what they have been in times past, or what they are now; it is sufficient for us that, so much as concerns ministers, we have the doctrine of the apostles. We, therefore, knowing certainly that monks, and the orders or sects of them, are instituted neither by Christ nor by his apostles, we teach that they are so far from being profitable that they are pernicious and hurtful unto the Church of God. For, although in former times they were tolerable (when they lived solitarily, getting their livings with their own hands, and were burdensome to none, but did in all places obey their pastors, even as laymen), yet what kind of men they be now all the world sees and perceives. They pretend I know not what vows; but they lead a life altogether disagreeing from their vows: so that the very best of them may justly be numbered among those of whom the apostle speaks: 'We hear that there are some among you which walk inordinately, working not at all, but are busybodies,' etc. (2 Thess. iii. 11). Therefore, we have no such in our churches; and, besides, we teach that they should not be suffered to rout in the churches of Christ. Furthermore, no man ought to usurp the honor of the ecclesiastical ministry; that is to say, greedily to pluck it to himself by bribes, or any evil shifts, or of his own accord. But let the ministers of the Church be called and chosen by a lawful and ecclesiastical election and vocation; that is to say, let them be chosen religiously by the Church, and that in due order, without any tumult, seditions, or contention. But we must have an eye to this, that not every one that will should be elected, but such men as are fit and have sufficient learning, especially in the Scriptures, and godly eloquence, and wise simplicity; to conclude, such men as are of good report for moderation and honesty of life, according to that apostolic rule which St. Paul gives in the 1st Epistle to Timothy iii. 2-7, and to Titus i. 7-9. And those who are chosen let them be ordained by the elders with public prayer, and laying on of hands. We do here, therefore, condemn all those who run of their own accord, being neither chosen, sent, nor ordained. We do also utterly disallow unfit ministers, and such as are not furnished with gifts requisite for a pastor. In the mean time we are not ignorant that the innocent simplicity of certain pastors in the primitive Church did sometimes more profit the most perfect teacher of the world; in whom is hidden the wisdom of God, and from whom we derive that most holy, perfect, and pure doctrine of the Gospel. For he chose unto himself disciples, whom he made apostles; and they, going out into the whole world, gathered together churches in all places by the preaching of the Gospel. And afterward they ordained pastors and teachers in all churches, by the commandment of Christ; who, by such as succeeded them, has taught and governed the Church unto this day. Therefore, as God gave unto his ancient people the patriarchs, together with Moses and the prophets, so also to his people under the new covenant he sent his only-begotten Son, and, with him, the apostles and teachers of this Church. Furthermore, the ministers of the new covenant are termed by divers names; for they are called apostles, prophets, evangelists, bishops, elders, pastors, and teachers (1 Cor. xii. 28; Eph. vi. 11). The apostles remained in no certain place, but gathered together divers churches throughout the whole world: which churches, when they were once established, there ceased to be any more apostles, and in their places were particular pastors appointed in every Church. The prophets, in old time, did foresee and foretell things to come; and, besides, did interpret the Scriptures; and such are found some among us at this day. They were called evangelists, who were the penmen of the history of the Gospel, and were also preachers of the Gospel of Christ; as the Apostle Paul gives in charge unto Timothy,' to fulfill the work of an Evangelist' (2 Tim. iv. 5). Bishops are the overseers and watchmen of the Church, who distribute food and other necessities to the Church. The elders are the ancients and, as it were, the senators and fathers of the Church, governing it with wholesome counsel. The pastors both keep the Lord's flock, and also provide things necessary for it. The teachers do instruct, and teach the true faith and godliness. Therefore the Church ministers that now are may be called bishops, elders, pastors, and teachers. But in process of time there were many more names of ministers brought into the Church. For some were created patriarchs, others archbishops, others suffragans; also, metropolitans, archdeacons, deacons, subdeacons, acolytes, exorcists, choristers, porters, and I know not what others, as cardinals, provosts, and priors; abbots, greater and lesser; orders, higher and lower. But touching all these, we little heed what they have been in times past, or what they are now; it is sufficient for us that, so much as concerns ministers, we have the doctrine of the apostles. We, therefore, knowing certainly that monks, and the orders or sects of them, are instituted neither by Christ nor by his apostles, we teach that they are so far from being profitable that they are pernicious and hurtful unto the Church of God. For, although in former times they were tolerable (when they lived solitarily, getting their livings with their own hands, and were burdensome to none, but did in all places obey their pastors, even as laymen), yet what kind of men they be now all the world sees and perceives. They pretend I know not what vows; but they lead a life altogether disagreeing from their vows: so that the very best of them may justly be numbered among those of whom the apostle speaks: 'We hear that there are some among you which walk inordinately, working not at all, but are busybodies,' etc. (2 Thess. iii. 11). Therefore, we have no such in our churches; and, besides, we teach that they should not be suffered to rout in the churches of Christ. Furthermore, no man ought to usurp the honor of the ecclesiastical ministry; that is to say, greedily to pluck it to