iK'M I'iti;; i;;!i'i.-^-v m M') ;!iliiffi!n-, 1^:^ ■:';>;■!:;■»'■ i'l .'.' i;' siia !f,/'i|v ■ ).'■;■)■■ [,/,, , :,■ ''h '■ri'^ !;■ 1- mIM .;.i .:' i 'f' i lKi,;^t, «tilS 'nl'f! m. I •-, ■ I ' ■'• I '^M::% i" -V-.'.f 3?)\ R1521 LIBRARY f^r XLhc International tTbeoIogical Xibtat^. EDITORS' PREFACE. Theology has made great and rapid advances in recent years. New lines of investigation have been opened up, fresh hght has been cast upon many subjects of the deepest interest, and the historical method has been applied with important results. This has prepared the way for a Library of Theological Science, and has created the demand for it. It has also made it at once opportune and practicable now to secure the services of specialists in the different depart- ments of Theology, and to associate them in an enterprise which will furnish a record of Theological inquiry up to date. This Library is designed to cover the whole field of Chris- tian Theology. Each volume is to be complete in itself, while, at the same time, it will form part of a carefully planned whole. One of the Editors is to prepare a volume of Theological Encyclopasdia which will give the history and literature of each department, as well as of Theology as a whole. The Library is intended to form a series of Text-Books for Students of Theology. The Authors, therefore, aim at conciseness and compact- less of statement. At the same time, they have in view EDITORS' PREFACE. that large and increasing class of students, in other depart- ments of inquiry, who desire to have a systematic and thor- ough exposition of Theological Science. Technical matters will therefore be thrown into the form of notes, and the text will be made as readable and attractive as possible. The Library is international and interconfessional. It will be conducted in a catholic spirit, and in the interests of Theology as a science. Its aim will be to give full and impartial statements both of the results of Theological Science and of the questions which are still at issue in the different departments. The Authors will be scholars of recognized reputation in the several branches of study assigned to them. They will be associated with each other and with the Editors in the effort to provide a series of volumes which may adequately represent the present condition of investigation, and indi- cate the way for further progress. CHARLES A. BRIGGS. STEWART D. F. SALMOND. Theological Encyclopaedia. An Introduction to the Litera- ture of the Old Testament. The Stul/ of the Old Testa- ment. Old Testament History. Contemporary History of the Old Testament. Theology of the Old Testa- ment. By Charles A. Briggs, D.D., Pro- fessor of Biblical Theology, Union Theological Seminary, New York. By S. R. Driver, D.D., Regius Pro- fessor of Hebrew, and Canon of Christ Church, Oxford. {Revised and enlarged edition.) By Herbert Edward Ryle, D.D., President of Queen's College, Cambridge, England. By Henry Preserved Smith, D.D., Professor of Biblical History, Amherst College, Mass. By Francis Brown, D.D.. Profes- sor of Hebrew, Union Theologi- cal Seminary, New York. By A. B. Davidson, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Hebrew, New Col- lege, Edinburgh. tU Jnternationaf €§eo%icaf feiSrarg. An Introduction to the Litera« ture of the New Testament. Canon and Text of the New Testament. The Life of Christ. A History of Christianity in the ApostoUc Age. Contemporary History of the New Testament. Theology of the New Testa- ment. The Ancient CathoUc Church. The Latin Church. History of Christian Doctrine. Christian Institutions. Philosophy of Religion. Apologetics. The Doctrine of God. Christian Ethics. The Christian Pastor and the Working Church. The Christian Preacher. Rabbinical Literature. {^Now ready.) D.D., LL.D., New College, By S. D. F. Salmond, D.D., Prin- cipal of the Free Church College, Aberdeen. By Caspar Rene Gregory, D.D., LL.D., Professor of New Testa- ment Exegesis in the University of Leipzig. .^Y William Sanuay, D.D., LL.D., Lady Margaret Professor of Di- vinity, and Canon of Christ Church, Oxford. By Arthur C. McGiffert, D.D., Professor of Church History, Union Theological Seminary, New York. {No7v ready.) By Frank C. Porter, Ph.D., Pro- fessor of Biblical Theology, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. By George B. Stevens, D.D., Pro- fessor of Systematic Theology, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. By Robert Rainy, Principal of the Edinburgh. By Archibald Robertson, D.D., Principal of King's College, Lon- don. By G. P. Fisher, D.D., LL.D., Pro- fessor of Ecclesiastical History, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.{Revisedandenlargededition,) By A. V. G. Alien, D.D., Profes- sor of Ecclesiastical History, P. E. Divinity School, Cambridge, Mass. {Now ready.) By Robert Flint, D.D., LL,D., Professor of Divinity in the Uni- versity of Edinburgh. By A. B. Bruce, D.D., late Profess- or of New Testament Exegesis, Free Church College, Glasgow. {/revised and enlarged edition.) By William N. Clarke, D. D., Pro- fessor of Systematic Theology, Hamilton Theological Seminary. By Newman Smyth, D.D., Pastor of Congregational Church, New Ha- ven. {Revised and enlarged edition.) By Washington Gladden, D. D., Pastor of CongregationalChurch, Columbus, Ohio. {Now ready.) By John Watson, D.D., Pastor Presbyterian Church, Liverpool. By S. Schechter, M.A. , Reader in Talmudic in the University of Cambridge, England. Zhc Unternational ZTbeolocjical Xibrar^. EDITED BY CHARLES A. BRIGGS, U.D., Edward Robinson Professor of Biblical Theology, Union Theological Seminary, Neiv York; AND STEWART D. F. SALMOND, D.D., Professor of Systematic Theology and New Testainent Exegesis, Free Church College, Aberdeen, CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. By ALEXANDER V. G. ALLEN, D.D. INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS BY ALEXANDER V. G. ALLEN, D.D. PROFESSOR OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY IN THE EPISCOPAL THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL IN CAMBRIDGE AUTHOR OF "the CONTINUITY OF CHRISTIAN THOUGHT," "LIFE OF JONATHAN EDWARDS," "RELIGIOUS PROGRESS," ETC. NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1897 COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS NotfaoolJ ^ress J. S. Gushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith Norwood Mass. U.S.A. This treatise is a summary of the church's history from the point of view of its institutions. The effort has been made to show how organization, creeds, and cultus are related to the spiritual life and to the growth of Christian civilization. The field covered by the title, Christian Institutions, is so large that the selection of the subjects to be treated, and the proportion of space assigned to each, must reflect to some extent the personality of the author, obliging him to tell what connected impressions he has gained from the wide survey. Otherwise the work would become a small dictionary of Christian an- tiquities, or a series of brief imperfect monographs. Hitherto no attempt has been made in a formal manner to study the institutions of Christianity with reference to their mutual relationships. Even the term ' Institu- tions ' requires to be defined. Its expansion to cover creeds and doctrines, as well as organization and ritual, must be justified by that growing use of the word which makes it include the prominent features of the church, its rules of procedure, habits of action, or those related facts regulating its conduct in the attainment of its end. The work was begun some five years ago, when, through the kindness of Augustus Lowell, Esq., it took shape as a course of Lowell Lectures. Its preparation for the press ^ was soon after interrupted, and three years elapsed before it was again resumed, under a sense of pressure m conse- 322363 ^ ^ Vi PREFACE quence of the long delay. To make such a work as this complete is in the nature of the case impossible. But it may serve to call attention to a method of dealing with the subject wherein the dispassionate attempt is made to penetrate the meaning of usages that seem irrational be- cause familiarity has dimmed our vision, or an inward repugnance prevented our doing the justice for which they plead and wait. To the Rev. Henry J. W. Allen of Glen Loch, Penn- sylvania, to Professor P. H. Steenstra, D.D., of Cam- bridge, and to the Rev. Arthur N . Peaslee of Cambridge, my thanks are given for valuable aid in revising proof- sheets and for many important suggestions. Cambridge, May 6, 1897. CONTENTS BOOK I THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH CHAPTER I PAGES Historical Survey .......... 5-20 The organization of the church, not the result of accident, but reflects deep motives in the Christian life or in Christian civiliza- tion. The origin of the Christian ministry a matter of controversy in the sixteenth century. The attitude of Jerome, who denied the ' divine right ' of episcopacy, and maintained that the elevation of the bishop above the presbyter was an ecclesiastical arrangement. The statement of Jerome incorporated in the Canon Law of the Roman church. To this statement the appeal was made in the age of the Reformation. The English Reformers influenced by it, as well as the Puritans. Hence the caution and moderation of the tone of the English Reformers. A change in the Church of Eng- land toward the close of the century, and episcopacy by ' divine right ' asserted by Bancroft, and by Hall, who sought to overcome the force of Jerome's influence. The Puritans in reply maintained the statement of Jerome, and identified bishops and presbyters in the Apostolic age. Jeremy Taylor the first to maintain that Apostles were originally bishops, but not known by that title. In the sixteenth century Anglicans had held that the form of church gov- ernment was not prescribed by Scripture, while Puritans held that Presbyterianism was of divine appointment. In the seventeenth century these attitudes reversed, Anglicans maintaining episcopacy by 'divine right,' while Puritans took Hooker's ground, that the form was a matter of indifference. The discovery of the Shorter Greek Recension of the Ignatian Epistles as giving a new direction to the controversy, but leading to no results. A new impulse given to the discussion in the nineteenth century by the application of the principle of historical development. Theories of the origin of the episcopate maintained by Rothe and by Baur. Contribu- tion to the inquiry by Ritschl. Renan's contention that ecclesias- tical organization was influenced by secular models. The important service rendered by Bishop Lightfoot in vindicating the genuine- vii Vlll CONTENTS PAGES ness of the Ignatian Epistles and in otlier ways. Dr. Hatcli ques- tioned Jerome's statement, whicli Liglitfoot had approved, that ' bisliop ' and 'presbyter' were at first synonymous terms. Dr. Harnack demonstrates that the office of ' bisliop ' was from the first distinct from that of ' presbyter.' The discovery of the Didache furnishes the missing link between the Apostolic age and the time of Ignatius. CHAPTER II Apostles, Prophets, Teachers 21-36 Ignorance of the date of the New Testament writings makes ex- act statement impossible in regard to changes of organization, but the difficulty in a measure overcome by classifying these writings according to generations. In the first Christian generation, the writings of St. Paul furnish the anthoritative account of the min- istry. It was divided into two ranks : the higher, including Apos- tles, prophets, and teachers ; and the lower, or local administrative offices. The first and only mention of bishops is in the Epistle to the Philippians, where there is more than one bishop in the com- munity. The account of St. Paul in harmony with that given in the early part of the Acts of the Apostles. The Twelve and the appointment of the Seven illustrate the higher and the lower grades of the ministry, — the ministry of the Word, and the ministry of the tables. The connection of the Seven with the later diaconate. The prophets occupy the second place in the higher grade. Dis- tinction between Apostles and prophets. The office of the teacher. These three classes of officers constituted a mini.stry at large, and were not localized. Their separate functions might be united in one man, as in the case of St. Paul. The Apostolate as limited to the Twelve. The larger Apostolate, which included St. Paul and many others. How far the larger Apostolate had been eye-wit- nesses of the Resurrection. The labors of St. Paul as an Apostle. Slight information regarding the Apostolic activity of the Twelve. Appointment to the larger Apostolate ; in the case of St. Paul, through the agency of prophets and .teachers. On this larger Apostolate, and not exclusively on the Twelve, the church was built as a foundation, together with the prophets, and Christ as the Corner Stone. CHAPTER III Presbyters, Bishops, Deacons 37-45 The first generation of the Apostolic age followed by the age of the elders or presbyters. The prominence of the presbyters dis- closed in the New Testament writings of the second generation. The list of officers given in the Epistle to the Ephesians. Use of the terms ' evangeli.st,' 'pastor,' yiyovnevot.. Light thrown by the CONTENTS ix PAGF.S Pastoral Epistles. The qualifications of the bishops, and their re- lation to the presbyters. Whether there was a plural episcopate or a single bishop in the church at Ephesus. The presbyterate, as it appears in the Second and Third General Epistles of St. John. CHAPTER IV The Age of Transition 46-60 To the third generation belong the Epistle of Clement of Rome, the Didache, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Ignatian Epistles. General characteristics of Clement's epistle. The list of church officers enumerated. The burden of his message, that all things should be done in order. His comparison of the Christian minis- try to the Jewish priesthood. The doctrine of the transmission of authority through verbal commission. How far his teaching is sanctioned by the New Testament. Contention in regard to the episcopal office and how it is to be overcome. The exact nature of the disturbance at Corinth is not made apparent. The episco- pate as a life office. Four grades of officers in the Roman church, when Clement wrote, and the episcopate a plural one. In the Shepherd of Hermas, the officers of the church are prophets, teachers, presbyters, bishops, and deacons. The interest of Hermas centres in the prophets. The Didache alludes to Apostles, prophets, and teachers as still the officers of the church, but they are on the eve of vanishing. The prophet may be settled in a community, or bishops (the plural episcopate) and deacons may be appointed as a substitute by the congregation. There is no mention of the presbyter, but bishops and deacons are coupled together, as in the Pastoral Epistles, in the Epistle of Clement, and in the Shepherd of Hermas. CHAPTER V The Ignatian Episcopate 61-71 Date of the Ignatian writings. Apostles, prophets, and teachers have disappeared. The object of Ignatius is to exalt the episco- pate, but not to depreciate the presbyterate. Obedience is enjoined to the threefold order, — bishops, presbyters, and deacons. The chief stress laid upon submission to the bishop as standing in the place of God. The presbyters are always represented as successors of the Apostles, and in this respect Ignatius is in harmony with New Testament precedents. The connection of the bishop with the Eucharist a vital one in Ignatius' mind. No importance at- tached to tradition, or to Apostolic authority in urging obedience to the bishop ; but the authority of Ignatius is a direct message from the Spirit. His silence regarding the order of prophets diffi- cult to explain. His scheme a transcendental one. The character of Ignatius and of the time as throwing light upon his teaching. CONTENTS CHAPTER VI PAGES Theories regarding the Origin of the Episcopate . . 72-86 (1) The government of the church varied in different places and at different times in the same place. But beneath the variations there was principle and unity. (2) The position of James, the Lord's brother, in the church at Jerusalem as a witness to the Apos- tolic origin of the episcopate. But this position was exceptional, resting on a peculiar basis, and constituting a peculiar type, neither of which were followed in the Ignatian episcopate. (3) The episco- pate arose by the localization of the Apostolate. The evidence for this is lacking ; the calling of an Apostle incongruous with his set- tlement. The cases of Peter and John. The silence of the Ignatian Epistles. The Apostle not the prototype of the bishop. (4) That presbyter and bishop are names used as synonyms in the New Testament, and that the episcopate was formed out of the presbyt- erate by elevation. Grounds on which this theory has been ques- tioned and rejected. Presbyters always mentioned by themselves, and where thus mentioned no allusion is made to bishops and deacons. Significance of the association of bishops with deacons ; both were connected with the administration of the Eucharist. The bishop was the financial officer of the local community, to which, in connection with his relation to the Eucharist, he owed-'^ his prominence in the local community. Growing importance of the Eucharist in the second century furnishes a clew to the eleva- tion of the bishop above the presbyter. The function of the pres- byter was changing. He was originally the bearer of the tradition, but the appearance of the Rules of Faith and of the Canon of the New Testament rendered this function superfluous. No complete picture of the situation can yet be formed, but the outline is clear. The significance of the elevation of the bishop lies in giving the foremost place to the administration of ecclesiastical affairs. CHAPTER VII The Christian Ministry in the Second Century . . 