if Presbyters joined in the imposition of hands in ordinary cases, even of receiving offenders, where was the need of a special permission in extreme cases? (§448) and why an exclusion in those which were not? (§449.)

454. It is therefore evident; 1) That Presbyters were not permitted to lay on hinds except in cases of the last extremity: 2) That this liberty was allowed by Cyprian only, as far as we can judge from the evidence; and he was in the habit of allowing unusual latitude to his Presbyters, (§452) and felt the consequences very apt to follow laxity of rule, and complained heavily of their conduct: (§153, 201, 202 :) 3) That not one of the cases produced is a case of confirmation; either actually, or by Lord King's construction. Not actually; because no one was a case of a heretic coming into the Church, in whose case the imposition of hands would have been Confirmation. Nor by Lord King's construction; because no one was a case of a heretic who had been in the Church and wished to return to it; in which case the imposition of hands was called, according to Lord King, absolution, and which he argues is the same as Confirmation; but which is not, (§452.) Every case cited is a case of a simple offender who had not departed from the Church; but had lost his standing through weakness of resolution in time of persecution, who had begged to be readmitted, and was in the preparatory state of penitence; and when dying was allowed the privilege of communion, without even the imposition of hands, except when permitted or directed by Cyprian, in order that he might depart in peace; and not, that he might thereby be received into the Church, (§452.)

455. Lastly; Lord King says, "If Presbyters had power and authority to perform the latter, I see no reason why we should abridge them of the former." ($440.) This is not the kind of proof Lord King promised, (§431.) It is of very little importance for us to say we cannot see why a thing was done in one case and not in another. If the imposition of hands in the case stated by Lord King were the same, as he supposes, with confirmation, why could he not produce something to show imposition of hands by Presbyters in cases decidedly of the latter? That he could not do so, is because they are different cases, and Presbyters did not impose hands in Confirmation.

456. Lord King next proceeds to the subject of ordination, in his attempt to show "that Presbyters, by the Bishop's permis. sion, discharged all those offices that a Bishop did." "As for

ordination, he says, I find but little said of this in antiquity; yet as little as there is, there are clearer proofs of the Presbyters ordaining, than there are of their administering the Lord's Supper."

457. After this round assertion he produces but one passage in support of it besides that of Timothy; and that one not correctly represented, as will be shown: whereas, there is an abundance

C LORD KING, p. 58, Pt. I.

d Ibid.

p. 61, Pt. I.

of evidence that Presbyters administered the sacrament. Without searching for any other evidence than has been incidentally mentioned in these pages, the reader is referred to the following Sections: 181, 182, 183 compared; 201, 235, 416, note to 419, 447.R

458. The single quotation Lord King produces in support of the opinion that Presbyters ordained, is as follows: "All power and grace, saith Firmilian, is constituted in the Church, where Seniors preside, who have the power of baptizing, confirming, and ordaining." The words translated here Seniors, are majores natu; which signify old men," and are not the technical term for Elders. Lord King, aware that this argument wants support, seeks it by quoting a passage from Tertullian, which he says has been considered as a parallel passage. The passage runs thus: "Probati seniores præsident." "Now, says Lord King, by these approved Elders, Bishops and Presbyters must necessarily be understood; because Tertullian speaks here of the discipline exerted in one particular Church or parish, in which there was but one Bishop; and if he only had presided, then there could not have been Elders in the plural number; but there being many Elders, to make out the number we must add Presbyters to the Bishop, who also presided with him, as we shall more fully show in another place." (p. 61.)

459. This argument rests upon the assertion that Tertullian in the above quotation, ' Probati præsident seniores' was speaking of the discipline exerted in one particular Church. That this was not the fact, it needs only to read the passage, at once to perceive. It occurs in Tertullian's Apology against the Nations. He had, in the preceding chapters, been engaged in refuting the charges commonly brought against the Christians by the heathen nations, and in retorting upon them, with a great deal of force, by quoting the known instances of depraved conduct in their most celebrated philosophers. The chapter in which the passage in question occurs, commences thus:

