Part 73
1. The obvious meaning of the passage. Ver. 29. “Gather unto me all the _elders_ of your tribes—that I may speak these words in _their_ ears.”—ver. 30. “And Moses spake in the ears of all the קהל—the words of this song.” The KEL of Israel are the elders and officers met together.
2. It is impossible it can be otherwise. Moses could not speak in the ears of all Israel, except by representation. No human voice can extend over two millions of men.
3. Upon the principle of representation Moses uniformly acted. He instructed the elders, and the elders commanded the people. Deut. xxvii. 1. “_And Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the people_.” Without multiplying texts, I refer the reader to Exod. xii. 3. “Speak unto all the _congregation_ of Israel”—verse 21. “Then Moses called for all the _elders_ of Israel.” Even in the most solemn acts of religion, the elders represented the whole congregation. Their hands were placed upon the head of the bullock which was offered to make atonement for the whole congregation. Lev. iv. 15. And that the reader may not be without an instance of the use of the word KEL, in the most abstract form which can exist upon the representative principle itself, I refer him to Gen. xxviii. 3. Here it is applied to a single individual. Higher than this, representation cannot be carried. Ver. 1. “Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him”—ver. 3. “That thou mayest be a KEL.” Jacob was a KEL, as the representative@ of a very numerous posterity.
6. The word is used to signify a council—an assembly for deliberation and judgment. Gen. xlix. 6. The patriarch speaks of Simeon and Levi, these two are a KEL. It is, indeed, a representative one. Verse 7. “I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.” This could have been said of the two sons of Jacob, only as including their posterity.
This KEL was however a council. They consulted and determined to destroy the Schechemites. The assembly was a conspiracy. The Septuagint renders the word by Συστασις.
The KEL in which Job cried for redress, could not have been the church of Israel, but a court of Judicature. Job xxx. 28.
Solomon, acquainted with the laws of Israel, must have referred to the power of Judicatures, in detecting crimes, when he spoke of the KEL, in Prov. xxvi. 26. and v. 14.
The KEL, to which Ezekiel refers, xvi. 40. and xxiii. 45-47. cannot be mistaken. The prophet himself expressly says this KEL would sit in judgment, try, and decide, and execute the sentence, upon those who came before them, In these verses, the Septuagint renders the word by Οχλος, and our translation of it is company.
By the law of God, regular courts of jurisprudence were established among the Israelites. In no instance was the whole body of the people to be judges. Deut. xvi. 18. The rulers in each city, the officers of justice, are uniformly called elders, and unto these elders met in council, is every case referred. He must be, indeed, little acquainted with the law given by Moses, who is ignorant of this fact. See Deut. xxi. xxii. and xxv. chapters.
These elders met in council. To them the name _Presbytery_ was applied in latter times. Moses and the prophets use the names KEL and OD-EH. These words are used indiscriminately in the Old Testament. It is to be observed, that they are translated in the Septuagint, generally by ecclesia and synagoga. This phraseology is adopted in the New Testament. The New Testament writers use the Septuagint translation of the scriptures in their quotations from the Old Testament.
Nehemiah summoned before the council the nobles and rulers who transgressed the law. Neh. v. 7. They exacted usury for their money, and are to be tried by the competent authorities. The word קהל, in this verse, we translate assembly, and the Septuagint reads Εκκλησια. Compare Numb. xxxv. 24, with Deut. xix. 12, and it will appear, that the congregation which judicially tried the man-slayer, is the _Ecclesia_ of elders. See also Josh. xx. 4. “He shall declare his cause in the ears of the _elders_”—ver. 6. “And stand before the _congregation_ for judgment.”
The word Εκκλησια, in the New Testament, is not, any more than its correspondents in the Old, confined in its application to a popular assembly. It signifies a tumultuous mob, Acts xix. 32. and the city council, Acts xix. 39. This sense of the word is justified by the best Greek authors. Consult Passor, who quotes Demosthenes and Suidas, in defence of this application. Hence, the verb Επικαλεο is, in the middle and passive voices, to appeal from an inferior to a superior Judicatory. “Plutarch,” says Parkhurst, “several times applies the verb in the same view.” Acts xxv. 11, 12, 21, 25. See also Chap. xxvi. 32. and xxviii. 19.
