same office. He was left in Crete, to set in order the things that were wanting, and to ordain elders in every city, according to the directions of Paul. [Tit. i. 5. Timothy was left in Ephesus, not as an elder or bishop of the church, but to charge some to teach no other doctrine than that delivered by the apostles. [1 Tim. i. 3.] He sometimes accompanied Paul; and, at other times, was sent by him to visit and confirm the churches. Both Timothy and Titus were superintendants under the apostles, and acted by a special commission; they were employed in visiting and setting in order various churches; and, to both, directions are given respecting the characters of those who are to hold stated and ordinary offices.

The stated officers, in all the churches, were elders and deacons. It is unnecessary to spend much time in proving that bishop and elder were, in apostolic times, synonymous terms. We just mention one or two passages, which must prove this to every impartial person. Paul sent for the elders of the church at Ephesus, and exhorted them to take heed to themselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost had made them bishops. [Acts xx. 17, 28.] Titus was left in Crete, to ordain elders in every city where he had appointed him. "If any man, says he, be blameless, the husband, of one wife; for a bishop must be blameless, &c. [Tit. i. 5, 7.] Peter exhorts the elders to feed the flock of God, doing the office of a bishop not by constraint. [1 Pet. v. 2.]

The business of an elder was to labour in word and doctrine, and also to rule in the church of God. [1 Tim. v. 17, iii. 5.] To rule, means not merely to preside in the meetings of the church, and to take care that all things are done decently, and in order, according to the will of Christ, but also to watch over the members, to admonish or reprove them, as their circumstances require. To this rule, the members were bound to submit. Obey them," says the apostle, "that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves; for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account.' {Heb. xiii. 17.] "We beseech you, brethren, to acknowledge them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and esteem them very highly in love for their works' sake." [1 Thes. v. 12.] Here the peace of the church is immediately connected with affectionate regard, deference, honour, and submission, to the elders.

"

It has been argued, with some degree of probability, that there was a plurality of elders in each church, who shared in the government of it, and formed a presbytery, or eldership.

We learn from the New Testament, Dr. Macknight remarks, and from the most antient Christian writers, that, even in the apostles' days, some women, remarkable for their knowledge, prudence, and piety, and of a fit age, were chosen to instruct the newly converted, and the young of their own sex; and to exhort the sick, and comfort the afflicted, who could not attend the public ministrations. These female teachers are mentioned under the appellation of widows, 1 Tim. v. 3; where, also, verse 9, their character and election are described. Farther as the first Christians were remarkable for their love to each other, they appointed, in every church, men, to whom they gave the appellation of deacons, whose office it was to make collections for the poor, and to apply these collections in relieving widows and orphans, who were destitute; the sick, also, and the imprisoned for their religion, whom they visited and comforted with the greatest tenderness. In like manner, they appointed women, whom they named deaconesses, to perform the same offices to the distressed of their own sex, and whom, for that purpose, they supplied with money out of the church's funds. The character and office of these female deacons, the apostle has described, 1 Tim.

.9, and, verse 10, orders the widows, or female presbyters, to be chosen from among

them

When the first Christians met together in their public assemblies, either on the first day of the week, or at other times, they appear to have engaged in a variety of exercises, which tended either to the conviction of sinners, or the edification of saints. The glad tidings of everlasting salvation were freely proclaimed to all that chose to hear; the different branches of Christian doctrine were taught; and the disciples were exhorted to shew their attachment to their Lord, by denying all ungodliness and worldly lust, and living soberly, righteously, and piously, in their day and generation. Public prayers were offered up, and hymns sung in praise of redeeming love. On these occasions, it appears evident, that not only the elders, but such other members as were possessed of suitable gifts, employed them for the public benefit, being subject to no other restraint, than that all things should be done with a suitable regard to decency and order.

.

The different officers in the churches appear to have been set apart for their respective work, after a due examination of their characters, by fasting and prayer, and the laying on the hands of the apostles, the evangelists, or the presbytery. Imposition of hands seems to have been a very antient practice both among the Jews and the Greeks, when they wished to commend any one to the peculiar blessing of God.