himself by bribes, or any evil shifts, or of his own accord. But let the ministers of the Church be called and chosen by a lawful and ecclesiastical election and vocation; that is to say, let them be chosen religiously by the Church, and that in due order, without any tumult, seditions, or contention. But we must have an eye to this, that not every one that will should be elected, but such men as are fit and have sufficient learning, especially in the Scriptures, and godly eloquence, and wise simplicity; to conclude, such men as are of good report for moderation and honesty of life, according to that apostolic rule which St. Paul gives in the 1st Epistle to Timothy iii. 2-7, and to Titus i. 7-9. And those who are chosen let them be ordained by the elders with public prayer, and laying on of hands. We do here, therefore, condemn all those who run of their own accord, being neither chosen, sent, nor ordained. We do also utterly disallow unfit ministers, and such as are not furnished with gifts requisite for a pastor. In the mean time we are not ignorant that the innocent simplicity of certain pastors in the primitive Church did sometimes more profit service than a dominion. For we see that a master does give unto the steward of his house authority and power over his house, and for that cause delivers him the keys, that he may admit or exclude such as his master will have admitted or excluded. According to this power does the minister, by his office, that which the Lord has commanded him to do; and the Lord does ratify and confirm that which he does, and will have the deeds of his ministers to be acknowledged and esteemed by his own deeds. Unto which end are those speeches in the Gospel: 'I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou bindest or loosest in earth shall be bound or loosed in heaven' (Matt. xvi. 19). Again, 'Whose sins soever ye remit, they shall be remitted; and whose sins soever ye retain, they shall be retained' (John xx. 23). But if the minister deal not in all things as the Lord has commanded him, but pass the limits and bounds of faith, then the Lord does make void that which he does. Wherefore the ecclesiastical power of the ministers of the Church is that function whereby they do indeed govern the Church of God, but yet so do all things in the Church as he has prescribed in his Word: which thing being so done, the faithful do esteem them as done of the Lord himself. But touching the keys we have spoken somewhat before. Now the power, or function, that is given to the ministers of the Church is the same and alike in all. Certainly, in the beginning, the bishops or elders did, with a common consent and labor, govern the Church; no man lifted up himself above another, none usurped greater power or authority over his fellow-bishops. For they remembered the words of the Lord,' He that is chief among you, let him be as he that doth serve' (Luke xxii. 26); they kept themselves by humility, and did mutually aid one another in the government and preservation of the Church. Notwithstanding, for order's sake, some one of the ministers called the assembly together, propounded unto the assembly the matters to be consulted of, gathered together the voices or sentences of the rest, and, to be brief, as much as lay in him, provided that there might arise no confusion. So did St. Peter, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, xi. 4–18, who yet for all that neither was above the rest, nor had greater authority than the rest. Very true, therefore, is that saying of Cyprian the martyr, in his book De Simplicitate Clericorum: The same doubtless were the rest of the apostles that Peter was, having an equal fellowship with him both in honor and power: but the beginning hereof proceedeth from unity, to signify unto us that there is but one Church.' St. Jerome also, in his commentary upon the Epistle of Paul to Titus, has a saying not much unlike this: 'Before that, by the instinct of the devil, there arose parties in religion, the churches were governed by the common advice of the elders; but after that every one thought that whom he had baptized were his own, and not Christ's, it was decreed that one of the elders should be chosen, and set over the rest, who should have the care of the whole Church laid upon him, and by whose means all schisms should be removed.' Yet Jerome does not avouch this as an order set down of God; for straightway he adds, 'Even as the elders knew, by the continual custom of the Church, that they were subject to him that is set over them, so the bishops must know that they are above the elders rather by custom than by the prescript rule of God's truth, and that they ought to have the government of the Church in common with them.' Thus far Jerome. Now, therefore, no man can forbid by any right that we may return to the old appointment of God, and rather receive that than the custom devised by men. The offices of the ministers are divers; yet, notwithstanding, most men do restrain them to two, in which all the rest are comprehended: to the teaching of the Gospel of Christ, and to the lawful administration of the sacraments. For it is the duty of the ministers to gather together a holy assembly, therein to expound the Word of God, and also to apply the general doctrine to the state and use of the Church; to the end that the doctrine which they teach may profit the hearers, and may build up the faithful. The minister's duty, I say, is to teach the unlearned, and to exhort; yea, and to urge them to go forward in the way of the Lord who do stand still, or linger and go slowly on: moreover, to comfort and to strengthen those which are faint-hearted, and to arm them against the manifold temptations of Satan; to rebuke offenders; to bring them home that go astray; to raise them that are fallen; to convince the gainsayers; to chase away the wolf from the Lord's flock; to rebuke wickedness and wicked men wisely and severely; not to wink at nor to pass over great wickedness. And, besides, to administer the sacraments, and to commend the right use of them, and to prepare all men by wholesome doctrine to receive them; to |