In the application of Ecclesia to the christian church, which is the most common use of it in the New Testament, it signifies the whole church militant—all the elect of God—private societies of believers—single organized congregations—several congregations united under a Presbytery—and church _rulers_ met in Judicatory.
1. The church militant is an Ecclesia. Matt. xvi. 18. and Acts ii. 47. “The Lord added to the church daily.”
2. The whole body of elect and redeemed sinners. Eph. v. 25. “Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it”—ver. 27. “That he might present it to himself a glorious church.”
3. Two or three private Christians, met for prayer and conference, or living together in a family, are an Εκκλησια. Acts xiv. 23. “They had ordained them elders in every church.” The Ecclesia, or Church, existed prior to its organization, by the election and ordination of rulers. It existed, in this sense, even in private houses. Rom. xvi. 5. and Col. iv. 15.
4. The word signifies an organized congregation. Acts xiv. 23. The Ecclesia did not cease to be one, when presbyters were ordained to teach and to rule in the congregation.
5. The word is applied to several congregations regularly presbyterated. There is nothing to render this application improper. It is no abuse, in any language, of a generic term, to apply it to any collection of the individuals belonging to that genus, in a connexion which manifests the restriction. The church of Christ in Philadelphia, is all Christians in that city, although there should be one hundred congregations in it. The church in Corinth, is as intelligible a phrase as the church in the house of Nymphas—The church on earth, or, the church in glory. This application is not only just, but scriptural. The saints in Corinth were one Ecclesia. 1 Cor. i. 2. But in Corinth were several congregations. There were more Ecclesias than one, xiv. 34. Corinth was a city of great extent, wealth, and population. In it were several heathen temples, dedicated to different pagan divinities. There were upwards of a thousand prostitutes attending at the temple of Venus. In this city, Paul met with uncommon success in preaching the gospel. Here he abode nearly two years. Considering the rapidity with which the gospel was then spreading, attended with miraculous power, is it reasonable, that in Corinth there was yet but one congregation of professed Christians? In the present day, without any supernatural, or even uncommon success, it is not singular for a preacher, in a large city, to collect in a few years a congregation of religious professors. At the first sermon of Paul, numbers were converted. After this, the Lord informs him, he has “much people in this city.” Here were several pastors—public officers with a diversity of tongues, suited to the wants of the church; yet, when Paul wrote his epistle, all the congregations, although differing about the merits of their respective founders, are called one Ecclesia. In a similar sense is the word applied to the church at Ephesus, at Antioch, and Jerusalem.
6. Εκκλησια is applied to an _assembly_ of elders. Matt. xviii. 17. The constitution of the Jewish courts is known. Each synagogue had its elders and officers. The inferior courts were subordinate to the Sanhedrim. Never were cases decided by the populace. Our Redeemer spoke in the common language of Judea. He referred to the synagogue court. When translated into Greek, what other name should be given to this Judicatory, than the one given, Ecclesia? There is no misunderstanding of this text, by one who impartially considers the connexion. There are in the church authorized _rulers_, distinct from the _ruled_. The rulers, and not the ruled, must ultimately determine controversies. To officers, was committed the power of the keys—the power of binding and loosing; and this _Ecclesia_, ver. 17., has the power of _binding and loosing_, ver. 18.—and it may consist even of two or three persons, ver. 20. The whole passage is a directory for the application of ecclesiastic power conferred upon church officers. Ch. xvi. 19. I shall close this note, by a quotation from the lectures of Dr. Campbell, of Aberdeen. It must appear extraordinary from the pen of such a scholar. “But in any intermediate sense between a single congregation and the whole community of Christians, not one instance can be brought of the application of the word Εκκλησια, in sacred writ. If any impartial hearer is not satisfied on this point, let him examine every passage in the New Testament, wherein the word we render church is to be found; let him canvas in the writings of the Old Testament every sentence wherein the correspondent word occurs, and if he find a _single passage_, wherein it clearly means either the priest-hood, or the rulers of the nation, or any thing that can be called a church representative, let him fairly admit the distinction as scriptural and proper.”
