personal knowledge of many of the Apostles is not denied. Ip his epistle to the Magnesians, he writes, "Seeing then I have been judged worthy to see you, by Damas your most excellent BISHOP; and by your very worthy PRESBYTERS, Bassus and Apollonius; and by my fellow servant Sotio the DEACON; in whom I rejoice, forasmuch as he is SUBJECT unto his bishop as to the grace of God, and to the presbytery as to the law of Jesus Christ; I determined to write unto you. Wherefore it will become you also not to use your bishop too familiarly upon the account of his youth; but to yield all reverence to him according to the power of God the Father; as also I perceive that your holy presbyters Do; not considering his age, which indeed to appearance is young; but as becomes those who are prudent in God, submitting to him, or rather not to him, but to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the bishop of us all. It will therefore behove you to obey your bishop; in honour of him whose pleasure it is that ye should do so, because he that does not do so, deceives not the bishop whom he sees, but affronts him that is invisible. For whatsoever of this kind is done, it reflects not upon man, but upon God, who knows the secrets of our hearts. It is therefore fitting, that we should not only be called Christians, but be so. As some call indeed their governour, bishop, but yet do all things without him. But I can never think that such as these have a good conscience, seeing they are not gathered together thoroughly according to God's commandment."

Here then Brethren, we have a distinct enumeration of the three separate orders of bishops, presbyters, and deacons; we have the subjection of the two last, and of all the Magnesian Christians, to the first, explicitly stated, and the dangerous consequences of insubordination maintained. Afterwards if possible, he yet more distinctly tells them, "I exhort you that ye study to do all things in a divine concord: your bishop presiding in the place of God, your presbyters in the place of the council of the Apostles; and your deacons most dear to me, being entrusted with the ministry of Jesus Christ."

In his epistle to the Trallians, he enjoins upon them, to "continue inseparable from Jesus Christ our God, and from your bishop, and from the commands of the Apostles. He that is within the altar is pure; but he that is without," "that does any thing without the bishop, and presbyters, and deacons, is not pure in his con

science." And again, after enumerating the same three orders, he uses this strong and emphatick language, "Without these there is no Church.".

In his epistle to the Philadelphians, he interprets the scriptures in a manner, scarcely compatible with the modern notions, to which I have frequently adverted;" "I cried whilst I was among you; I spake with a loud voice; attend to the bishop, and to the presbytery, and to the deacons. Now some supposed that I spake this as fores seeing the division that should come among you. But he is my witness for whose sake I am in bonds that I knew nothing from any man. But the Spirit spake, saying on this wise; do nothing without the bishop: keep your bodies as the temples of God: love unity: flee divisions: be the followers of Christ, as he was of his Father. I therefore did as became me, as a man composed to unity. For where there is division and wrath, God dwelleth not. But the Lord forgives all that repent, if they return to the unity of God, and to the council of the bishop."

No language, Brethren, can be stronger than this, to prove, that its author, the companion of the Apostles, held in abhorrence what now constitutes the divisions and schisms of Christians; that he regarded them, as directly opposed to the witness of the Spirit of our God, and pregnant with incalculable evils to the Church; and that, in his judgment, all Christians must be subject to their bishop, as the highest earthly fountain of ecclesiastical authority, ordained of God. "Do nothing without the Bishop," "love unity: flee divisions:" "where there is division and wrath, God dwelleth not.” On the other hand, in his epistle to Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, he takes occasion to address the laity of that Church, in these truly encouraging terms, "Hearken unto the bishop, that God also may hearken unto you. My soul be security for them that submit to their bishop, with their presbyters and deacons. And may my portion be with theirs in God."

Nor must I forget to apprize you, that these quotations are only specimens of a large number to the same import, pervading the epistles of this holy man, who professed to write, not of himself, not as taught by mere uninspired men, but upon the foundation of Christ and his Apostles. And what became of him? Did he continue faithful unto death? They who saw him die commence their narrative in these words; "When Trajan not long since came to

the Roman empire, Ignatius, the disciple of St. John the Apostle (and evangelist,) a man in all things like unto the Apostles, governed the Church of Antioch with all care." They describe his arraignment before Trajan, the intrepidity, with which he confessed Christ crucified, and record this sentence pronounced upon him, by that emperor; "Forasmuch as Ignatius has confessed that he carries about within himself, him, that was crucified, we command that he be carried bound by soldiers to the great Rome, there to be thrown to the beasts, for the entertainment of the people. When the holy martyr heard this sentence he cried out with joy, I thank thee, O Lord, that thou hast vouchsafed to honour me with a perfect love towards thee; and hast made me to be put into iron bonds with thy Apostle Paul." After which, they detail the incidents occurring in his journey to Rome, and proceed to relate, that upon the day of his martyrdom, "all the brethren kneeling down, he prayed to the Son of God in behalf of the Churches, that he would put a stop to the persecution, and continue the love of the Brethren towards each other; which being done, he was with all haste led into the amphitheatre, and speedily, according to the command of Cæsar before given, thrown in, the end of the spectacles being at hand." "Thus," they continue, "was he delivered to the cruel beasts, near the temple by wicked men;" and thus, by his patient submission to such a cruel death, do I claim for the testimony of the holy martyr, Ignatius, all credit in relation to the three orders in the ministry first established by divine authority.

