no few thousands, unto them, they said, It is not LECT.III. reason that we should leave the word of God, and Acts vi. 2—5. serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business:...and they chose Stephen, a`man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch. From the Greek names of these persons it is clear that chief regard was had to the Hellenists in this election, and among them Nicolas is expressly designated a proselyte of Antioch.' Not that all were Hellenists, but that Jews, who had much intercourse with Greeks, were in the habit of adopting Greek names, as appears from many instances in Josephus.

Whom they set before the Apostles: and when Acts vi. 6. they had prayed, they (i. e. the Apostles) laid their hands on them. Thus a peculiar order in the Church was already appointed by the laying on of hands. The office, indeed, to which they were appointed was nothing else than to serve tables, and they were set over this business, which consisted in the daily ministration. Still the business was not merely lay or that of a steward, but it was in a measure sacred or for the service of the Church; for the tables of the disciples at that time were both common and sacred, that is,

LECT. III. in their common meal they celebrated the sacrament of the Eucharist: and it is clear that these men were chosen and ordained to a sacred office, for none were chosen but men who were full of the Holy Ghost and of wisdom: And they were ordained by the laying on of the Apostles'

1 Tim. v. 22.

2 Tin. i. 6.

Acts xiii. 3.

1 Tim. iv. 14. hands in the manner of presbyters, or even bishops, and those who, besides the twelve, were called Apostles. Stephen, moreover, soon after preached the Gospel, and Philip catechized and baptized the eunuch. They were universally

1 Ep. c. 42.

called indeed in after-times deacons from the act of ministering, and we frequently read of them in the Apostolic Epistles, but there is no account of the institution of their office except in this place.

As these seven men were joined with the Apostles in attending to the daily ministration, so in the primitive Church, deacons were always joined with the Bishops, the successors of the Clem. Rom. Apostles. Clement of Rome, speaking of the Apostles, writes: As they preached then in countries and cities, they appointed their firstfruits, when they had tried them by the Spirit, for bishops and deacons of those who should Herm. Lib. 1. afterwards believe.' The Shepherd of Hermas has The Squared and White Stones are the Apostles and Bishops and Teachers and MinisIgn. Smyrn. ters' i. e. Deacons. S. Ignatius in the Epistle to the Smyrnæans salutes 'my fellow-servants

vis. 3. c. 5.

c. 12.

Error of Baronius concerning inferior Orders. 45

the deacons.'

2.

In the Epistle to the Trallians LECT. III. he describes their office, 'But it is right that Ign. Trall. c. the deacons, being ministers of the mysteries of Jesus Christ, should in all respects satisfy all; for they are not ministers of meat and drink, but servants of the Church of God.' S. Polycarp writes, 'In like manner let the deacons be blameless in the presence of His righteousness, as ministers of God in Christ (Al. Of God and Christ') and not of men, walking according to the truth of the Lord, who was the minister of all.'

VII. We cannot therefore doubt but that the Holy order of the Diaconate was at this very time instituted by the Apostles, and that the Deacons in the infancy of the Church discharged these duties in connexion with their office.

Polyc. Phil.

c. 5.

Anno. 34. C.

VIII. But what Baronius adds, 'It must be Baronius. regarded as clear, that the Deacons did not CCLXXXII. by themselves undertake all the service of the Church, but had many other orders of ministers placed under them, from what the same S. Ignatius writes to the Antiochians, when he says, 'I salute the holy deacons,' and soon after 'I salute the sub-deacons, the singers, the doorkeepers, the sextons, the exorcists, the confessors; I salute the deaconesses, who have charge of the sacred porches ;' plainly savours of spurious antiquity; for of most of these offices

LECT. III. there is a profound silence in the early times; and the epistle written under the name of Ignatius to the Antiochians was forged four hundred years after the death of the holy martyr: the remark of Baronius, moreover, for the purpose of making the meaning of the impostor clear, plainly depends on a sentence foisted in from a different passage.

James ordained by the Apostles Bp. of Jerusalem. 47

LECTURE IV.

ACTS VI. 7 TO VIII. 4.

I. WHEN the seven deacons had been chosen LECT. IV. by the disciples and ordained by the Apostles, the latter were instant in prayer and in the ministry of the word: the word of God increased, Acts vi. 7. and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

seb. A.D. 34.

II. But in this year, i. e. the next to the Chron. Euyear in which our Lord suffered, we read in the Chronicle of Eusebius James, the Lord's brother, is ordained by the Apostles first bishop of the Church at Jerusalem.' As regards the time, I imagine, that Eusebius writes thus from conjecture, or from no very sure tradition; but while there exists no certain trace of the exact time, it may not inconveniently be assigned to this year.

III. There are several points on which opinions differ concerning this James. I will investigate those which seem the most probable from the oldest memorials. First, he is called in this passage by Eusebius the Lord's brother, and