MC’LEOD’S CATECHISM.
Footnote 265:
_The Papists, indeed, pretend that there is no other church in the world, but that which they style catholic and visible, of which the bishop of Rome is the head; but we may say, in answer to this vain boast, as it is said concerning the church in Sardis, in Rev._ iii. _1._ Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. _Protestants, though they speak oftentimes of the visible church as one, yet they don’t deny but that there are many particular churches contained in it. See the assembly’s Confession of faith, chap. 25. § 4._
Footnote 266:
_Vid. Cypr. de Laps. cap. 1. § 13._
Footnote 267:
_See his Works, Vol. I. page 924, 925._
Footnote 268:
_These were called_ בטלנים _Otiosi. See Lightfoot’s Works, Vol. I. page 610-613. & Vitring. de Synag. Vet. page 530, & seq. And Lightfoot says, from one of the Talmuds, that there were no less than 460 synagogues in Jerusalem, Vol. I page 363, 370. and that the land was full of them; in which they met every Sabbath, and some other days of the week._
Footnote 269:
_See more of this in those pages of Lightfoot before referred to._
Footnote 270:
Προσευχαι, _Proseuchæ_. Ευκτηρια, προσευκτηρια, _Oratoria_.
Footnote 271:
_See Mede’s Works, Vol. I. Book I. Disc. 8._
Footnote 272:
_See Vol. I. page 608._
Footnote 273:
Εν τη προσυεχη του Θεου, _in proseucha Dei_.
Footnote 274:
_See Lightfoot on Acts_ ii. _5. Vol. I. page 751, 752._
Footnote 275:
_See Quest. CLXX. CLXXIV._
Footnote 276:
_Imperium in imperio._
Footnote 277:
Αυτοκατακριτος.
Footnote 278:
_The former of these Jewish writers call_ נדוי Niddui; _the latter they call_ חרם Cherem, _or_ שמתא Scammatha, _and was performed with several execrations, by which they, as it were, bound them over to suffer both temporal and eternal punishments. See Lightfoot’s Horæ Hebr. & Talmud. in 1 Cor._ v. _5._
Footnote 279:
_See more on this subject in Vitringa de Synagog. Vet. Pag. 745. and also the form used, and the instrument drawn up, when a person was excommunicated and anathematized, in Selden de jure Nat. & Gent. Lib. IV. cap. 7. and Buxt. Lex. Talm. in voce CHEREM._
Footnote 280:
_See an account of the manner of their excommunication, and the curse denounced against them at that time, and the first cause of it, taken from Josephus, and other Jewish writers, in Lightfoot’s Works, Vol. II. Pag. 538-540. and Vol. I. Pag. 599._
Footnote 281:
_Vid. Tert. Apol. cap. 39._ Summum futuri judicii præjudicium.
Footnote 282:
_Vid. Cypr. de Orat. Dom._ Timendum est, & orandum, ne dum quis abstentus separatur a Christi corpore, procul remaneat a salute.