87-106 At the beginning of the century the bishop was presented as the successor of Christ ; at the end of the century he had become the successor of the Apostles. Explanation of the change. The pres- byter at first presented as the successor of the Apostles. Why the presbyter lost this position. The change was owing to the neces- sity of overcoming the heretics, who appealed to the tradition. To meet the Gnostics was one object in the formation of the Canon, and of the Rules of Faith, of which the bishop became the official curator. The presbyter was no longer needed as a witness to the tradition. Illustrations of the situation in the utterances of Papias, of Hegesippus, and in the writings of Irenseus. Why Irenaeus seems to use the names ' presbyter ' and ' bishop ' as synonymous. CONTENTS XI PAGES Theory of Irenseus regarding the Apostolical succession. Tertul- lian's laresentation of the subject in his Prescription of Heretics ; his theory of Apostolical succession. The change in the presbyter's office comiDleted by the end of the second century. The bishop had absorbed the presbyter's function, which had then become a purely administrative one, and to the presbyter was assigned a share in the bishop's original function of administering the Eucha- rist. In the time of Tertullian, the larger Apostolate had been forgotten, and the name of Apostle was limited to the Twelve, with the exception of St. Paul. The passing of the prophets. Mon- tanism, an effort to restore the office; conflict between the bishops and the prophets. The ideal of the episcopate as compared with the mission of the prophets. The rise of the Catholic church, and its struggle with Montanism. Weakness in the Montanist concep- tion of prophecy. The transition of Tertullian from the Catholic church to the Montanists, an illustration of the movements of the age. Prophecy was condemned and banished, but the settlement of the second century not a final one. Effect of the suppression of prophecy. The office of the Reader, the last relic of the ancient prophetic order. CHAPTER VIII The Age of Cyprian 107-136 The bishop, hitherto the pastor of the local church, begins to pass over into the diocesan bishop. Explanation of the change. Rivalry and conflict between bishops and presbyters. Cyprian held the Roman theory of the transmission of power. The question of ordination became, in consequence, of the highest importance. Belief that the Holy Spirit was imparted by ordination in contrast with the earlier conviction that the antecedent action of the Spirit justified ordination. Instances of ordination in the New Testa- ment. Significance of the laying on of hands. Prophets and teachers received no ordination. No mention of the ordination of bishops in the New Testament. Absence of allusion to the method of ordination in writings of the second century ; Clement of Rome, the Didache, the Epistles of Ignatius, are silent as to the mode of making presbyters and bishops. The ordination of a bishop in the Apostolic Ordinances ; in the Clementine writings ; according to the Canons of Hippolytus ; in the church at Alex- andria. Cyprian's rule for making a bishop. The power invested in the bishops of the province, and no longer in the congregation. The bishops, according to Cyprian, constitute the church. His theory of Apostolical succession. Ordinations by presbyters for- bidden. The principle adoi3ted that no ordination was valid with- out the co-operation or sanction of the bishop. Traces of an earlier usage. Distinctions among the bishops. The later type of bishop first developed in the great cities. Cyprian vindicates the equality Xii CONTENTS of the bishops, but his conception of the ministry deepens the sepa- ration between clergy and laity. The Christian ministry is trans- formed into a priesthood after Jewish analogies. Hence followed the necessity of altar and sacrifice. Cyprian's theory of Apostolical succession compared with earlier theories. Growth of the metro- politan bishops. Efforts to increase the dignity of the episcopate. Relation of church and state. Cyprian's attitude provoked the resistance of the state. Significance of the rise of priesthoods. The Decian and Diocletian persecutions. The coming of Con- stantine and the changed relations of the church to the state. Peculiarities of Cyprian's conception of the episcopate in contrast with the original motive of the oifice. Cyprian a Montanist at heart ; he endeavored to combine Montanism and Catholicity, with a result that was impracticable and intolerable. Difference in attitude and circumstances between the Eastern and Western episcopates. CHAPTER IX monasticism in its relation to the episcopate and to the Catholic Church ........ 137-178 The episcopate had found its opportunity in the city. Monasti- cism was a return to the country. The praise of solitude by Jerome. In its origin, monasticism was indifferent, if not averse, to the Catholic church, its priesthood and sacraments. Its key- note on its ecclesiastical side was the dictum of Jerome that in the beginning of Christ's religion the bishop and presbyter were of equal authority. Relation of Jerome to the bishops. That mo- nasticism may be regarded as the continuation of the Montanist • purpose is shown by their common features. Montanism, Nova- tianism, Donatism, Monasticism, constitute the line of succession. The Catholic church stood for solidarity, monasticism for the prin- ciple of individualism. The Catholic church was too strong to be overcome by the monastic movement, nor could the latter be sup- pressed as Montanism had been. In the compromise which was effected, the Eastern church succeeded in placing the monasteries under episcopal control, but its bishops were henceforth taken from the monasteries. Results of this compromise. In the West, the Eastern system of patriarchates and metropolitans had not been developed, and under this looser organization a greater oppor- tunity was afforded to monasticism. The papacy was a compro- mise between the episcopate and the monastery, leaning more to the monastic interpretation of life than to the secular as repre- sented by the bishop. The alliance between the papacy and monasticism, first seen in Gregory the Great, was more fully real- ized under Hildebrand. In mediating between the episcopate and monasticism, the papacy fulfilled its highest function. To the monastery and not to the bishop is chiefly owing the conversion of Western Europe. In the intellectual development, the monks CONTENTS Xlll PAGES took the lead. Among them are also to be found the greatest saints. Equally important is their relation to the development of civilization. The contrast between early monasticism and its later forms. The secret of its history and of its success is what we know as individualism, for which the Catholic church had made no provision under the episcopate. The struggle between the bishops and the monasteries, or between the ' secular ' and ' religious ' sides of the Mediaeval church. In its first phase, the secular won, and the monks were enrolled in the clerical order. In the next stage, the monasteries were emancipated from episcopal control. The monastery won another victory when celibacy was enforced on the clergy. The bishops gave no support to Hildebrand when he began his attack on the married clergy. The attempt of monas- ticism to enforce poverty on the secular clergy ended in failure, and with this failure Monasticism reached its limit and entered on its decline. Other causes for its decline. In what ways it had ministered to its higher purpose. The survival of its spirit. How the monastic organization was affected by the decline and fall of the papacy. The monastic presbyter was then left free with no episcopal authority which could command his obedience. The secular clergy took the vow of obedience to the bishop, the monas- tic clergy to the presbyter-abbot. This circumstance exerted its influence on the organization of the Protestant churches. The worship, also, of the monasteries was of a different type from that which was cultivated by the episcopate in the parish churches. CHAPTER X The Greek Church — Nationality and the Episcopate . 179-201 It was one function of the episcopate in the Middle Ages to minister to the growth of the national consciousness. The bishop became an officer of the state, and for this task was fitted by the peculiar characteristics of his office. The monkish clergy indiffer- ent to the welfare of the state. The secular tendency inherent in the episcopate. National rivalries in the East. Their influence in ecclesi- astical controversies. Rivalry between Rome and Constantinople. Effect of these national jealousies and antipathies on Catholic unity. Schism between the Greek and Latin churches. Con- demnation of Roman usages at the Second Trullan Council. The charges against Rome preferred by Photius, the Patriarch of Con- stantinople. The Azymite heresy. Further alienation of the two churches in the Image-worship Controversy. Connection between East and West a nominal one since the fall of the Western Empire in 476. What significance is to be attached to that date. Charle- magne's coronation further separates the churches. The principle of Catholic unity as illustrated in the Eastern church. XIV CONTENTS CHAPTER XI PAGES The Episcopate and the Papact 202-230 The process in Gaul by which the bishop made the transition from being the pastor of the local church to the ruler of a large diocese. The bishops became important personages. Their relations to the Merovingian monarchs. Question raised as to their appointment. Decline of the episcopate in the seventh century. The reform came from the monastery. The process began of subjecting the episco- pate to the papacy. Revival of the metropolitan office under Charlemagne. The Capitulary of Frankfort. The effort of the bishops to escape from the control of metropolitans. The Forged Decretals ; their motive and their result. Tendency of the episco- pate toward alliance with the sovereigns. A secular tendency Existed in the office from its first appearance. The work of the bishops in the Middle Ages, of a twofold character, to represent the church to the state, and to adapt religion to the masses of the peoples. Their work a successful one. The papacy indifferent to nationality. Lack of the national patriarchate. Hildebrand's aim to subordinate nationality to imperialism. The Investiture Con- troversy. The bishops incline to support the secular authority. Illustrations in Germany, France, and England. Results of the Investiture Controversy. The growth of nationality facilitated by the union of the episcopate with the crown. Theory of relation- ship of the episcopate to the papacy. The bishops fail the pope in the effort to exterminate heresy. The monasteries furnish the tri- bunal of inquisition. The crusade against the Albigenses. The bishops in sympathy with the crown in the conflict with Boniface VIII. Great value of the work done by the episcopate in the Middle Ages. The Council of Constance and the assertion of the principle of nationality. Decline of the Roman principle of Catholicity. CHAPTER XII The Organization of the Churches in the Age of the Eeformation ......... 231-278 The Reformers did not break up the unity of Christendom. The revolution had been accomplished before they appeared. The changes of the sixteenth century governed by the law of develop- ment. The Reformers did not aim at external unity, but assumed the unity of the Spirit as actual, although invisible. They rejected the Latin theory of Catholicity. The claims of papacy, episcopacy, and presbytery as presented at the Council of Constance. The Franciscans a type of ecclesiastical organizations in the age of the Reformation. The Brothers of the Common Life. Influence of the monastery on the Reformation in Germany. The New Testa- ment was substituted for tradition as the supi'eme authority. In- CONTENTS XV PAGES fluence of this conviction upon human arrangements. Change in the conception of the presbyter's functions. Return of prophecy. Its relation to reform. It possesses a corrective lacking in the second century. The return of the teachei". Alliance between prophecy and learning in Germany. Cranmer and Calvin. Change in the idea of the church. The changed conception of ordination. Iniiuence of the monastery in the elevation of the presbyterate. The episcopal and presbyterial vows. Qualifications for the pres- byterate. The bishops as the defenders of the faith. Value of their tradition in the eyes of the Reformers. Influence of the doc- trine of Justification by Faith, in overcoming the corruptions of the Mediaeval church. Why the episcopate was retained in England and Sweden, and rejected in Germany, Scotland, Denmark, and the Netherlands. The situation in Geneva. The influence of Jerome's statement. Every country was free to choose its form of ecclesiastical organization. Presbyters led the Reformation in Germany, in Switzerland, in Scotland ; but in England and Sweden it was led by the crown with the acquiescence of the episcopate. Influence of nationality upon the retention of the episcopate. Countries converted by monastic agency abandoned the episco- pate. The situation in England. The principles of Wycliffe. The English Reformation developed bishops as leaders. How the English church treated the monasteries, and the consequence of this treatment in its later histoiy. Nonconformity in England. The larger bearing of the issue between episcopacy and presbytery. Analogy in Jewish history. The title ' Protestant' not the antithesis of 'Catholic' How the Protestant Reformers defined Catholicity. The use of ' Catholic ' in the creeds. Resemblances between the Protestant churches and the greater monastic orders of the Latin church. The evils of Protestantism as compared with its advan- tages and its blessings. BOOK II THE CATHOLIC CREEDS AND THE DEVELOP- MENT OF DOCTRINE CHAPTER I The Catholic Crkeds , ^ 279-294 The Apostles' Creed ; time and place of its origin. "Whether it was a protest against Docetism. The Rule of Faith given by Ignatius. The Apostles' Creed as the expansion of the baptismal formula. Its historical character. Not known in the Eastern church till the time of Origen. His commentary upon it. The Eastern Creeds : Creed of Gregory Thaumaturgus ; of the church in Csesarea ; the Nicene Creed ; Creed of the Church in Jerusalem ; its later en- XVI CONTENTS PAGES largemeiit as presented to the Council of Constantinople in 381 ; its approval by the Council at Chalcedon in 451, and its substitu- tion for the Nicene Creed. The enlargement of the Roman or Apostles' Creed in the eighth century. Comparison of the Apos- tles' and Nicene creeds. The controversial character of the Nicene Creed. CHAPTER II The Doctrine of the Trinity — Its Place in History and its Relation to Human Progress ..... 295-332 The formula of the Trinity grew out of the divine name given in the baptismal formula. The triune name as corresponding to the large divisions of religious experience. The religion of nature, the religion of humanity, the religion of the inner life. The doctrine of the Trinity alone among Christian doctrines created no incu- rable schism. The whole church contributed to its development : Ebionitism, Gnosticism, and Montanism. Patripassianism. The theory of emanation. Relation of the doctrine to Greek philoso- phy. The formula of the Homoousion. Arianism as an interpre- tation of the relation of church and state. Opposition of the Roman emperors to the Nicene Creed. Its final proclamation by Theodosius, as the Catholic faith. The relation of the Homoousion to the elevation and dignity of man. The teaching of Athanasius. His conflicts with the Empire. Relation of the Homoousion to the rise of monasticism. Its influence in Gaul. Hilary of Poitiers. Arianism among the barbarians, and the reason for its espousal by them. The Homoousion becomes the supreme issue of the rising civilization. Gregory of Tours and his conversations with Arians. The addition of the filioque to the Nicene Creed. The so-called Athanasian Creed. Time and place of its origin. Its identification of the Catholic faith with the doctrine of the Trinity. Its damna- tory clauses. As a war-cry against Mohammedanism. The growth of freedom in Gaul. The Protestant Reformers retain the three creeds. In holding to the Trinity, they remained within the pale of the Catholic church. The Homoousion, the social compact on which church and state reposed. The Reformers were aware of its significance and gave it the foremost place in their Confessions of Faith. The case of Servetus. CHAPTER III The Historical Significance of the Miracle . . . 