meque auditis hodiè, quorum laudibus, non horam modò, sed et vitam profectò terere non pigeret; mutua mihi modestia os obstruit. Quanti quanti estis, vestri non estis. Dona hæc omnia desinunt in ministeria. Velitis uberem hanc gratiam ávalwTUрev: et dona hæc universa exornando ministerio vestro fidelissimè collocare. In vitæ praxi, ut et in orationis nostræ curriculo, διαιρέσεις χαρισμάτων excipiant διαιρέσεις διακονιῶν. Sunt ergo, uti donorum, ita et Ministeriorum distinctiones. Quæ vero illæ? officiis nimirum variæ, ac gradibus. Fuerunt Apostoli, Prophetæ, Evangelista: sunt, fuerunt, erunt Episcopi, Presbyteri, Diaconi: Siaipéσeis sunt istic, non unus ordo, ministrorum. Aeriana fuit exsibilata quondam hæresis, quæ sustulit hosce τρεις βαθμούς κλήρου, ut cum Synodo 10quamur Carthaginensi. Sed et est, ubi vapulet hoc nomine Hieronymus; quasi qui Aerium non minùs forsan oleat, quàm Ciceronem: immeritò quidem. Sed non vacat avias persequi vindicias. Neminem, spero, vestrûm ita insanire posse, ut hæc Ministeriorum discrimina in discrimen adducat. Legeruntne illi historias, qui istic hæsitent? Profectò, ne viderunt quidem. Evolve temporum omnium monumenta, quaqua patuit Christianismus, nihil istis ubilibet apertius. Nolo contrahere ætatum omnium regionumque Annales. Vide mihi modò Concilia; magnum illud, imprimis, meritòque Oecumenikov primum, Nicenum. Cernes ibi trecentos octodecim Episcopos: quot scilicet Abrahamo de regibus victoriam reportanti milites, ut scitè allusit Ambrosius. At qui novi hi fortè jam tum erant, recensque nati: minimè verò gentium: rà apxaia eon agnoscunt illi Patres, "ut," interprete Ruffino, "Alexandrinus Episcopus Egypto, Libya, Pentapoli præesset, sicut Romanus Ecclesiis Suburbicariis.' Audi modò Polycratem, Episcopum Ephesinum, senem jam plusquam sexagenarium, sanctè profitentem, se avis, abavis, atavis, septenâ serie, in eâdem Cathedrâ successisse. Audi Irenæum, Tertullianum, Clementem, Dorotheum, Eusebium, Antiochenæ, Alexandrinæ, Hierosolymitanæ, Romanæ sedis Episcopos sibi indubiò ordine succedaneos, non numerorum modò notis, sed et nominibus designantes. Nullus profectò ab Apostolorum ævo illuxit dies, in quo Paranymphis hisce caruit Sponsa Christi. Sed quid ego ista? Sol in cœlo est, lucetque. Etiam ipse ille presbyter Hieronymus, strenuus assertor sui gradûs, discrimen hoc à primi schismatis natalibus this day, in whose just praises I could be content to spend, not an hour, but a life; were it not that mutual modesty enjoins me silence. How great soever ye are, ye are not your own. All these gifts end in services. Oh let it please you to stir up this grace of God in you; and faithfully to employ all these your gifts to the happy advancement of your ministries. In the practice of your life, as in the course of my speech, let the Diversities of Gifts be taken up with the Diversities of Ministries. There are then, as differences of gifts, so of Ministries. And which be they? differences in offices, and in degrees. There were Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists: there are, were, shall be Bishops, Presbyters, Deacons: these are more than one rank of Ministers. It was part of the exploded heresy of Arius, that took away these Three steps of the Clergy, as the Synod of Carthage calls them. Yea, and somewhere Jerome himself smarts with the lash of this censure; as if perhaps he did more savour of Arius, than of Tully: not without open wrong in both. But I may not now stay upon needless apologies. There is none of you, I hope, can be so witless, as to question these diversities of Ministries. Did they ever read histories, that doubt of this point? Sure, they have never so much as seen them. Turn over all the monuments of times and places, so far as ever Christendom hath spread itself, you shall find nothing more evident. I will not here stand to abridge the Annals of all ages and regions. Look upon the Councils; and, first of all, the first and chief of those which are stiled General, the great Council of Nice. You shall there see three hundred and eighteen Bishops: so many as Abraham had soldiers in the victory over the