Footnote 283:
_Vid. Cave’s Prim. Christ. Part. III. cap. 5._
Footnote 284:
_Justin Martyr tells the Jews, (Vid. ejusd. Colloq. cum Tryph.) that the church, in his time, had the gift of prophecy; which Eusebius (in Hist. Eccles. Lib. IV. cap. 17.) takes notice of, and, doubtless believed it to be true in fact, though it be very much questioned whether there were any such thing in the fourth century, in which he lived. Gregory Nyssen, and Basil, who lived a little after Eusebius, assert, that there were many miracles wrought in the third century, by Gregory of Neo-cesarea, for which reason he is called Thaumaturgus; though it is not improbable that they might be imposed on in some things, which they relate concerning him, especially when they compare him with the apostles, and ancient prophets, not excepting Moses himself in this respect; and, it is certain, many things are related, of his miracles, which seem too fabulous to obtain credit; yet there is ground enough, from all that they say, to suppose that he wrought some, and that therefore, in his time, they were not wholly ceased. (Vid. Greg. Nyss. in cit. Greg. Thaum. and Basil de Sp. Sanct. cap. 29.) And Origen affirms, that, in his time, the Christians had a power to perform many miraculous cures, and to foretell things to come, (Vid. Lib. I. contr. Cels.)_ Και ετι ιχνη του αγιου εκεινου Πνευματος παρα χριστιανοις σωζεται εξεπαδουσι δαιμονας και πολλας ιασεισ επιτελουσι και ορωσι τινα κατα το βουλημα του λογου περι μελλοτνων.. _If this had not been true, Celsus, who wanted neither malice, nor a will to oppose, would certainly have detected the fallacy. And Tertullian, (Vid. Apologet. cap. 23.) appeals to it for the proof of the Christian religion, offering to lay his life and reputation at stake, if the Christians, when publicly calling upon God, did not cure those who were possessed with devils._
Footnote 285:
“The Αποστολος is an extraordinary ambassador of Christ. He was commissioned for extraordinary purposes. Like the generals of a victorious army, the apostles exercised, in the name of their King, authority throughout all parts of the vanquished empire, until the regular magistracy was organized and fully settled. They have no successors in this respect. The presbyter is fully competent to all ordinary administrations. In relation to such cases, the apostles themselves are no more than presbyters. 1 Pet. v. 1.
Church government is subordinate to evangelic doctrine. The power given to the apostles, was intended solely for subserviency to their preaching. 2 Cor. xiii. 8. _Teaching_ is the _highest dignity_ in the church, because it is the most useful and laborious service. Preaching was the principal work of the apostles. The ambition of prelates has inverted this divine order. Preaching is the meanest service in the popish and episcopal churches. It is merely subservient to the government of bishops and of popes. The bishops exalt the mean above the end. Government is, with them, the principal part of religion. To be in power is more dignified than to edify.
Apostolic authority was founded upon apostolic gifts. God was the author of both, and both were subservient to teaching. None can pretend to a succession of apostolic power, without a succession of the gifts which qualified for it.
The evangelists were extraordinary ministers. As ordained presbyters, they exercised the ordinary power of the pastor. 1 Tim. iv. 14. Their principal work was teaching, and organizing churches, by apostolic direction. The ordinary ministers stood in need of this assistance. They had not, as yet, the New Testament revelation in writing. The evangelists, in part, supplied this defect. Timothy would have been, to the churches which he visited, what the epistles sent to him by Paul, are to us—a directory upon which we may depend.
Επισκοπος is a name of office. It is borrowed from the synagogue חזן, (Chazan, _overseer_.) Maimonides de Sanhed. Cap. 4. describes him, as ‘the presbyter who labours in word and doctrine.’ Bishop and presbyter, or, as our translation sometimes reads, overseers and elders, are different names of the same officer. Acts xx. 17-28. Presbyter is expressive of the authority, and episcopos, of the duty, of the pastor.
The angel of the church is analogous to the SELIH-JEBUR of the synagogue. The שליח צבור was the minister whose office it was publicly to read and explain the law and the prophets. The duties of the christian minister may be known, by the names given to him in the scriptures. The names which are divinely given to men, are always expressive of some important article of their conduct and character. _Presbyter_ is a term of power, and points out the _ruler_; _pastor_ points out a public _purveyor_ of spiritual provisions for the church; _bishop_, the spiritual _inspector_ of the state of the congregation; _teacher_, the public _instructor_ of the congregation; and _angel_, the _messenger_ of God to men. All these characters unite in the minister of the gospel. By each of these names is he known in the scriptures.
Διακοηος, and its parent Greek verb, are derived from the Hebrew כהן, to minister. Diaconos, is _one who renders a service_. It is applied, in the New Testament, to the Redeemer himself. Rom. xv. 8.—To any religious worshipper. John xii. 26.—To women useful in religious concerns. Rom. xvi. 1.—To civil rulers. Rom. xiii. 4.—To all ministers of religion, whether extraordinary as apostles, or ordinary pastors. 1 Cor. iii. 5. Acts i. 14. Col. i. 7.
