Of the superior order-6. Sub-deacons ; 7. Deacons; 8. Presbyters; 9. Bishops.11

The classification according to the scholastics of the Roman Catholic church, is as follows: Of the superior order, three-1. Presbyters or priests; 2. Deacons ; 3. Sub-deacons. Of the inferior order, four-1. Acolyths; 2. Exorcists; 3. Readers; 4. Door-keepers. This classification of the inferior order was established by the council of Trent, but another of a subordinate rank is sometimes added.12

3. OF THE EPISCOPAL FORM of Religion.

1. The official and honorary titles of the clergy.

The term bishop, is the same as the Latin episcopus, and the Greek Eлixóлos. In the Latin it is sometimes rendered inspector, superinspector; superintendens, or super attendens. Augustine more properly renders it speculator, and prepositus. Jerome derives it from Exолоures, i. e. superintendentes, superintendants.2 The Hellenists translate the Hebrew and T, iniσxonos. The word of very common occurrence is accordingly rendered лiσxолý, bishoprick. The apostle Peter, also, in saying, ye have returned to the shepherd and bishop of your souls, uses the phrase, not to denote any official rank in the church, but to designate the office rather of an overseer, guardian, or protector. The Greek writers, as appears from Athenaeus, Demosthenes, and the scholiasts. of Aristophanes,3 sometimes use the term &лioxoлos to denote a specific civil office,-that of revising the judicial and municipal administration of the government. According to this analogy the xioxoлоs, praeses, praefectus, may be compared with the bishop under the Carlovingian dynasty, as the framer of the synodical court of judicature.

By the term bishop the Hellenists also translate the Hebrew

שְׁלִיחַ הַצְבּוֹר who is ruler of the synagogue, and the, ראש הַכְנֶטֶת

i. e. ἀπόστολος ἐκκλησίας. The office of bishop they compare with that of ruler of the synagogue. According to this comparison, the bishops are the same as presbyters, T, or elders. The apostle Peter, in exhorting the elders, notaßirooi, to feed the flock of Christ, taking the oversight of them, inισxолоuνтεç, evidently uses the term πρεσβύτεροι as an honorary, and ἐπισκοποῦντες οἱ ἐπίσκοποι as an of

ficial title of the same persons.

This usage is also very frequent with the ancient fathers, and in official documents even down to the

third century.

[Rheinwald, Gieseler and Siegel concur also in opinion with our author, that originally the term bishop denoted merely the official title of a presbyter who had been constituted a moderator, ruler, or overseer of the church. For a fuller explanation of the name see references.-TR.]5

The following are the most important names which were anciently applied to the bishops.

1. Πρεσβύτεροι, προεστῶτες, 1 Tim. 5: 17 ; προϊστάμενοι, 1 Thess. 5: 12-rendered in Latin prepositi, and used to designate them as the presiding officers in christian assemblies. The Greck fathers are careful to add the phrase spiritual, πνευματικοὶ οι πνευματικοῦ zopou, to distinguish them from secular rulers.6

2. Пgóɛdoo, praesides, praesidentes,-used in close connection with the foregoing, and derived from the podpia, the elevated seat which the bishop occupied in the synod, and in the religious assemblies of the people.7

3. "Egogol, inspectors. Not often used because it is liable to be confounded with the gogo of the Greeks. Both the Greek and Latin term is much in use among protestants to designate the principal of a school, or corporation, or church, and is synonymous with church or school inspector, or master of a gymnasium.

4. 'Aлóστoloi, apostles. So called by Theodoret to distinguish them from presbyters who were also called ἐπίσκοποι. Also, Διάdoyo tv aлoσolov, vicarii, or successors of the apostles. On this title now depends the important dogma concerning the perpetual and uninterrupted succession of bishops which, not only the Greek and Romish churches, but a portion also of the church of England maintain with singular pertinacity.

5. Angeli ecclesiae, angels of the church. An epithet derived from the angel of the church in the Apocalypse. It was a doctrine of great antiquity that some angel in heaven acted as the representative of every nation and kingdom and province, and that some guardian angel was intrusted with the care of each individual, Heb. 1: 14. The bishops, therefore, who were appointed by Christ and his apostles to the ministry of the gospel, and the service of the saints, were supposed to bear the same relations in the hierarchy of

the church that these tutelary angels bore in the court of heaven. On the subject of guardian angels, see references.10

6. Summi sacerdotes, pontifices maximi, chief priests, etc. These titles were conferred by those writers who derived the organization of the church from the regulations of the temple service, rather than from those of the synagogue. They afterwards became the titles of the patriarchs and bishops of the Roman Catholics.

7. Patres, patres ecclesiae, patres clericorum, and patres patrum, 'fathers, fathers of the church, fathers of the clergy, fathers of fathers; according to the oriental custom of calling a teacher or superior, 8, ßßu and ußßus, father.

The title of a presbyter is usually that of pater laicorum, father of the laity, or simply pater, father. The presiding officer of these was accordingly called pater patrum.

