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in a strange land, where bad government and war of all kinds had spread distraction, poverty, and ruin wide.

Mr. Digues La Touche was barely of age when this crisis occurred. But he proved it "good" to have "borne the yoke in his youth." The changes and struggles through which he had passed, had trained him for wisely and bravely meeting his present exigencies. He had the fear of God, some knowledge of the world, and a hearty valorous will prompt to do the right steadily and well, whatever it might be. Though born to rank and wealth, he had sacrificed both for Christ, and was prepared now to secure an honourable subsistence by honest industry. Having a little money, he and another Huguenot established a silk, poplin, and cambric manufactory, articles which were soon produced in high perfection and acquired celebrity. For the sale of them a shop was opened in High Street.

Many of his countrymen had to visit the provinces with the view of ascertaining eligible places of settlement. They left with him what money and

He

other valuables they had, beyond what was required for travelling expenses; that it might be in safe custody till their return. Thus a considerable amount of property came into his hands. As trade revived in Dublin, capital in cash was called for, and there being no banks to afford accom modation, Mr. Digues La Touche was induced to make advances on good security, at a reasonable interest, out of the funds entrusted to his charge. By this means the money brought a profit to his friends, and the community at large was benefited. also opened a correspondence for monetary transactions in London and elsewhere. By his great ability, his transparent probity and unselfish generosity, his discernment, discretion, punctuality, and courtesy, he gradually won to himself general respect and good-will. At the end of the century it was believed that he had realized ten thousand pounds→→→ a sum equal in those days to six or eight times that nominal amount in the present day. So began the first permanent banking establishment in Dublin.

PROFESSOR LIGHTFOOT ON THE Church of England has produced no Commentaries more satisfactory than those published recently by the Hulsean Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge. For high scholarship, for thorough mastery of the questions arising out of the Pauline epistles, and for a devout sympathy with the mind of Paul, Professor Lightfoot's volumes on "The Galatians" and "The Philippians," are entitled to a foremost place in our theological literature, Most devoutly do we pray that life and strength may be given to him to complete his design, and

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former of these terms he traces to a Greek origin, and the latter to a Jewish. Episcopus, "bishop," or overseer," was an official title among the Greeks. In Athenian language it was used especially to designate commissioners appointed to regulate a new colony or acquisition. In the Septuagint the word is common. In some places it signifies "inspectors, superintendents, task-masters," as in 2 Kings xi. 19; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 12, 17; Isaiah lx. 17. In others it is a higher title, "captains" or "presidents," Neh. xi. 9, 14, 22. The name and office of the elder or presbyter are essentially Jewish. Illustrations indeed might be found in almost all nations, ancient and modern (for instance in the "Senatus" of Rome, or in the "Aldermen" of our own country), where the deliberative body originally took its name from the advanced age of its members. "But among the chosen people we meet at every turn with presbyters or elders in Church and State from the earliest to the latest times. In the lifetime of the lawgiver, in the days of the judges, throughout the monarchy, during the captivity, after the return, and under the Roman domination, the 'elders' appear as an integral part of the governing body of the country. But it is rather in a special religious development of the office, than in these national and civil presbyteries, that we are to look for the prototype of the Christian minister. Over every Jewish synagogue, whether at home or abroad, a council of elders' presided. It was not unnatural therefore that, when the Christian synagogue took its place by the side of the Jewish, a similar organisation should be adopted with such modifications as circumstances required; and thus the name familiar under the old dispensation was retained under the new.

"Of the identity of the bishop'

and 'presby cer' in the language of the apostolic age, the following evidence seems conclusive:

"(1) In the opening of this epistle St. Paul salutes the bishops' and deacons.' Now it is incredible that he should recognise only the first and third order and pass over the second, though the second was absolutely essential to the existence of a Church, and formed the staple of its ministry. It seems therefore to follow of necessity that the bishops' are identical with the presbyters.' Whether or not the Philippian Church at this time possessed also a 'bishop' in the later sense of the term, is a question which must be reserved for the present.

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"(4) Again in the First Epistle to Timothy, St. Paul, after describing the qualifications for the office of a 'bishop'. (iii. 1—7), goes on at once to say what is required of 'deacons' (iii. 8—13). He makes no mention of presbyters.. The term 'presbyter,' however is not unknown to him; for having occasion in a later passage to speak of Christian ministers, he calls these officers no longer bishops,' but 'presbyters' (v. 17-19).

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"(5) The same identification appears still more plainly from the Apostle's directions to Titus (i. 5—7):

That thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting and ordain elders in every city, as I appointed thee; if any one be blameless, the

husband of one wife, having believing children, who are not charged with riotousness or unruly; for a bishop must be blameless, etc.'