333-345 What is meant by Historical Christianity. The importance assigned to the miracle in the Apostles' Creed. Comparison in this respect with the early Eastern creeds. Definition of the miracle varies in the two churches. Faith as related to the miracle. CONTENTS XVli PAGES Results of the miracle upon the idea of God and the freedom of man. It stands in opposition to the nature-worships. Its promi- nence in Christianity, and its rejection by Buddhism and Islam has a deep significance. The miracle in the Middle Ages. Its relation to the development of the natural sciences. CHAPTER IV The Life of the Spirit — The Doctrine of the Atonement — The Relation of the Divine to the Human . . 346-381 The silence of the Catholic ci-eeds, and its explanation. They represent the popular form of Christianity as represented by the episcopate or the ' secular ' clergy in contrast with the monastery, where scientific theology had its development. The coming of Augustine, and its significance for the inner life of thought and experience. Individualism and its relation to theological inquiry. The doctrine of atonement not contained in the creeds, but is prominent in Protestant Confessions of Faith. How far the doc- trine was recognized in the ancient church, and the shape which it took. Ignorance the source of the evil from which man is delivered. Identification of humanity with Christ. The theory of a ransom paid to Satan found in Origen and the later Greek Fathers, but not as their higher thought. Divergence between the Greek and Latin churches regarding the idea of God and the nature of man. Augus- tine the first to identify the Catholic church with the kingdom of God. Change from Platonism to Aristotelianism. In the West, God was conceived in His essence as will ; herein lies the explana- tion of the Latin conception of the church and of the papacy, and of the later Augustinian theology. Augustine held the doctrine that a ransom was paid to Satan, but it was not his complete thought. A great advance when Anselm taught that the ransom was paid to God. By his doctrine of atonement Anselm overcomes in principle the idea of God as absolute will on which the papacy rested. Later theories of atonement in the Latin church. Comparison between Calvinism and Augustinianism. The doctrine of atone- ment in recent Protestant writers. The principle of the Fatherhood of God. Dr. Bushnell's speculations on the subject. The value of the altar language. Controversy regarding the Two Natures. Nes- torianism. Cyril's conception of the relation of the divine and human. The decision of Council of Chalcedon. Deficiencies of the controversy. The principle at issue reappears in modern con- troversies regarding the divine and the human element in Scripture. Dangers of fusing the human with the divine. Xviii CONTENTS CHAPTER V PAGES The Person of Christ iv Modern Thought — Difficulty with THE Miracle — Anglican and German Theology . 382-398 The stress of modern inquiry has been placed on the moral character of Christ. Christ is conceived after the analogy of the teacher who permeates humanity by his spiritual influence. The word ' teacher ' as applied to Christ in the New Testament. Diffi- culty of reconciling this conception of Christ with the miracle. Causes of the modern repugnance to the miracle. Resistance to the miracle does not imply its rejection. Rothe's view of the miracle. The Protestant churches, while accepting the creeds, vary in their interpretation of them. There is no necessary opposition between the creeds and the theologies. The doctrine-histories, as supplant- ing the older method of producing systems of theology. The distinction between creed and doctrine. The Church of England gives theology expression in commentaries on the creeds. The Nicene Creed as the formula of Christian unity. BOOK III CHRISTIAN WORSHIP CHAPTER I Baptism 399-437 Value of the two sacraments. Baptism and the Lord's Supper, as expressing the essence of the Christian faith. Exalted and posi- tive tone in speaking of baptism in the early church. The religious experience of Cyprian. Changes which the rite of baptism has undergone. The repetition of, forbidden. The formula of baptism. Baptism in the name of Jesus only. Anonymous treatise on Re- baptism in the age of Cyprian, and combating his policy. The meaning of Confirmation. Baptism preceded by an ethical training in the Catechumenate. Transition from adult to infant baptism ; an expression of the sanctity of life. The overcoming of infanti- cide. The doctrine of infant damnation. The Catechumenate pre- ceding baptism in the early church gives way in the Middle Ages to discipline after baptism. The 'penitential books' ; their method and value. "Whosesoever sins ye remit." The inward motive and the outward act. Substitution in punishment. The doctrine of endless punishment. Purgatory. The common treasury of merit. Indulgences. Defect in the Mediseval system of disci- pline. The unconscious aims of life. Martin Luther. The prin- ciple of the opus operatum. The system of discipline not retained in the Lutheran and Anglican churches. Its decline in the Re- formed church. Ethical modes and standards. The Book of » CONTENTS xix PAGES Common Prayer. The doctrine of Election and the Reformed church. The doctrine of Justification by Faith and the church in Germany. Private judgment. The duty toward man and the duty toward God. The freedom of the Christian man. Dangers which threaten freedom. The progress of the race and of the indi- vidual. The confession of St. Paul, " I have kept the faith." CHAPTER II The Development of Principles avhich effected the Cultus 438-465 The line of cleavage in worship. The worship of the monastery and the ritual of the altar. Fuller development of the sacrament' of the altar in the Eastern church. The Latin doctrine of transub- stantiation met with resistance in the West. Christian worship not an imitation of the heathen mysteries. The principles which underlay the nature-worships. The influence of Plato undermined the mythologies. His influence on the church. Gnosticism and Manichfeanism. The reaction of heathen religion, and the revival of the nature-worships. Its influence traced in the ante-Nicene age. Tertullian. The Apologists on the lack of temples, altars, priesthood, and images in the early church. The contempt for Egyptian worship. The expiring heathenism. The place of Egypt in religious history. Greek religion. Neoplatonism. Its relation to Gnosticism. Its deterioration and failure to become a religion. The principle of Monophysitism. The doctrine of the Incarnation. Athanasius and Cyril of Alexandria. The Anthro- pomorphic Controversy. The condemnation of Origen. The sacramental theology. The final victory over heathenism. Con- trast with the development of the Jewish church. CHAPTER III The Christian Cultus 466-514 The weekly cycle. The Christian year. Coincidence of Easter with the season of spring in the natural year. Epiphany. Its parallelism with nature. Difference in the interpretation of, in the Eastern and Western churches. Christmas Day. Why it came so late. Its relation to Epiphany ; to the Incarnation ; to heathen contemporaneous festivals. The Christian drama of life. The consecration of matter. Tertullian on the water of baptism. The symbol and the thing signified. The physical sign as possessing a spiritual potency. The elements of bread and wine. The teaching of Gregory of Nyssa. The worship of saints, images, and relics. The two conceptions of the Incarnation. Meaning of the expres- sion, "The Word was made flesh." The resurrection of the body. The Holy Spirit as the bond uniting the spiritual and the material. The deification of the flesh. The worship of the Virgin Mother. XX CONTENTS I'AGES The reverence for relics. The power of the sign of the cross. The nature-philosophy. Love of nature in the Oriental church. Bear- ing upon the definition of the miracle. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Western church. Dionysius the Areopagite. His personality. Influenced by the Neoplatonic philosophy. Wherein he differs from it. The Heavenly Hierarchy. The prin- ciple of mediation. The ministry of angels. The Earthly Hie- rarchy. The number of the Christian mysteries. Significance of ritual acts. Use of the name ' Jesus ' by Dionysius. His conception of the symbol and its necessity. But the enlightened soul gazes upon the reality. Treatise on the Divine Names. The nature of evil in the thought of Dionysius. The Greek and Latin anthi'opol- ogies. Influence of Dionysius in Western Christendom. CHAPTER IV The Lord's Supper ........ 515-565 Its relation to the Agape. References to the Agape in the Didache and in the Epistles of Ignatius. Justin Martyr's account of the administration of the Lord's Supper. Transference of the Eucharist from the evening to the morning, and the reasons for the change. The Lord's Supper in the writings of Clement of Alexandria. The final prohibition of the Agape. The Lord's Supper a protest against Docetism and an ultra-spiritualism which underrated the body and the material world. In what sense the word ' sacrifice ' was connected with the Eucharist in the early church. The essence of sacrifice in the transfiguration of life in the presence of God. The Clementine liturgy. Tertullian on the power of simplicity in worship. Transition to an imposing ritual. The dramatization of the last supper of Christ with His disciples. The rubrical injunctions of the Clementine liturgy. The eucha- ristic prayer. The Great Entrance. The oblation of the conse- crated elements. The worship of the elements before consecration. The principle of ceremonial worship as given by Gregory of Nyssa. The commemoration of nature in the Greek liturgies is absent from the Roman Mass. The invocation of the Holy Spirit, which in the Greek conception is essential to the transmutation of the elements, also wanting in the Roman Mass. Description of the ritual of the altar by Dionysius. Indebtedness of the Oriental type of worship to the influence of Dionysius. Analogy between the worship of heaven and earth. The comment of Symeon, Arch- bishop of Thessalonica, upon the meaning of the Greek rite. Dis- tinctive features of the Roman Mass. Its penitential character. It reflects the influences of the age when it was taking form. The Greek liturgies contain a deeper eucharistic element. God is represented as the actor and agency in the Greek ritual, while in the Latin the agency of the priest is more prominent. The ten- dency of the Greek liturgy toward rhetorical fulness as compared CONTENTS Xxi PAGES with the terseness and brevity of the Latin. Comparison of the coronation rites in the two churches. The Latin Sacramentum and the Greek Muster ion convey differing ideas which are still perpetu- ated. The doctrine of interition. Explanation of its origin. The decision of the Roman church in regard to intention at the Council of Trent. The value of the ancient liturgies as bearing witness to the common Christian experience. Decline of creative ritual activ- ity after the fifteenth century. Deficiency of Greek ritual. Its hints of higher possibilities have since been realized. Wordsworth and Dionysius. The revelations of science and of modern art. The rejection of transubstantiation by the Protestant churches as final. The true sacrifice must include the worship of God with the mind as well as with the heart. Index 567-577 The institutions of Christianity may be classed under three heads : the Organization of the Church, its Creeds, and its Cultus or Worship. By the word 'institution' is to be understood the outward form or embodiment, which the spirit of Christianity assumes, corresponding to some inward mode of apprehending the Christian faith. Hence there is a deep significance in the phases of the ecclesi- astical organization, as well as in the articles of the creed, or the divers aspects of the cultus. To detect fluctuations in the inward apprehension of the divine reality, beneath the changes of external form, should be the object of any inquiry into Christian institutions. There have been two epochs in the history of the Chris- tian church which have stamped themselves upon its exter- nal features. In the second century, the process began of translating Christianity into terms which should be intelligible in the Roman Empire. The result of this process is known as Catholicism, whether Greek or Roman. It included the remoulding of the ecclesiastical organiza- tion, under the influence of the Roman genius for admin- istration and government and law. JThe Roman spirit dictated the form of the church, and handed it over to the East as its contribution to the triumph of Christianity within the bounds of the Empire. But Rome did noth- ing for theology. It was Greece which contributed the language and the forms of thought into which should be rendered the spirit and the meaning of the new religion. The Greek interpretation of Christianity as a principle of 2 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS life or a formula of thought took shape in the Nicene Creed, which was received by Rome, and became the watchword of the Catholic faith. )^nd again, the cul- tus of the church was influenced in its external form by the spirit of old religion, especially the ancient Mysteries, in which the deep moral earnestness of a dying world was seeking expression when Christianity appeared. These were alike a preparation for the fulness of time : the Roman genius for government and administration, Greek philosophy, and the ancient Mysteries of Oriental origin. They constituted as it were the language which Christian- ity must adopt, if it was to make the conquest of the Empire for Christ. The Roman Empire constituted the world into which Christianity was born, wherein also it sought and found its opportunity. There were Christian missions in coun- tries outside the Empire, in Arabia, in Persia, and it is said in India, but they left no permanent impression. The Christian faith did not overcome Arabian idolatry, or Per- sian dualism, and as to India it left no traces there of its presence. This is remarkable, because at a later time Islam entered these countries and either made them its own or, as in India, established itself by the side of the dominant faith. But of all these countries it may be said that they had no immediate future ; they were not, then at least, called to any high function in the service of humanity. The open door which admitted to world-wide opportuni- ties was the Roman Empire. Through that door the Christian church entered in and took possession. Although Christianity took form as Catholicism in such a manner as to be intelligible and impressive to the ancient world within the bounds of the Empire, yet beneath the outward garb of Catholicity or its partial form, there was always working the original spirit of Christ's religion. The organization of the Catholic church was forced to adapt itself to Monasticism, in which was per- petuated, in obscure and even obnoxious ways, the purer purpose of the earlier church as it may be read in the teachings of Christ and the writings of Apostles and CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS 6 Apostolic men, — the direct relation of the individual soul with God. Beneath the terminology of theological discussions may always be detected the simple issue of the relation of the Son of God to the Eternal Father. Beneath the ritual and the rich complexity of the cultus there is preserved a trace of the original institution of the Lord's supper, when Christ broke the bread and admin- istered the cup, as effectual symbols of the food by which God nourishes His children. In the rise of Protestantism, which constitutes the second great epoch in the history of the church, the eifort was made to separate the purely Christian motives from those forms of Catholicism, which had become unintelligible and unprofitable to the new age. The decline of the mediaeval Catholic church was contemporaneous with the decline and final disappearance of the Holy Roman Empire as a factor in human history. Wherever the influence of the Reformation was felt, there was a change in the organi- zation of the church in order to the better reflection and expression of the human spirit, set free from an arbitrary external authority. There was as deep an instinct at work in the reorganization of the Protestant churches as there had been in the second and third centuries, when Catholicism arose. In the place of administration as the means of highest grace was substituted the preaching of the word. The Catholic creeds were retained, but their interpretation was changed to bring them into closer harmony with the teaching of Christ and with the higher and more spiritual consciousness of the new era. The Catholic ritual and cultus was either abandoned or sim- plified in varying degrees, but so as to bring into greater clearness its original germ, the celebration of the Lord's supper. In place of the worship of the human, was restored the worship of God in spirit and in truth. But beneath all these changes there was still retained by the Protestant churches whatever was true or vital in Catholicism, so that there was no break in the higher reality of a continuous life in the Christian ages. The Protestants claimed, or were entitled to claim, had they 4 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS cared to do so, the designation of Catholic, since they clung to the Catholic doctrine of the Trinity, and in re- taining the Catholic canon of Scripture preserved their unbroken succession from the Apostles. If this conscious- ness of the continuous life of the church was for a while weakened or obscured, it was in order to a deeper hold upon the truth which Catholicism had neglected. It is a characteristic of the present age that it finds its surest apology for the Christian faith, not only in the appeal which that faith still makes to the soul, but also in the fact that God has never left Himself without a wit- ness in the past, that there has been an unbroken succes- sion of the sons of God in every generation, who have borne witness to the power of His Word, handing on to those who follow the torch of light and truth amid the surrounding darkness, until humanity should step forth into the fuller day. CHRISTIAN mSTITUTIONS Book I THE ORaANIZATION OF THE CHURCH CHAPTER I HISTORICAL SURVEY The form which the government of the church assumes in any given age is not an accident, but must be regarded as an outward expression of a spirit working from within — the embodiment of some intelligible purpose. Just as a deep significance attaches to the variations of Christian doctrine, so also there is a meaning in the changes which have taken place in ecclesiastical organization. They do not come by chance or as a result of negligence or indif- ference, nor are they imposed by usurpation upon an unwilling people. Differing forms of church government become as it were a language, in which may be read the peculiar genius of a nation, or the motives which are supreme at any moment in history, or the diverse inter- pretations of the Christian spirit, or the varied results which the churches desire to accomplish. In the history of ecclesiastical organizations may be discerned the succes- sive phases of civilization, no less than the epochs of growth through which the church as a whole has passed, in accordance with a law of progress which it is impossible to evade. The distinctive form of the ministry in the Apostolic age slowly gave way in the second century to a type of organization generated by the necessities of the age which called for a centralized administration, as the best method in any community for the attainment of inward harmony. 