kings, as Ambrose wittily alludeth. But perhaps they were then but newly instituted, newly received in the Church: no such matter: those Fathers profess it to be rà apxaîa On, the ancient guise, "that the Bishop of Alexandria should be over Egypt, Libya, Pentapolis, as the Bishop of Rome was over his Suburbicary Churches:" do but hear Policrates, Bishop of Ephesus, an old man of above threescore, solemnly protesting, that he succeeded his grandfathers and great-grandfathers, for seven successive generations, in the same Episcopal Chair. Hear but Irenæus, Tertullian, Clement, Dorotheus, Eusebius, describing and recording the Bishops of Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Rome, in the undoubted order of their successions, not only by their numbers, but by their names also. Certainly, never day looked forth since the age of the Apostles, wherein the Spouse of Christ wanted the attendance of these Bridemen. But what do I urge this? The sun is in heaven, and shines there. Even Jerome himself, though but a Presbyter, and a stout champion of his own order, yet deduceth this difference of degrees from the cradle of the first schism, from the common et apostolicâ traditione, decretoque communi deducit. Sed et scribente hæc ad suos Corinthios Paulo, sonuerat vox illa discors, Ego Pauli sum; ego Apollonis; ego Cephe : etiam tum tamen fuerant hæ διαιρέσεις. "Ordine fortasse," inquies, "non gradu:" Quin et gradu, mi homo, et potestate. Ilicet sunt B. Paulo TроеσтŴтES KαÌ ἡγούμενοι; Ignatio, κρατοῦντες; Dionysio, ἱεράρχοι; præpositi, Cypriano: quibus éπidióρlwow attribuit Paulus; yvoμnv, Canones Apostolici; ἀρχην καὶ ἐξουσίαν, Ignatius; θρόνον EπTIOкоTS, еx Egesippo Eusebius; Vigorem auctoritatemque cathedra, Cyprianus; totius Ecclesiæ apicem, Origenes; exortem et super omnes eminentem potestatem, Hieronymus; ἀψίδα της ἐπισκοπῆς, Concilium Sardicenum; πατέρων γεννή TIKηy Tâživ, Epiphanius. Quid ego, post tantorum messem hæc spicilegia? Oh, quoties, quàmque non sine imis suspiriis, suo sanguine emptum, optaverit florentissima ac fœlicissima Ecclesiarum Anglicana, à charissimis sororibus suis retentum, hunc antiquissimum optimumque regiminis morem: qui utique obtinuisset forsitan, si, quæ nobis, Dei beneficio, eadem et ipsis reformatio monarchica obtigisset. Jam, "provisionaliter tantùm," si Frigevillio, consultissimo Gallo, credimus, ab illis hæc, quomodo incumbit, pro tempore, necessaria, suscepta est administratio. Deus, Deus ipsis Reginas nutrices, nutricios. Reges indulgeat; ut liceat illis aliquando nobiscum tanto hoc frui τὴς τῶν βαθμῶν ἀκολουθίας, ut Nazianzeni verbo utar, beneficio. Ego, interim, cum Ignatio, ȧvrívXOS TÊV PUXATτόντων ταυτὴν τὴν εὐταξίαν: quæ, si regioni ulli aut Ecclesiæ parùm commodè unquam cesserit, personæ profectò vitio fit, non institutionis; quæ non alia censeri potest, quàm salutaris, sancta, divina, Sed memineritis, interim, obsecro, Patres, ministeria hæc esse, diakovías: ab ipso pulvere petita vox est, ne non sat humilitatis innuat. Honoribus auxistis piâ regum munificentiâ: ́sed Dominus noster, Jesus Christus, uti nostis, honores vestros metiri solet servitiis. Patres estis Cleri, sed Filii Thalami; proceres Reipublicæ, sed Ecclesiæ servi; duces hujusce militiæ, sed cum B. Paulo σvorpaтióraι; principes domûs Dei, decree of the first Church, from tradition apostolical. Yea, when St. Paul wrote this to his Corinthians, that jarring word had sounded in the Church, I am Paul's; I am Apollos's; I am Cephas's: and therefore even then had these differences been. "Differences perhaps in order," you will say, "not in degree:" yes, both in order, and in power, too. There were those, whom St. Paul calls Presidents and Rulers; whom Ignatius calls Governors; Dionysius, Hierarchs; Cyprian, Overseers: to whom St. Paul attributes Power of reformation and correction; to whom the Canons of the Apostles give the Power of sentence or constitution; Ignatius, Chiefty and authority; Eusebius, out of Egesippus, The throne of Episcopality; Cyprian, The vigour and authority of the chair; Origen, The highest pitch of the Church; Jerome, A peerless and eminent