The two standing ordinances appointed by Christ, are baptism, and the Lord's supper. The latter appears to have been administered every Lord's day. How the former was administered, and whether the infant children of believers were its subjects, is much disputed among Christians. Whether the agape, or love feasts, obtained in the time of the apostles, is also a matter of controversy. We shall close this chap>ter with the sentiments of Dr. Haweis, a candid and respectable minister of the established church, upon some of those subjects of which we have now been treating, that the reader, being made acquainted with the opinions of different writers, may be the better able to decide between them.

To sum up, in a few words, a subject which has been so fearfully abused, in order to subserve the purposes of pride, bigotry, and worldly-mindedness, I conclude

1. That, as soon as a little society was formed of Christian men, a room was opened for their assembling, and the most apt to teach appointed to minister to them in holy things.

2. He was a man of gravity, generally of the more aged, married, and having a family, approved by his fellows, and willing to devote himself to their service.

3. His appointment was signified by prayer, and imposition of hands, of the apostle Paul, or some of the itinerant evangelists, and the presbytery; and, without this, I meet with no ordination.

4. Every church exercised discipline over its own members, to admit, admonish, or expel.

5. Before these itinerant evangelists, all accusations against presbyters were brought. They, in conjunction with the congregation, regulated matters of order, and corrected

abuses.

6. These seem not to have had any appropriate district, but went about every where, chiefly under the direction of the apostle Paul.

7. These great evangelists were usually supported by the churches; but often, like Paul, maintained themselves by their own labours. During the first ages, the ministry was not appropriated to gentlemen or scholars. No man was bred to it as a profession, or went into it for a maintenance; they were pastors of a different stamp.

8. The stationary presbyters, or bishops, during the lives of the apostle, and his associate evangelists, were under their superintendance. But it will appear, very early in the second century, when this first. race of great itinerants departed, that one ainong the ministers of every place began to have the name of bishop, by way of eminence, with presbyters, his coadjutors, acting with him as one body.

9. All ecclesiastical officers, from the beginning, and for the first three hundred years, were elected by the people. Even Matthias was thus chosen to fill up the tribular number of the apostles.

10. Deacons were instituted for the care of the poor, especially the widows; and deaconesses, afterwards, appear to have been set apart for the same purposes, though their institution is not expressly marked in the sacred canon. Originally, they were ordained, not for one congregation, but for the myriads at Jerusalem, whose widows were provided for out of a common stock.

Lastly. Every member of the primitive church seems to have made it a constant practice to lay aside weekly a certain portion of his income, or gains, for the poor, the persecuted, or the gospel, according to his ability; and hence, though, generally, the Christians were of the lowest and most indigent class of the people, the riches of their liberality abounded, and their means for this atose from their Christian character itself. Their industry was great, and they wasted nothing in extravagance of any kind, being, by principle, self-denied to all indulgences for themselves, that they might have to give to him that needed. And, if all real Christians conscientiously observed this rule still, it is amazing what a fund might be raised for the relief of the neccssitous, and the furtherance of the gospel.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF THE APOSTLE PAUL

Description of the city of Antioch in Syria---state of the church there---Barnabas and Saul are sent forth to preach to the Gentiles---they perform their first journey, in which they visit Cyprus, where Elymas, the sorcerer, is struck blind, and Sergius Paulus, the proconsul, is converted---Saul takes the name of Paul--at Perga, they are forsaken by Mark---they visit Antioch in Pisidia, where, having preached to the Jews, they turn to the Gentiles, whom they convert in considerable numbers---being driven out from Antioch and Iconium, they flee to Lystra, where they heal a lame man, and reject the idolatrous homage of the people---Paul suddenly recovers, after being stoned; and returns to Antioch by the same route as he went forth, establishing discipline in the churches in the course of his journey---he resides a long time at Antioch---embassy to Jerusalem---Paul and Barnabas separate---Paul goes a second journey through Syria and Cilicia, is invited over to Macedonia, and lands at Philippi the Pythoness virgin---the jailer converted---Paul preaches at Thessalonica, Beraa, Athens, and Corinth---abides in the latter city a year and six months, and writes his first and second epistles to the Thessalonians, and that to the Galatians---review of these epistles---he goes, by Ephesus and Cæsarea, to Jerusalem, where he performs his vow, and salutes the church, and then returns to Antioch in Syria---he sets out on a third journey, and visits Ephesus, where he writes the first epistle to the Corinthians, and is in danger, from a tumult on account of Diana---in the course of his journey to Macedonia, he writes the second of Corinthians, and the first of Timothy---visits different parts of Greece-writes to the Romans from Corinth---proceeds to Jerusalem by Troas and Miletus---he is assaulted by the Jews, and rescued by Lysias, the tribune ---pleads before Felix, Festus, and Agrippa--his dangerous voyage to Rome---his adventures at Melita---his residence at Rome--review of his epistles to the Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, to Philemon, and to the Hebrews--his fourth journey through Asia---his epistle to Titus---his second imprisonment at Rome --his second epistic to Timothy, his death and character.

