and had been true, it could have furnished not even the idea of a lay presbyter. That this passage in the translation falsely represents the mind of Irenæus, plainly appears, when he afterwards expressly affirms the office of presbyter to be the highest in the church. "They who have also been accredited as presbyters by many, but serve their own pleasures and have no fear of God, in their hearts, who treat others reproachfully and are puffed up with the loftiness of the principal seat, et principalis conces sionis tumore elati sunt, and do evil in secret, and say no one sees us, shall be condemned by the Word." This language plainly represents, that the presbyterial office was the highest in the church. If the gо0775 presidents of churches are here intended, which is probable, because he speaks of such in the persons of Soter, Victor and others,in the present catalogue of popes, yet they are in this place expressly called presbyters. The testimony of Irenæus is therefore upon the whole decisive, that in his day, the office of presbyters was one and undivided, and the highest in the Christian church; and consequently that no presbyters were lay men. SECTION V. Clemens Alexandrinus mentions, a rgwloxalidpia, first seat, in each presbytery, and although he mentions presbyters, bishops and deacons, yet he shows there were but two orders.-Tertullian supports Justin's description of a eucharist and proves an antistes or president in the presbytery of each church; calls this highest priest the bishop, and affirms his right to grant baptism. He makes a succession of such bishops from the apostles in the first churches a test of the orthodox faith which the heretics could not furnish. No alteration appears in the offices of the church during the second century, unless with the change of president, ngoso7w5, for exisxonos bishop, presbyters began to act by his appointment, or in his presence. Though not in writers hitherto examined, some traces of it are in the two assigned to this section; who lived in both centuries. Titus Flavius Clemens is called Atheniensis because educated at Athens; Alexandrinus, because instructed in the catechetical school of Pantænus, and a presbyter of the church at Alexandria. The preceptor of Origin, Alexander of Jerusalem, and others, he lived till the reign of Alexander Severus. He wrote an Admonition to the Greeks, The Pedagogue, Stromata, and What rich man can be saved? He had a leaning to Gentile ethics, and the merit of works. On future punishments he is erroneous. Church officers are mentioned incidentally; "For as much as we are shepherds, ποιμενες εςμεν, who govern Agonyouμevo, the churches, after the example of the good shepherd, and guard the sheep." This pastoral office was that of the presbyter, for he was such. In strict accordance he speaks of the presbyter, as blessing with the imposition of hands. "Upon whom will the a Pedagogue, Lib. i p. 99. b presbyter, яgoßuregos, impose his hand, and whom will he bless?" This ascription of blessing to presbyters supposes them of one kind and clerical. After citing from the epistle of Paul ten passages of practical duties, suited to various classes, he observes; "numerous other precepts also, directed to select characters, have been written, in the sacred books, some to presbyters eBulegos, some to bishops, and some to deacons, and others to widows." c If presbyters be not here taken appellatively, the language makes a threefold discrimination, presbyters, bishops and deacons. It is possible that the author, in these precepts given from the New Testament, follows the language of the epistle to Titus, in which the same order is named, presbyters and bishops. (Ch. i. 5. 6. 7.) That there were but two orders, (Saxovat) presbyters and deacons, he expressly and repeatedly shows; and that there was a newlоxabɛdgia or first seat, in each presbytery, he also asserts; the meaning therefore of the passage is obvious. If from the circumstance, that this writer never enumerated deacons before presbyters, because an inferior order, it may be fairly inferred, that the collocation of bishops after presbyters, in this sentence, evinces no inferiority in presbyters, we may be permitted to argue from the same circumstance, that he had no idea that presbyters were mere laymen. Whether, in this passage, Bulegos was intended only of those who presided over the rest of the bishops, or vice versa, lay presbyters are equally, and wholly omitted. In the numerous precepts addressed by the Scriptures to various characters, neither this author nor any other, has ever found a charge directed to lay presbyters. Writing of marriage, he decides, that each man should be "the husband of one wife, whether he be a presbyter, or a deacon, &c." xav nheoßvtegos n, xav διακόνος d The word presbyter being substituted in this direction, for bishop, used in Paul's epistle, and by himself in two other references to the same duty, proves that Clement understood the same by bishop and presbyter, and could not have intended an inferior, or lay elder. And if the promiscuous use of bishop and presbyter can demonstrate a parity in the clerical, it must be equally effectual to exclude an inferior order. In another place he observes; "That man is in fact a presbyter, geobulegos, of the church and a true minister, diaxovos, of the counsel of God, who practices and teaches the things of the Lord; deemed righteous, not because ordained of men nor because a presbyter, but because a righteous man, he is numbered in the presbytery. And if here on earth he be not honoured with the first seat, πρωτοκαθεδρια μη τιμηθῇ he shall sit down on the twenty four thrones, judging the people, as John represents it in the Apocalypse." This writer does not distinguish the presiding presbyter by the name goo7s, the word exoxoxos having begun to take its place, nevertheless the first implied other seats of the presbyters; and the first seat on a bench of presbyters is occupied by a presbyter, with no less certainty than the last. This president called goɛors in the New Testament, is henceforth denominated Exxoяos without any authorised diversity in order. In the same page, he says; "Seeing that in the church, there are promotions of bishops, presbyters, deacons, goxoяαι εxIOXOAWY πρεσβυτέρων διακόνων, I suppose they are semblances of angelic glory, and of that economy which, the Scriptures say, awaits those, who live after the example of the apostles, in the perfection of righteousness, according to the gospel. These, the apostle writes, being raised up in the clouds, diaxonoεw, attend as deacons at the first; afterwards they are associated with the pres d Strom. Lib. iii. 464. e 1 Tim. iii. 2. 8 Strom. Lib. vi. p. 667. bytery, xgßleg, according to their proficiency Agoxonny, in glory; for glory rises above glory, until they shall increase to a perfect man. This writer thought that the Saviour preached the gospel to departed spirits in hell: and believed, that future punishments were restorative. To the same hypothesis may be attributed his opinion of the value of the righteousness of the saints, both in this world and in the next, which is here described as measuring their proficiency in glory. His first comparison of the orders in the church, is unto those of the angels, of whom it has been remarked, there are but two, archangels and angels. He supposes also a discrimination in the next world between the glory of deacons, and of the presbytery. But although he names bishops, presbybyters, and deacons on earth distinctly, he considered bishops and presbyters, as constituting the same presbytery, not differing in order; otherwise his comparison has failed. Deacons are here also represented as entering into the presbytery, without an intermediate order. Clemens has consequently assigned no place to lay elders, either in the church militant, or triumphant. Having spoken of an instructive, and an obediential service, he says; "In like manner also with respect to the church, the presbyters maintain the part which renders men better, βελλιωτικην εικονα, and the deacons the obediential, ingen. Both these offices, ταυτας αμφω τας διακονιας, do the angels perform to God, according to the economy of earthly things." Thus again he expressly describes two, and but two orders. in the church, presbyters and deacons; the former to make men better, the latter to aid in a subordinate department. In this author we find a presbytery and deacons only, which is as forcible an exclusion of a third order, whether superior or intermediate, as can be reasonably Strom. Lib. vi. p. 667. i Strom. Lib. vii. p. 700. Some render ßixtalian, dignified, others "quæ facit meliores." |