing some official 
 individual with power to constitute a tribunal for 
 settling such controversies. But the choice of the 
 members of this tribunal is usually committed 
 entirely to that individual, and it is, of course, in 
 his power to make it, like a "packed jury," in the 
 hands of a corrupt returning officer, a mere instru- 
 ment of oppression. But, in the Presbyterian 
 Church, every difficulty of this kind is committed, 
 for adjustment, to a permanent, responsible body ; 
 a body whose proceedings may be reviewed and 
 examined ; whose organization or members can- 
 not be changed at the will of a corrupt individual, 
 who may choose to tamper with them ; and 
 whose decisions are not merely advisory, but 
 authoritative. 
 
 VII. Finally; the Presbyterian method of con- 
 ducting the government of the Church, is most 
 friendly to the spread of the gospel, and furnishes 
 peculiar facilities for union and efficiency of action, 
 in promoting the great objects of Christian bene- 
 volence. 
 
 It has been sometimes, indeed, alleged in oppo- 
 sition to this, that Presbyterianism is, naturally, 
 and almost necessarily, cold and formal; and that 
 Congregationalism has been found, in fact, more 
 favourable to zeal and activity in spreading the 
 gospel. It is by no means intended to depreciate 
 
S36 ADVA>'TAGES OF 
 
 either the zeal or the activity of our Congregational 
 Brethren. Justice demands that much be said in 
 commendation of both. And it will be no small 
 praise to any other denomination to be found suc- 
 cessfully emulating the intelligence, enterprise and 
 perseverance which they have often manifested in 
 pursuing the best interests of the Redeemer's king- 
 dom. But when the organization of the Presby- 
 terian Church is examined, one would think that 
 prejudice itself could scarcely deny its peculiar 
 adaptedness for united, harmonious, and efficient 
 action, in every thing which it might become con- 
 vinced was worthy of pursuit. 
 
 In order to enable this Church to act with the 
 utmost energy and uniformity, throughout its en- 
 tire extent, there is no need of any new organiza- 
 tion. It is organized already, and in a manner, 
 as would seem, as perfect as possible for united 
 and harmonious action. A delegation from every 
 Church meet and confer, several times in each 
 year, as a matter of course, in Presbytery. What 
 opportunity could be imagined more favourable 
 for forming and executing plans of co-operation, 
 among all the Churches thus united, and statedly 
 convening? They have the same opportunity, 
 and every advantage, of meeting at pleasure, that 
 can be enjoyed by a voluntary association ; with 
 the additional advantage, that they act under a 
 system of ecclesiastical rules and authority, which 
 enable them to go forward with more energy and 
 uniformity in their adopted course. If a more ex- 
 tended union of Presbyterian Churches than of 
 those which belong to a single Presbytery, be de- 
 sired, for any particular purpose, the regular meet- 
 ings of the Synods, each comprising a number of 
 Presbyteries, afford the happiest opportunity, with- 
 
THIS PLAN. 337 
 
 out any new or extra combination, of effecting the 
 object. The representatives of, perhaps, one hun- 
 dred and fifty Churches, assembled in their eccle- 
 siastical capacity, and in the name of Christ, could 
 hardly be conceived to convene in circumstances 
 more perfectly favourable to their co-operating, in 
 any worthy and hallowed cause, with one heart, 
 and with the most perfect concentration of effort. 
 And "when we extend our thoughts to the General 
 Assembly, the bond of union, counsel and co-ope- 
 ration for more than two thousand Churches, all 
 represented, and combined in the same cause; we 
 see a plan which, in theory at least, it would seem 
 difficult to adapt more completely to union of heart 
 and hand in any good work. The most admirable 
 combination, with every possible advantage, exists 
 beforehand. Nothing is in any case, wanting, 
 but the animating Spirit necessary for applying it 
 to the proper objects. The machinery, in all its 
 perfection, is already constructed, and ready to be 
 set in motion. Only let the impelling principle, 
 which is necessary to set all moral combinations 
 into vigorous movement, be present, and operate 
 with due power, and it may be asserted, that a 
 more advantageous system for ecclesiastical enter- 
 prise was never devised. 
 