"I will now give an account of the affairs of the Christian sect, (or company-'factionis Christiane') that I who have refuted the evil, may point out the good things. We are a body (or one body) respecting the knowledge of religion, the unity of discipline, and the covenant of hope. We come together, &c. We pray, &c. We are collected, &c. Truly we feed our faith with holy words, we elevate our hope, &c." These are the commencing words of the different sentences which precede thə quotation in question. Then follow the words of the quotation: "Certain approved old men preside," &c. "Præsident probati quique seniores," &c. It appears to me that no man can hesitate to say that this language is used of the whole body. The

e See also Section 2 of IGNATIUS' Epistle to the Trallians, and Section 8 of that to the Smyrneans.

f Ibid. p. 61.

h TERTULL. Apol. Cap. xxxix.

g See natu in AINSWORTH'S Dictionary, quarto.

first words in which he expresses his intention, as well as the first words he uses in attempting to accomplish his purpose, point it out. 'I will give an account of the Christian sect,' &c.- We are a body,' &c. The argument, therefore, resting on this construction falls to the ground.

460. The word preside is general, and may be spoken of Bishops alone, or Bishops and Presbyters, according to circum. stances. In this case, Tertullian was speaking of the Church Universal, and, therefore, he might use the term in speaking of the Bishops alone, who more especially presided; and by those whom he was addressing, they were so particularly looked upon as the presiding persons, that they were always first and chiefly aimed at in persecutions, of which abundant evidence could easily be produced. An instance may be seen in Section 198; Cyprian the Bishop was compelled to fly, but the Presbyters could remain safely when a persecution was but threatened. This word preside not only may, but must mean Bishops in this passage, if it be a parallel passage with that from Firmilian: for, it is certain from his own declaration that the latter was speaking of Bishops.

It is remarkable that in another place, where Tertullian was certainly speaking of the ceremonies as practised in an individual Church, and unquestionably included the Presbyters in the term presiding persons, Lord King translates the word 'præsidentium' by the word Bishop.i

461. But why seek an explanation of the meaning of a passage from comparing it with language that others have used, when the writer explains his own meaning in the very epistle from which it is taken. Firmilian in this same epistle uses these words: "How is this, that when we see Paul baptized his disciples again after John's baptism, we should make any doubt of baptizing them who return from heresy to the Church, after that unlawful and profane baptism of theirs, unless Paul was less than these Bishops of whom we are speaking now, that these indeed might have the HOLY GHOST by imposition of hands alone, but Paul was insufficient for it." See another passage equally decisive from the same Epistle in Section 206.

462. Firmilian was arguing the question, which at that time was much agitated, whether those who came to the Church from the heretics ought to be baptized before they were confirmed. He agreed with Cyprian, to whom this Epistle was addressed, that they ought to be baptized. He argues in the passage quoted by Lord King that "All power and grace is settled in the Church, where the majores natu preside, who possess the power of baptizing, of imposing hands, (confirming; $247, &c.) and of ordaining.”

463. Firmilian being a Bishop, intimate with Cyprian, agree

i See $416, in connexion with $179 to 183.

BOWDEN'S Letters, Vol. I. p. 138. [Vol. I. p. 67, 2d ed.]

ing with him in doctrine, it would not be reasonable to conclude from this passage alone, that 'majores natu' signify Presbyters; because it is declared in it, that these 'majores natu' possess the power of baptizing, confirming, and ordaining: a doctrine totally opposed to every thing on record if spoken of Presbyters, (see §153, 191, 201, 202,) and unsupported by a single fact: Lord King not having been able to bring forward one; but resting the whole argument for Presbyters' ordaining on this single quotation from Firmilian.

6

464. If in this single passage, the word instead of being majores natu,' literally old men, had even been Presbyteri, there would be good reason to believe it interpolated; because it would be so totally opposed to all the ancient writings of the Church, that there cannot be produced one quotation in which these powers are attributed to the Presbyters; but, on the contrary, whenever the question arises, by the forwardness of some of that order, it is instantly decided that they have no such right.

465. But when, in addition to these considerations, we have Firmilian's own declaration, that in this Epistle he is speaking of Bishops, (§461) contest is at an end.