power; the Council of Sardis, The height of government; and, lastly, Epiphanius, An order generative of Fathers. But what do I, gleaning after the harvest of so great authors as have discussed this point? Oh, how oft, and with what deep sighs, hath this most flourishing and happy Church of England wished, that she might, with some of her own blood, have purchased unto her dearest Sisters abroad, the retention of this most ancient, and every way best form of government: which might happily also have taken place, if they had met with such a monarchical reformation, as, through the blessing of God, was designed unto us. Now they are fain to undergo that administration, "provisionally only," if we may believe wise and learned Fregevil, which the necessity of their condition doth, for the time, cast upon them. The God of Heaven raise them up Queens for their nurses, and Kings for their nursing-fathers, that they may once enjoy with us this happy blessing of the sequence and subordination of degrees! In the mean time, I dare, with Ignatius, profess to put my soul, avτífvxos &c., in pawn, for the safe observation of this excellent order: which, if it have ever not happily succeeded to any region or Church, it is the fault of the person, not of the institution itself; which cannot justly be deemed other, than wholesome, holy, divine. But remember, I beseech you, in the mean while, Reverend Fathers, that these are Stakovías, ministries: a word raked out of the very dust, lest it should not imply humility enough. Ye are graced with honours by the pious munificence of princes: but our Lord Jesus Christ, ye know, uses to measure your honours by your services. Ye are Fathers of the Church, but Sons of the Bridechamber; peers of the State, but servants of the Church; generals of this warfare, but with St. Paul fellow-soldiers; rulers in God's house, but withal fellow • «To use the words of Nazianzen," the original adds here.—PRATT. sed et ovvdovλot. Clerum vestrum compellate comiter; excipite familiariter: ut qui vos noveritis dignitate, patres; fratres, ministerio. Agnoscitis consilium Ambrosianum: Instar membrorum sint vobis, quibus præestis, Clerici: stellas vos angelosque salutavit Deus; imitamini stellas, quæ, quò altiores sunt, eò minores apparere solent; imitamini angelos, qui, cùm sint caeli magnates, πνεύματα se tamen præstant λειτουργικα: odiosissimum spectaculum fastidiosus Præsul. Sed et audite, Sæculares. Nolite contemnere sacra hæc nuncia. Ministeria sunt ista; sed splendida, sed honorifica. Imperare est scilicet, servire Deo: quin si et vobis? Cœlestes illi spiritus, potestates principatusque, nobis idem faciunt affatim, quos tamen nihilo viliores reddidere amor et obsequium. Rogamus vos, Fratres, ut agnoscatis eos qui laborant inter vos, et præsunt vobis in Domino, et admonent vos; et quàm maximè charos ducatis, propter opus ipsorum. 3. Exegimus Distinctiones Ministeriorum: sequatur TON ΕΝΕΡΓΗΜΑΤΩΝ. Non otiosa sibi sacravit ministeria Deus, sed operosissima. Regit ille hic docet: docet alius regitque; duplici honore dignus προεστῶς, κοπιῶν τε. Sed et qui regit, est ubi virgâ feriat; est ubi, gladio: est ubi, blandè alliciat; est ubi, coerceat severiùs labantes sustineat; retineat anxios; vagos reducat. Et, docenti, non una incumbit didaσkaλía; est ubi eλeyxos, est ubi éπavóρowσis, est ubi raideia: idem, nunc, dirigit consiliis; nunc, promissis erigit; nunc, dejicit minis: sanos vulnerat; sanat ægros; nunquam non operatur. : Nempe καλὸν ἔργον ἐπισκοπὴ. Si quis ludat in cathedra, lugebit in gehennâ. Pulchrè Bernardus, in celebri illâ ad Henricum Senonensen Epistolâ: "Multi non tantâ fiduciâ et alacritate currerent ad honores, si esse sentirent et onera: gravari profectò metuerent; nec cum tanto labore et periculo quarumlibet affectarent infulas dignitatum." Sed placetne audire insuper, quod satis salsè exprobavit suo ævo pius ille censor: "Sola attenditur," inquit, "gloria, et non pœna curritur in Clero passim ab omni ætate et ordine, à doctis pariter et indoctis, ad ecclesiasticas Curas, tanquam sine curis quisque victurus sit, cùm ad Curas pervenerit." Satin' |