and it is denoted by the keys, which the Lord gave not so much to Peter and his colleagues as to the Church, that the Church might at all times do what it could do then, commit, namely, to fit persons the commission to preach the Gospel with Apostolical authority.

SINCE, however, Apostolical authority is no less necessary for maintaining and confirming Churches already established than for planting new ones, we must consider this point also: for in the present day a controversy is raised hereon, because we have no longer the Apostles among us, but Bishops and Archbishops, Primates and Metropolitans. I have often wondered what

can have induced pious and learned men to think, that the office of the Apostles and Evangelists has ceased in the Church, and that there are now no Pastors and Bishops with Apostolical authority, to whom the brotherhood of the Presbytery is subject in things pertaining to the good government of the Church; for they hereby make the authority of the Apostles to have been in such a sense extraordinary, as not to have been transmitted to their successors. The circumstance that the names Apostle and Evangelist have not been retained by the Church, is no sufficient proof that the authority has vanished with the names. If any one will diligently examine the last days of the Apostles, and of St. Paul in particular, he will easily find, that the Apostolic regimen cannot have ended with the Apostles themselves. We may judge of the other Apostles by what Holy Scripture tells us concerning St. Paul, since there is no doubt but that they resembled him, and were anxious for the Church of Christ to their latest hour,

whenever it was that He removed them from this life to His kingdom in Heaven. The second Epistle to Timothy, written by St. Paul towards the close of his life, evidences the care which he even then exercised over the Churches. In it he makes mention of his fellow-workers, some of whom he states that he had sent to different Churches, and others he summons to him as necessary for the same office; as though, being now on the eve of his departure from this life, he would give them his last instructions concerning every thing connected with the welfare of the Church, and expedient for further edifying the many which were but newly founded. This his last will and testament he wished to commit to them: but it would have been a vain wish, if the Apostolic authority was to end with himself, or to be confined within the limits of the districts each of those whom he summoned, had already under his care. For all whom St. Paul there mentions, such as Titus, Mark, Luke, Crescens, Tychicus, Timotheus him

self, and many others, were St. Paul's coadjutors in his Apostleship: to them he had committed the care of many Churches, nor can they all, like the Demas he mentions, have cast it off during his life, much less after his death. They became then heirs (as they had before been partners) of the Apostle's labours and authority. No doubt but the other Apostles had in like manner their companions and helpers, to whom at their departure they committed the care of the Churches with the like authority. Now the authority with which these the immediate successors of the Apostles carried on the work of the Lord, could no more expire with them than with the Apostles themselves, so long as the Church had any existence. As they succeeded the Apostles, so were they succeeded by others, to whom if they did not themselves commit the trust they had received from the Apostles, the Church, inheriting the Apostles' authority, committed

it.

Let it however be supposed, for argu