Abba and abbas was originally the common appellation of a monk. Modern usage also confers upon him the name of father.

Papa, pope, corresponds in siguification with assa, náллa, father, honored father, and is a familiar and affectionate form of expression. The most probable opinion is, that it was first applied to the bishop of Alexandria. Siricius was probably the first Roman bishop who, about the year 384, assumed the name as an official title in a public document.11 It was not, however, employed officially until the time of Leo the Great; and it was afterwards applied exclusively to the bishop of Rome according to an order of Gregory the Great, who declares this to be the only appropriate title, belonging to the office.

8. Patriarchs. At first all bishops were called by this name, as being superior to the presbyters, who were merely denominated patres. It was afterwards only applied to the archbishop and metropolitan, or to the bishop of some large and influential diocese. Between the fourth and sixth centuries, five large churches arose whose highest ecclesiastical officer bore the title of patriarch. These were the churches of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Theopolis or Antioch, and Jerusalem.

9. Stadtholders and vicegerents of Christ and of God. From the time of Ignatius and the date of the apostolic constitutions, the bishops were represented to have received their commissions from Christ himself, and, in his name, to administer the affairs of the church. Cyprian speaks of the bishop as acting “vice Christi," in the place of Christ. Basil represents him as occupying the place of

the Saviour;12 and Augustine and Ambrose employ much the same language. So early did the church forget the Saviour's injunction, "Call no man master."

10. "Agzovies xxinov, rulers of the church. So Origen, Eusebius, Chrysostom, Jerome and others. They were rulers, however, not in a political, but merely in a religious sense.

11. Princeps sacerdotum, and Episcopus episcoporum, are synonymous with archbishop, patriarch, etc.

12. Various other epithets are applied to them, such as blessed, most blessed—holy, most holy—most beloved of God, etc. The usual salutation of a letter was as follows: Τῷ ἁγιωτάτῳ καὶ μακαροτάτῳ αρχιεπισκόπῳ καὶ οἰκουμενικῷ πατριάρχη.

4. OFFICIAL DUTIES OF THE BISHOP.

The office of bishop comprehended in general two different classes of duties.

I. All those that relate to the worship of God. This division comprises all the offices of religious worship without exception, whether performed by the bishop in person, or by others acting under his commission.

II. Duties relating to the government, and discipline of the church. Under this class, is comprised the oversight in all the churches of his diocese, both of the laity and the priesthood; and the management of the affairs of the several churches which were submitted to his care.

These separate divisions require, each, a careful examination.

I. In regard to duties pertaining to religious worship, we are to distinguish carefully, between the right or vocation, and the actual exercise of the duties consequent upon this vocation. In the earliest period of the church, while yet the greatest simplicity of form prevailed, and before any determinate distinction was known between bishop and presbyter, ἐπίσκοπος and πρεσβύτερος, many services relating to the worship of God were prescribed to the deacons and ministers, διακόνοις and ὑπηρέταις, who were already known in the New Testament. According to Justin Martyr, it was the duty of the minister, ὁ προεστῶς τῶν ἀδελφῶν, synonymous with ἐπίσκοπος, úgyiɛgeùs, iɛgágyns, to consecrate the elements. To the deacons belonged the duty of distributing them. The same distribution of the

services is also prescribed in the Apostolical Constitutions. Other duties are also assigned to the deacons and subordinate officers of the church, to be performed however by the direction, or under the immediate oversight of the bishop, whose representatives they all are.

It is made especially the duty of the bishop to perform the services of catechist and preacher. Ambrose expressly declares that it was the duty of the bishop to instruct the people. This duty was distinctly acknowledged, and actually performed by Chrysostom, Gregory Nazianzen, Cyprian, Augustine, Leo the Great, Gregory the Great, and others. Such was not only the sentiment of the church generally, but Charlemagne and Louis I., expressly enjoin the bishops not to neglect this important part of their official duties on any plea of ignorance or indolence. The same duty is explicitly taught by the council of Trent in the following terms, and in perfect accordance with the views of the primitive church. "Whereas the preaching of the gospel, which is the peculiar office of bishops, is as essential to every christian community as the reading of the word, therefore, this sacred synod has determined and decreed that all bishops, archbishops and primates, and all other prelates of the churches, are themselves required, and personally bound, to preach the blessed gospel of Jesus Christ unless specially prevented, legitime prohibiti."5

Such, beyond all controversy is the duty of those who sustain the office of bishop, though their practice has at times been altogether the reverse of this, and still is in part. Occasionally, even in the ancient church, the bishops, through the pressure of secular cares, neglected entirely their ministerial duties. At other times they refused in the pride of office their duties as preachers and catechists; and the more humble duties of the sacred office, as derogatory to their character. But at no time has the right and the duty of the bishop, to discharge all the offices of the ministry been called in question. The act of ordination, of itself, and according to the canons of the church, exclusively invests them with all the offices and prerogatives of the priesthood.

It only remains to specify certain other offices which belong exclusively to them.

1. The confirmation of baptized persons, by which they are received as regular members of the church. This, which is styled the