6 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH A bishop or pastor was made supreme in the local church, without whose sanction no ecclesiastical functions should be performed. But this type of government was in pro- cess of change from the moment of its birth. Beneath the bishop or pastor grew up the order of the presbyters, who gradually assumed the more important functions of the bishop, while the bishop became more closely identified with the administration of ecclesiastical affairs. But above the bishops there rose the metropolitans, who in their turn were subjected in the Eastern churches to the authority of the patriarch, the im})ersonation of the cause of national unity. But the spirit of nationality was not operative in the Western church at the time when it was the most potent factor in Oriental Christendom. In the West, therefore, in place of national unity as the control- ling motive, there was substituted the unity of ecclesias- tical empire, where the Bishop of Rome developed slowly into the Roman papacy. When the Reformation came, in the sixteenth century, the new-born spirit of nationality was the expanding force which broke down the papal supremacy, leaving the nations free to readjust the organ- ization of the churches in the different states of Europe in accordance with a truer apprehension of the nature of Christ's religion, or the best method of promoting its growth. The conflicts between the churches from the time of the Reformation raised the question of the origin of the Chris- tian ministry. When Papacy, Presbytery, and Episcopacy were struggling against each other, as if in mortal combat, the adherents of each of these divergent ecclesiastical poli- ,ties sought for its sanction the prestige of Apostolic usage or authority. The heritage of that age of rivalry and an- tagonism has descended to our own day, creating presump- tions and prejudices from which it is difficult to escape, which may still, consciously or unconsciously, condition the methods and the results of any inquiry into the origin of the ministry. It was in England that the controversy was HISTORICAL SURVEY 7 waged most bitterly between Puritans and Anglicans, as to whether presbytery or episcopacy could claim the sanc- tion of divine right. Into the merits of this controversy it is not possible to enter here, but a brief summary may be given of the argument on either side. In order, how- ever, to appreciate the relative situation of the combat- ants, it will be necessary to go back for a moment to the early church, where the first hints are to be detected of a process which eventually ripened into the open revolt of the later age. It was St. Jerome (f 420) who first questioned the divine right of that form of church government known as episco- pacy. Tertullian, indeed, some two centuries earlier, had asserted that the distinction between presbyters and bishops was a matter of human arrangement; but Ter- tullian 's defection from the Catholic church weakened the force of his later opinions. When Jerome lived, episcopacy in some form had been long established, in accordance with which those ministers who preached and ministered the sacraments, and were known as presbyters, were under the authority of another class of ministers known as bishops. It was Jerome's contention that bishops and presbyters were of equal authority in the beginning of Christ's religion, that the terms ' presbyter ' and ' bishop ' were synonymous expressions in the New Testament, and that the placing of the bishop above the presbyter was an ecclesiastical arrangement which was made in consequence of schisms and other disorders in the churches. While the statement of Jerome, or his challenge, as it has been sometimes regarded, awoke no controversy in the church, yet it is significant to note that his criticism attracted attention and was not forgotten. In the Middle Ages, the memory of it was perpetuated in the Corpus Juris Canonici, in which was inserted his remark about the original equality of bishops and presbyters. ^ It could 1 Cf. Decreti, Pars I., Distinct. 95, c. 5. The Canon is headed " Presbyter idem est qui et episcopus ac sola consuetudine presbyteris episcopi presunt"; and the evidence in support of this proposition is 8 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH not, then, have wholly surprised the learned world in the age before the Reformation when Marsilius of Padua, in his Defensor Pads, reaffirmed the statement of Jerome that in the New Testament bishop and presbyter are con- vertible designations of the same office. Marsilius, in advocating the reduction of ecclesiastical power, felt that he stood on unimpeachable ground, when he affirmed that existing ecclesiastical arrangements have no sanction in Scripture.^ To the testimony of Jerome, Wycliffe also appealed in his Trialogus, where he maintained that the office of presbyter carried the highest functions of the Christian ministry, as the preaching of the Word and the cure of souls. ^ In the revolutions of the sixteenth century, ecclesiasti- cal episcopacy was abolished by the Lutheran church in Germany and Denmark, as also by the Reformed church of Calvin, on the ground that it had no warrant in Script- ure, seeing that bishop and presbyter were diiJerent terms standing for the same office. Even in the Church of Eng- land, where the episcopate was retained, the same view found expression in the utterances of the bishops and others when the question was propounded, "whether bishops or priests were first, and if the priests were first, then the drawn from Jerome: "Item Jeronimus supra epistolam ad Titum, olim idem presbyter, qui et episcopus, et antequam diaboli instiuctu studia in religione fierant, et diceretur in populis : Ego sum Pauli, ego sum Apollo, ego sum Capliae, communi presbyteroram consilio ecclesiae gubenia- bantur. Postquam autem unusquisque eos, quos baptizauerat suos esse putabit, non Christi, in toto orbe decretum est, ut unus de presbyteris superponesetur et scismatum semina tollerentur. Et paulo post: § 1. Sicut ergo presbyteri sciunt, se ex ecclesiae consuetudine ei, qui sibi prepositus fuerit, esse subjectos, ita episcopi nouerint se magis consuetu- dine quam dispensationis dominicae veritate presbyteris esse maiores, et in communi debere ecclesiam regere." 1 " Ecce quod in ecclesia unius municipii plures allocutus est apostolus tanquam episcopus, quod non fuit nisi propter sacerdotum pluralitatem, qui omnes episcopi dicebantur, propter hoc, quod superintendentes esse debebant populo." Fol. 289. Marsilius is commenting on Paul's farewell address at ]\Iiletus. Cf. Neander.C/ins. ITt.s., Vol. IX., p. 44. Bohn ed. 2 "Unum audacter assero, quod in priinitiva ecclesia ut tempore Pauli suffecerunt duo ordines clericorum, scilicet sacerdos atque diaconus. Secundo dlco, quod in tempore apostoli fuit idem presbyter atque episco- pus ; patet 1 Tim. iii. et ad Titum i." ( Trialogus, IV. 15, p. 296). HISTORICAL SURVEY 9 priests made the bishop?" The answers to this question reveal a wide difference of opinion among the bishops and leading divines who were consulted; some maintaining that the Apostles, who were depositaries of power be- queathed to them by Christ, had in turn delegated their powers to their successors, who were bishops, and that priests had never been made except by bishops. Others, among whom were the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, thought that bishops may have origi- nally been made by presbyters or priests, or that it was a matter of slight consequence, if it had been so. It is interesting to note in these replies the appeal to Jerome's statement, as if it carried in it the weight of axiom, "as Jerome saith in an epistle to Evagrius."^ When the Puritans, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, questioned the authority of the bishops, it \vas on the ground that this ancient office found no support in Scripture. Instead of the threefold order of bishops, priests, and deacons retained in the Church of England, the Puritans held that the New Testament recognized four classes or kinds of min- isters, — doctors or teachers, pastors, elders, and deacons.^ Neither Whitgift, the Archbishop of Canterbury, nor Hooker, who both replied to the Puritans, defended Episcopacy on the ground that it was expressly set forth in the New Testament as the only and divine order of church government. Whitgift thought the church had been left free in this respect, to adapt its government to the circumstances of the age or people in which its lot was cast. Hooker held that order was divine, but that 1 Cf. Burnet, History of the Reformation of the Church of England, Vol. IV., where the original documents are given. See also The Catechism, in Becon, Works, Parker Soc. ed., p. 319: "■Father. What difference is there between a bishop and a spiritual minister ? Son. None at all : their office is one, their authority and power is one. And therefore St. Paul calleth the spiritual ministers sometime bishops, sometime elders, sometime pastors, sometime teachers, etc." Becon was chaplain to Archbishop Cranmer and Prebendary of Canterbury, and wrote in the reign of King Edward VI. There is ground for thinking that Cranmer may have changed his opinion on this que.stion. 2 Cf. Contemp. Books of Discipline in Appendix to Briggs, C. A., American Preshyterianism. 10 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHtTRCH no fixed order was prescribed by Scripture. He parried the criticism on the episcopate, made in the name of Jerome, by the remark that "things are always ancienter than their names," and so there may have been bishops in reality, while yet the names of bishops and presbyters were interchangeable. The truth of this remark has been to a certain extent borne out by later research. It was during this phase of the controversy that the preface to the ordinal had been set forth by the Anglican church, in which it is declared that " It is evident to all men diligently residing Holy Scripture and ancient Au- thors, that from the Apostles' time there have been these orders of ministers in Christ's Church, — Bishops, Priests, and Deacons." The caution and moderation of this position is apparent when we take into view the confusion caused by Jerome's statement. It is not af- firmed that Holy Scripture by itself is sufficient to demon- strate the existence of the episcopate, but that Scripture does so when supplemented by ancient authors. Nor is it declared that the episcopate existed in the age of the Apostles, but "from their time," which may be inter- preted as during their time or immediately afterwards. Had the conviction prevailed that the Apostles ordered the episcopate, as the permanent divine form of the church's government, there would not have been this moderation or even ambiguity of language. We may take Lord Bacon as representing a widespread and intelligent sentiment in the Church of England, in the view which he put forth that Episcopacy is not opposed to Scripture, but that the Scripture does not prescribe any fixed, unal- terable form of ecclesiastical polity. But a great change of attitude on this question was coming over the Church of England, Avhich began to appear in the later years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It was signalled by the sermon of Bishop Bancroft at St. Paul's Cross in 1588, in which he amazed the Puritans by boldly defending Episcopacy on the ground of its divine institution. Jerome's statement no longer embarrassed him, for did not Jerome also add, that the bishop had HISTORICAL SURVEY 11 been placed above the presbyter for the purpose of pre- venting that confusion which the Puritans were now again creating by refusing to listen to the bishops ? From this time it was sought to determine the question of the origin of the ministry by the closer study of the New Testament, though among Anglican writers the testimony of the Fathers was not neglected. In the work of Bishop Hall, Episcopacy hy Divine Right Asserted, written in 1640, and it is said at the suggestion of Archbishop Laud, the New Testament argument for Episcopacy is based on the Pastoral Letters to Timothy and Titus, who are regarded as diocesan bishops possessing the Apostolic sanction, and therefore of divine origin. What St. Paul had done for the churches of Ephesus and Crete, the other Apostles must also have done for the churches which they planted. That they must have done so is further inferred from the fact of the universal prevalence of the episcopate in the age following the Apostles. It would be absurd to sup- pose that this was a new form of church government set up after the death of the Apostles by the ancient fathers. And further it is claimed for this position, that bishops were spoken of by these fathers, such as Irenteus and Tertullian, as successors of the Apostles, and that this seems to have been the universal belief. By this mode of argument Hall sought to overcome the embarrassment caused by Jerome's statement, that in the beginning of Christ's religion the terms bishop and presbyter were but different names for one and the same othce. As Jerome liad not specified at what time or by what authority the bishop was distinguished from and elevated above the presbyter, it was open to affirm that the change had been made with the authority or divine sanction of the Apos- tles themselves.