A Study of Christianity as Organized

respect for authority, (2) form of the celebration of the Lord's Sup-
per, (3) wealth of church officers, (4) civil honors and privileges be-
stowed upon church officers, (5) monasticism, (6) sacerdotalism.

3. Differentiation of the Terms Clergy and Laity. The people grad-
ually subjected to the clergy. Illustrated in the Church of Rome to-
day. The people themselves partly to blame.

4. This Changed Relation of Officers and People Illustrated in the
History of Ordination. When is the qualifying gift and grace received?
5. Some Change of Organic Form Demanded. But the actual change

a corruption. Its negative cause the loss of the Spirit's guidance.

Difficulties of the true Christian and ministerial life.

Restoration of the New Testament Order.

109

130

III.

SERVICE: THE DEACON-HIS EARLIER OFFICE...

Restatement of Fundamental Truths.

1. The Most Characteristic Office of Early Christianity. The ideal

of service given in Jesus.

2. Beneficence in the Apostolic Age. Shown in Jerusalem and else-

where. Care of widowhood illustrating Christianity and common

sense.

3. The Church Not Distinctively for the Relief of the Poor. Com-

pare its object with that of the civil government and the school.
Would socialism satisfy?

4. The Rise of the Deacon Was to Have Been Expected. Origin
and significance of the technical term. Functions not mentioned in
the New Testament. The Seven.

5. The Diaconate in the Post-Apostolic Age. Deacons' functions
barely suggested. Their moral and spiritual qualifications compared
with those of the presbyters.

6. Why Such Qualifications for an Office Conversant about Material

Things? Giving a "grace." Avoidance of slander. The poor "God's

altar."

7. Through Flesh to Spirit. The medical missionary.

IV.

PAGE

THE DEACON HIS LATER AND PRESENT OFFICE....

The Bishop's Assistant.

1. This Assistance Was Threefold: (1) in ministration to the poor,

(2) in the conduct of worship, (3) in the exercise of discipline.

2. Ere Long the Deacon Became the Bishop's Adviser and Deputy.
Rise and development of the arch-diaconate. The diaconate as a step-
ping stone to the presbyterate. Decline in the deacon's share in dis-
cipline and ministration to the poor. So by the year 500 the diaconate
was a greatly changed office.

3. In the Present Age. In the Roman and the Eastern Church. In
episcopally governed Protestant Churches. Partial return to the prim-
itive type in certain Protestant Churches.

4. Extension of the Diaconate in Two Directions. The Sub-Deacon.
The Acolyte. The Exorcist-power of mind over body. The Reader-
not merely a reader. Minor and Holy Orders.

148

168

SERVICE: THE DEACONESS.

Woman as a Church Officer.

182

....

1. Rise of the Woman's Diaconate. Appears first in the fourth cen-

tury. Chiefly an Eastern institution.

2. Deaconess and "Widow." Their similarities and differences.

3. The Primitive Deaconess.

and discontinuance of the office.

Duties, age, qualifications. Decline

4. Revival of the Idea in the Sisters of Charity. Origin and rules

of this society. Other sisterhoods.

5. Revival of the Idea in the Modern Deaconess. "Sisters" and dea-

conesses compared. Foretokens of the coming deaconess-Independ-

ents, Mennonites, Puritans, Wesley. Fliedner and Kaiserwerth.

6. In the Evangelical Churches of To-Day. Estimate of the modern

woman's diaconate as to (1) its central idea, (2) its Scripture prece-
dents, (3) its economic aim, (4) its fruits.

VI.

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Authoritative SUPERVISION: THE PRESBYTER-HIS EARLIER OFFICE...... 203

Oversight a Service.

1. Non-Official Oversight Concentrated in Individuals and Made

Official. Government from God, and exemplified on earth and in

heaven.

2. The Presbyterate as an Extension of Parenthood. Parenthood a

type of the Divine government. Whence patriarchal and presbyteral
government. The presbyteral the fatherly authority in the Church.

3. In Israel. Elders of Israel in the Old Testament, the inter-
biblical, and the New Testament period. Their office not that of the
rulers of the synagogue. An ecclesiastic republicanism.

4. In the Christian Churches. The presbyterate passing into Chris-

tian congregations, Jewish, Gentile. Not everywhere prevalent at the

first.

VII.

THE PRESBYTER: HIS LATER AND PRESENT OFFICE....

Office Arising Out of Need.

Presbyteral duties in the apostolic period. Congregational, not inter-

congregational.

1. Presbyters as Judges and Administrators. The Christian as com-

pared with the Jewish presbyterate. Illustrated by difference in the
forms of worship in synagogue and church.

