of the Jewish priesthood; and this persuasion was a new source of honour and profit to the sacerdotal order. This notion was propagated with industry some time after the second destruction of Jerusalem had extinguished all hopes of seeing their government restored to its former lustre, and their country arising from its ruins. And accordingly the bishops considered themselves invested with a rank and character similar to those of the high priests among the Jews, while the presbyters represented the priests, and the deacons the Levites +." Ignatius, the famous martyr-if the Epistles attributed to him are genuine-was infected with this pernicious notion. On these Epistles, which Milner acknowledges are characterized by "the disadvantages of a style bloated with Asiatic tumour, and still more perhaps of a text very corrupt ‡," Dr. Haweis remarks, "The Epistle to the Magnensians, if not spurious or interpolated, is full of self-exalting episcopal exhortations, and still something heightened."-"Be subject to the bishop, as Jesus Christ to the Father; and the apostles to Christ, and the Father, and the Holy Ghost: "—though a softening salvo is added, and "to one another." The title given in the address to the bishop - To the Most Dignified— savours not of apostolical humility. To the Trallians he says, "Reverence the bishop as the representative of God the Father, and the presbyters as God's sanhedrim." On a review of these Epistles, Dr. Haweis remarks, among other things, "Episcopal pretensions, such as had never before appeared. Clement's Epistle suggests not a tittle like it §.” "Towards the conclusion of this century, Victor, bishop of Rome, took it into his head to force the Asiatic Christians, by the pretended authority of his laws and decrees ||," to observe the custom of Rome in keeping Easter. They refused compliance; and "Victor, with much arrogance, as if he had felt the very soul of the future papacy formed in himself, in A. D. 135. + Mosheim, vol. i, p. 179, 180. Imp. Church History, vol. i, p. 155. Mosheim, vol. i, p. 209. veighed against the Asiatic churches, and pronounced their excommunication *." In the third century, the bishops in the larger cities Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Carthage-continued to aspire to higher degrees of power and authority than they had formerly possessed; and not only violated the rights of the people, but also made gradual encroachments upon the privileges of the presbyters.-The bishops assumed, in many places, a princely authority. They appropriated to their evangelical function the splendid ensigns of temporal majesty. A throne, surrounded with ministers, exalted above his equals the servant of the meek and humble Jesus; and sumptuous garments dazzled the eyes and the minds of the multitude into an ignorant veneration for their arrogated authority. The example of the bishops was ambitiously imitated by the presbyters. The deacons, beholding the presbyters deserting thus their functions, boldly usurped their rights and privileges; and the effects of a corrupt ambition were spread through every rank of the sacred order +." Constantine the Great, having become the patron of Christianity early in the fourth century, loaded the bishops with wealth and honours. The bishop of Rome was first in rank, and was distinguished by a sort of pre-eminence over all other prelates, on account of his superior wealth and influence in the imperial city. And under the Christian emperor, "the prelatical government became modelled, after the imperial, into great prefectures, of which Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople, claimed superiority; whilst a sort of feudality was established, descending from patriarchs to metropolitans, archbishops, bishops, some with greater, and others with less extensive spheres of dominion ‡.” "This pernicious example was soon followed by the several ecclesiastical orders. The presbyters, in many places, assumed an equality with the bishops, in point of rank and * Milner, vol. i, part ii, chap. ix. authority. Those more particularly of the presbyters and deacons, who filled the first stations of these orders, carried their pretensions to an extravagant length, and were offended at the notion of being placed upon an equal footing with their colleagues. For this reason they assumed the titles of archpresbyters and archdeacons *." "The office of a presbyter was looked upon of such a high and eminent nature, that Martin, bishop of Tours, was so audacious as to maintain, at a public entertainment, that the emperor was inferior in dignity to one of that order +." These newly-created dignities required a corresponding style of address; and this was soon determined. Here, however, it may be proper to notice, that no example of flattering titles is given in the New Testament; all Christians being described as saints, or holy persons: but they are never addressed, not even the apostles, as Saint John, or Saint Peter. These titles are the invention of popery. Lord Chancellor King remarks, "It is very seldom, if ever, that the ancients give the title of Saints to those holy persons; but singly style them Peter, Paul, John, &c.; not Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Saint John t." Priestly dignities having been created, new titles were framed; and hence originated the addresses of "Reverend "—"Very Reverend " Right Reverend". "Most Reverend "-" Your Grace "-" Your Holiness." 