^ 1 Bishop Hall quoted Clement of Rome, who lived at the close of the Apostolic age, as asserting distinctly that the Apostles foresaw that there would be strife about the offices of the church, and had therefore them- selves appointed men to govern the church, who should take their places when they were departed. He also alluded to Ignatius, who had told the church to do nothing without the bishops and to be subject to their authority as to the voice of God. 12 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH Bishop Hall's book on Episcopacy by Divine Right was answered by Smectymnuus, a joint work of several Puri- tan writers. Their position, like that of Hall, is interest- ' ing for its historical value, as presenting the method which was to be substantially followed in the controversy down to the present day. In the reply to Bishop Hall, the Puritans urged the statement of Jerome, which no one Avho carefully read the New Testament could deny, that originally bishops and presbyters were but one office. In Timoth}^ and Titus they saw only the temporary office of an evangelist, moving from place to place, Avhose busi- ness it was to plant or organize churches according to the presbyterial scheme, in which presbyters (or bishops) should have the supreme authority. Neither Timothy nor Titus were called ' bishops, ' nor were they placed perma- nently at Ephesus or Crete, nor were they ordered while they remained there to appoint bishops who should be superior to presbyters, but rather to appoint presbyters, as they had also received their own office, by the laying on of hands of the presbytery. From their study of ancient his- tory tliey saw also that those who were called bishops in the second century were not the diocesan bishops of a later time, but held an office corresponding more nearly with that of the pastor in charge of a local church. Many of the most prominent men of the seventeenth century took part in the controversy, among others John Milton, whose study of Catholic antiquity for the purpose of solving the problem of prelacy gave him a sense of its worthlessness as far as any honest or valuable testimony was concerned. Ussher and Stillingfleet, Pearson, Ham- mond, and Jeremy Taylor, and Richard Baxter continued the discussion, which led to no agreement in opinion. There was no clear picture of the actual situation in the early church before the minds of the combatants, nor was there sufficient knowledge of that distant age to afford material for such a picture. The facts of history were mingled Avith assumptions and a priori interpretations. Jeremy Taylor suggested a departure from the usual form of the argument, when he maintained that the Apostles HISTORICAL SURVEY 13 were originally the bishops but did not take that name, and that they appointed presbyters (or bishops) and dea- cons, thus making up the threefold order. When the Apostles departed, those whom they had appointed to suc- ceed in tlie office of oversight gradually came to be known as bishops, so that the names 'bishop ' and 'presbyter,' which were at first interchangeable, came to be distin- guished from each other. But the difficulty raised by Jerome's statement was not overcome in the seventeenth century. It was open to Anglicans to infer that bishops were meant where presbyters were mentioned ; or to Puri- tans, to maintain that presbyters were to be under3tood where bishops were mentioned. But what is most note- worthy in the long dissension is the reversal of attitudes by the two parties. It was Puritans, and not Anglicans, wiio in the sixteenth century maintained that the New Testa- ment gave divine sanction to a certain fixed ecclesiastical order. But in the following century the Anglicans moved on to the Puritan ground, while the Puritans tended toward the attitude of Whitgift and Hooker, that no form of church government is authoritatively prescribed by Scripture, that the form is a matter of indifference pro- vided that a stable order be maintained. But it was a loss to the Puritans when they yielded their contention that the ministry of their churches was by divine right, or, in other words, possessed the explicit sanction of the New Testament. If the Anglicans never quite escaped the embarrassment caused by Jerome's statement, their opponents also en- countered an equal difficulty when the appeal was taken to antiquity and ancient authors. In the earlier stages of the argument the writings of Ignatius had received but little notice. So far as his Epistles were known, it was in the Long Greek Recension, concerning which Calvin had reflected the sober Protestant sentiment, when he remarked that "nothing can be more nauseating than the absurdities which have been published under the name of Ignatius." But in 1644, Archbishop Ussher published his edition of the Shorter Greek Recension, then recently dis- 14 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHUECH covered in a Latin version, which consisted of seven letters only, and these free from the anachronisms and absurd- ities of the longer recension. The genuineness of this shorter recension was ably defended by Bishop Pearson. In these writings, which if genuine belonged to the early years of the second century (a.d. 110-117), there was no longer any interchangeable use of the names ' bishop ' and ' presbyter ' ; but three orders were sharply distinguished, — bishops, presbyters, and deacons. Not only so, but the authority of the bishop was magnified to an extent far beyond what Anglican prelates had essayed to go in their encounters with the Puritans. It was now easy, on the one hand, to take the leap from the Ignatian Epistles to the heart of the Apostolic age; for it seemed impossible that a revolution in church government could have been accomplished so soon, between the lifetime of the Apos- tles and the appearance of Ignatius. When the appeal was thus taken to the fathers of the early church, the only way open on the Puritan side was to deny the genuine- ness of the Ignatian Epistles, even in their more reputable form. Such was the attitude of Daille, a once famous con- tinental scholar, who was also the author of a treatise on the Right Use of the Fathers in the Decision of Con- troversies. The appeal to the ancient church had been made necessary by the rise of the Independents, who alike with the Presbyterians and the Anglicans vi^ere contending that Scripture furnished a clear and authoritative account of the Christian ministry. But the later Independents found but two classes in the ministry, — pastors (who were called indifferently bishops or elders or teachers) and deacons. The rise of the Society of Friends or Quakers added still further to the confusion, for in the New Tes- tament they found no trace of an official ministry, while their attention was chiefly riveted on an order of the prophets the existence of which was overlooked by the other churches. But the interest in the controversy was dying out in the closing years of the seventeenth century, not to be revived again until the study of Church History should ))e taken HISTORICAL SURVEY 15 up in more thorough and scientific fashion in our own age. Two important works, however, appeared, as the controversy waned, which represent the learning and scholarship of the time: Lord King's Enquiry into the Constitution., Discipline., Unity., and Worship of the Primi- tive Church., published in 1691, — a work which has an historical interest, since its authority was accepted by John Wesley when he appointed bishops for the Metho- dist church in America; and Bingham's Antiquities of the Christian Church, — -a Avork of great learning and patience, of which the first volume appeared in 1708. II Under the impulse given to the study of Church History in the opening years of the nineteenth century, a change has been wrought in the method of historical inquiry which has altered the mode of approach to what are known as Christian Antiquities. The doctrine that a law of development underlies all institutions, whether divine or human, has been an inspiration to scholars who have been engaged in the study of the early Christian church. In the first enthusiasm created by the applica- tion of this principle, theories were set forth regarding the origin of the church and the ministry, which have since been abandoned. A certain dogmatic tone has character- ized the work of the Tubingen School, for example, as though final conclusions had been reached. The convic- tion that the organization of the church is the result of growth, conditioned by human instincts, by the needs of the age, or by the peculiarities of different countries, seemed at first a method as fruitful as it was easy, for the solution of the problems of early Christian history. But the wisdom acquired by many failures has revealed a more complex and complicated situation, which makes it no easy task to unravel the threads of life in the ancient world. It has therefore been found necessary for the moment to cease from large generalizations as to how 16 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH results are accomplished, and to confine inquiry to gain- ing an exact and thorough knowledge of all accessible materials, as the basis for some larger conclusion which has not yet been reached. In this modesty of attitude is the promise of greater things, even though it may take a lifetime to accomplish some slight contribution to the picture which is yet to be drawn. Among those who led in the departure from the older methods of inquiry, were Rothe and Baur, by both of whom the episcopate was regarded as holding a vital rela- tionship to the rise of the Catholic church. Rothe was so impressed with its almost universal adoption from an early date, as well as by its prominence and tlie purpose it had served, that it seemed to him as if such an institu- tion could only be accounted for on the ground of an Apostolic origin, even though it were not the form which the government of the church had assumed in the Apos- tolic age. He explained its rise and predominance by a theory which has found no other advocate, that the Apos- tles met in council about the year 70, and organized the church on an episcopal basis. ^ Baur regarded the epis- copate as the agency by which the Catholic church realized its unity, when threatened by Gnostic philosophers or by the Montanist movement, which would have reduced the church to the dimensions of a narrow sect. The episco- pate, in liis view, was not of Apostolic institution, but had developed out of the presbyterate in the earlier part of the second century. Each congregation of believers had been originally under the charge of a presbyter ; but as the congregations multiplied in a town or city, one of these presbyters came to represent the rest, and to stand at their head. This headship, wdiich was at first of a representative character, tended inevitably to assume a monarchical character, until the power to administer sac- 1 Rothe, Die Anfdnge der christlichen Kirche und Hirer Verfassung, 1837, pp. 354-392. Rothe's explanation was rejected by Baur, Ueher den Ursprung des Episco2)ates in der christl. Kirche, 1838, pp. 39 ff. Ritschl has given a careful examination of Rothe's theory in his Die EnUtehung der altkathoUschen Kirche, 2d ed., 1857, pp. 399 ff., and shown that it is untenable. HISTORICAL SURVEY 17 raments and ordination, which from the first had inliered in the presbyterate, was allowed to them only condition- ally on the permission of the bishop, until at last the right to ordain was at the council of Ancyra (a.d. 314) definitely and finally withdrawn. It was Baur's misfort- une that he studied the subject of Christian origins under the influence of a jjreconceived theory as to the rise of the Catholic church ; and although his keen insight and learning have rendered great service to later students, his conclusions regarding the early organization of the church, and especially of the episcopate, have not been sustained by the investigation which his labors have stimulated. An impartial investigation of the origin of the Catholic church was undertaken by Ritschl, who recognized a cer- tain kind of episcopate in the church at Jerusalem in the Apostolic age, which was not, however, perpetuated. James, the Lord's brother, who was not one of the Twelve, assumed the headship of the church at Jerusalem, as Ritschl suggested, in consequence of his blood relation- ship to Christ, — a theory which found confirmation in the circumstance reported by Eusebius, that he was followed in his of^ce by Simeon, who was a cousin-german of oiu" Lord. This type of ecclesiastical organization was com- pared witli that adopted by Islam after the death of Mo- hammed. An attempt at its reproduction in the Catholic church may be seen in the pseudo-Clementine writings, where Clement took the headship of the church, with Rome as its centre, after Jerusalem lost its importance as a city. According to Ritschl the Catholic type of episco- pate had its rise among the communities of Asia Minor, where at first it had a local character, and from thence spread into Greece and Rome, and finally into Egypt. Renan, in his treatment of the origin of Christianity, offered no definite theory of his own as to the rise and growth of the Christian ministry; but wherever he touches the subject does so under the influence of a motive which had not hitherto been operative, — - that the government of the church not only developed various modifications in response to the changing situations of the liour, passing c 18 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH from a pure democracy to a presbyterial form, and from this changing to episcopacy, but that it was also influ- enced by the models of secular government, that ecclesias- tical history can no longer be separated from secular history, but that both are in organic relationship and form one living whole. ^ What Renan followed in a general way as the true method for studying ecclesiastical begin- nings. Dr. Hatch has pursued in a more definite way and with more exact results, finding a close analogy between the form assumed by the various societies among the Greeks within the Roman Empire and the organization of the early Christian communities. It was the special con- tribution of Dr. Hatch to this long inquiry that he pointed out the character of the episcopate as essentially an administrative oiSce, possessing that most important function in every organization, the proper disposition of its funds, in which respect they resemble the officers of contemporary Greek societies.^ Among those who have contributed to the study of ecclesiastical origins, the name of the late Bishop Light- foot must always be held in deep respect. By his vindi- cation of the genuineness of the Ignatian Epistles he has established at least one fixed point in the development of the ministry, putting an end to the hopeless confusion caused by the Tiibingen School, with its arbitrary assign- ments of early Clnistian literature.^ Not only did Bishop Lightfoot render this important service, but in his Essay on the Christian Ministry, he traced the gradual spread of the Ignatian type of the episcopate, until by the middle of the third century Episcopacy in some form had become the uniform mode of government of the Catholic church. He also called attention to the twofold use of the term '^ Histoire cles Origines du Christianisme, Vol. V. ; Les Evangiles, c. XV., Vol. VI. ; L'ligUse Chretlenne, c. 6 ; Progres de V Episcopal. - The Organization of the Early Christian Churches, being the Bampton Lectures for 18S0. Dr. Hatch's work was translated into German by Dr. Ilarnack and suijplemented with valuable discussions on the origin of the presbyterate and the episcopate. 3 For a sketch of the Ignatian Controversy, cf. Schaff, Ch. His., II., pp. 266 fE. ; also Renan, in introduction to Les Evangiles, HISTORICAL SURVEY 19 'Apostle' in tlie ancient church: its narrower sense, in which it was finally restricted to the Twelve, being for the most part later than the larger use in Avhich the title was applied to the -great number of those who went forth everywhere to preach the Word and lay the foundations of Christian communities. The Apostolate, as he has shown, was originally an order in the church, whose dis- tinctive functions did not descend to the later ministry. The main thesis in Bishop Lightfoot's essay was the original identity of the names 'bishop' and 'presbyter,' from which he drew the conclusion that " the episcopate was not formed out of the Apostolic order by localization, but out of the presbyterial by elevation; and the title, which originally was common to all, came at length to be appropriated to the chief among them." ^ Bishop Lightfoot also defined the episcopate as a centralization of authority in place of the somewhat looser presbyterial government which preceded it; and he held that the sanction for the change must, in the nature of the case, have come from St. John, who Avas residing in Asia Minor at the time when the change must have occurred. A generation has now passed since the Essay on the Christian Ministry was written, within the last decade of which there has been a renewed discussion of the subject, and two important departures have been taken from Bishop Liglitfoot's attitude. In the first place, the famous dic- tum of St. Jerome, which has held its own for so many centuries, that bishop and presbyter were originally differ- ing titles for the same office, has at last been disputed on critical grounds. Dr. Hatch, who first called attention to the grounds for questioning this position, has been fol- lowed by Dr. Harnack, who has offered convincing reasons for holding that the office of bishop was from the begin- ning distinct from that of the presbyter, and that, how- ever great may have been the later increase of the bishop's prerogatives or the modification of his functions, he still 1 Cf. Essaii on the Christian Ministry in Comm. on PhiUp2)ians,-p. 196, ed. 1891 ; also note on the name and office of an apostle in Comm. on Galatians, pp. 314 ff, I 20 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH retained the same essential quality which marked his first appearance, and which also from the first differentiated him from the presbyter. On this assumption, that we must take names and titles as we find, them in the New Testament or in ancient writers, and that no theory about the origin of the ministry can be sustained which requires the explaining away of official designations by making them equivalent to other terms, or which supplements the organization as described by any writer with other offices in order to harmonize it with some hypothesis of what must have been, —on this simple and natural assumption the latest inquiries into the origin of the Christian minis- try have been based. And, in