Polycarp was another of the fathers personally known to the Apostles. He was indeed the fellow disciple of St. John with Ignatius; and Irenæus, who was his scholar, assures us that he was taught by the Apostles, and familiarly conversed with many, who had seen our Lord in the flesh. After being consecrated by his preceptor bishop of Smyrna, he also wrote several epistles to the Churches; but of these, one only remains, addressed to the Philippians, in which there is however express mention of the two orders of presbyters and deacons, and this abundant evidence in favour of episcopacy. Its direction, recognising what Ignatius incidentally notices in his epistle to the Magnesians, and all acknowledge to be true, that he was bishop of Smyrna; "Polycarp and the presbyters that are with him, to the Church of God which is at Philippi." Its approbation of the epistles of Ignatius, from which I have so largely

quoted. Towards the conclusion, he thus remarks, "The epistles of Ignatius which he wrote unto us, together with what others of his have come to our hands, we have sent to you according to your order; which are subjoined to this epistle; by which you may be greatly profited; for they treat of faith and patience, and of all things that pertain to edification in the Lord Jesus." So that this passage as evidently shows his perfect concurrence in all the statements, opinions, and declarations of Ignatius, who had previously visited him in his journey to Rome, as if they had been written with his own hand. And let me add, Brethren, that none of the fathers stand higher in the estimation of posterity than this worthy confessor. He was called by his contemporaries, "the blessed," "the most admirable Polycarp." He was beyond doubt, that angel of the Church of Smyrna, to whom the First and the Last directed St. John to write, "I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich.") "Be thou faithful unto death, and Lwill give thee a crown of life."

He was faithful! In the reign of Marcus Antoninus, he was brought before the Roman proconsul of Asia, and required to "Swear by the genius of Cæsar," and to "reproach Christ." "Eighty and six years" he replied, "have I now served Christ, and he has never done me the least wrong: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?" "The proconsul continued, and said unto him, I have wild beasts ready, to those I will cast thee except thou repent. He answered, call for them then; for we Christians are fixed in our minds not to change from good to evil: but for me it will be good to be changed from evil to good. The proconsul added; seeing thou despisest the wild beasts, I will cause thee to be devoured by fire, unless thou shalt repent. Polycarp answered, thou threatenest me with fire, which burns for an hour, and so is extinguished; but knowest not the fire of the future judgment, and of that eternal punishment, which is reserved for the ungodly. But why tarriest thou? Bring forth what thou wilt." And then was he condemned to the flames, his body was consumed; but his spirit returned to God, who gave it.

Yes, Brethren, such was the man, who bore evidence to the truth of episcopacy; who corroborated whatever Ignatius had written upon the subject, by annexing the epistles of his friend to the one, he himself addressed to the Philippians; and such is my confidence

in their veracity, their holy boldness in the faith, that I would search for no brighter testimony to prove the accuracy of our views of the ministry established in the scriptures, than the confirmation afforded by the personal knowledge of these now sainted martyrs of the primitive Church. More indeed is at our disposal, but my limits will compel me to be very brief, in the extracts which follow. We have the testimony of Irenæus, bishop of Lyons in Gaul, and the scholar of Polycarp, who says in his third book, "We can reckon up to you those who were instituted bishops by the Apostles themselves to whom they committed the Churches-left them their successors, delivering up to them their own proper place of mastership in them." And in his fourth, "True knowledge is the doctrine of the Apostles, according to the succession of the bishops, to whom they delivered the Church in every place, which doctrine hath reached us, preserved in its most full delivery." Wherein you cannot but observe, how fully Irenæus, who was also a martyr, confirms the doctrine, which I have before manifestly proved from the scriptures, that the Apostolick office was continued, and that it survived in the persons of the bishops, who, in his expressive language, obtained the mastership or rule of the Churches.

We have the testimony of Clemens Alexandrinus, a writer of the second century, who was himself only a presbyter of Alexandria, and therefore not to be charged with the inclination to elevate bishops over his own order. After commenting upon the duties imposed upon Christians generally in the sacred volume, he proceeds to remark, "There are other precepts without number, which concern men in particular capacities; some of which relate to presbytersothers which belong to bishops, and others respecting deacons."

We have the testimony of the celebrated Tertullian, also a presbyter, and flourishing at the end of the second, and commencement of the third century. His words are, "The chief or highest priest, who is the bishop, has the right of giving baptism, and after him, the presbyters and deacons, but not without the bishop's authority." Words, that as satisfactorily show the superiour office and power of a bishop, as any that could be selected from our vernacular tongue. We have the testimony of Origen, a presbyter of the third century, who in explaining this part of our Lord's prayer, "Forgive us our debts," observes, "Besides these general debts, there is a debt due to widows who are maintained by the Church; another to deacons ;