"however, that if the Bishop or first minister, "should happen to be absent, a Presbyter might

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perform the same duty in his stead, that nothing

may be neglected in the Church. For a Bishop "is nothing more than the first Presbyter, as St. "Augustine tells us, Quæst. 101. ex utroque Testam. Accordingly," in Egypt, Presbyters ordain, if "a Bishop be not present," as Ambrose writes, in "his Commentary on Ephesians iv. "There is

"in

nothing, therefore, wanting to the validity of our "ministry; for with respect to the difference which "the Papists make between a Bishop and a Presbyter, as if the former only had the power of or"daining, the Scriptures do not recognize it. The "Scriptures ascribe the power of ordination to

the whole Presbytery, not to a single Bishop; as "the Apostle writes to Timothy-Neglect not the gift which is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the

Presbytery. And the Apostle Paul, though not "inferior to a Bishop in dignity, accepted ordina"tion from the Presbytery of Antioch, not from a "single Bishop; as we find related, Acts xii. 2. "From all which considerations we plainly infer "that the legitimacy of the ordinations in the Lu"theran Churches, whether performed by Luther "or by other Lutheran ministers, cannot by any means be called in question*."

* Tractatus Luculentus de Casibus Conscientiæ. Lib 4. Cap. 6. Eas. 4. 4to. 1628.

Another respectable authority on this subject, is the learned C. Dieterich, a Doctor of Divinity, and also a Superintendent in the Lutheran Church of Germany, who lived in the age immediately following that of Luther. He declares, that "the ordi"nation of ministers in the Lutheran Church is "by Presbyters, and that this method of ordina "tion has the divine warrant.' And a little after, he remarks," They (the Papists) rail against "us that we are not able to produce a regular com"mission, because we are neither called, nor or"dained by Bishops, having papal jurisdiction, nor "have any legitimate claim to the Apostolic suc"cession. But let them rail. This is the old

Popish tune to which our ears have become "accustomed. Neither Bishops alone, nor the Pope "alone, have the power of ordaining ministers. The "blessed Apostles, without any parade of ceremo

ny, were in the habit of introducing candidates "into the sacred office by fasting, prayer, and the "imposition of the hands of Ministers. We imi"tate this Apostolic simplicity. And where men "are called, examined, ordained, and placed in "the Church, by prayer, and the laying on of the "hands of the Presbytery, the ministry of the "word and sacraments, the government of the "flock, &c. are committed to them. Which kind "of ordination, though not enjoined by absolute

divine command, we nevertheless judge proper "to be retained, partly because it is conformable "with the practice of the primitive Church; and

partly on account of its salutary effects*" Again, he remarks-" Scripture knows nothing of "any difference between Presbyter and Bishop. "Those who are in one place called Presbyters << are, a little after, called Bishops; as in Acts xx. "17. 28. St. Jerome shows the same thing in his "Commentary on the Epistle to Titus. With Je66 rome agreed Chrysostom, Theodoret, Primasius, "Theophylact, and other Fathers. Even in the "Canon Law the same doctrine is contained. For "it is there asserted, that, formerly a Presbyter "and a Bishop were the same thing.' Even Bel"larmine does not deny this, in his work De Cleri"cis, Lib. I. Cap. 12. for he says that the Episco"pal pre-eminence of one was brought in by the "Church, as a remedy for schism; and quotes Je"rome as his authority. How, then, can it be of "divine rightf?”

Professor Hulsemann, a Lutheran Divine of great eminence, and who also lived in the age immediately following that of Luther, in a commentary on the Augustan Confession, expresses himself in the following manner. "The Bishops succeed"ed in the place of the Apostles; not, however, 66 as to that which formally constituted them Apos“tles, Gal. 1. 1. 2 Cor. xii. 11, 12; but as to that "which they hold in common with Presbyters; for,

* Analysis Evangeliorum. Par. 11. 47–49.

† Ibid. 61, 62.

by divine right, they are in no respect superior to "Presbyters*"

Gerhard, a Lutheran Divine of great eminence and authority, who lived a little after the time of Luther, though he admits that a moderate kind of Episcopacy, amounting to nothing more than a standing moderatorship, is lawful, and, in some cases, expedient, yet he represents it as a mere human institution; and explicitly speaks of the doctrine that Bishops are, by divine right, an order su perior to Presbyters, and alone possess the power of ordination, as a Popish errort.

The works of few Lutheran divines hold a higher place in the esteem of the Churches of that denomination, than those of Buddaus, the celebrated Professor of divinity at Leipsic. This learned theologian makes the following statement, with regard to the government of his own Church. "The

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judgment of the divines of our Church, is this, "that, among those who preside in the Church, "there is, by divine right, no difference, on the

score of dignity, so that Presbyters and Bishops " are equal: But, notwithstanding that, there is no "solid objection against introducing a certain in"equality, on the ground of human expediency, and "giving to one of the ministers of the word a sort "of inspection over the rest, and, at the same time, "a certain pre-eminence of character. Neither

• Manuale Confessionis Augustane vindicans eam, &c. Au. tore Johanne Hulsemanno. p. 519, 520.

Loci Communes, Tom. 6. Col. 260, 261.

"do we deny that this was the case in the ancient "Church; although the abuse which arose from "this, in which the Bishops usurped to themselves "a tyrannical domination, we greatly detest. Nor "can we be charged with having abolished the "office of Bishop in our Church, as Henry Dod"well, and others, have reproachfully alleged "against us*; since it is plain from fact, that we "have only restored the office to those just limits, " and to that true character which it held in the "ancient Church. For we have not only given to ministers of the word that power which Presby. ters enjoyed in the Apostolic Church†; but to "certain of them there is allowed a kind of pre"eminence or inspection over others. These are

3

called Superintendents, or Presidents, or Inspectors, and, in some places, they are styled Bi

* The learned Dodwell understood the government of the Lutheran Church much better than Dr. Bowden and Mr. How. He thought that, on the principles of the jure divino prelatists, the Lutherans had no Bishops among them; and the learned Buddaus confesses the fact; though he contends that they have such Bishops as the ancient Church had.

Here Buddæus makes a clear distinction between the ancient church, and the Apostolic church. By the former, he elsewhere explains himself to mean that which existed soon after the Apostolic age; by the latter he means that ecclesiastical order which the Apostles themselves established. In the former he admits that a moderate kind of Episcopacy was introduced by human wisdom, and this he says the Lutherans imitate. In the latter, he repeatedly and explicitly declares that ministerial parity prevailed.