the second place, the discovery of the Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, which is generally assigned to the close of the first century, has at last fur- nished the clew to the true significance of allusions in the New Testament to the ministry, which have hitherto been strangely neglected. It reveals the ministry of the Apostolic age as it was on the point of vanishing from the church, and also the connection between that ministry and the age of Ignatius. Or, in the words of Dr. Harnack, "What the Didache has done for us is to supply a missing link in the history of the sub-Apostolic " 1 age. ^ 1 Cf. Harnack in Expositor, New Series, Vol. V., 1887 ; also Die Lehre der Zwulf Apostd in Texte und Untersuchungen, von Gebhardt unci Har- nack, Bci. ii., Heft 1, :^ ; 1884. Other articles in the Expositor, discuss- ing theories of the origin of the ministry by Sanday, Rendel Harris, Gore, and others, are given in Vols. V., VI., VII. See also an elaborate study by Reville, Las Origincs de V iSpiscopat ; ^tude sur la formation du Gou- vernemput EccUxiastique an Scin de VEglise Chretienne dans V Empire Bomain (Premiere Partie), 1894. CHAPTER II APOSTLES, PROPHETS, TEACHERS In any attempt to reproduce the picture of the ministry in the Apostolic age, or in the age which immediately succeeded, it is important to classify the literature Avhich bears upon the subject according to the time when it was written. The difhculty of ascertaining the exact date of man}" of the New Testament writings constitutes an obstacle in the way of positive statement Avhich makes ' impossible at present a complete and accurate account of the develop- ment of the Christian ministry. In the following sketch, no effort has been made to determine these questions of New Testament criticism. But in a general wa}^ the literature may be thus classified. First in the order of time come the writings of St. Paul, which are the earliest Christian documents, older than the Gospels in their present form, and prior also to the Acts of the Apostles, which was Avritten after the death of St. Paul. But the earlier part of the Acts contains an account of the genesis of the church which must be associated with the earlier Pauline Epistles. In this class of the litera- ture is included the Epistles to the Corinthians, Gala- tians, Thessalonians, Romans, and Philippians, all of which contain references to the organization of the church. In the second class come those documents which are admitted to be somewhat later in origin than those above mentioned, and about which doubts have been raised, not only as to their time, but as to whether they were written by the writers whose names they carry or to whom they have been ascribed by tradition. Without going into the question of date or authorship, it may be asserted of them all that they fall at least so late as the second generation 21 22 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH in the Apostolic age. These writings inclnde the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of St. James, and 1 Peter, Ephesians and Hebrews, the Second and Third Epistles of St. John, the Book of Kevelation, and, most important of all for the light they shed, the Pastoral Epistles to Timothy and Titus. The authorship and time of the Pastoral Epistles form one of the most difficult subjects in Biblical criticism, about which opinion is still greatly divided. They have been placed in the latter part of the second century; by some they are assigned to the close of tlie first century; others, still, have no hesitation in ascribing them to St. Paul.^ If they were written by St. Paul, their time may be as late as the year 67 a.d. It is possible, also, as many are inclined to hold, that these Pastoral Epistles include genuine fragments by the great Apostle himself, sufficient to justify their connection with his name. The third class of documents consists of three important treatises, which belong to the close of the Apostolic age, or the early years of the second century, — the Epistle of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians, the Didache, or so- called Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, and the Epistles of Ignatius, to which may be added the Shepherd of Her- nias, about whose date there is uncertainty. It may be later than the Ignatian Epistles. The authoritative description of the ministry in the Apostolic age has been given to us by St. Paul: ''^ And Grod hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers ; after that miracles, then gifts of 1 M. Reville, in his Origines dc VEpiscopat, places them toward the close of the first century, and regards the picture of the ministry which they present as the transition to the Ignatian Epistles. For the proposed reconstruction of dates in the life of Paul, cf. Holtzmann, Neutestampnt- liche Zeitgeachirhte, § 16 (1895). The dates given in the text follow the hitherto accepted chronology but for convenience only, and where no important issue is concerned. APOSTLES, PROPHETS, TEACHERS 23 liealing, helps, r/overnments, diversities of tongues.''''^ The value of St. Paul's testimony lies in this, that he was contemporaneous with that which he described; he was writing to a church which he himself had planted and nourished; and we know the time when he wrote; it was about the year 57 a.d. when his Epistle was sent to the church at Corinth. Upon this passage it may be remarked that St. Paul claims for this ministry of the Apostolic church a divine right or appointment, — it is God who has set these min- isters in the church. Again, there is a distinct gradation, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers. These three offices or functions constitute the higher class of the ministry and have a certain spiritual kijiship; the apostle preaches, the prophets speak by the gift of inspiration, the teacher explains the truth with the aid of human learning. In the lower grade of offices, or what may be called the administrative functions, two are mentioned in a general way, without technical designation, which have evidently the character of germs for the later development of the ministry, —they are helps and governments. But there is no mention of the familiar titles of a later day, — bishops, presbyters, or deacons. There is another list of ecclesiastical offices given by St. Paul a few years later, in his Epistle to the Romans (a.d. 59): "Having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us, whether prophecy (^7rpo(f)i]T€cav'), let us prophesy according to the projjortion of our faith ; or ministry QStaKovtav'), let us give ourselves to our ministry; or he that teacheth (hihao-Kcov), to his teaching; or he that exhorteth (TrapaKokoiv), to his exhorting ; he that giveth (^/jberaSiSov'i), let him do it with liberality; he that ruleth (Trpoto-ra/xeyo?), with diligence ; he that showeth mercy (eXecoy), with cheerfulness " (Rom. xii. 6). Here again there is no mention of presbyters or bishops or deacons, though one may see an allusion to presbyters, in those ^ I. Cor. xii. 28 : Kal ovs /jl^v idero 6 debs iv tt) eKKKrjaia TTpQrov airoarb- Xous, BevTepov TrpocprjTas, Tpirov didaffKaXovs, eweira dwd/xeLS, 'iireiTa xci-picT'fJ.ci.Ta la/j.dTwv, di'Ti\rj/x\l/eLS, KvjBepvrjcrei.s, y4v7) yXuiaa^Qv. 24 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH called rulers (^Trpo'iardfjLevoc'), the foremost men, and to the bishops and deacons, in the ministry {hiaKovlav). Nor are the officers classified ; but yet the first to be mentioned are the prophets. The teacher is also here ; but there is silence about apostles, as if Rome had not known hitherto the presence of an apostle. This passage from Romans lacks the definiteness and impressiveness of the account in the Epistle to the Corinthians. St. Paul had not when he wrote visited the church at Rome, and was not as familiar with its arrangements as with the church at Corinth, which he himself had planted and to whom he ministered as an apostle. For this reason his description of the organization of its church may take on this general tone. In the First Epistle to the Thessalonians (v. 12) we have an allusion to a local ministry, to which, however, no technical designation is given : " We beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you {kottlmv- ra?) and are over you (irpolaTafjuevov'^') in the Lord, and admonish you." The allusion here may be to those who later became known as the presbyters (Ttpea-^vrepoi) or elders. It is important to call attention to this cir- cumstance, that St. Paul does not mention ^ presbyters ' when writing to the churches which he had founded, in view of the fact that the writer of the Acts of the Apostles states so positively that it was the usage of the apostle to ordain elders in every church (Acts xiv. 23). It harmonizes the discrejDancy if we suppose that the fore- most men (irpolo-rdixevoL) mentioned here and in the Epistle to the Romans had become known as presbyters when the writer of the Acts was describing the work of St. Paul. The Epistle to the Thessalonians may have been written about the year 53 a.d. Some ten years later St. Paul wrote to the Philippians, heading his Epistle, " To the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi with the bishops (eTTitr/coTroi?) and deacons (Sm/co'foi?).^ These names for a local ministry destined to be perpetuated in the church now appear for the first time. They may, how- ever, be here used in a general way, and not yet as titles of office, equivalent to overseers or superintendents and APOSTLES, PROPHETS, TEACHERS 25 helpers. There is more than one bishop in this community, as there is also more than one deacon. The couplino- together of these two officers may have its significance. They are again mentioned together in the Pastoral Epistles, as also in the Didache, as if united by some organic tie which was wanting in their relation to the presbyters, as if they had grown out of one common root, while the pres- byters derived their origin from another source.^ If we now compare the information gained from St. Paul with the accounts relating to the organization of the church given in the earlier chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, we find them in substantial agreement. The Twelve Apostles are represented (Acts vi.) as conceiving their mission to be a spiritual one and not as consisting in the administration of ecclesiastical affairs. When, as we are told, there arose a difficulty between the Hellenists and the Hebrews in the community at Jerusalem, because the widows of the former did not receive their due share in the distributions of charity, the Apostles called the disciples together, and said to them: "It is not fit that we should forsake the Avord of God and serve tables. Look ye out therefore, brethren, from among you seven men of good report, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the Word." There is here a sharp distinction drawn between the higher ministry of the Word and the lower ministry of tables or ecclesiastical affairs, which corresponds with St. Paul's classification in the First Epistle to the Corin- thians. There is also in these words a vivid reminder of the first commission given by Jesus to the Twelve to go 1 It is possible that bisliops may here include presbyters, as an untech- nical designation, in accordance with the usage in Acts xx. 28, where the presbyters are charged to take heed to the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made them overseers or bishops. But the mention in Philip- pians is connected with a gift of money made to the Apostle, — a cir- cumstance which may have a special significance, in view of the later development of the bishop as an administrative officer who superintended the finances of the community. The presbyter is never mentioned in this connection, but the impression conveyed where the pre.sbyters are men- tioned is that of moral supervision and discipline. Cf. K^ville, pp. 286 ff. 26 ORGANIZATION OP THE CHURCH forth to the lost sheep of the house of Lsniel: "And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. X. 7); or again, according to St. Mark, "He or- dained twelve that they should be with Him and that He might send them forth to preach " (Mark iii. 14). In giving this commission to His disciples, Christ was also ordering the continuance of His own mission: "And He said unto them, let us go into the next towns that I may preach there also, for therefore came I forth." The appointment of the Seven to the ministr}^ of the tables, raises the question whetlier we have in this inci- dent the formal appointment of what is known as the order of deacons. That it is in some way connected with the later appearance of the diaconate must be admitted, while also it may be regarded as a temporary provisional arrangement to meet some special emergency. The Seven are not called deacons, nor are they referred to again in the Acts of the Apostles. Still further, two at least of the Seven soon left the ministry of the tables for the ministry of the Word, — Stephen, whose boldness in preaching waked the first persecution, in consequence of which " they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the Apostles "; and Philip, better known as the Evangelist, who went down into Samaria and preached Christ unto them, and to whom the people gave heed with one accord. The essential point in the narrative is not, therefore, the formal consti- tution of an ecclesiastical order, but the recognition of the Christian ministr}^ as a service (hiaKovta) which is divided into a lower and a higher; and, as Chrysostom remarks, the lower service must needs give way to the higher. ^ 1 Cf. Chrysostom, Horn, in Acta Apos. XIV. Chrysostom asks whether they were deacons who were then appointed, and replies that they were neither deacons nor presbyters. It was Cyprian of Carthage who fixed the traditional interpretation, as in Ep. Ixiv. o, wliere lie is treating the case of a deacon who resisted his bishop. The deacons should be re- minded, he says, that Christ himself appointed the apostles, or bishops and overseers; while the deacons, after the ascension of Christ, were appointed by the Apostles as the ministers of their episcopacy. It is God who makes the bishops ; it is the bishops who make the deacons. APOSTLES, PROPHETS, TEACHERS 27 In appointing assistants for tlie administration of affairs, the Apostles were vindicating their higher function, which was the preaching of the Word. II St. Paul gives the second place after the Apostles, in this higher ministr}^ of the Word, which God had ap- pointed, to the prophet; and Avith this high estimate of the place of prophecy the Acts of the Apostles agrees. The birth of the Christian church on Pentecost or Whit- sunday, following the Ascension, is identified with the pouring out of the Spirit. This mysterious event, whose first effect was a sense of confusion and bewilderment, was interpreted by Peter, in the sermon which he preached, to be the fulfilment of the words of the prophet Joel : " It shall come to pass in the last da3's, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and j'our sons and 3'our daughters shall prophesy, your young 'men shall see vis- ions, your old men shall dream dreams ; and on my ser- vants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy" (Acts ii. 17, 18). If we may distinguish between the apostle and the prophet, between preaching and the act of prophecy, the distinction is this, — tlie apostle is one sent^ as the name implies, a messenger to proclaim the Gospel of deliverance to those in darkness. Tlie priority is given to those who thus lay the foundations of Christian com- munities. They carry a message adapted to this end, they repeat and reiterate the simple truth which they have received and have been commissioned to deliver. They hold firm the tradition which is to bind the world together. As the reception of it has quickened their own souls, so the proclamation of it brings life to others ; and the essence of the message is faith in Jesus as the Son of God. But the prophet speaks to those win) have been .con- verted by the preaching of Apostles. If the heavens 28 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH might seem to have been closed again after the departure of Christ, yet the proclamation of His teaching and His life would still go on, the form of sound words be repeated and still find an echo in human souls. But jjrimitive Christianity sought and found a higher confirmation of the eternal Gospel. To the prophet the heavens were always open, the Spirit descended upon him, he spoke with the conviction born of fresh and living insight into the truth. He might not have known Christ after the flesh as St. Paul also had not known Him ; and yet know the mind of Christ through the Spirit, even as some who had listened to His voice had not been able to do. The prophet had visions in which new truth was revealed, not contradicting the old, but opening and expanding its meaning. Such a vision came to St. Peter, teaching him what he had not learned before, that he was not to call things common or unclean which God had cleansed. The Apostle might speak with the authority of tradition that which he had heard and re- ceived from others ; the prophet spoke with the authority of immediate inspiration, telling what he saw by spiritual insight and knew to be true, even if it had hitherto found no utterance. What he saw he aimed to make others see. Thus in prophecy there came into the church a new power collateral with traditi6n, which gave the tradition a new meanino-. And thirdly, as St. Paul tells us, God had appointed teachers, as part of the higher ministry of the Word. This also is confirmed in the earlier chapters of the Acts of the Apostles: "Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul" (Acts xiii. 1). The teacher is the bond of connection between the church and human learn- ing. Apollos was a teacher who is supposed to have been familiar with the wisdom of the schools. The Epistle to the Hebrews is an illustration of the combination between the new faith and the knowledge which is placed at its APOSTLES, PROPHETS, TEACHERS 29 disposal. The mission of the teacher was to meet the awakened intellect, to explain difficulties, to solve the problems with which the reason was struggling, embar- rassed by a previous training, confused by rival and con- flicting systems of philosophy or religion. He gave the information for which the intellect was hungering, as the prophet gave the food for spiritual nourishment. These three offices or spiritual functions — Apostle, prophet, and teacher — -may be said to have belonged to the ministry at large, and were not at first the exclusive possession of the local church. They itinerate, going from place to place, from one Christian community to another, thus constituting the bond of connection and unity which welded the first Christian disciples together in one com- munion and fellowship. While their gifts and functions were distinct and were held separately, they might also be conjoined in one person. St. Paul combined them in an extraordinary degree. As an Apostle, he did more than they all in planting and superintending churches. But prophecy was a gift wdiich he greatly prized; "Desire spiritual gifts," he wrote to the Corinthians, "but chiefly that 3^e may prophesy, for he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification and exhortation and comfort."