Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1868-05-12

y
OF sit, consisted am solry TO se.s e.;
charges against m.1or assuming Ger.
tain thingstnot few, 81 gsratu-
itous remarks. andsof strange ex4s
ercise Of sn authority ia suck SER
fences as this The. second and !
third centuries must be wholly exclu
ded." An authority hard 70 see
whence derived to You
Oh how much better Is is for allin.
terested TO discuss religious subjects
in kind spirit And how much
more satisfactory too and justly due
sober aud Intelligent minds to argue
apon such subject as the one we
! are upon, in that christian modesty
which retrains from the. ogerbearing
lPsc dlrit. and has high and becom-
ing regard for sound argument aud
historic facts ! call not upon you
to prove d negative s / claim that
you should prove positive, even
the divine origin Of your ministry
and in this way negative the divine
origin of Eplscopacy Your four~
fold ministry is something new nn
der the sun 1t this be the ministry
of perpetual authority, our Lord es~
| tablished in His church, Tor the his
toric aewness Of your ministry pla-
ces you fairly under this Obligation J
/ for one cannot understand why il
| does not .t present exist in the
church and why church history
does not say at least one word about
it. Weatever ministry Christ estab
lishel vas surely Of perpetual Office
| and authority IN His church, even IN.
to His coming again for the fnAc
tions ofthe ministerial office are ever
the same what ministry was need
ed in early times is needed nov !;
therefore it is evidont that Chris,
has perpetuatcd uuto this day the
| ministry He first established and
consequently ii is a fair conclusion
that your ministry Of four fold Office
not existing now, epver having been
heard Of until the 10th century i or
was not from Christ.
There were many things done in
the apostolic church, which were. no
longer needed to be done after the
church, as one grand org nized body,
had entered upon the work OF sub
DUNG the kingdom Of this world to
the Lord Christ. The church at
Corinth, for instance, presented a
state of things in its early history
which was not to be seen in the sec
ond or. third centuries. The extra
} ordinary outpouring Of the Holy
: Ghost was needed in apostolic times
, and being given TO others besides
the regular ministry Of the church
: did produce u state OF things quite
, different from that OF the church
when under it's complete organiza
} ton, say in the latter part Of tht
$ FIRST century. This is so evident
| from an attentive reading OF th,
! scriptures and from the early writer's
> that | am surprised that you havin,
r carefully studied the scriptures ant
J the early writer's OF the church coulC
{ produce the state oft the early churcl
8 of Corinth rs the fixed model for al
times to come. Your four>fold min
istry consists you say. of Bishops
Dcacons, Evangelists and Teachers
? Now this was the eStdblishedministr,
3 of the church or it was no ministr.
. in the true and full sense ofthe wor'
at all. And if it was the establishe,
: ministry then, where il it now p
Has Christ failed in. this thing
!. Why have we never heard befor
! this of the four-fold ministry which
u Christ intended to oe of perpetua
: authority and office in His church
: Who can believe that our Lord or
. dained that the ministry of Hi
: church should live no longer tina
the first century :? And if you thin
!. that this was not the establishe'
;, ministry Of perpetual authority
Why produce it? Why not produc
in opposition to Episcopacy hat min
istry which you do believe your Lor'
the Head of Your church intende'
I to be perpetual 2 | perceive tha
. you make q great deal out OF tn
! srords, bishops, deaeons, and evange
! lists, and teachers and overlook tn
: regular offices in the christian min
! istry. That you play upon mer,
words may appear from this. st
Paul says to Timothy g Make fnl
proof Of the deaconship Tim. W.!
>, According to your use OF the wore
, deacon, you would make st. Pau
$ here call Tinsothy deacon but il
9 the same verse ST. Paul calls hin
z likewise an Evangelist, "do the work
9 OF an Evangelist Now surely you
believe that Timothy was at least {
$ Presbyter he was then Presbyter
Deacon and Evangelist; you speak
l ofthese "a distinct offices; (which one o.
4 then did Ti,uothy hold? Ali three
i ESQ, w there is the distinction OF office
And if no distinctions of office
!, why speek of them asdisinctorders
In acts, xxI-S Philip, one of the sever
Deacons, is called . the Evangelist.
You say the business of: the Deacor
was to serve tables: Was it not al
so to preach the GOSPEL, or to evange
lise ? Stephen, a Deacon, met biz
death from preaching Christ. Phil
Up evangelical Samaria; church his
, tory clearly shows that in early
times the Deacons had full authority
to preach the gospel, and were of The
regular ministry of the church.. But
, you wont have anything to do with
church. Oh what an assumed an
, thority here
+ History outside OF the New Testa-
ment; you say the second and
third centuries must be wholly ex-
, Guided" / would like TO know upon
whose word you receive your Bible
as the word of God. The hundred
witnesses to the inspiration OF our
Bible brought forward by Calvin
| r. Stowe you respect as high author
ity, when they testify to the genu-
: mess and authenticity of yonr Bible.