always, even unto the end of the world."* For the apos tles being dead, if they have left no successors, or if the succession has failed, the promise of Christ has failed; and his church is now without governors, or preachers, or any to dispense its ordinances and discipline. For how can a man execute the office of a governor in his church, but by his appointment? Or how can he preach except he be sent ? Or administer either sacraments or discipline in the church of God, but by the appointment of God?

It has been observed, that the conduct of the apostles is a good comment on the commission which they received from Christ; at least, it shews how they understood it. To their conduct then let us attend.

Immediately after Christ's ascension, and probably the same day, they filled up the vacancy which the apostacy of the traitor Judas had made in their number, by choosing Matthias in his room; and, saith their history,' He was numbered with the eleven apostles ;' and undoubtedly enjoyed the full power and authority of an apostle, though he was not appointed immediately by Christ, as the eleven were, but mediately by their ministry. Now, had they understood their commission to be personal, and to continue no longer than they should live, their conduct must appear altogether unaccountable. It could not proceed from a supposed necessity of keeping the number twelve complete, for they did not confine themselves to that number. I say nothing of St. Paul, because his appointment being extraordinary, immediately from heaven, does not come under our present consideration. But we find Barnabas among the apostles, and generally taking rank of St. Paul, by being mentioned before him in the history of their acts. The time of his appointment to the apostolical office does not appear. The first account we have of his acting as an apostle is, when he was sent from Jerusalem to Antioch, to confirm the new converts to christianity, which had been made from gentilism, by some evangelists of Cyprus and Cyrene, who had been † Rom. x. 15.

* Matt. xxviii. 20.

+ Acts i. 26.

driven from Jerusalem by the persecution that raged there, immediately after the martyrdom of St. Stephen.* But the apostleship of St. Barnabas does not rest on evidence, merely circumstantial: He is expressly called an apostle in the same history, and named as such before St. Paul.t The same observation may be made here, which was made respecting St. Matthias: If the apostles understood their commission to have been personal, no tolerable account can be given of the propriety of their conduct in admitting St. Barnabas into their number.

Though St. Paul's appointment to the apostleship was extraordinary, and cannot be taken into account, yet his conduct in his office comes fairly before us. He says of himself that, in preaching the gospel, he laboured more abundantly than' all the other apostles. The history of the acts of the apostles has certainly transmitted to us a fuller account of his labours, than of all the rest. His conduct, therefore, becomes the proper object of our inquiry.

In the fourteenth chapter of the Acts, we have an account of the travèls of Barnabas and Paul to preach the gospel, through Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, &c. We have there this remark, When they had ordained them elders -in the Greek, presbyters, in every church, and had prayed with fasting,' &c. I stop not here to settle the meaning of the word elders or presbyters: It is enough for my present purpose, that Barnabas and Paul did ordain ministers of some rank or other to preside and offieiate in the churches or congregations which they had planted. It furnishes a strong probability that they did so in all the congregations which they gathered. That it was done by St. Paul at Ephesus, the history furnishes an unquestionable proof. When he first visited that city, he found only twelve disciples in it: They could not be called christians, for they had not been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. Finding, however, the prospect of success in planting the gospel there great, he † Chap. xiv. 14.

Acts xi. 22.

# Acts xv. 10.

continued two years, preaching in the Jewish synagogue, till they became obstinate; and then, assembling the disciples in the school of Tyrannus: So that all they which dwelt in Asia, heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks." We cannot suppose that St. Paul's zeal and industry would have permitted him to continue so long in one city, had not the harvest been plenteous. That it was so, we have this proof: Going the last time to Jerusalem, and travelling by sea, it became inconvenient for him to go out of his way to Ephesus; but, stopping at Miletus, he called the elders, presbyters, of the church to him. He calls them overseers, in the Greek, bishops, of the church of God; and says, they were made so by the Holy Ghost; that is, by the anointing of the Holy Ghost which they received at their ordination, or appointment to their ministry. They had, therefore, received some part at least of the apostolical commission, most probably from St. Paul's hands; for we do not read of any other apostle having then visited the church of Ephesus. But if St. Paul had supposed that the apostolical authority was to cease with the lives of the apostles, he could not have acted so absurdly as to impart the whole, or any share of it, to others: it would have been contrary to the will of Christ; and to say in such a case that they were appointed by the Holy Ghost, would have been no small degree of blasphemy. It may also be asked; In what good sense a man can impart a power to another, which is only personal in himself; or appoint a successor in an office, which he knows is to cease with his own life?