466. It is furthermore to be observed, that all Lord King urges on this passage is, that 'majores natu' included both the Bishop and his Presbyters, and that "both they and the Bishop ordained together, both laying on their hands in ordination, as Timothy was ordained by the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery; that is, by the hands of the Bishop and Presbyters of that parish where he was ordained, as is the constant signification of the word Presbytery, in all the writings of the ancients,"

467. By his own account therefore, a Bishop was present at the ordination of Timothy spoken of in Paul's first Epistle to him, and Paul must have been that Bishop, (see pp. 209, 210.) It has already been shown that this ordination was to the office of Presbyter, (§93.) There is therefore nothing in this case but what is at this day practised in the Episcopal Church in the ordination of Presbyters. The imposition of their hands is however unnecessary. Without it the ordination is valid; while the imposition of their hands without that of a Bishop, has, in all ages, been declared invalid, (§359 to 366.) Indeed this practice of the Presbyters laying on of hands in the ordination of even a Presbyter, is an innovation upon the most ancient practice. There cannot, I think, be produced a solitary case in which Presbyters imposed hands with a Bishop, in the ordination of a Presbyter, from any of the fathers of the first four centuries; for, although I have not read them thoroughly, or all of them, yet if such a case exist, it would have been produced. As to the Scriptures, in not one case of ordination mentioned in the New Testament is there a word said about Presbyters or Elders imposing hands, unless it be in the case of Timothy's ordination to

I LORD KING, p. 62, Part I.

m Acts xiv. 23; Sections 191, 338.

the office of Presbyter. The ordination of the seven Deacons was by the Apostles." The Apostles Barnabas and Paul ordained Elders in all the Churches of Asia which they planted in their tour together. In Paul's directions to Timothy and Titus not a word is said about the aid of Elders in the ordinations they were directed to perform. Nothing like the aid of a Presbyter occurs in a single passage on the subject, except it be intended in the solitary passage respecting Timothy's ordination to the office of Presbyter. The translation, in the passage relating to this ordination, of the word pεBUTEρiov by the words the office of Presbyter, instead of the Presbytery, is not therefore so absurd as Dr. Miller represents it. The passage so translated runs thusNeglect not the gift of the office of Presbyter, which is in thee with the laying on of hands. This translation requires not the change of a single word, or even letter. The word "peoßuTeplov is. used by Eusebius in many instances for the office of Presbyter.p This reading corresponds with Paul's declaration, that it was by the imposition of his hands that Timothy received the gift; as also with all the other cases in the New Testament in which the Apostles alone laid on hands or ordained. In all the cases of ordination, viz. in the passages, Acts vi. 6; xiv. 23; 1 Tim. iv. 14; 2 Tim. i. 6; the words used in the original signify the laying on of hands. This reading corresponds also with Paul's directions to Timothy with regard to ordaining Presbyters and Deacons, in which there is no mention of any Presbyter to assist him: neither is there in the directions to Titus. It corresponds with the practice of the Church for centuries after the days of the Apostles, there being no mention, as far as I have been able to discover, of any imposition of hands by Presbyters in the ordination of Presbyters in any of the writérs examined, and not a case produced by any advocate of that doctrine. "Presbyters, in the primitive Church, did never join with Bishops in collating holy orders of Presbyter and Deacon, till the fourth council of Carthage; much less do it alone, rightly, and with effect." This was in the year 657. [See note to §517.] 468. The word Пpecßurepov, moreover, was understood to signify the office by the Latin fathers; while the Greek fathers consider it as signifying a collective body; not, however, of Presby

n Acts vi. 6.

o Acts xiv. 23.

P The following expressions from Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, are specimens of this-xepas is пρeσßUTÉρiov avт TEOεíkaσt. (Lib. VI. c. viii.)-"They had ordained him to the office of Presbyter." ПpoßuTεpiov cannot here signify any thing else. So, “ Πρεσβυτερίου χειροθεσίαν ἐν Καισαρεία πρὸς τῶν τῆδε ἐπισκόπων αναλαμ Bável." (Lib. VI. c. xxiii.) "He received the grade of the office of Presbyter in Cæsarea from the Bishops of that place." This might properly enough be transla. ted the grade of Presbyter; but though meaning the same thing here, it is not a literal translation; and it would not answer to translate peoẞurεpion by the word Presbyter in the first example given. These passages both relate to Origen. (See § 333.) Another instance: Η τετάρτη αυτον τῶν περὶ βαπτίσματος ἐπιστολῶν, πρὸς τὸν κατὰ Ῥώμην ἐγράφη Διονύσιον, τότε μεν πρεσβείου ἠξιωμένον, &c. (Lib. VII. c. vii.) the translation of which is given in the first lines of Section 334.

q 2 Tim. i. 6.

r TAYLOR'S Works, Vol. VII. p. 139.

s Ibid. 137.