Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren (see Acts xv.), who, "being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them." (ver. 32). Then, as to Ordination in particular; while the seven deacons, of whom we read in the sixth chapter of the Acts (vers. 1-6) were chosen by the multitude. of the disciples, they were set apart, consecrated, or ordained, for their peculiar work by the twelve apostles conjointly. Such instances of primitive ecclesiastical practice should surely have prevented the advocates of an exclusive diocesan episcopacy dogmatizing, and generally so offensively, as they have done on this subject. The like result, too, should have followed their examination of the histories of Timothy and Titus. We know that Timothy was deputed by Paul to settle the affairs of the Church at Ephesus, and apparently in his stead, the Apostle having been compelled hastily to leave it in consequence of the tumult caused by Demetrius and his craftsmen (Acts xx. 1); and the First Epistle to Timothy, which relates to the proper fulfilment of such duties, seems to have been written in consequence, Timothy having been, at the request of Paul, left behind. But

this occasion was evidently accidental and emergent; and as he was not required, so far as we are scripturally informed, to be a permanent diocesan bishop, but simply to complete the organization of an infant Church, his history would rather establish the divine rights of an evangelist than those of a diocesan bishop. Timothy remained at this time at Ephesus only a short while, for he soon after accompanied the Apostle in his travels, and appears to have been with him when he sent to Ephesus from Miletus for the elders of the Church (ver. 4, 17), to whom, and not to Timothy, was entrusted the permanent care of the Church of God in that place. The force of the argument, therefore, that Timothy was a diocesan bishop, is destroyed. Further, the work assigned to Timothy by the Apostle (and this at the time he expected to close his earthly career, and therefore his charge is of the most solemn and forcible import,) was that of an evangelist. He writes to his "dearly beloved son," "Watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand." (2 Tim. iv. 5, 6.) Had Timothy, therefore, remained at Ephesus as a

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diocesan bishop, he would have been setting aside and totally disregarding this most solemn charge of the Apostle; for the work of evangelists, says Eusebius, is "to lay the foundation of churches in barbarous nations, to constitute them pastors, and, having committed to them the cultivating of those new plantations, they passed on to other countries." All reference, therefore, to Timothy to support dogmatically diocesan Episcopacy as a distinct office of Divine institution, and necessary, as some affirm, to the being of a Church, is discountenanced by Scripture.

The appeal to Titus for the like purpose equally fails. His work was precisely similar to that which was assigned to Timothy, and apparently under very similar circumstances. "For this cause," writes the Apostle, "left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldst set in order the things that are wanting [or left undone], and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee.” (Tit. i. 5.) He was left in Crete; but the Apostle did not wish him to remain there, for he says in the 12th verse of the 3d chapter, "When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter." Titus, like Timothy,

was an evangelist. "If," writes Dr. Whitby, “by saying Timothy and Titus were bishops, the one of Ephesus, the other of Crete, we understand that they took upon them these Churches, or dioceses, as their fixed and particular charge, in which they were to preside for the term of life, I believe that Timothy and Titus were not thus bishops; for both Timothy and Titus were evangelists.

The other examples adduced from Scripture to support the distinctive character of the Episcopal office are St. John's addresses to the "angels" of the seven Churches of Asia in the Revelation; these angels, it is contended, being single persons invested with the chief authority in the several Churches. But these epistles to the seven Churches, especially when read in connexion with other portions of Scripture, prove rather that they were not the sole arbiters of doctrine, nor had the sole responsibility of the government of the Church. If we take, for instance, the first epistle, addressed to the angel of the Church of Ephesus, we find everything done therein ascribed to the general body of the Church, and not to the angel alone. One of the things approved by our Lord was the trial of some who pretended to be apostles, and the judgment of the Church there

upon. "These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh IN THE MIDST of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars." (Rev. ii. 1, 2.) The Church at Ephesus trying them that claimed to be apostles! and the trial approved!! But such application of the personal pronoun "thou" is not always admitted. As Archbishop Potter says-in "A Discourse of Church Government," c. iv.—it is the angels who "are praised for all the good, and blamed for all the evil which happened in their Churches. The angel of Ephesus is commended because he could not bear them that were evil, and had tried those who called themselves apostles and were not so; which seems to imply that he had judicially convicted them to be impostors." Now it is clear that the epistles were either addressed to the angels alone, or to the Churches with the angels. That they were addressed to the latter, and not exclusively to the former, is the only interpretation that can be consistently maintained. Had they been addressed to the angels alone, it is not