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Eusebius, that there were in the remote suburbs, places denominated synagogues, in which a portion of the congregation assembled for worship.(q) Athanasius, who was bishop of Alexandria in the life of Eusebius, shows that in his time there were different christian assemblies there, and that they were all collected in one, only in Easter. But although, from the cooperation of these causes, there were in Rome, one bishop, forty-four presbyters, seven deacons, and as many sub-deacons, forty-two acolyths,and fifty-two exorcists door keepers, and readers, we find no lay-presbyter. Sub-deacons there were, but no sub-presbyters. The correct principle, that there could be but one posolus presiding pres byter in a church, produced parochial; and when associated with the unauthorized rule, that one church only could exist in one city, produced also diocesan episcopacy. But how lay presbyters came in, it will be soon enough to enquire, when they have found their way into the church. Come when they may, their introduction will be an innovation, equally unauthorized by the word of God, and at variance with the history of the church, during the three centuries, which have already passed under our inspection.

Eusebius relates, with much improbability, that "after the martyrdom of James, and the immediately consequent destruction of Jerusalem, it is reported, that the apostles and disciples of the Lord who were still left alive, came together from every place, with the relations of the Lord, according to the flesh, of whom many then survived. That they all held a council, and with one consent judged Simeon, the son of Cleopas, of whom mention is made in the gospel, to be worthy of the throne, Θρόνου αξιον." (r) The apostolic

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commission had no other limits, than the world; and the evangelists were also general officers, ordained to go from place to place, and country to country, to erect new churches, or set in order those which had been planted.

The government of particular societies was committed to presby. ters, who were generally men of ordinary gifts and talents. In the distribution of the fields of labour among the apostles, James the just, if he was an apostle, remained, because of the importance of the station, whence the gospel had proceeded, and where its chief proofs still existed, among the christians at Jerusalem, and in Judea, by a common consent. But in the age of Eusebius, the presiding presbyters, having monopolized the name bishop, and changed its meaning from the oversight of the church, to that of the original bishops themselves, claimed to be sole successors to the offices and honours of the apostles; or rather, according to the represen tation of Eusebius in the case of James, the bishop's throne was an honour above that of the apostle, ship. To the first seat in the presbytery of the respective churches, the succession was not yet reduced to uniformity in some it was according to seniority among the presbyters; in others the successor was elected by, and out of the members of the bench, as at Alexandria in Egypt: in others, he was conimis. sioned over their heads, without, or even against the voice of the majority of the presbyters; as in the case of Cyprian at Carthage: and sometimes, superstition, as in the choice of Fabianus,(s) decided the ques tion. But upon the death of James, the choice of a successor is reported to have been deemed sufficiently important to authorize a call of the surviving apostles from the different nations, wherever dispersed. Nevertheless the same thing might have

(s) Lib. vi. c. 29.

been effected as well by an evangelist, or by the presbyters of that particular church, no imposition of hands being then necessary to constitute a gosolws, presiding presby ter. That the blood relatives of the Saviour should have been convened, as though by their relationship, they had authority or grace, which might aid the consecration, is just as credible as the rest of the story, which had rested upon mere report if it had any existence for two centuries, and as such is given by the credulous historian.

The circular, by which the synod of Antioch promulgated their excommunication of Paul of Samosata has been preserved by Eusebius. After specifying sixteen by name, it proceeds, "and all the rest present, who live in the adjacent cities and countries, the bishops, and presbyters, and deacons, and the churches of God, to our beloved brethren in the Lord greeting."(t) An evil had arisen beyond the control of a single church; its repression was important. The apostles and evangelists being long before removed by death, and the presiding presbyter having assumed powers beyond the restraint of his co-presbyters,a necessity was created that the neighbouring christians, both clergy and people, should concur in correcting the evil. Had lay presbyters existed, they must have been here included. If supposed either in the word presbyters, or churches; the hypothesis must extend to every church, and a class of such officers existed in every christian assembly, yet never discriminated in any enumeration, or by any occurrence, or circumstance, recorded by any writer, orthodox or heretical, during the first three hundred years of the church. The ruling presbyter, #goolws,(u) we have had in full detail. He was the primus presbyter on every bench,

(t) Lib. vii. c. 30.—swionewis nas #gio fuΤεροι και διακονοι, και οι εκκλεσίας του θεου, &c. (u) 1 Tim. v. 17. Rom. xii. 7,8.

equal in commission, but presiding in duty; his accumulated power and dignity, before the days of Eusebius, had come to be distinguished by the name bishop. The "helps and governments”(v) have been erroneously represented as "those who rule well, but do not labour in word and doctrine." If these mute officers had been found in every church, we should have heard of them.

