declare of what sort each man's work is, for "the fire” shall try it. St. Paul may mean the fiery trial of persecution, or he may mean the Day of Judgment; in either case he is clearly speaking of the effectiveness of the Pastor's ministry as that which will be thus tested. The Romanist doctrine of purgatory affirms that there is a period of suffering between death and Judgment through which all men (except a few favoured Saints) are supposed to pass. It need hardly be pointed out how directly it contradicts the teaching of Holy Scripture about the blessedness of the dead who die in the Lord, and how they rest from their labours (Rev. xiv. 13). 2. Pardons or indulgences. These were originally mere shortenings of the terms of penance which the Church had imposed. Soon it came to be taught that such relaxations of penance might be earned by almsgiving; and as all gifts to the Church were included in almsgiving, the custom of purchasing pardons by money payments grew up. Then, to increase this lucrative traffic, the Pope began to claim the power of shortening penance in the other world as well as in this; and so, by working on the fears of superstitious men, enormous gains were made; until at last the scandal of this trade in indulgences became too great to be tolerated, and over one half of Europe it was abolished by the Reformation. 3. Worshipping and adoration as well of images as of reliques. The Christians of the first ages, more afraid of idolatry than those of later ages, forbade all images of Him Whom we worship,-allowing only symbols or emblems, such as the Lamb, the Cross, the Dove, the Good Shepherd (see Augustine's commenting on the 113th Psalm). As time went by, however, pictures and images began to be used for the instruction of the ignorant; and people were taught to venerate them, though the priests were careful to explain that this veneration was something different from the worship which is due to God. The Council of Trent ordered that the same honour and veneration should be paid to reliques of Saints that was paid to images. And this veneration quickly passed, as it was sure to pass, into worship among the uneducated. Most clearly and expressly does the Second Commandment forbid us to make any graven image in order to worship it. How far historical sculptures or pictures may be safely introduced into churches without fear of breach of the Second Commandment, is a quesany tion which must be left to the discretion of each age and church. 4. Invocation of Saints. The Romanists, believing that certain favoured saints had been admitted to glory immediately at death, taught that their intercession, as well as that of the Angels, might be asked in prayer, and the practice of prayer to the Saints spread rapidly, and most of all to the Virgin Mary. Even before the close of the fourth century the error showed itself, and the early Fathers frequently protest against it. Athanasius reminds his readers how St. Peter forbade Cornelius to worship him, and how the Angel forbade St. John ;3 and adds that it belongs to God, and to God only, to receive worship. Most clearly does Holy Scripture assert that there is but "One Medi 2 I That this is the force of the original Hebrew seems to be admitted. 2 Acts x. 26; see also xiv. 14. 3 Rev. xxii. 9. ator between God and man" (1 Tim. ii. 5). Once indeed, and once only, did a created being claim worship :— "All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me." And crushing was the answer, "Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." ARTICLE XXIII. Of Ministering in the Congregation. It is not lawful for any man to take upon him the office of publick preaching, or ministering the Sacraments in the Congregation, before he be lawfully called, and sent to execute the same. And those we ought to judge lawfully called and sent, which be chosen and called to this work by men who have publick authority given unto them in the Congregation, to call and send Ministers into the Lord's vineyard. Notes.-The Congregation. This word is used, as it is used in the 19th Article, not in its modern, but in its Scriptural sense, for the whole company of God's covenanted people, that is, the Church. And in the Latin version of the Article, the word is Ecclesia, or Church. Men who have publick authority given unto them in the Congregation. These are defined in the 36th Article to be the Bishops. The reason why the word "Bishops" was avoided in this Article is to be found in the fact that this Article was the result of a conference of Lutheran and Anglican divines; and the Lutherans being then (to their great regret) under the ban of the Continental Bishops-few of whom sided with Luther-a phrase that could be used by both was adopted. Two things are plainly affirmed in this Article : (1) The distinction between Clergy and Laity. 66 ... (1) The setting apart of certain members of the Christian Church to be her ministers dates from the very foundation of the Church. When He ascended up on high, He gave gifts unto men. . . . He gave (or constituted) some (as) apostles, and some (as) prophets, and some (as) evangelists, and some (as) pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ" (Eph. iv. 8-12). So we read that the Apostles ordained Elders (presbyters or priests 1) in every city (Acts xiv. 23). These "elders" are addressed as men whom the Holy Ghost had made overseers of the flock -pastors who were "to feed the Church of God" (Acts xx. 28). "Bishops and Deacons” are expressly mentioned (Phil. i. 1). St. Paul asks "How shall they preach except they be sent?" (Rom. x. 15.) (2) The need of some authority competent to ordain the Clergy clearly follows, and is no less plainly recognized in Scripture. While the Apostles lived they had this authority, intrusted to them by Christ Himself; and therefore in the New Testament we hear of the Apostles appointing two orders of Clergy only, a higher called indifferently "Elders" (presbyteri), or Overseers" (episcopi), and a lower order called "Deacons." After the death of the Apostles, we find mention made within a very few years of three orders, 66 I The words presbyter and priest are etymologically the same. the name "Overseers" (episcopi) being now appropriated to the highest; "Elders" (presbyteri) to the second; and "Deacons" (diaconi) being still the name of the third order. Ignatius, writing within ten years of St. John's death, mentions all three orders distinctly, and insists strenuously on the importance of obeying the Bishop. Irenæus, writing two generations later, dwells as earnestly on the need of a continued succession of Bishops in every Church, giving the list of those who had presided over the Roman Church from the time of the Apostles down to his own age. The office which Timothy and Titus held, the one at Ephesus and the other in Crete, selecting and ordaining ministers and enforcing discipline on all, so carefully defined in St. Paul's pastoral epistles, is manifestly the model on which Episcopacy was afterwards constituted. The name of the Church's highest officers is clearly unimportant; in this Article, as we have seen, it is perhaps purposely omitted; but the fact that from the time of the Apostles downwards there have been such officers responsible for the ordination of the rest is manifest. ARTICLE XXIV. Of speaking in the Congregation in such a tongue as the people understandeth. It is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God, and the custom of the Primitive Church, to have publick Prayer in the Church, or to minister the Sacraments, in a tongue not understanded of the people. 1 Various names occur, equivalent to Bishop, in the early Church History:- Overseer, Angel, President, Chief Pastor,-but always meaning one who is competent to ordain others, |