ANTIOCH, the capital of Syria, was, in the times of the apostles, a large, populous, and celebrated city, being accounted next to Rome and Alexandria, the most considerable in the empire. It was erected near the mouth of the Orontes, by Seleucus

Nicator, one of the most successful captains of Alexander the Great. It was afterward denominated Tetrapolis, (i. e. fourfold city,) being divided, as it were, into four cities, each of them having its proper wall, besides the common one by which the whole was surrounded. It frequently suffered by earthquakes, but was not utterly destroyed, till it had been reduced by Bibaris, a sultan of Egypt. Its walls were flanked with four hundred square towers, strongly built, of which many remain to this day, and are remarkable for being each of them furnished with a cistern. It is reported to have been the birth-place of Luke, the evangelist; of Theophilus, to whom he addressed his writings; and of Ignatius the martyr, its celebrated bishop.

Here, as we have related in the former chapter, a very flourishing church had been collected, through the preaching of those excellent men who had been dispersed abroad, on account of the persecution of Stephen. The Christians at Antioch, experiencing in themselves that abundant consolation which the gospel of the blessed Redeemer is calculated to afford, longed to impart the benefits which they enjoyed to their neighbours, who were lying in darkness, and therefore cast a wishful eye on the countries around them. On the south, at Damascus, Cæsarea, and Jerusalem, considerable bodies of Christians had been collected, who were sedulously and successfully engaged in evangelizing the towns and villages which were scattered in their vicinity. On the west, at a small distance from their shores, lay the large island of Cyprus, the immense woods of which had long been sufficiently thinned, to allow room for the erecting a great number of populous cities, whose inhabitants were richly furnished with the comforts of life, and awfully disgraced by their practice of debauchery. On the east, the provinces which formerly composed the most essential parts of the Babylonian and Assyrian empires contained, probably, a much greater number of Jews, than had even returned to their native country in consequence of the decree of Cyrus. These descendants of Abraham had established synagogues for their edification in religion, to which were annexed schools for the instruction of their youth, and the formation of future rabbies; had enjoyed their principles with safety. while their brethren in Judea were bleeding beneath the tyranny of the Syrian princes; and had frequently resorted, as opportunity had occurred, to worship the God of their fathers in the temple of Jerusalem. On the north was Cilicia, which had given birth to Saul, the celebrated convert; and had, no doubt, reaped considerable benefit from his labours. Proceeding further in the same direction, and crossing that ridge of mountains which is denominated Taurus, the traveller enters upon a very considerable peninsula, which the Greeks had distinguished from the rest of the continent by the appellation of Asia Minor. It contained Cappadocia, Isauria, Lycaonia, Pamphylia, the two Phrygias, Pisidia, Caria, Lycia, the proconsular Asia, in which the seven churches were afterwards founded; Bithynia, Mysia, Paphlagonia, Pontus, and several other subdivisions, some of which changed their names, in consequence of their passing under the dominion of different conquerors. In all of these last enumerated provinces, the Greek language was familiarly known, though many of them made use of dialects, or even languages, peculiar to themselves.

Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers of great note, particularly Barnabas, a generous Levite, who had given up the whole of his estate to charitable uses; aud Simeon, who was also called Niger, or the Black, from his svarthy complexion; and Lucius the Cyrenian, a native of Africa; and Manaen, a person of considerable rank, who was educated with Herod the tetrarch in his father's court, yet thought it no disgrace to appear as a Christian minister; and to mention no more, Saul, that remarkable convert, whose labours in the church were, as we shall further learn, so eminently useful. And, as they were ministering