our brethren be inquired of, they are the apostles (OST) of the churches, the glory of Christ." And again he says, Phil. ii. 25, “ Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and companion in labour, and fellow soldier, but your apostle, (μãv dè aπOCTOλov.") In our translation the words are the messengers of the churches, and your messenger; but in the Greek they are apostles. Besides, St. Paul, Gal. i. 1, says, "Paul an apostle, (not of men, neither by men, but by Jesus Christ,") plainly indicating that there were other apostles besides those who, like himself, had received their mission directly from Christ. Had the word apostle signified one only who had been sent by Christ, there would, I conceive, have been no necessity for his saying that he had not been sent of men, nor by men, οὐκ ἀπ' ἀνθρώπων οὐδὲ δὲ ἀνθρώπου.

I have been thus particular about the name, because some people lay much stress upon the name; but to me this appears to be a matter of the most absolute indifference: Christ calls himself the way, the door, the good shepherd; but how ridiculous would it be hence to conclude, that he was a road, an actual door made of wood or iron, or a person whose sole occupation it was to watch a flock of sheep. All we contend for is, that our blessed Lord left upon the earth twelve men, whom he was pleased to call apos

tles, whose duty it was to lay the first foundations of the christian church, and also to govern it, and that after their decease, other men were to succeed them in their duties of extending the faith and ruling the church, both clergy and laity; and also, that the Holy Scriptures inform us that such vocations belonged to Timothy, and Titus, and others, be their names what they may.

Our blessed Saviour thus describes himself: "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth; and the wolf catcheth them and scattereth the sheep." St. Paul, likewise, declared to the elders of Ephesus, "Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock; also of your ownselves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them." With these divine and apostolic warnings before them, the early christians had good reason to be upon the watch, to examine, and to prove upon what authority their spiritual instructors ministered among them.

The scriptures must then, necessarily, have been in the hands of a very few before printing was invented, and the clergy, being as it were, in a great measure, the custodiers of scripture, the people had the greater cause to search with the utmost caution into the warrant of their teachers, lest they should be wolves in sheep's clothing, and bring in damnable heresies among them. This gives us a key to the remarks of Tertullian to the heretics of his time. He was a presbyter of Carthage, and lived about the close of the second century. In the thirty-second chapter of his book of prescriptions against heretics, he says, "let them declare the original of their churches, and give us a catalogue of their bishops in an exact succession from the beginning; that this first bishop of theirs had an apostle, or apostolic man that never separated from the apostles, for his author, or immediate predecessor; for after this manner do the apostolic churches make their reckonings, as the church of Smyrna has Polycarp, placed there by St. John; and the church of Rome has Clement, ordained by St. Peter, and so all other churches in like manner exhibit their first bishops ordained by the apostles, by whom the apostolical seed was propagated and conveyed to others." In that early age of the church, when men had nothing to gain in this world from embracing the christian faith, but on the contrary, when

the loss of worldly substance fell to their lot, accompanied by persecution and death in every appalling form, they naturally clung with love, almost with veneration to their spiritual pastors, especially to their bishops. For, as the sharpest weapons of the heathen were generally pointed against them who were the chief captains in the noble army of the faithful, the episcopal throne was not coveted for its eminence, but was ascended by men who were prepared to risk every danger rather than abandon the faith: and as the crown of martyrdom was usually bestowed upon these intrepid champions, can we imagine that the flocks whom they had tended with paternal solicitude would soon forget their honoured sainted names? No: they lived embalmed in their memories, and this, though not the only motive, yet was one motive for preserving a register of their bishops. I now pass on to a brief account of some of the apostolic churches, that we may trace from the beginning the formation and constitution of the churches planted by the apostles; and let me beseech you to lay aside all prejudice, and attend to historical evidence. If the early ecclesiastical writers are to be listened to, when they treat of grave matters touching the essential doctrines and usages of the church, they surely demand a patient attention and regard in treating of its polity; for I cannot conceive what motives they

could have in writing falsehood. I shall begin with Jerusalem, which was the mother of all churches. In using this expression I not only state a well known fact, but I also adopt the language of the catholic church. I find in Theodoret an epistle addressed by a council of bishops, assembled at Constantinople, to the bishop of Rome, and some other bishops, in which letter, (written about the year 381) these words occur:-" We acknowledge the most venerable Cyril, most beloved of God, to be bishop of the church of Jerusalem, which is the mother of all churches." This is catholic: but what says Pius IV., bishop of Rome" that they are to be accursed who deny that the church of Rome is the mother and mistress of all churches." This is Roman doctrine. It is an insult to our understanding to bid us deny that Jerusalem is the mother of all churches, for there the sacrifice of the cross was made. There the apostles were commanded to remain till the descent of the Holy Ghost, on the day of Pentecost, should perfect them for their mission. There Matthias and the deacons were chosen and ordained; and there the first councils of the church were convened. Of the church of Jerusalem, James, the Lord's kinsman, was appointed the first bishop. At a great assembly of apostles and presbyters holden at Jerusalem, James presided, and after several had spoken, he concludes

G