The man who can suppose, that such an office could have existed in the societies, in the days of the apostles, and no trace of it have remained afterwards; or that such officers could have been continued in the churches, but have escaped, so much as a whisper in all the divisions and agitations, in all the lists of martyrs and councils, and every mention among the friends and enemies of the church, for three hundred years, has a mind capable of any extravagance of credulity. He can adopt an erroneous and imaginary meaning of scripture, and afterwards adhere to it, not only without, but in opposition to, all evidence.

A charge, severe but probable, has been hrought against Eusebius, of suppressing certain passages, particularly 1 John v. 7, from his edition of the New Testament. He was commanded by Constantine to cause fifty copies of the scriptures, legible and fit for use, to be written on prepared parchment, by skilful artists, and to send them to Constantinople by two public coaches, under the care of some deacon of his church. (w) These copies, having the influence of Constantine must have been received by the churches, for whom they were provided by the Emperor, with veneration. That in these copies Eusebius suppressed certain passages tending to establish the consubtantiality of the Father and the Son, particularly 1 John v.

(v) 1 Cor. xii. 28.

(w) De vit, Courtant, Lib. iv. c. 36.

7, has been lately alleged, and too well supported. He excepted against the doctrine of those texts, in the council of Nice, but escaped censure by covering his regard for Arianism under the pretence of a fear of the heresy of Sabellius. In a letter to his charge, he defends his inconsistency, by softening the language of the creed he had reluctantly signed.(x) The disposition of the man, his opposition to the doctrines, the Emperor's coincidence with him in sentiments, the oppor

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Miscellaneous.

For the Christian Spectator.

On the difference in the religious feeling of men of taste and oth

ers.

The Christian religion, being adorned with every excellence that either moral subjects can contain, or the mind is capable of conceiving, has been presented to men by its author under every form of inviting grace and beauty, that can compel to it the attentions of the intellect, or attract the soul's affections. God, in the saine manner as he has shed on his angels an evident glory; and given to all beings of spotless virtue, robes of beauty and light that to the whole universe would show as the emblems of their honor and exaltation, so in presence of every faculty and power of the mind, he has chosen to exalt his religion by those circumstances of greatness that shall best express its divine nature, or gain it an audience before the interior feelings, that sit as the ministers and chief counsellors of the heart.

To wonder, it opens subjects whose amazing import may excite its activity, and the mystery of which may fix all its deep meditations.

(x) Socrates Scholart, lib. i. c. 5.

To curiosity, it shows fields of boundless and increasing knowledge; objects that may draw upon, but never drain its exhaustless fountains. To admiration, it offers not merely the surprising beauties that truths clearly discovered always afford, nor the splendors of a common magnificence; but calling its view to all that the eye can see in the heavens or on the ample earth, it speaks of the day in which they came into being-of the high purposes of their existence, and of God who created, and who rules them from his throne. taste it shows a higher employment, than that of refining from their dross, and heaping up in its treasures, the enjoyments of this world. It teaches how it may clear the sight of mortals that should look upward, how it may invite them to gather the joys that give immortal freshness and youth to those that taste them.

To

To every man therefore who looks upon religion as God has revealed it, there is an argument of persuasive force addressed to each different feeling in its turn. But in men of different natures, or in those whose minds cultivation has raised above the faculties that fall to the lot of most men, the thoughts which religious subjects excite will assume a different character and one that is

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every faculty of the mind, then it is evident that none should be inactive when he speaks; and if it be true that the character and feelings of the man have a natural effect to fix the complexion of piety; then it is also true that a mind whose facul ties are cultivated, whose feelings are chastened and whose sympathies are active, is capable of receiving the truth of God with a clearer and more lively interest, than one of which the appreheusions are more dull and the taste less exercised.

tinged with the peculiar tendencies of
each separate mind. The soaring in
tellect, charmed with the magnitude
of the subjects presented to it, will
pass the minuter parts and more
delicate shades of religious science,
following with intense eagerness and
grasping with giant strength, the
great lines and mighty relations of
truth. The light and playful ima
gination will find an abundance of
objects to amuse its labours, and
ample fields in which to try its
wing; ever bringing back at its re-
turn the sweets of happiness and pie-
ty to its possessor. The man who
has made sadness the companion of
his thoughts, and the attendant of
his daily walks, will find that she has
not forsaken him here; and will
witness the softening of his feelings
by the power of melancholy, and a
shade of pensiveness mingling in his
secret reflections. And in propor-
tion as these, or other qualities of
the mind have grown to preponder-
ance under the hand of cultivation,
will be their power over the course
of religious thought. In like man-
ner the taste that has been raised to
high refinement by long acquaintance
with the objects of its delight
skilful in all things of nature or of
art to discover where their pleas-
ures are contained, and practised to
gather and retain them-that has
not lifted her eye in vain to embrace
the broad ocean and the swelling
land, nor without profit to view the
sky spreading above; but has stood
on the mountain tops to see the
landscape around; or walked on the
shore when storms were agita-
ting the deep; or watched the
bright courses of the evening and
morning star, such a taste will
bring from all the beautiful and sub-fore us in warm life, than what is laid
lime in nature, the first fruits of its
delight, and the best occasions of
its pleasure, an offering to God.

