met by Presbyters in the discharge of their office, the greater the honour in which they should be held: and, accordingly, he referred to the heavier kind of cares which are coupled with numerous difficulties, not to the mere preaching of God's word. When writing to Timotheus, he defines the office of a Bishop to be a work, (gyod,) whence it follows, that to the higher office of Bishop are attached many and various troubles. If such be the case with him who has charge of only one Church, what must be said of those who have the burden of many, like Timothy, Titus, and other Bishops of this Order? The distinction I have drawn comes to this: Among the Bishops or Presbyters mentioned in Scripture, and who ruled Churches under the Apostles, there were different ranks, by whatever name we please to call them: some were set over single Churches, and were under the control of another; others were over several at once, as is well known to

dyov, as is well known, is very commonly used whenever difficulty is implied. [Trans.]

have been the case with Timothy, Titus, and others. I am aware that many readers will here say, under the unconscious influence of a biassed opinion, that Titus, Timotheus, and the rest I have named, were Evangelists, and exercised extraordinary powers. To which I answer, that I have often heard and often read this, but never met with satisfactory arguments in proof of it. For St. Paul no more proves Timotheus to have been an Evangelist, properly so called, by bidding him do the work of an Evangelist, than that he was an Apostle in the strict sense of the word, by saying, in the Epistle to the Corinthians," he (Timotheus) worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do.

CHAP. XIV.

THAT THE ORDER WHICH MAKES THE SUPERIOR PRESBYTERS BISHOPS IS DIVINE; AND THAT

A HUMAN DEVICE, WHICH DECLARES ALL PASTORS AND PRESBYTERS TO BE EQUAL.

IT has been stated above wherein extraordinary vocation consists, and what its excellence is, and also that we find instances of it in the case of Timotheus and Titus. All ancient writers hold Titus and Timotheus to have been Bishops, to whom Presbyters of an inferior rank were subject: following whose footsteps, the Fathers, in all Churches, who lived next to the Apostles' times, retained this form of government, which they had learnt of the Apostles. In our days it is

imagined, that only two Orders of Gospel Ministers were left by the Apostles, to wit, Pastors and Teachers, and, all distinctions between Pastors being abolished, and the ancient regimen rejected, a new form has been introduced, which is asserted with great boldness to be of divine institution, whilst that which has subsisted down from the Apostles' time is declared to have been a human device. This is a question deserving examination. For it is asserted in reply to all which we have stated concerning Apostles, Evangelists, and Pastors, that the government of the Apostles was only temporary, and ended with the lives of the Apostles and Evangelists, so that now no Pastor ought to rank above another.

That the truth may the more clearly appear in this matter, we must enquire more narrowly into all the gifts of God which were in the Apostles and Evangelists; that we may discover what was peculiar to the Apostles and their times, and what was to continue common to all other Ministers of the Church

until the end of the world. The first thing to be remarked of the Apostles is their extraordinary vocation immediately from God: then their mission, unlimited: thirdly, that in every thing pertaining to their office, they had the Holy Spirit as an infallible guide, who brought to their remembrance all things whatsoever they had formerly heard of the Lord, and every thing necessary for the salvation of men, and the edification of the Church, so that it was impossible for them to swerve from the truth. Lastly, we must observe the power of Apostleship.

The first three were necessary for laying the foundations of Churches on which others might build, and which, unless possessing a certain stability imparted by the Holy Spirit, would have caused the fall of whatever was afterwards erected on them. I pass by the grace of miracles, because it was not given exclusively to the Apostles and other Pastors of the Church, but to any of the faithful to whom God was pleased to impart it, that they might thereby evince assuredly their