The Newtown bee., 1904-03-25
1850
LITCHFIELD COUNTY
WASHINGTON.
NOTES FROM ST JOHNS.

WASHINGTON.
 NOTES FROM ST JOHNS.
 The rector of St Johns church con- menced his fifth lecture by quoting from the Preface to the Ordinal as fol- lows: "It is evident unto all men, dil- igently reading Holy Scripture and Ancient Authors, that from the Apos- JleS' time there have been these orders of ministers in Christ's. church that to the intent that these orders may be continued and reverently used and esteemed in the church, no man shall execute any of these functions except he has received Episcopal con- SecratiOn or ordination" and that this evening he proposed to take up the argument derived from Holy Scripture in .So far as this might be done in one short lecture, leaving the second ar gument set forth in the Declaration of the Church, that derived from the testimony of Ancient Authors, ,(or Fathers as they were called), as also his personal experience of the testi- mOny given by men who had recently come into the church from various de- nominations, for his next lecture. Then he said: After His resurrection from the dead, and before he ascended to His father, our blessed Lord said to the disciples, "All power is given unto me in Heaven and in earth. As My Father hath sent Me so send I you." At the same time He issued that far reaching and broad commission: "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature" and lastly, "Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Holy Trinity, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever l have commanded you, and To, am with you always, even unto the end of the world, amen." Every creature" and "all nations" showed that the Church was to be catholic or univer- sal. They proved also incOntrOvert- ibly that the Apostolic ministry was to be perpetuated in the church, because the individuals to whom the command was given could not go personally into ''all the world," nor to "every crea- ture" or ''all nations" And this fact our Lord enforced by His promise to be of the world" The promise, there fore, was made not only to the Apos- ties but to their. successors, the bishops of the Church, for all time. Here then, he said, we have the whole subject of what is known as Apostolic success sion," in single clause. And this proved that in Ordaining the Apostles He did more than commission l2 men for merely their natural lives. He ere. ated the Apostolic episcopate, a self perpetuating hierarchy. Christ knew that the church He had founded would need overseers through all the ages, so He established ministerial succession, instinct with 2 perennial vitality, not to be impaired by the sui eide of Judas, nor diminished when the Apostle James was slain with the sword. The ministerial office, he said, especially "the office of bishop in the Church of God" was not to be put aside as of little consequence, because in Rom. Il: 13, St Paul in speaking of bis apostleship said, "I magnify mine office"; and again in l Timothy 3, the flee of bishop he desired a good york;" and then gave the qualitica- tions of bishops and deasons, two of the orders of the ministry, in the same chapter.
 Then the rector showed by quota tlons from the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles how that under, Divine guidance the apostles and their success sors ordained presbyters tor elders) and
 
 that one of the first acts of the apos- ties, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, and in answer to their prayer, was the choosing of Matthias to fiji the vacancy in the apostleship caused by the suicide of Judas, thus fulfilling the prophecy of David, "His bishop ric let another take." This proved that the bishopric was to continue. But that the circle of the Twelve was further enlarged by their choosing James to be an apostle, who became the first bishop of Jerusalem. Then came the Apostle Paul. But not to rector said, that besides the original Twelve, no less than eleven other men were called apostles in the Greek of the New Testament, and gave list of names, making in all B apostles. Would anobOdy say after that that the apOStleShip was not to be cOntin- ued? Then he showed how there had always been at least three bishops uniting in the act of consecrating an other bishop, thus giving three-fold validity to every bishop consecrated, and that it was an open and public guarantee. He further said that in the Church such a person as lay cid CT or lay deacon was an impossible l pers on because the words contradicted | each other. He then showed where l three orders Of the ministry were men, tioned in a single verse in the New | Testament, namely, Phil. Ill. Then he showed by quotations from the | early historian, Theodovet, how the | same persons were anciently called | both bishops and presbyters promis- l cuously, and that Ambrose said, 'They who are now called bishops were originally called apostles" How ever, the rector said, the name was matter of small importance. It was the office and authority for which we contend. He concluded this lecture by quoting the famous answered and un- challenge of the learned and "Judicious Hooker" the English divine, who wrote the books on 1.-The laws of ecclesiastical polity" This challenge was sent out to the Presby- terianS in A. D. 1549: IA very strange thing sure it were, that such disci- pline as ye speak of should be taught by Christ and His Apostles in the Word of God, and no church ever found it out, nor received it till this present time. We require you to find out but one church upon the face of the whole earth that hath been order ed by your discipline, or hath not been