2. The Presiding Presbyter, or Bishop. Concentration of functions.
Restoration of functions to presbyter under diocesan episcopacy. Sig-
nificance of the presidency of the Lord's Supper. Detachment of pres-
byter from bishop's council.

3. Presbyter Perverted into Priest. Hence not even the episcopate a

higher "Order."

4. Development of the Arch-Presbyterate. In the city, in the coun-

try. The Methodist presiding eldership.

5. The Scriptural Presbyterate in Presbyterian Churches of To-Day.

Teaching and ruling elders. Need of such a system as set forth by

Calvin-disorder attending the Reformation. In other than Presby-

terian Churches the eldership for the most part a purely ministerial

office.

214

VIII.

UNITY: THE BISHOP-EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF HIS OFFICE.

Unity a Necessity of Philosophic Thought. Shown in all Works
and Undertakings.

1. The Principle of Unity in Societies-in the Church. But not
notably illustrated in the New Testament churches. Nor in sub-apos-
tolic time. The plural presbyterate was the office of rule.

2. Beginnings of the Single Congregational Episcopate. Shown by
Justin Martyr and "Sources of the Apostolic Canons."

3. Completer Development of This Episcopate. Shown by Ignatius.
Personality of Ignatius. The congregational bishop, or pastor, to be
clothed with autocratic power. But it was in principle the power of
government for which Ignatius contended. A distinction must be made
between the Ignatian ideal and the practice of the churches. Three
stages of episcopal development.

4. The Irenæan Conception of the Bishop's Office. The bishops the

guarantors of apostolic doctrine. A succession of bishops. But what

if they should make mistakes?

Comparison of Ignatius and Irenæus.

IX.

THE BISHOP-LATER DEVELOPMENT OF HIS OFFICE...

I. Peculiarities of the Cyprianic Episcopate. Each bishop independ-

The bishops collectively the bond of union for the universal
Church. What, then, is the Church?

ent.

2. Reconciliation of the Two Ideas of Episcopal Independence and
Collectivism. Analogue in modern Congregationalism.

3. The Bishop's Office an Immediate Gift from God. The bishop a

successor of the Apostles and a priest. Hence his supreme authority.

4. Estimate of the Cyprianic Episcopate. Résumé.

5. Rise and Development of Diocesan Episcopacy: (1) Through the

outgrowth and the presbyteral oversight of new congregations. (2)

Through the grouping of rural congregations. (3) Through the

subordination of chapels on the estates of landowners to the bishop

of the county town. (4) Through the appointment of missionary

bishops.

6. Ritual Episcopal Functions: Ordination-confirmation-consecra-

tion of church edifices.

The Bishop as Magistrate, Feudal Lord, Military Leader.

PAGE

228

242

THE BISHOP: ORIGIN OF HIS OFFICE...

Not a Mere Historic Question.

1. Theory of Elevation from the Presbyterate. Identity of presbyter

and bishop in the New Testament and in subsequent literature. Chair-

258

man of board of presbyter-bishops becomes preeminently a bishop

(overseer). Inherent probability. Supported by the fact that after

the rise of the single episcopate bishops were still called presbyters.

Example in the Alexandrian Church of making a bishop by elevation

from the presbyterate. Different dates of origin.

2. Theory of an Original Difference between the Two Offices.

Argument pro and con.

3. Theory of Origination in the Administration of the Lord's Sup-

per. Presbyters simply honored old men of the community. From them

the bishop was chosen. From the first one bishop only.

Criticism.

4. True Significance of the Lord's Supper in the Development of the

Episcopate. Presidency at the Lord's Supper would naturally carry

with it financial and disciplinary duties.

Two Theories of Apostolic Succession.

1. Its History in the Church of England. Symbols, true and false.

2. The Scripture Argument pro and con.

3. Testimony of the Sub-Apostolic Age-for example, that of Ig-
natius. Testimony of Irenæus to a doctrinal succession from the Apos-
tles. The episcopal office antedated the successional claim. Illustrated
by history of divine right of kings. Cyprian the first prominent advo-
cate of the theory of a sacerdotal succession.

4. Theories to Account for the Silence of History as to the Single

Episcopate before the Time of Ignatius: (1) All presbyters were em-

powered to ordain. (2) Some one member of a board of presbyters

was empowered to ordain. (3) The Apostles ordained itinerant bish-

ops, who afterwards located. No proof.

5. The Successional Sacerdotal Episcopate a Roman Idea. Rome

asked, What is effective? Evolution of the papacy.

The Church Imperialized.

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274

XII

APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION: THE UNREAL AND the Real.