 It is not a sufficient reply to this statement to 
 say, that the Congregational Churches of New 
 England, have, in fact, done more within the last 
 thirty years, in the way of contribution and effort, 
 for extending the Redeemer's kingdom, than any 
 equal number of Churches of the Presbyterian de- 
 nomination in the United States. It is impossible 
 to contemplate the intelligence, harmony of feel- 
 ing, and pious enterprise of the mass of our Con- 
 gregational Brethren, without sentiments, at once, 
 29 
 
338 ADVA^'TAGES OF 
 
 of respect and gratitude. But is not the general 
 fact alluded to, chiefly referable to other causes 
 than the form of their Church government ? No 
 one, it is believed, can doubt, for a moment, that 
 this is the case. Their Church government is, 
 manifestly, less adapted to promote union and 
 effective co-operation, than most others. But their 
 intelligence, their piety, their common origin, their 
 homogeneous character, their compact situation, 
 and the sameness of the instruction, the excite- 
 ments, and the agencies which they enjoy, have 
 all tended to prepare them for united and harmo- 
 nious co-operation. Only give to the members 
 of Churches organized on the Presbyterian plan, 
 the same advantages, the same natural principles 
 of cohesion, the same intellectual and moral sti- 
 mulants, and the same pervading spirit, and can 
 any one believe that there would be found less 
 union, and less energy in pursuing the best inte- 
 rests of man 7 We must deny the connexion be- 
 tween cause and effect, before we can doubt that 
 there would be more of both. It has been some- 
 times, indeed, said, as a supposed exemplification 
 of the unfavourable influence of Presbyterianism, 
 that the Churches called Presbyterian in South 
 Britain have generally declined, both in orthodoxy 
 and piety, within the last hundred years ; while 
 the Independents have generally and happily main- 
 tained their character for both. But the fact is, 
 that when the English Presbyterians gradually 
 fell into those errors, for which the greater part 
 of them are now distinguished, they, at the same 
 time, gradually renounced the Presbyterian form 
 of government, although they retained the name. 
 There are not now, and have not been, for many 
 years, any real Presbyterians in England, except- 
 
THIS I'LAN. 339 
 
 ing those who are, directly or indirectly, connected 
 with Churches in Scotland. After all, it is not 
 pretended that the Presbyterian form of Church 
 government can, of itself, infuse spiritual life and 
 activity into an ecclesiastical body ; but that where 
 vitality, and zeal, and resources exist, there is no 
 form of ecclesiastical organization in the world so 
 well adapted to unite counsels, and invigorate 
 efforts, as that under which we are so happy as to 
 live. 
 
 It makes no part however, of the design pf the 
 author of this volume to assail, or to depi-teciate 
 the ecclesiastical order of other denominations. 
 On the contrary, wherever he finds those who evi- 
 dently bear the image of Christ, and who appear 
 to be enora<Ted in advancin^j his kingdom, whatever 
 form of Church order they may prefer, he can 
 hail them with unqualified afTection as Christian 
 Brethren. The truth is, he would not have allud- 
 ed to any other portion of the Christian Church 
 than that with which he is more immediately con» 
 nected, had it appeared possible, without doing so, 
 fully to illustrate the character and advantages of 
 our own form of government. Mis ardent wish 
 is, not to alienate, by high claims, or unkind lan- 
 guage ; but rather to c nciliate and bind together 
 by every thing that can minister to brotherly love. 
 And his daily prayer is, that all the Evangelical 
 Churches in our land may be more and more 
 united in principle and effort, for extending that 
 " kingdom which is not meat and drink, but right 
 eousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." 
 
 TUE END. 
 
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