"repine, for discharge of my conscience, that the "Church of Scotland be not subject to that order*."

Let us now pass from the Reformers of GreatBritain to those of the continent of Europe.

Dr. Bowden would persuade us that Luther also believed in the divine right of diocesan Episcopacy. Of this Reformer he speaks in the following terms. "As to Luther, he professes that if the Popish Bi"shops would cease to persecute the Gospel," he and those of his communion, "would acknow"ledge them as their fathers, and willingly obey "their authority, which (says he) we find support"ed by the word of God." Consequently, in his "and their estimation, Episcopacy was an Apos

"tolic institution." Letter 15. Dr. Bowden has not given us the least hint in what part of Luther's writings this declaration is to be found†; and I shall certainly require to see it with my own eyes, and to trace its connexion, before it is admitted as an authentic testimony of that Reformer's opinion. I make this demand with the more confidence, and with a deeper conviction of its justice, because, in turning over the works of Luther, I find numerous passages, which speak, directly and unequivocally, an opposite language: passages which Dr. Bowden

*Calderwood.

Really, considering the severity with which Dr. Bowden censures me for not being in all cases sufficiently attentive to my references, and his formal and solemn promises to be more "scholar like" himself, this omission occurs by far too frequently!

certainly could not have been acquainted with, or he would have been ashamed to pen the above cited paragraph.

It were easy to fill several letters with quotations, strongly in point, from this illustrious man. The following, however, will suffice.

In his treatise, De Abroganda Missa Privata, contained in the second volume of his works*, remarking on Titus 1. 5. he makes the following ex. plicit declaration. "Here, if we believe that the

Spirit of Christ spake and directed by Paul, we 46 must acknowledge that it is a divine appointment, "that in every city there be a plurality of Bishops, 66 or at least one. It is manifest also, that, by the <6 same divine authority, he makes Presbyters and "Bishops to be one and the same thing; for he says "that Presbyters are to be ordained in every city, "if any can be found who are blameless, because a Bishop ought to be blameless."

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In his treatise Adversus Falso Nominatum Ordinem Episcoporumt, Oper. Tom. Ibid. p. 342. remarking on the same passage of Scripture, he speaks as follows-" Paul writes to Titus that he

* My edition of Luther's works is in seven volumes, folio, printed at Wittemberg, 1546-1552.

Whoever will take the trouble to look into this treatise, which is expressly written against Bishops, as a separate and pre-eminent order, will find Luther decidedly maintaining that a Scriptural Bishop was nothing more than a Pastor of a single Congregation; and strongly inveighing against the doctrine that Bishops are an order above Pastors, as a Popish

error.

"should ordain Elders in every city. Here, I "think, no one can deny that the Apostle repre

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sents Bishop and Elder as signifying the same 66 thing. Since he commands Titus to ordain El"ders in every city; and because a Bishop ought 66 to be blameless, he calls an Elder by the same "title. It is, therefore, plain what Paul means by "the term Bishop, viz. a man eminently good and 66 upright, of proper age, who hath a virtuous wife, "and children in subjection in the fear of God. "He wills such an one to preside over the congre"gation, in the ministry of the word, and the ad"ministration of the sacraments. Is there any (( one who attends to these words of the Apostle, 66 together with those which precede and follow, SO hardened as to deny this sense of them, or to pervert them to another meaning?"

In the same work, page 344, 345. he thus speaks "But let us hear Paul concerning this divine "ordination. For Luke in the 20th chapter of the "Acts of the the Apostles, writes concerning him "in this manner. From Miletus, having sent mes

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sengers to Ephesus, he collected the Elders of the "Church, to whom, when they had come to him, he "thus said-Take heed to yourselves and to all the "flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you

Is

overseers, &c. But what new thing is this? "Paul insane? Ephesus was but a single city, and "yet Paul openly calls all the Presbyters or El"ders, by the common style of Bishops. But perhaps Paul had never read the legends, the mi

"serably patched up fables, and the sacred decre "tals of the Papists; for how otherwise would he "have dared to place a plurality of Bishops over

one city, and to denominate all the Presbyters of "that one city, Bishops; when they were not all "Prelates, nor supported a train of dependents, "and pack horses, but were poor and humble แ men. But, to be serious, you see plainly that the "Apostle Paul calls those alone Bishops who preach the Gospel to the people, and administer "the Sacraments, as, in our times, parish ministers "and preachers are wont to do. These, therefore, "though they preach the Gospel in small villages

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and hamlets, yet, as faithful ministers of the word, I believe, beyond all doubt, possess, of "right, the title and name of Bishop."

A little after, commenting on Philip. 1. 1. he says " Behold Paul, speaking of Philippi, which was a single city, salutes all the believers, togeth"er with the Bishops. These were, beyond all “doubt, the Presbyters, whom he had been wont "to appoint in every city. This now is the third "instance in the writings of Paul, in which we see "what God and the Holy Spirit hath appointed, "viz. that those alone, truly and of right, are to be "called Bishops who have the care of a flock in "the ministry of the word, the care of the poor, "and the administration of the Sacraments, as is "the case with parish ministers in our age.'

In the same work, p. 346. commenting on 1 Peter 5. 1. he says" Here you see that

"Peter, in the same manner as Paul had done,

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uses the terms Presbyter and Bishop to signify "the same thing. He represents those as Bishops "who teach the people, and preach the word of "God; and he makes them all of equal power, and "forbids them to conduct themselves as if they CC were lords, or to indulge a spirit of domination 66 over their flocks. He calls himself a fellowpresbyter, plainly teaching, by this expression, "that all parish ministers, and Bishops of cities, "were of equal authority among themselves; that "in what pertained to the office of Bishop, no one "could claim any superiority over another; and "that he was their fellow-presbyter, having no more power in his own city than others had in "theirs, or than every one of them had in his own "Congregation."

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In his Commentary on 1 Peter 5. 1. Oper. Tom. v. p. 481. he thus speaks" The word Presby"ter signifies an Elder. It has the same meaning 66 as the term Senators, that is, men who on account "of their age, prudence, and experience, bear CL sway in society. In the same manner Christ "calls his ministers, and his senate, whose duty it "is to administer spiritual government, to preach "the word, and to watch over the Church, he calls "them Elders. Wherefore let it not surprise you, "if this name is now very differently applied; for "of those who are at present called by this name, "the Scriptures say nothing. Therefore banish "the present order of things from your eyes, and