It is therefore a false view of the nature and importance of taste that would restrain its exercise from the high subjects of revealed religion. For if God has addressed his word to

Where then shall taste find the sources of its religious pleasures? In the scriptures of revealed truth which contain all that we know that concerns us as the creatures of God. And it will perhaps appear that in reading them, the man of regulated judgment acquires not only pleasure but advantage. For the scriptures are written in the language and style of men; and carry with them in these things, the common force of human productions. Where it is their motive to convince, their methods are the arguments of men; where it is their end to illustrate, their subjects are pictured in the imagery of the world, and when the deep emotions of the pious mind are seeking to express themselves, they break out in the same natural language of the soul, which orators and poets so diligently seek after.

The Bible, for the enlightening of our consciences, to judge of what is right, has given many precepts. But for the right ordering of our lives it has often adopted the more clear aud more persuasive method of example. Here the lives of saints are put down for our imitation. It is easier to conceive and copy what stands be

down by ever so clear definition. Here are no characters drawn; but men moving, speaking, and thinking appear; and as a child learns from the tender looks of its mother, what are the feelings of maternal love, so do we learn from the expressions and conduct of these holy men, what

motives and what ardor prevailed in them. The unthinking reader would lose half the picture; but the taste that has been used to regard the expressive incidents, and the interesting though slighter shades that escape a hasty observation, would descend into these scenes, live in them, and walk among them.

Suppose then one of this character to have looked into the word of God. And suppose him to have opened at that history, most lowering on one page with the disclosure of human guilt, and on the other most brightened with forgiving mercy,-the relation of our Saviour's suffering and death. Here, in common with other men, will his heart be deeply affect ed by each sorrow of our suffering Lord as he follows him from the garden to the judgment seat, and from judgment to the cross. But in the closing scene how will his soul stand amazed at the cry that banishes the cheerful light, and makes the earth tremble in its deep foundations. Why did nature thus give signs of consternation. Why did all imanimate things thus tremble and start as if expecting their own dissolution. Why, but to awaken in all who marked these things, reflections that should force them to conviction. To make them ask what the heart is made of that can resist impression while the rocks are rending? What is the fibre of the soul that can stand unaffected in the midst of these terrors? What has shut up the sluices and dried the fountain of its sorrows, when God has hung in the heavens the signs of his mourning. And for what end were these things written; but to make the same real to all men in future ages? Nor have they failed in their influence. The reader has been present in the vivid ness of thought, at the acting of all these wonders, he has felt the interest of an actor in them, he involuntarily exclaims, "Surely this man -was the Son of God."

If the faculties that bring up these things in their just and vivid conceptions, with a force on the mind of

present realities, add to the impressions of revealed truth, their influence is not less in those glowing productions of the inspired pen, that under the form of poetry or oriental imagery, have challenged the efforts of human taste for a superior. Or in those simple descriptions of pastoral life, to be found so plentifully in the early records of manners, how pleasing is the illusion that transports us to the land of the Patriarchs and places us by their side, the witnesses, almost the companions of their daily walks. We go with them among their households; and observe the conduct of their holy life. It is no longer a history-It is their living example, by which though dead they speak.

Among all the feelings which the scriptures inspire in the christian's mind, none are more open to influence from his natural character than those which embrace his hopes of future happiness. Hope is from its nature, closely connected with the imagination. The good we seek must be conceived of before we can desire it. At the same time no class of mental affections is more extensive than that into which our hopes

enter.

It is impossible for one who expects a life of immortality, not to indulge a constant desire to know what scenes shall break upon bim when he has passed the gloom of the grave. To the country that lies beyoud, he will send many a longing enquiry, what is that state in which 1 am to dwell; what are those happy employments that shall occupy me forever. On this point the scriptures are full of emblems too expressive to be misunderstood in their general meaning. But with respect to the outward circumstances of our being; the endless advances in knowledge; the manifestation of God's omnipotence that will be witnessed in the works of his hands; the errands on which we shall be sent through the creation, there is room for stronger or feebler conceptions.

Every christian indeed knows that

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