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An argument has been attempted for lay presbyters from an epistle which Augustine wrote to his church at Hippo, commencing with these words: "Dilectissimis fratribus, clero, senioribus et universæ plebi ecclesiæ Hipponenisis."-To the brethren greatly beloved, the clergy, the elders," and all the people of the church at Hippo." The next epistle is directed to the same church, and begins with "Dilectissimis fratribus, conclericis, et universæ plebi."-To the brethren most beloved, fellow clergymen, and all the people, &c. These two letters were written to the same church, consequently the same officers and people were addressed in both. The two first terms," dilectissimis fratribus," occurring in each salutation, may have been intended of all the worshippers, or of the clergy only. Clero the clergy, in the one epistle, corresponds to conclericis, fellow clergymen, in the other, senioribus, the elders, expressed in the first, are included in the universæ plebi of the second. The conclericis of the second being precisely equivalent to the clero of the first, of which the senioribus being expressed, constituted no part, there elders could not have been implied in the conclericis. If they were not of the clergy, they were not officers; because had they been such, they must have been treated with disrespect, either by a total omission, or the including of them in the plebi. If they were not officers, the term senioribus was taken appellatively, in that letter in which it occurs, and meant nothing more than the aged men of the congregation, who have been often thus distinguished, because of their experience and gravity; but are nevertheless really a part of the plebs, or common people. This interpretation is also corroborated by the circumstance, that senioribus, not presbyteris, is used; the latter being the ordinary official term, and the other generally appellative; a discrimination which, though

neglected by Tertullian and Cyprian, is carefully followed by Optatus and Augustine, who observes, "Omnis senex etiam presbyter, non omnis presbyter etiam senex." -Every old man is an elder, not every elder also an old man. These seniores, who sometimes occur in the Christian writers of Africa, are in no instance to be deemed of the clergy, they administered no ordinances, never sat as presbyters, and neither excommunicated nor restored; but were placed after the deacons, and consulted merely for their knowledge and prudence, or introduced because of their interest. The captions of these letters of Augustine are conclusive proof, that the seniores of whom he speaks were not clerical, and so not even on an equality with deacons, and consequently, upon no construction, the goε07wles, ruling presbyters of the New Testament, or any officers in the gospel churches. That these were never such in the churches of Africa, may be fairly also inferred from the omission of them, both in the enumeration of the officers of a particular church, and in the catalogues given in the councils of Carthage, where they are thus enumerated: bishop, presbyter, deacon, subdeacon, acolyth, exorcist, reader, doorkeeper, and chorister. If such a class of officers as seniores had existed next after the deacons, they must

g Tom. iv. p. 99.

Vitringa (de Synag. 115) has written fully on this subject, and denies that the seniores plebis were either geo Bulegos ans exxλnolas, or πgoε07ales geo Bulego; and says, they were merely goes, and no part of the ecclesiastical body to whom the care and the ministry of the church were delivered. Casanbon distinguishes between seniores urbium and seniores ecclesiarum; these last, he says, were quadamtenus ecclesiastici, yet laici and guardiani templorum. Bingham (lib. ii. c. 19) considers the seniores of Augustine, Optatus, and the papers appended to the latter, to have been men, who, for their years and faithfulness, were intrusted to take care of the goods of the church, but neither lay elders nor geo Bulegor. But modern opinions are inadmissible evidence. i Contra Cresconium. Lib. iii. c. 29.

k Concil. Carthag. iv. "Episcopus, presbyter, diaconus, subdiaconus, acolythus, exorcista, lector, ostarius, psalmista.'

R

have been enumerated in such catalogues, but nothing of the kind has occurred. Augustine describes the orders of his day in Africa, which no one better knew, in the same manner.1 "A higher order contains in and with itself that which is less, for the presbyter performs also the duty of the deacon, and of the exorcist, and of the reader. Also, that a presbyter is to be understood to be a bishop, the apostle Paul proves, when he instructs Timothy, whom he had ordained a presbyter, what kind of a bishop he ought to create; for what is a bishop but a primus presbyter, that is, a high-priest, and he calls them no otherwise than his copresbyters and co-priests, and may not the bishop also call his deacons his fellow servants?" But he had immediately before professed not to know by what law, by what custom, or what example, " the deacons were made equal with presbyters," "presbyteris ministros ipsorum pares," "as if deacons were ordained from presbyters, and not presbyters from deacons."

