were numerous.

It was written by a Jew, and there can be no doubt that its original nucleus is of preChristian times. It had for its original a form used by Jews for the instruction of proselytes. This form continued to be used in the Palestinian Churches with additions from time to time giving it a more Christian aspect. It was thus a manual for practical use and not meant for literary circulation. When it first became known outside of the Palestinian Churches, it circulated probably at first in its shorter form and afterwards in its longer.1

When, therefore, we consider its birthplace, remote from the centre of Apostolic influence, we cannot expect to find much light on Christian theology, but we shall look with interest on its form of Church government.

Its Church government is somewhat similar to that we found in the Acts. A general ministry of "Apostles," "Prophets," and "Teachers"; and under them a local ministry of Presbyter-Bishops and Deacons.

The Apostles, Prophets, and Teachers hold the first rank in the ministry; the Presbyter overseers, or Bishops, hold the second, and the Deacons the third.

The Prophetic Teachers have a right to settle in any Church; and there can be no question that he, with his authority as an inspired man, with his free power of Eucharistic celebration, with his high-priestly dignity,' and his power of the laying on of hands becomes the Bishop of the community in the sense of a diocesan Bishop, thus forming a transition from the Apostles and the Apostolic ministry to that of the ministry of the later Church. Ignatius and Polycarp are examples of this link; they were both Prophets and both Bishops.

A. D. 80-100.

The next witness of the East is the Episcopate of S. John the Apostle. A comparison of the opening chapters of the Apocalypse with the Ignatian Epistles, regarded in the light of the evidence given us as to the nature of S. John's work during the last period of his life, points to him as the chief, though not the exclusive, organizer of the Episcopal order as found in the Ignatian days."

Tertullian says "that the order of Bishops, if traced back to its origin, will rest upon John as its author."* Polycrates, who was Bishop of Ephesus early in the

1 c. xiii.

* Ep. ad Phelad. vii.

2 Acts xii. 2. 4 Mart. Polyc. xvi. Having been an Apostolic and prophetic teacher, Bishop of the Holy Church in Smyrna." Cf. c. 5 also. He was for twenty years or more the disciple of S. John, and the trusted friend of Ignatius. Mahan, Ch. Hist. of the First Seven Centuries, c. iii. pp. 119-130, 1872.

second century, speaks of "him who lay upon the Lord's breast" as having become a " priest, wearing the mitre, and witness and teacher" before he died at Ephesus.1

"Listen," says Clement of Alexandria, " to a legend which is no legend, but very history, which has been handed down and preserved about John the Apostle. When, on the death of the tyrant, he returned from the Isle of Patmos to Ephesus, he used to go away when he was summoned to the neighbouring districts as well, in some places to establish Bishops, in others to organize whole Churches, in others to ordain to the clergy some one of those indicated by the Spirit."" Here we have S. John organising Episcopacy in the districts around Ephesus. The Muratorian Fragment on the Canon speaks of S. John as urged to write his Gospel by his "fellow-disciples and Bishops." By comparing this testimony of the Fragment with the language of Irenæus concerning his master Polycarp, whom he says " was not only made a disciple by Apostles and held converse with many who had seen Christ, but was also established in Asia by Apostles as Bishop in the Church of Smyrna, we have reason to say that S. John regarded it as his Apostolic function to perpetuate a Church ministry, and to connect the establishment of the Asiatic Episcopacy to the combined actions of several of the Apostles who, after the destruction of Jerusalem, made their headquarters in Asia. We can come to no other conclusion than this. It is so evident, that the mind refuses to accept any other explanation. And even if we had not this direct testimony as to the establishment of the Asiatic Episcopacy, the testimony of Ignatius, the greatest theologian among the Apostolic Fathers, and in every respect a well qualified witness, would compel us to postulate it.

On his memorable journey to Rome, in A. D. 110, to be martyred, he finds the Episcopate established everywhere. The ministry is threefold: of divine

'Euseb. H. E. iv. 14. Cf. Tertull., De Praescr. 32, Smyrnaeorum ecclesia Polycarpum ab Joanne Collocatum.

Vid. Gore, cap. vi. § iii. The cradle of Episcopacy was proconsular Asia, the scene of S. John's latest labours."Bp. Lightfoot.

3 He was well-nigh in man's estate when S. Paul wrote his great Epistles; he was in full manhood when Jerusalem was destroyed. 4 Ad Smyrn.

...

Ad Magn. 13. "Do your diligence, therefore, that ye be confirmed in the ordinances of the Lord and of the Apostles, that ye may prosper in all things whatsoever ye do in flesh and Spirit, in the Son and Father, and in the Spirit, with your revered Bishop, and with the fitly wreathed spiritual circlet of your Presbytery, and with the Deacons who walk after God." ̓Αξιοπρεπεστατου ἐπισκόπσου ἀξοπλόκονπνευματικοῦ στεφάνου πρεσβυ. τερίου διακόνων,

...

3

authority; completely beyond dispute; universal in the Church. The Episcopate represents the monarchy of Christ, and succeeds to an authority which had been Apostolic and had never belonged to the Presbyterate.

V.

It is Episcopal. Witness of Western writers.

We have already seen that there is no trace of a pre-Episcopal age in the West. We will therefore only refer to three links connecting the period of the Apostolic Presidency with the age of Irenæus. These links are: The Clementine Epistles, Polycarp's Epistles, and The Epistle of Hermas.

6

The Epistle of Clement was written not later than A. D. 96. This date agrees with the statement of Irenæus, derived from Hegesippus, that S. Peter and S. Paul, having founded the Church of Rome, ordained Linus to be its Bishop; that to Linus succeeded Anencletus, and to Anencletus, Clement. In this letter the ministry is derived by succession from the Apostles; is threefold; has authority to govern,

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