for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; and, as we will see by and by, these pastors and teachers were just the same persons who are here called elders.

In another inspired account by the same Apostle of the constitution of the Christian church, we are informed that "God hath set some in the church, first, apostles; secondarily, prophets; thirdly, teachers; after that miracles; then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues." Here it is plain that the apostles, the prophets, the workers of miracles of various kinds, do not belong to the permanent order of the church. Fact has decided that question. "Helps" or helpers seem plainly the deacons ; while the teachers and the governments are just the same class of persons as the pastors and teachers, their two different functions of instruction and rule being mentioned in an inverse order in the two

cases.

As this order of men received the appellation of elders on the same ground as rulers have generally been designated by some such title, and as occupying in the church materially the same place as the Jewish elders did in the synagogue; so, from the great design of their appointment, they are not unfrequently termed bishops, which is an anglicised Greek word, disguised in this way in our version of the New Testament, there is reason to believe, to serve a purpose, and an unworthy one, but which means neither more nor less than our English word "overseers;" by which word indeed, to serve a purpose too, and the same one, it is in one or two cases rendered. That the only bishops known in the New Testament are the same class of persons who are termed elders, may be made very plain in a very few words. Paul,

11 Cor. xii. 28.

2" Пgeoßuregos, id est senior, est nomen quod tribuitur Ministris Ecclesiæ, sive quia olim Ministri Ecclesiæ plerumque deligebantur, qui jam essent grandioris ætatis: sive potius quia Ministri Ecclesiæ moribus senes referre debent, iisque is tribuendus honor, qui senibus tribui solet; ita igitur nomen non est ætatis sed officii et dignitatis.-SUICER,

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107 on his journey from Macedonia to Jerusalem, sent from Miletus, and called the elders of Ephesus: and, when these elders had come, he exhorted them to "take heed to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost had made them overseers, bishops." Paul, writing to Titus, states, that he had left him in Crete, to ordain elders in every city. He enumerates the qualifications of an elder, and then adds, "for a bishop" or overseer "must be blameless," &c.' If this does not identify the bishop with the elder, what can do it? Suppose a law pointing out the qualification of a sheriff was to say-A sheriff must be a man of good character, great activity, and resolute spirit, for it is highly necessary the chief magistrate of the county should be of unspotted reputation, would it be possible to come to any other conclusion than that, in the eye of the legislature, the sheriff and the first magistrate of the county were just two names for the same officer? How inconsistent would it be to say to a captain-In appointing sergeants you must only appoint men of such qualifications, specifying them, and then add, for these are the proper qualifications for a general or field-marshal? But we need not go farther than the text in search of the identification of the Christian elder, and the apostolic bishop, and the apostolic pastor. "The elders I exhort: Act the part of pastors to the flock; shepherd them, acting the part of bishops, or overseers."" The elders, in other words, are exhorted to act the part of good pastors, good bishops.

The whole care of a Christian church as a spiritual society, including instruction, superintendence, and discipline, was committed to these elders, though it is very probable that in the primitive churches, as among us, there were authorized public teachers who were not elders, and had no share in the management of any church.

1 Acts xx. 17, 28; Tit. i. 5-7. Επειδη λανθάνει τους πολλους ή συνήθεια, μάλιστα της καινῆς διαθήκης, τους επισκόπους πρεσβυτέρους ονομάζουσα, και τους πρεςβυτέρους επιστ κόπους, σημειωτέον τουτο εντευθεν (Acts xx. 17, 28) και εκ της προς Τιτον επιστολης και εκ της προς Τιμόθεον πρώτης.-Πρεσβυτέρους και τους επισκόπους, και των πραξεων βίβλος είδε λɛyoμevous. In hunc loc.-ECUMENIUS.

2 Ποιμανατί -STIONOTOUTES.