But, whatever share of apostolical authority these bishops held, whether the whole, or only a part; or however they came by it, they were manifestly subject to St. Paul's authority. They did not come together to Miletus of their own accord, nor were they invited and requested to attend by St. Paul; but they were authoritatively called together by him, and the Greek word implies as much : And, when they were come to him, it was not to give † Chap. xx. 17.

* Acts xix. 10.

him advice, but to receive his charge and direction how to conduct themselves in their ministry.

It does not appear, that St. Paul had any further personal intercourse with the church or clergy of Ephesus. Four years after, according to the common reckoning, he wrote his epistle to them, full of instructions, exhortations, and directions concerning their faith and conduct as christians. The year after, he wrote his first epistle to Timothy; and after another year, his second. These epistles, on this occasion, claim our particular attention. In them we find Timothy treated by St. Paul, as the supreme ruler and governor in the church of Ephesus; and directions are given him how to conduct himself in his important office. He is cautioned not to be precipitate in ordinations,* or negligent about the qualifications of those whom he admitted to any sacred function.† He is directed how to proceed against offenders, both clergy and laity. From these circumstances, it must appear evident to every person not blinded by prejudice, that the supreme power of government in that church had devolved on Timothy; for he is here directed to exercise the same authority over it, which St. Paul had done before; and, therefore, he must have been previously invested with the authority which St. Paul had.

Should it be said, that Timothy was an extraordinary person, and as such held this authority-it will be confessing, however, that he had the authority; and we know he had it, by imposition of hands in ordination. § Therefore, the apostolical authority was not personal in the original apostles, and to end with their lives, but was to descend to successors.

But it does not appear that Timothy was an extraordinary person, in the sense in which the word is used on these occasions, unless his being an evangelist made him. But if his being an evangelist gave him these apostolical powers, Philip the deacon must have had the same powers, for he was an evangelist as well as Timothy of

So.

* 1 Tim. v. 22. † Chap. iii. 2, &c. § 1 Tim. iv. 14. 2 Tim. i. 6.

Acts xxi. 8.

Chap. v. 1, 2, &c. and ver. 19.

this however there is no evidence. What is meant by an evangelist, in the new testament, cannot now be precisely determined. The word signifies a preacher; and probably those ministers of the church, who were not confined to any particular district, but travelled from place to place, to preach the gospel, obtained that appellation, whatever may have been the degree of their orders.

He

A strong objection against the opinion that Timothy's apostolical powers arose from his being an evangelist is, the situation in which St. Paul left Titus in Crete. is never called an evangelist, and yet we find him invested with the same powers in Crete, which Timothy had at Ephesus-the powers of ordination and government : For this cause,' says St. Paul to him, left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting or, according to the marginal translation, the things that are left undone; and ordain elders,' presbyters, or bishops, in every city, as I had appointed thee.**

Whether there were any elders in Crete, before St. Paul left Titus there, we are not told. If there were, why could not they have set in order the things which the apostle had left undone, and have ordained the elders which were wanting? Or, if there were none, would it not have been as easy for St. Paul to have ordained three or four, and then have left the business to them, as it was to leave Titus there to supply his place? The same observation may be made with regard to his fixing Timothy at Ephesus: In that place, we know, there were elders, presbyters, or bishops; for we are told so expressly.† What need could there be of Timothy's being fixed there, only to do what those elders or bishops could have done just as well, upon the supposition that they had the powers of government and ordination vested in them?

That the word bishop has a different meaning in the acts and writings of the apostles from what it has in modern language, is readily granted; and, I believe, never was disputed by any person moderately acquainted with the subject. To take shelter under the obscurity of old † Acts xx. 17, 28.

Titus i. 5.