Footnote 296:
We quote the words of one who was assuredly no friend to our cause,
vid. Cave, _His. Litt. Script: Eccles._ p 171. Ed 1720. Fol.
Footnote 297:
Prosper, who was nearly his cotemporary, calls him _magister mundi_:
i. e. the teacher of the world. _Ib._
Footnote 298:
“Qui qualis Presbyter debeat ordinari, in consequentibus disserens hoc
ait: Si quis est sine crimine, unius uxoris vir,” et cætera: postea
intulit, “Oportet. n. Episcopum sine crimine esse, tanquam Dei
dispensatorem.” Idem est ergo Presbyter, qui et Episcopus, et antequam
_diaboli instinctu_, studia in religione fierent, et diceretur in
populis: “Ego sum Pauli, ego Apollo, ego autem Cephæ:” _communi
Presbyterorum consilio_ ecclesiæ gubernabantur. Postquam vero
unusquisque eos, quos baptizaverat, suos putabat esse, non Christi:
_in toto orbe decretum est, ut unus de Presbyteris electus
superponeretur cœteris, ad quem omnis ecclesiaœ cura pertineret_ et
schismatum semina tollerentur. Putet aliquis non scripturarum, sed
nostram, esse sententiam Episcopum et Presbyterum unum esse; et aliud
ætatis, aliud esse nomen officii: relegat Apostoli ad Philipponses
verba dicentis: Paulus et Timotheus servi Jesu Christi, omnibus
sanctis in Christo Jesu, qui sunt Philippis, cum Episcopis et
Diaconis, gratia vobis et pax, et reliqua. Philippi _una_ est urbs
Macedoniæ, et certe in una civitate _plures_ ut nuncupantur, _Episcopi
esse non poterant_. Sed quia _eosdem Episcopos illo tempore_ quos et
_Presbyteros_ appellabant, propterea indifferenter de Episcopis quasi
de Presbyteris est locutus. Adhuc hoc alicui videatur ambiguum, nisi
altero testimonio comprobetur. In Actibus Apostolorum scriptum est,
quod cum venisset Apostolus Miletum, miserit Ephesum, et vocaverit
Presbyteros eccslesiæ ejusdem, quibus postea inter cætera sit locutus:
_attendite vobis, et omni gregi in quo vos Spiritus sanctus posuit
Episcopos, pascere ecclesiam Domini quam acquisivit per sanguinem
suum_. Et hoc diligentius observate, quo modo _unius civitatis_ Ephesi
_Presbyteros_ vocans, postea eosdem _Episcopos_ dixerit—Hæc propterea,
ut ostenderemus _apud veteres_ eosdem fuisse Presbyteros quos et
Episcopos. _Paulatim_ vero, ut dissensionum plantaria evellerentur, ad
_unum_ omnem solicitudinem esse delatam.—Sicut ergo Presbyteri _sciunt
se ex ecclesiœ consuetudine_ ei, qui sibi propositus fuerit, esse
subjectos, ita Episcopi noverint se _magis consuetudine quam
dispositionis dominicœ veritate_, Presbyteris esse majores. _Hieronymi
Com: in Tit: I. 1. Opp. Tom._ VI. p. 168, _ed. Victorii, Paris, 1623.
Fol._
Footnote 299:
_Vid. Blondel. Apol. pro Sent. Hieron._
Footnote 300:
Our opponents, who contend that nothing can be concluded from the
promiscuous use of the scriptural titles of office, are yet compelled
to acknowledge that _Bishop_ and _Presbyter_ were _afterwards_
separated and restricted, the former to the superior, and the latter
to the inferior order of ministers. We would ask them _when_ and _why_
this was done? If it was not necessary to distinguish these officers
by specific titles in the apostles’ day, what necessity was there for
such a distinction afterwards? The church might have gone on, as she
began, to this very hour; and what would have been the harm? Nay,
there _was_ a necessity for the distinction; and Jerome has blown the
secret. When one of the Presbyters was set over the heads of the
others, there was a _new officer_ and he wanted a _name_. So they
appropriated the term _Bishop_ to him; and thus avoided the _odium_ of
_inventing_ a title unknown to the scripture. The people, no doubt,
were told that there was no material alteration in the scriptural
order; and hearing nothing but a name to which they had always been
accustomed, they were the less startled.
Footnote 301:
_See Page 522, ante. Some, indeed, choose to say, that persons that
stand more immediately related to their respective churches, are
pastors in the catholic church, though not of it; which, if the words
be rightly understood, does not militate against what we assert._ Ο
που δι ο ποιμην εστιν εκει ως προβατα ακολουθειτε. Ignat. epist. ad
Philad. p. 42.
Footnote 302:
Συνκατεψηφισθη μετα των ενδεκα αποστολων, _which Beza renders_,
Communibus calculis allectus est cum undecem Apostolis.
Footnote 303:
Χειροτονησαντες αυτοις πρεσβυτερους κατ εκκλησιαν, Cum ipsi per
suffragia creassent per singulas ecclesias Presbyteros. _The learned
Dr. Owen, in his True Nature of a Gospel-church_, &c. _Page 68-71.
proves that the word_ χειροτονεω, _in several Greek writers, is used
to signify the choice of a person to office by suffrage, or vote,
which was done by lifting up the hand. And he observes, that all our
old English translations render the words, in this text, ordaining or
creating elders by the suffrage of the disciples. And he farther
observes, that the word is but once more used in the New Testament_,
viz. _in 2 Cor._ viii. _19. where it is rendered, he was chosen_, &c.
_See more to this purpose in the place but now mentioned._
Footnote 304:
Χειροτονεω signifies, to hold out the hand. It is compounded of Χειρ,
the hand, and Τεινω, to extend. The action, holding out the hand, is
expressive of choice and resolution. It marks a _decision of the
will_, whether intimated or executed.
The word προχειροτονεω, is used to signify divine appointment. Acts x.
41. χειροτονεω, Human choice, however expressed. 2 Cor. viii. 19. And
3dly, it signifies to elect to office, by holding up the right hand.
“At Athens, some of the magistrates were called Χειροτονητοι, because
they were elected by the people in this manner.” Parkhurst.
The _right of choosing_ spiritual rulers, is in the christian people;
the _power of ordination_, in those who are already ordained.
Χειροτονησαντες, Acts xiv. 23, embraces election and consequent
ordination of elders in the church.
The hand is the instrument of power. Χειρ is used in scripture for
ministerial action. Acts xiv. 3. Luke iv. 11.
Hence, imposition of hands is a communication of power. This
significant action was known to the patriarchs. Gen. xlviii. 14.
The presbyters of the synagogue were ordained by the laying on of
hands. In its scriptural usage, this action is universally expressive
of some communication from him who lays on the hand, to him upon whom
it is laid. In any other sense, it is a common, and not a religious
action.