It is plain there was a plurality of such elders in every church. These formed the eldership or presbytery of that church. In the church of Jerusalem when met for government, we find just the apostles' extraordinary officers, the elders' ordinary officers, and the brethren or church members who listened to their deliberations, and to whom their decision seemed good. We know there were deacons in that church ; but their office was not rule, and therefore they are not named. The church of Philippi, which was set in order by the Apostle, was composed of "the saints in Christ Jesus," the private members; "with the bishops," overseers; elders, who ruled; and "the deacons," who served."1

While the entire spiritual charge of the church was committed to the presbytery or meeting of elders, what we are in the habit of calling the session, there is evidence, not that the elders were divided into a pastor or pastors who only taught, and bishops who ruled; but that, while all the elders severally and in a body superintended and ruled, there were some of these elders "who laboured in word and doctrine," devoting themselves chiefly to the exposition and enforcement of the doctrine and law of our Lord Jesus.

It is comparatively a modern, at any rate it is not a New Testament usage, to apply the term pastor exclusively to those teaching elders, that term naturally expressing the whole work of the Christian eldership; and, like the kindred term bishop, being given in the New Testament to Christians elders indiscriminately. But that such a distinction as that between elders who taught and ruled, and elders who only ruled, existed from the beginning, is made probable by the reasonableness and almost necessity of the arrangement, and its obvious tendency to secure the gaining in the best way and in the greatest degree the ends of the Christian eldership; and appears to me proved by the passage in the first Epistle to Timothy, v. 17, of which, after all that has been said for the purpose of reconciling it to the episcopal

Phil. i. 1.

or independent order of church polity, I am disposed to say with Dr Owen, that "on the first proposal of this text, that 'the elders who rule well are worthy of double honours, especially those who labour in word and doctrine,' a rational man who is unprejudiced, who never heard of the controversy about ruling elders, can hardly avoid an apprehension that there are two sorts of elders; some of whom labour in word and doctrine, and some who do not so."

§ 2. Qualifications of Christian elders.

With regard to the qualifications which are necessary for filling the office of a Christian elder, we have full information in the Epistles of Paul to Timothy and Titus. "This is a true saying," says he, in his first Epistle to Timothy, iii. 1, "If a man desire the office of a bishop," an overseer, an elder, in the Christian church, "he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, nor covetous; one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; for if a man know not how to rule his own family, how shall he take care of the house" the family "of God? Not a novice," a late convert, "lest, being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good report of those who are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil." "Ordain elders," says he to Titus, " in every city, as I had appointed thee. If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot, or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, just, holy, temperate; holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince gainsayers." These are qualifications which are requisite in all elders, though some

of them may be required in a higher degree in those who are called to labour in word and doctrine.

§ 3. Of the manner in which Elders were invested with office.

With regard to the manner in which the elders were invested with these offices in the apostolic church, we have comparatively little information. We know that Paul and Barnabas ordained elders in every church which was gathered by their ministry; and that Titus was enjoined by Paul to ordain elders in every city where the gospel had taken root. But we would undoubtedly err were we concluding that these offices were appointed by the Apostles or Evangelists, whatever their authority might be, without consulting the brethren. When we reflect on the nature and design of a Christian church, and take into consideration the probable method of electing an Apostle in room of Judas, and the distinctly recorded facts respecting the election of the deacons, we cannot doubt that the elders were elected by the brethren from among themselves, and presented by them to the Apostles, Evangelists, or other church rulers, who, with fasting, prayer, and laying on of hands, solemnly set them apart to the discharge of the functions of the office to which they had been chosen; thus, in the most impressive way, intimating their conviction of their fitness for the office, and their cordial acknowledgment of them as fellow labourers, and commending them to the special care and blessing of their common Lord. So much for the elders to whom the Apostle here addresses so solemn and affectionate an exhortation.

CHAP. II. OF THE DUTIES OF CHRISTIAN ELDERS.

§ 1. Of the figurative terms in which these duties are described, acting the part of a shepherd and an overseer.

Let us now, in the second place, attend to the duty which is here enjoined on these elders. They are enjoined to "feed the flock of God, and to take the oversight of it." The two