^ And again, as a teacher, the first Christian theologian, his name stands in the highest rank. It was this rare com- bination of gifts which explains the influence and authority of the great Apostle to the Gentiles. There was in St. John also a similar combination, but his Apostolic activity yielded in prominence to his gift as a teacher; he alone in the ancient church received the title of Theologian. In the second century an attempt Avas made, as in the spurious Clementine writings, to present St. Peter as the foremost teacher of the church, eclipsing St. Paul in his learning, his knowledge of philosophical S}n>tems, and his ability to confute every antagonist. But though the functions of 1 1 Cor. xiv. 1, 3. The whole chapter is important as giving St. Paul's estimate of prophecy and also as affording a glimpse of earh^ Christian worship. The prophets are to speak two or three, and the others are to judge ; ye may all prophesy one by one ; the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, for God is not the author of confusion. 30 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH prophecy and teaching might be thus combined in one person, the offices were still distinct, and later history bears witness to this threefold division of the higher min- istry of the early church. Ill There are certain features of the office of an Apostle which demand special consideration. The name is applied to the twelve disciples only once in the Gospel according to St. Matthew (x. 2) and once in St. Mark (vi. 30). St. Luke uses it more frequently, saying that the name was given to them by Christ (vi. 13). The more common designation was the Twelve. In the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles there is contained the intimation that the number twelve was to form the limit of the num- ber of Apostles, as if the chosen disciples would fondly perpetuate the external form of their relationship to the Master. This may have been one reason for the election of Matthias to fill the vacancy created by the apostasy of Judas. But there is no evidence that this method of pro- cedure was followed when other vacancies occurred, or that the effort was again made to restrict the number of the Apostles to twelve. The election of Matthias was also further based upon his possession of a peculiar qualifica- tion for the office of Apostle: he had been one of those who had been closely associated with the disciples while Jesus went in and out among them, and was therefore competent to be a witness with them of His resurrection (Acts i. 8; Luke xxiv. 48). It was as if the heroism, the divine energy which the work of an Apostle required, must have its foundation laid deep in this fundamental conviction of a risen Lord. There is also implied here a tradition which is to be handed down, which requires for its attestation the association with Jesus in His earthly life, the concrete vision with the eye of sense of His resur- rection from the grave. But there was another conception of the Apostolate, a larger and freer conception, which was struggling for APOSTLES, PROPHETS, TEACHERS 31 recognition in the Apostolic age, not in opposition to but as supplementing the deficiency of the purpose which would restrict its limits to the original Twelve.^ It Avas St. Paul who first vindicated for himself and others a right to the title of Apostle, even though he had not been an eyewitness of the resurrection, nor was he of those who had companied with the Lord Jesus as He went in and out among men. As regards temporal things and earthly scenes, he who has seen with his own eyes or been present in person at some great transaction has an advantage over those who hear the report and take the description at second hand. For the historian who is recording events, there is gained vividness of conviction and a deeper sense of reality by visiting the spots where battles were fought or great assemblies Avere held. But in spiritual things another principle intervenes, — the faith which is the evidence of things not seen. Blessed are they which have not seen and yet have believed. The issue raised by St. Paul was whether the vision of sense, the daily contact and verbal communion with the Master, were the only conditions of the most successful ministry, or whether the spiritual insight was not the primary con- dition for preaching Christ, and the foundation for the Christian church. There is given in St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corin- thians (1 Cor. XV. 5-8) a list of 'the appearances of the risen Christ, in which no distinction is made between the witness of sense and the witness of faith: "He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve ; '^ after that he was seen of five hundred brethren at once ; . . . after that he was seen of James ; then of all the apostles ; and last of all he 1 For the fullest discussion of Apostles, prophets, and teachers, see Harnack, Die Lehre der Zwolf Apostel^ in the second volume of Texte u. Untersnrh., pp. 111-130. Also Sohni, Kirchenrecht, I., pp. 38-51 ; Lightfoot, on The Name and Office of an Apostle, in Comm. on Galatians, pp. 92-101 ; ll^ville, Les Origines de VEinscoixit, pp. 122-140. 2 This usage of St. Paul by which he seems to discriminate "the twelve" from the Apostles is illustrated again in 1 Cor. ix. 5: " Have we not power to lead about a sister or a wife as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas ? " 32 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH was seen of me also." It is to be noted that the Twelve are not here designated as Apostles, nor is Peter or James so descrihed. But the term 'all the apostles ' is used in some comprehensive way as if to include those who were divinely sent and had given proof of their divine commis- sion by the fruits of their labors. To this evidence St. Paul appeals in vindication of his own mission, — he had labored more abundantly than they all. Among those who are mentioned in this larger Apostolate are James, the Lord's brother, Barnabas (Acts xiv. 14), Epaphro- ditus (Phil. ii. 25, 'v/xmu 8e aTroaroXov ; cf. also 1 Thess. ii. 1), Andronicus and Junia, who were of note among the Apostles 1 (Rom. xvi. 7). In the same list may be in- cluded Silas and Timotheus. Of Titus and others, it is said by St. Paul that if they be inquired of, they are the Apostles of the churches and the glory of Christ. There is further evidence for the existence of a relatively large number of Apostles, in St. Paul's allusion to the false Apostles; since there could not have been such fraud or counterfeit in the small communities, if the Apostolate had been limited to the Twelve (2 Cor. xi. 13; also Rev. ii. 2). The claim might be justly made for some of these Apos- tles that they had been eyewitnesses of the resurrection, and on this ground fulfilled the requisite for the office which the Judreo-Christian conception of it demanded; but it cannot be made for all who are thus named. This claim cannot be made for those Apostles who, according to the Didache, still continued at the close of the first century to visit the churches.^ In the literature of the second century, traces may be seen of this twofold use of 1 Cf. Lightfoot, Comm. nn Galatians, p. 9G, who rejects the rendering "highly esteemed by the Apostles" as an effort to escape the difficulty of the larger Apostolate. - Cf. JJUluche, c. XI., where the reference seems to imply a number of Apo.stles, of whose name or character the churches may be ignorant: "In regard to the Apostles and prophets, according to the ordinance of the Go!5pel, so do ye. And every Apostle who cometh to you, let him be received as the Lord ; but he shall not be allowed to remain more than one day ; if, however, there be need, then the next day ; but if he remain three days, he is a false prophet." APOSTLES, PROPHETS, TEACHERS 33 the term 'Apostle,' some writers limiting the office to the Twelve, with the possible addition of St. Paul, while others take it in the more comprehensive sense; Hernias puts the number at forty ; ^ Eusebius speaks of a consid- erable number of Apostles besides the Twelve.^ St. Paul appealed, in confirmation of his call to the Apostolate, not only to the vision vouchsafed him on the way to Damascus, but also to the more tangible evidence, that he had given the proof of an Apostle in his great and successful labors. Nor is the statement an empty one in which he declares, when putting himself in contrast with the twelve Apostles, that he has done more than they all. The only Apostle of whose labors and success in plantiug churches we have any record in the New Testament is St. Paul. A dense cloud rests over the lives of the Twelve, with the exception of Peter and John, which no research can penetrate. Beyond the circumstances mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles we have no actual knowledge of their labois. They filled up their number, they presided for a while over the church at Jerusalem. They regarded their distinctive work to be the preaching of the Word, and in order to this end appointed assistants who should relieve them from the necessity of administering affairs. They remained in Jerusalem, after the church had been scattered in consequence of the persecution which followed Stephen's preaching, but they felt a responsibility for Samaria when they heard that it had received the Word of God through Philip's preaching. They were interested in the community founded at Antioch, but they do not assume the control of its affairs. It was not one of their own number, but James, the brother of the Lord, who became the leader and president of the church at Jerusa- lem. They associated with themselves the elders and brethren when s^reat decisions were to be reached. Through the darkness they appear faintly, but always as men of an ideal sanctity of character, as if perpetuating the 1 Hermas, Sim. IX. 15, 10. Clement of Alex, calls Clement of Rome an Apostle, Strom. IV. Cf. Lightfoot, id., p. 100, 2 H. E., I. 2. 34 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH divine influence of the ]\Iaster. At what time they left Jerusalem, or whether they went out of Palestine, and if so whither, these are questions to which no answer based upon actual knowledge can be given. There is abundance of legend which sprang up in tlie second century regarding their later labors, but no clear historical evidence.^ As to Peter and John, there is also no evidence that they established churches in the Pauline sense of being their oriffinal founders. St. Peter travelled in Palestine ; he visited the church at Antioch, but he did not found it. He may have been at Rome not long before his death in 64 A.D., but when he went there, the Christian community had already been in existence for many years. There is no reason for distrusting the tradition that St. John, in his latest years, lived at Ephesus, but the church in Ephesus had already been planted by the preaching of St. Paul. The commission of the Twelve to preach the Word had been given them by the Master Himself. But in the case of the larger Apostolate, little information is contained in the New Testament as to the mode of their appointment. St. Paul's formal commission came from the prophets and teachers of the church in Antioch; to whom, as they min- istered and fasted, "the Holy Ghost said. Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away "^ (Acts xiii. 1). At a later time, St. Paul received, together with Barnabas, "the right hand of fellowship" from James, Cephas, and John, as if the recognition by the Twelve of his mission to the Gentiles. It is interesting to note how 1 Cf. Diet. Chris. Biog., Article, The Arts of the Apostles (Apoc- ryphal) for a valuable discussion of the legendary history of the Apostles, which, taking its rise in the second century, gained a wide circulation, as also the fullest credence. 2 "The conversion of St. Paul," as Bishop Lightfoot remarks, "may be said in some sense to have been his call to the Apostleship. But the actual investiture, the comi)letion of his call, as may be gathered from St. Luke's narrative, took place some years later at Antioch (Acts xiii. 1). . . . Hitherto both alike (Barnabas and Saul) are styled only prophets. From this point onward, both alike are Apostles." APOSTLES, PROPHETS, TEACHERS 35 prophets and teachers here combined with Apostles in sanctioning the origin of the hirger Apostolate. In the case of Timothy, who was in some sense an Apostle, — though the name seems to have been withdra\\ii from him, and he became known to a later age as an evangelist, — there was again a commission given in which the pro- phetic office shared : " Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery " (1 Tim. iv. 14). That the other Apostles were commissioned in this or similar ways, we may assume, but these are the only cases of which the record has been preserved. In the planting and training of the Christian church, the initiative force was the divine Spirit who bloweth where He listeth. We hear the sound from heaven which shook the place where the disciples were gathered together, — the sound as of a rushing mighty wind. As the winds of heaven scatter the seeds of plants over the surface of the earth and deposit them at their will in unexpected places, so also the seeds of truth, in which germinate the life of the Spirit, were carried abroad by the Pentecostal effusion, as though the human agency were a matter of indifference provided the end be accomplished. The origin of most of the Christian churches, and especially in its great centres Antioch and Alexandria and Rome, and afterwards Constantinople, is unknown. Only we know that the Spirit took the initiative when the Gospel was to be carried into Europe, wlien Barnabas and Paul were commissioned by prophets and teachers to go forth to their great work. What St. Paul accomplished we know, who was in labors more abundant than they all, and 3^et it was not so much the man as the grace of God that was in him. In this grace the larger Aposto- late also shared, and not without the recognition of the Twelve. The names of some of these Apostles have been preserved, but those of the greater part of them have perished and been forgotten. But it is to this larger Apostolate, and not exclusively to the Twelve, as Bishop Lightfoot has remarked, that the words relate which 36 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH declare that the Church was built on the foundation of Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself heiyig the chief corner-stone. And in that ancient h3'mn, Te Deiim, they are commemorated together before God — " The glorious company of the apostles" and "the goodly fellowship of the prophets." CHAPTER III PRESBYTERS, BISHOPS, DEACONS Those epistles of St. Paul to wliich reference has been made as containing the earliest accounts of the Christian ministry may be considered as documents which belong to the first generation of the Apostolic age. In the decade of the sixties we are entering upon the second generation where changes are impending, — • a period of transition in the church which affects its organization as well as the tone of its life and