Every person, public or private, male or female, who renders any service to another, is a _deacon_. But, besides this general use of the word, it is a _term of office_, in the church.”
M’LEOD’S ECCL. CAT.
Footnote 286:
_See Quest._ clviii. clix.
Footnote 287:
συμπρεσβυτερας.
Footnote 288:
επισκοπουντες.
Footnote 289:
_Legatus._
Footnote 290:
_See Calderwood Altar. Damsc. Jameson’s fundamentals of the hierarchy examined; Forrester’s hierarchical bishop’s claim, &c. and Clarkson’s no evidence for diocesan churches; and his diocesan churches not yet discovered, &c._
Footnote 291:
_See Clarkson’s primitive episcopacy, chap. 7. in which he observes, that it was decreed, by some councils, that they should continue in this state of probation, at least, two or three years; and that Augustin continued so long a Catechumen, as appears from the account that Father gives of his age, when converted to Christianity, and afterwards received into the church by Ambrose._
Footnote 292:
_See Primitive Episcopacy, Page 189-197._
Footnote 293:
_See Clarkson’s Primitive Episcopacy, chap. 8. in which he refers to several places, in the writings of that excellent Father, to the same purpose._
Footnote 294:
_See Stillingfleet Iren. Page 276._
Footnote 295:
“More than _fourteen hundred years ago_ the superiority of the Prelates to Presbyters was attacked, in the most direct and open manner, as having no authority from our Lord Jesus Christ. The banner of opposition was raised not by a mean and obscure declaimer; but by a most consummate Theologian. ‘By one who, in the judgment of Erasmus, was, without controversy by far the most learned and most eloquent of all the Christians; and the prince of Christian Divines.’[296]—By the illustrious Jerome.[297]
Thus he lays down both _doctrine_ and _fact_ relative to the government of the church, in his commentary on Titus i. 5.
_That thou shouldest ordain Presbyters in every city, as I had appointed thee._[298]—What sort of Presbyters ought to be ordained he shows afterwards,—_If any be blameless, the husband of one wife_, &c. and then adds, _for a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God_, &c. A _Presbyter_, therefore, is the _same_ as a _Bishop_: and before there were, _by the instigation of the devil_, parties in religion; and it was said among different people, _I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas_, the churches were governed by _the joint counsel of the Presbyters_. But _afterwards_, when every one accounted those whom he baptized as belonging to himself and not to Christ, it was _decreed throughout the whole world_, that one, chosen from among the Presbyters, should be put over the rest, and that the whole care of the church should be committed to him, and the seeds of schisms taken away.
“Should any one think that this is my private opinion, and not the doctrine of the scriptures, let him read the words of the apostles in his epistle to the Philippians; ‘Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons,’ &c. Philippi, is a _single_ city of Macedonia; and certainly in one city there could not be _several bishops_ as they are now styled; but as they, at that time, called the very same persons bishops whom they called Presbyters, the Apostle has spoken without distinction of bishops as Presbyters.
“Should this matter yet appear doubtful to any one, unless it be proved by an additional testimony; it is written in the acts of the Apostles, that when Paul had come to Miletum, he sent to Ephesus and called the Presbyters of that church, and among other things said to them, ‘take heed to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit hath made you Bishops.’ Take particular notice, that calling the PRESBYTERS of the single city of Ephesus, he afterwards names the same persons BISHOPS.” After further quotations from the epistle to the Hebrews, and from Peter, he proceeds: “Our intention in these remarks is to show that, among the ancients, _Presbyters and Bishops were_ THE VERY SAME. But that BY LITTLE AND LITTLE, that the plants of dissensions might be plucked up, the whole concern was devolved upon an individual. As the Presbyters, therefore, KNOW that they are subjected, BY THE CUSTOM OF THE CHURCH, to him who is set over them; so let the Bishops know, that they are greater than Presbyters MORE BY CUSTOM, than by ANY REAL APPOINTMENT of CHRIST.”