66 Hence, "instead of the people choosing their own bishops and presbyters, they were no more consulted. The presbyters wholly depended on bishops and patrons: the bishops were the creatures of patriarchs and metropolitans; or, if the see was important, appointed by the emperor. So church and state' formed the first inauspicious alliance; and the corruption which had been plentifully sown before, now ripened by court intrigues for political bishops of imperial appointment, or at the suggestion of the prime minister §." "The monarchical form of government was then set up in the churches of the Western empire, under the bishop of + Ibid. vol. ii, p. 30. * Mosheim, vol. i, p. 357. "he that Rome, by means of the imperial decree of Gratian, and the appeals and decretal epistles founded thereon *." Thus, agreeably to the prediction of the apostle, letteth," the heathen Roman government, was "taken out of the way," and "the man of sin," "the son of perdition”. a new spiritual power-was revealed. By various distractions, invasions, and revolutions, "the decline and fall of the Roman empire" was precipitated: but at every descending step of the imperial greatness, the pontiff of Rome gained a higher elevation, until this " mystery of iniquity" established his ordinary address as "Your Holiness." His decisions were regarded as infallible; and he claimed the titles of "Universal Bishop," and "The Vicar of Christ;" requiring the homage of all mankind, under pretence of having all kingdoms at his disposal, as God upon earth! He even received the blasphemous style of address of "OUR LORD GOD THE POPE!! The Emperor Justinian, in his Epistle A. D. 533, writes to the pope, "We hasten to SUBJECT and to unite to your holiness all the priests of the whole East.-Nor do we suffer any thing which belongs to the state of the church, however manifest and undoubted, that is agitated, to pass without the knowledge of your holiness, who was the head of all the holy churches." This dignity was for a time disputed by the patriarch of Constantinople: but, A. D. 606, it was renewed and confirmed by the Emperor Phocas, a monster in wickedness, to Pope Boniface. How far Christianity has been dishonoured and mankind afflicted by this iniquitous papal usurpation, human language fails to describe. Inspiration, however, aids us, declaring it "the MOTHER OF ABOMINATIONS! - drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus !”— Rev. xvii, 5, 6. A. D. 379. + Bishop Newton on the Prophecies, Diss. xxii. Sir Isaac Newton's Observations on the Prophecies, p. 107. CHAPTER VIII. MISSION OF AUGUSTIN. Tradition concerning Gregory-He is made Pope-Augustin sent with Forty Monks - His Reception by the King of Kent-Settles at Canterbury - His Procession-The King and Nobles converted— Augustin is consecrated Archbishop - His Messengers to the Pope Gregory's Answer- Ecclesiastical System The Pope's Letters to the King and Queen. BEDE, a learned monk of Durham, born sixty-seven years after the death of Augustin, is our chief authority for the particulars of this Romish mission. His interesting account is debased with various legendary fictions, which craft had invented before his time to exalt the dignity of the pope. Gregory is said, while archdeacon of Rome, about A. D. 587, to have projected a mission to Britain through the following circumstance. Walking one day through the marketplace at Rome, his attention was caught by some beautiful youths, offered for sale as slaves. This horrid traffic in human beings was carried on to some extent in that metropolis of Christendom, and by individuals from among the Saxons. Gregory learnt that they were pagans, and that their countrymen were called Angli, the Latin word for the Angles. "" "Alas!" he exclaimed, "that the prince of darkness should possess countenances so luminous, and that faces so fair should carry minds destitute of eternal grace." On being told that they were natives of Deira, the province of Northumberland, "These people," said he, "should be delivered de Dei irá" [from the wrath of God]. On being informed that their king was named Ella, "Alleluia to God,” said he, still playing upon the sounds, "should be sung in those regions *." Gregory felt, or affected to feel, a desire to declare the gospel to so interesting a people, and offered himself to undertake a mission for that purpose. Permission having been obtained of Pope Pelagius, he set out on his journey; but the people and clergy of Rome were so much attached to *Bede, book ii, chap. 1. |