thought. By the year 64 A.D. St. Paul and St. Peter, and doubtless others of the Apostles and of the Twelve, had gone to their rest. In these years occur two events which profoundly disturbed the peace of the church : the persecution under Nero, and the beginning of the war which led to the destruction of Jerusalem. The breaking up of the family, as we may call the Twelve who had been intimately associated with Jesus, was an event of deep significance for the church, because it led to the necessity of providing a substitute for important functions which they had fulfilled. They had been to the church in the place of ti'adition, handing on the words of the Master, able to recall the details of his teaching and impart it to others in the absence of the booki before the Gospels had as yet assumed their form or become widely disseminated. What was true of the Twelve was also true of their contemporaries, who had come into personal contact with Christ, though not so intimately as his chosen disciples. The earlier generation was passing away, and with it something of the inspired elevation also which marked the attitude of St. Paul. The first generation of the Apostolic age as it disap- peared was followed by the age of the elders or presbyters, 37 38 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH who continue in their degree to bear witness to the things which they have heard. In the documents of this second generation there are allusions to ' presbyters ' ; in the docu- ments of the earlier period these allusions are wanting altogether. The ^ presbyters ' are not mentioned by St. Paul, at least by name, in his enumeration of church offi- cers when writing to the Corinthians or the Romans, the Galatians, the Thessalonians, or the Philippians. But the writer of the Acts of the Apostles, when describing in later years the missionary journeys of St. Paul in the land where these churches were planted, states explicitly that Barna- bas and Paul ordained them elders (jrpealSvTepov^') in every church (Acts xiv. 23). There is a difficulty here to be explained; but the precedence must be given to St. PauFs own statement, as the one who founded the churches, and watched over them, and knew better than any other their interior organization. The general impression, then, which is given by these writings of the second generation is that a class of men have come into })rominence in the administration of the local churches who are called presbyters or elders. With- out attempting to fix the exact date when these documents were written, and without insisting upon any special order in which they are to be reviewed, it may be sufficient to recall the allusions made in them to the presbyters as indi- cating the prominence of their position. (1) In the latter part of the Acts of the Apostles there are several of these allusions. The presbyters are asso- ciated with the Apostles in the government of the church in Jerusalem as if they stood on an equal footing. When the brethren at Antioch determined to send relief to the brethren which dwelt in Judsea, they sent it to the '' elders ' or presbyters by the hands of Barnabas and Saul (Acts xi. 30). These elders are said to have been appointed in every church by Barnabas and Saul (Acts xiv. 23). At the time of the great dissension, which turned on the question of whether the ceremonial law of the Jews was binding on the heathen converts, Paul and Barnabas and certain others went up to Jerusalem '*• unto the apostles and elders about PRESBYTERS, BISHOPS, DEACONS 39 this question " (Acts xv. 2), and when they reached there " they were received of the church and of the apostles and elders *' (Acts xv. 4), and " the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter" (Acts xv. 6). When the decision had been reached, and James had de- clared his sentence, " it pleased the apostles and elders " to send chosen men of their compan}' to Antioch with a letter after this manner : " The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting," etc. (Acts xv. 22, 23). Again it is said that Paul and Timothy " as they went through the cities delivered them the decrees for to keep that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusa- lem." When Paul was taking his farewell of the church at Ephesus, he called for " the elders of the church," charg- ing them to take heed unto themselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost had made them overseers (eVio-zcoTToi'?, Acts XX. 17, 28). (2) In the First Epistle of St. Peter, the Apostle ex- horts the elders to feed (Troi/iotmre) the flock of God, so that " when the chief shepherd {apxt7roL/jL€vo<;} shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away" (1 Pet. v. 1, 4). (3) The Epistle General of St. James instructs those Avho are sick to call for the elders of the church who shall pray over them, etc. (James v. 14). (4) In the Epistle to Titus it reads : " For this cause left I thee in Crete . . . that thou shouldest ordain elders in ever}^ city, as I had appointed thee" (Titus i, 5). In all these passages the Greek word for elder is Trpecr/Sv- Tepo<;, and these are the only allusions to the Christian min- istry. There is silence regarding prophets and teachers, as also bishops and deacons. It is also to be remarked that Peter claims for himself the title or dignity of a pres- byter, "I who am also an elder" (avv7rp€s apxovTas crov €v elprjVT] /cat rot's iiricrKdTrovs crov iv biKaioavvt), " I will make thy officers peace and thy exactors righteousness." Cf. Lightfoot, Apos. Fathers, Part I., Vol. II., p. 129. THE AGE OF TRANSITION 51 Lord's supper, the Seven also must have been closely con- nected with the worship of the cliurch and the ordering of its details. The original diaconate of the tables, as con- trasted with the ministry of the Word, which the Apostles reserved to themselves, may then have expanded into this twofold order, — the bishops, who preside and have the function of oversight, and the deacons, who help them in the fulfilment of their office. The authority of an apostle for this arrangement may be further indicated in the func- tion of the ministry, which is designated by St. Paul ' helps ' (avTcX-^/jLyjrei^}, in his enumeration of the grades of the ministry as God hath appointed them (1 Cor. xii. 28). The expansion of the "helps" into bishops and deacons was then a simple and natural process. The authority of St. Paul may be seen also in his mention of the diaconia, in his Epistle to the Romans, where they that minister are exhorted to wait on their ministring. That those who were thus appointed were the firstfruits of the A]jostolic teaching is a statement warranted by the account of the appointment of the Seven, as well as by the nature of the case. But Clement does not assign to bish- ops and deacons the functions of teaching or of ruling: they serve the church in the ministry of the tables, — they present the offerings and perform the service ; for God has appointed the performance with care of the offerings and ministrations (Tr/^ocrc^opa? kuI Xeirovpjia'i, c. xl.). The office of the bishops must have been growing in im- portance from its first appearance, especially as, with the increase of the congregations, the offerings also increased, and the necessity for the orderly performance of the ser- vice. The questions, therefore, of the mode of appoint- ment to the office and the duration of its tenure, or whether it should be for life, became issues of immediate exigency. On this subject Clement writes: " And our Apostles knew through our Lord Jesus Christ that there would be strife over the name of the bishop's office. For this cause thei'efore, having received complete foreknowledge, they appointed the aforesaid persons, and afterwards they provided a continuance, that if these should fall asleep, other approved men should succeed 52 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH to their ministration. Those therefore who were appointed by them, or afterward by otlier men of repute with the consent of the whole Cliurcli, and have ministered unblamably to the flock of Christ in lowliness of mind, peacefully and with all modesty and for a long- time have borne a good report witli all, — these men we consider to be unjustly thrust out from their ministration. For it will be no light sin for us, if we thrust out those who have offered the gifts of the bishop's office unblamably and holily. Blessed are those pres- byters who have gone before, seeing that their departure was fruitful and ripe : for they have no fear lest any one should remove them from their appointed place " (c. xliv.). Upon this passage it may be remarked that the first statement in regard to the Apostles' foreknowledge of a struggle over the episcopate, concerning which Christ had taught them, is Clement's own inference or theory, and not borne out by any special source of information to which he had access. He reasoned from his knowledge of the working of human nature. He also lays an emphasis upon the consciousness of this foreknowledge among the Apostles which may be the result of his own meditation. But in a general way there are many warnings in the teachings of Christ and of His Apostles regarding an unhallowed ambition for high places in the kingdom of God, or tlie desire to be lords over God's heritage or the necessity of humility and of taking the lowest place; "He that will be chief among you, let him be your minister." ^ From these allusions Clement may have drawn his infer- ence. But in regard to one point, which was to become of supreme interest to the later church, Clement is silent. Beyond the statement that when the bishops and deacons whom Apostles had appointed should fall asleep, others should take their place whom men of repute should ap- point, with the approval of the whole church, — bej'ond this general statement no light is thrown upon the method of continuing the office of the bishops. These men of repute may have been the prophets or the presbyters, whom Clement has already mentioned. It may also be inferred from Clement's statement about the injustice of 1 Cf. Matt. XX. 25 ; Luke xiv. 7 ; 1 Cor. xii. ; 1 Pet. v. 3 ; 1 Tim. iii. 1 ; 3 John 9, THE AGE OF TRANSITION 53 dismissing those from the ministry who had performed its duties in a holy and bhxmeless way, that hitherto the office of the bishop or of the deacon had not been regarded as a life office, and was not so regarded in the church at Corinth by all its members. And one other inference may be drawn, that the bishops were taken from the ranks of the presbyters and had, therefore, a double claim to honor and influence. But it looks as if their hio-hest distinction still lay in belonging to the presbyterate. The remaining allusions in Clement's Epistle add noth- ing to our information regarding the exact nature of the disturbance in the church at Corinth. We may assume on his authority that it was a sedition disgraceful and un- worthy of the Christian profession (c. xlvii.), and that its leaders, who belonged to the younger part of the congre- gation, were rightly called upon to repent and submit to the presbyters set over them (cc. liv., Ivii.). Clement does not apparently speak as one who has made diligent inquiry and listened to both the parties in dispute. He sides with the constituted authorities, whoever they were, and condemns resistance as sin. There may have been some movement in the church at Corinth which had a deep significance for the later development of the ministry, but, if so, it can only be a remote inference from the informa- tion which Clement has given. But incidentally we learn something regarding the organization of the church in both these places at the close of the first century. There were in Rome the leaders or rulers of the church Qrj^ovixevoi)^ who may have been the prophets ; there were a class known as the presbyters, from whom the ranks of the bishops and deacons were recruited; there was still a plural episcopate at Rome and at Corinth, and the single bishop had not yet appeared. It may have been that the sedition of the church at Corinth was an effort to place the single bishop above the presbyters, and to this end deprive the presbyters, who had hitherto officiated as bish- ops, of their office. Clement himself must have belonged to the leaders or rulers, and have been the foremost man in the Roman church, as his epistle would indicate that he 54 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH deserved to be, and as tradition has represented him. After the middle of the second century, when the monarch- ical episcopate had been established, he was called the Bishop of Rome, which corresponded rightly enough with the later organization, but is an anachronism if we speak from the point of view of his own age. II The Shepherd of Hernias may have been written soon after the Epistle of Clement.^ It was a popular book in the second century, read in the churches for edification, referred to as Scripture by Irenseus, and regarded by Origen as divinely inspired. The author was a prophet who had a message for his age, whose aim was to protest against the moral laxity of the time rather than against false teaching. There is no direct description of the min- istry, nor has the author any special interest in ecclesias- tical organization, as a cure for the existing evils. There are incidental references to the ministry, but we encounter the same difficulty as in earlier documents, when we ask whether designations are used in a technical or non-tech- nical way. (1) Apostles are mentioned in a list of officers, as among the stones fitted into the temple which is in pro- cess of erection: "Apostles, bishops, teachers, and dea- cons " (Vis. iii. 5). But no further allusion is made to them; there is a possible intimation that they have passed away. (2) The prophets still exist as an order, with whom Hermas has the deeper sympathy. The prophet is spoken of as occupying the chair while others occupy the seats. But there are false prophets, and it becomes necessary to instruct the congregation how they are to tell the false prophet from the true. The test is a simple one: "He 1 The date of the composition of the Shepherd of Hermas is undeter- mined. It is placed by Zahn about 97 a.d., by Lipsius about 142 a.d. Cf. Zahn, Der Hist, des Hermas, 1868 ; Gebhardt and Harnack, Patres Apostolici. THE AGE OF TRANSITION 55 who has the Divine Spirit proceeding from above is meek, peaceable, and humble, and refrains from all iniquity and the vain desire of this world and contents himself with fewer wants than those of other men, and when asked he makes no reply; nor does he speak privatel}'; nor when man wishes the spirit to speak does the Holy Spirit speak, but it speaks only when God wishes it to speak " (Mand. xi.). (3) Teachers are mentioned among the officers of the church, intervening between bishops and deacons. That they are not ^to be identified with presbyters may be inferred from the manner in which the presbyters are described. /If the Shepherd were written at Rome, and describes the life of tlie church there, it is not strange that Hermas should not magnify the office. Rome was never at any time strong in her local teachers. But Hermas also has no great interest in theology or in the intellect- ual aspects of the faith. He divorces piety from the intellect, and is concerned with moral reform and the cul- tivation of an inward faith. There is one allusion to teachers "as praising themselves in having wisdom, and desiring to become teachers, although destitute of sense." But the reference here may be to Gnostics. (Sim. ix. 22.) (4) Presbyters are mentioned as having the government of the church, or as a privileged class, but whether always as a class in the community or as individual office-holders may be doubtful. But Hermas has no liking for presby- ter or for bishop, speaking of them to their disparagement, accusing them of self-seeking and ambition : " They are emulous of each other about the foremost places " (Sim. viii. c. 7; Vis. ii. c. 4; Vis. iii. c. 1). (5) Bishops are given in the list of officials (Vis. iii. c. 5) and also deacons. The bishops are spoken of as having obtained a special reward according to the revela- tion which Hermas was receiving, while their duties are also incidentally described: " Bishops given to hospitality, who always gladly received into their houses the servants of God without dissimulation. And the bishops never failed, by their service, the widows and those who were in want 66 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH and always maintained a lioly conversation. All these accordingly shall be protected by the Lord forever. They who do these things are honorable before God, and their place is already with the angels, if they remain to the end serving God " (Sim. ix. 27). But in this ideal jjicture of the church in the prophet's mind there appear " deacons who have stains upon them, who discharged their duty ill, and who plundered widows and orphans of their livelihood and gained possessions for themselves from the ministry which they had received " (Sim. ix. 26). There is another passage where Hernias manifests his dislike of certain officials, who are spoken of as "those who preside over the church and love the first seats " (^TOif Trporjyov/jievoL'i t?}? iKKXt]