The Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of the flock, has committed the care of his church to pastors, or under-shepherds, who are commanded to "feed the flock of God," taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. In the Scriptures, pastors are sometimes called bishops, or overseers, from the nature of their duty, and sometimes elders, from the fact that they are usually possessed of age and experience. Their qualifications and duties are clearly stated in the letters to Timothy and Titus; in Paul's address to the elders of the church at Ephesus, etc. They have charge of the spiritual interests of the church, and are to be supported in their labors according to the circumstances of the case, and their devotion, ability, usefulness, etc. There should be a plurality of them in every church, as was evidently the case in primitive times. Paul addresses the church at Philippi, "with the bishops and deacons;" Paul sent for the elders of the church at Ephesus, who seem, from his address to them, to have been a numerous body; Paul left Titus in Crete, to ordain elders in every city. There is no such thing recognized in Scripture as a bishop over a diocese, containing a plurality of churches; and as to the arrogant pretensions of popes and prelates, who claim to come in place of the Apostles, and to sit in the Temple of God as representatives of Divinity, we find them only in the prophetic account which the Apostles have given of the rise and development of the Man of Sin. In the very nature of things, the Apostles could have no successors. They were appointed by Christ in person, as his witnesses, and it was absolutely essential to their office that they should have seen the Lord, and have had a personal knowledge of his resurrection from the dead. It was requisite, also, that they should have the power of working miracles, and other supernatural gifts, as proofs of their mission as Christ's ambassadors to the world. The gospel being fully delivered, and the testimony complete, this office could no longer continue. We recognize, accordingly, as rulers in the church, only the elders or overseers of each congregation, whose authority is restricted to the particular church by which they are chosen. [354]

      We have another class of officers, called deacons, whose duty it is to take charge of the temporal affairs of the church and minister to the sick, the poor, and the destitute. Evangelists are also sustained by the churches, in the work of preaching the gospel to the world.

      I present to you, then, my dear E., the preceding brief account of the chief matters urged upon the religious community in the present reformation movement. May I hope that you will examine carefully the principles here developed, in the light of Divine Truth, and lend your aid in restoring to the world that which we so earnestly desire to witness--A CHRISTIAN UNION, UPON THE BASIS OF A SIMPLE EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANITY?

[ROBERT RICHARDSON.]      

Source:

Robert Richardson. "Principles and Purposes of the Reformation: A Brief Account of the Principles and Purposes of the Religious Reformation Urged by A. Campbell, and Others.--IX. Church Government." The Millennial Harbinger 23 (December 1852): 706-707.

NOTE: Included in Robert Richardson's The Principles and Objects of the Religious Reformation, Urged by A. Campbell and Others, Briefly Stated and Explained. 2d ed., rev. and enl. Bethany, VA: A. Campbell, 1853, pp. 85-88.

[MHA2 354-355]