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, [85] 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, &c. 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, &c. 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 recognised 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 [86] 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 completed, this office could no longer continue. We recognise, 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.

      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 or missionaries are also sustained by the churches, in the work of preaching the gospel to the world.

      I present to you, then, my dear friend, the preceding brief account of the chief matters urged upon the religious community in the present reformation movement. That Christian union can be effected by a return to the original principles of the gospel, and in no other way, is, I hope, by this time, sufficiently evident. Simple principles, and not elaborate systems and doubtful opinions, must form the rallying [87] point. The fundamental principles of Protestantism, and the common Christianity of the religious world furnish, indeed, a present basis for the co-operation of all; and nothing is needed, with the Divine blessing, but the proper application of these principles, and the disentanglement of this common Christianity from the perplexed maze in which it is involved.

      And oh! how desirable is a real Christian union in view of the present circumstances and future prospects of the church and the world. In the present rapid movements of society; in the spread of civilization; the increasing intercourse and fraternization of mankind; the opening of every region of the earth to missionary enterprise, and the manifest approach of the great day in which the Lord shall come to be "glorified in his saints," and to take vengeance on those "who know not God and obey not the gospel," how important that believers should present an unbroken front, and maintain that unity, without which, the conversion of the world and the perfection of the church, would seem to be alike impossible!

R. R.      

[PORR 85-88]