m

66

The expression, Peregrinus presbyter et seniores ecclesiæ musticana regionis, &c. have been alleged in proof, that the church in the city Mustica had not only a preaching presbyter, but lay elders also; and, consequently, that here is at least one example of the existence of elders, such as are formed in some of the Presbyterian churches. But this semblance of an example of lay elders in an ancient church, is too slight to sustain an examination. The distinction made between Peregrinus and the seniores ecclesia was, that he was a presbyter and they were not presbyters: if not

"Major enim ordo intra se et apud se habet et minorem, presbyter, enim diaconi agit officium et exorcista et lectoris. Presbyterum autem intelligi episcopum, probat Paulus apostolus, quando Timotheum, quem ordinavit presbyterum, instruit qualem debeat creare episcopum. Quid est enim episcopus, nisi primus presbyter, hoc est summus sacerdos. Denique non aliter quam compresbyteros hic vocat, et consacerdotos suos, numquid et ministros condiaconos suos dicit episcopus." Tom. iv. 780.

m Tom, vii. p. 270.

presbyters, consequently not the ruling elders of the New Testament, for these were presbyters, goε67W7ES

Bulego. Being neither presbyters nor deacons, and no intermediate grade ever having existed in the church, these seniores consequently had no office. Also, if they were not presbyters, the word seniores must necessarily be understood in its appellative sense, old men ; and the whole expression, seniores ecclesiæ, can mean no more than the aged men of the church. This passage describes the prosecution of a petition before the tribunal of the prætor at Carthage by the presbyter Peregrinus, and the senior members of the church at Mustica, against Felicianus, who detained possession against the sentence of an ecclesiastical assembly, which pronounced him a heretic. That the aged members, in whom the possession at least, and it may be the legal title of the church had been vested, should join with a presbyter in such petition, was naturally to be expected; and no more is here expressed.

The state of the church in North Africa, excluding Egypt and Cyrenaica, was, in the days of Augustine, very different from that of other countries. As every city had its bishop, so every parish was a diocese, and every pastor a bishop. The episcopate of Carthage had the superintendence of Africa, and the bishop of Hippo Regius, instead of Cirta, (Constantina) for the most part next to the Metropolitan of Carthage, had precedence over those in Numidia; but in the Mauritanias, and generally in Africa, this depended upon seniority in office, and not upon the civil dignity of the city, as in other parts of the empire.

The greatest respect was paid to old men, both among Jews and Gentiles. Polybius observes, that among the Lacedæmonians under the regal authority, all things which respected the commonwealth were transacted by and with the concurrence of the old men."

The

η Γεροντες—δια ὢν και μελα ὢν πανία χειριζεται τα καλά την Onlar, Polyb. Hist. lib. vi. p. 681.

Christian churches also adopted a wise conformity to such usages. To be consulted was the claim of the aged, when their interests were concerned, in religious as well as in civil matters of importance. Thus in the "Gesta Cæciliani et Felicis," usually bound up with Optatus, mention is made of episcopi, presbyteri, diacont, and seniores-seniores meaning not officers, but aged men of the common people. Nevertheless these seniores, though divided from presbyters by the intervention of deacons, have been brought as examples and proofs of lay elders, and identified with those who are in the New Testament denominated ruling presbyters; but who really were and have been shown by many testimonies to have been those presbyters who presided, one in every church, and who, after the days of the apostles, received by custom gradually the power, name, and dignity of bishops. The mistake is, however, exposed by what follows: "Adhibete conclericos et seniores plebis, ecclesiasticos viros."—Call the clergy of every sort, and the seniores of the common people, who are members of the church. Here conclericos includes the presbyters, deacons, and sub-deacons, whilst the seniores are plebes, or common people.

Synesius was chosen and ordained bishop of Ptolemais in Pentapolis, when a layman. He wrote in elegant style, but rather as a philosopher than a divine. His discourse delivered A. D. 398 before the emperor Arcadius, and several epistles written in the first of

o That clero et senioribus should have been translated "to the clergyman and elders," more than once in support of the American Presbyterian government, is by mistake. Clero et senioribus mean the same with clericis et senioribus. Clerus is never clergyman, this is clericus, but clergy; and the term comprehended at that period, what it still does among Episcopalians, presbyters, deacons, &c. ; consequently, senioribus meant a portion of plebis, common people; and was still further restricted by the terms ecclesiasticos viros, church members, not ecclesiastics; ecclesiastical men" in our language is a phrase equivalent to clerical, and an obviously unfair translation of ecclesiasticos viros, which intended no more than men of, or connected with, the church.