"(6) Nor is it only in the apostolic writings that this identity is found. St. Clement of Rome wrote probably in the last decade of the first century; and in his language the terms are still convertible. Speaking of the Apostles, he says that 'preaching in every country and city they appointed their first-fruits, having tested them by the Spirit, to be bishops and deacons of them that should believe.' A little later, referring to the disorganised state of the Corinthian Church, he adds, Our Apostles knew through our Lord Jesus Christ that there would be strife concerning the authority of the bishopric'...' We shall incur no slight guilt if we eject those who have presented the offerings of the bishopric unblameably and holily. Blessed are the presbyters who have gone before, whose departure was crowned with fruit and perfection."

"The

With the opening of the second century, Professor Lightfoot says, a new phraseology begins, and towards the close of the second century the original application of the word "bishop" seems to have passed not only out of use, but almost out of memory. How came this to pass? opinion hazarded by Theodoret, and adopted by many later writers, that the same officers in the Church who were first called apostles came afterwards to be designated bishops, is baseless. If the two offices had been identical, the substitution of the one name for the other would have required some explanation. But in fact the functions of the apostle and the bishop differed widely. The apostle, like the prophet or the evangelist, held no local office. He was essentially, as his name denotes, a missionary moving about from place to place,

VOL. V.-NEW SERIES.

founding and confirming new brother

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hoods. The only ground on which Theodoret builds his theory is a false interpretation of a passage in St. Paul. At the opening of the Epistle to Philippi the presbyters (here called bishops) and deacons are saluted, while in the body of the letter one Epaphroditus is mentioned as an 'apostle' of the Philippians. If apostle' here had the meaning which is thus assigned to it, all the three orders of the ministry would be found at Philippi. But this interpretation will not stand. The true apostle like St. Peter or St. John, bears this title as the messenger, the delegate, of Christ himself: while Epaphroditus is only so styled as the messenger of the Philippian brotherhood; and in the very next clause the expression is explained by the statement that he carried their alms to St. Paul. The use of the word here has a parallel in another passage, where, messengers (or apostles) of the churches are mentioned. It is not therefore to the apostle that we must look for the prototype of the bishop. How far indeed and in what sense the bishop may be called a successor of the apostles, will be a proper subject for consideration; but the succession at least does not consist in an identity of office.

"The history of the name itself suggests a different account of the origin of the episcopate. If bishop was at first used as a synonyme for presbyter, and afterwards came to designate the higher officer under whom the presbyters served, the episcopate properly so called would seem to have been developed from the subordinate office. In other words, the episcopate was formed not out of the apostolic order by localisation, but out of the presbyteral by elevation; and the title, which originally was common to all, came at length to be appropriated to the chief among them."

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HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

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THE YEAR OF JUBILEE.

SOME time since, Lord Napier of Magdala, in speaking about the deliverance of the captives in Abyssinia, said, "Many years ago I read in the 'Life of Hugh Miller' that on one stormy night, when his father was at sea as captain of a little ship, his mother went to the house of the parish minister and said, Rise, sir, and pray, there is life in danger this nicht.' The good man rose and prayed, and it was afterwards found that her husband, who had been in great danger, got into a place of safety, and turning to his men, said, 'Some gude (good) souls have been praying for us this night.' Now when I stood before the fortress of Magdala, and saw the captives whom we had gone to deliver cross the plain in freedom, this story came up in my mind, and I could not help lifting up my heart to God and saying, ‘Some good souls have been praying for this.'

And so may we say in this jubilee year of the Home Missionary Society. Fifty years have nearly passed away since it was established-its great aim being to deliver souls from the captivity of sin and the bondage of Satan. Millions were in chains, but, alas! many of them were willing slaves of sin. Like the troops of Lord Napier, the society has had to depend on regular and irregular forces, but animated, as the committee and the mission churches have all along been, by one heart, and aiming at one great end, the deliverance of the captives, results have attended the fifty years' labours which entitle them to take up the language of Lord Napier and say, "Some good souls have been praying for this." Year by year there have been triumphs of grace-the last, not the least, when a thousand persons professed to have been delivered from sin, as a reigning

principle in the heart, by the varied agencies of the mission.

There

But our work is not done. are millions of captives yet to be released, and we must seek to deliver them. Let our Churches then give us new proof of their devotion to this great work. We seek to raise the permanent annual income of the Society to £10,000. Let us make this our jubilee offering. With one heart and mind let the Churches set to work, and God will give His blessing. We I want to increase the number of our central stations, and to place one hundred evangelists in the field. Thanks to our heavenly Father, we have at present sixty-seven evangelists, but we must have the hundred before the year is up. To the Churches, then, we appeal for help to extend our operations.

The following are a few extracts from the reports of the agents :—

DECISION FOR CHRIST.

Three young men have professed Christ and joined the Church. One of them was impressed by a sermon on the final judgment, and the thought that his parents and sisters were on the Lord's side and he was not; that on the last day they might hear the "Come ye blessed," and he the "Depart ye cursed," was more than he could endure. As he was ploughing in his father's field, he often left the horses and the plough and went to a corner of the field and wrestled in prayer to God for pardon and adoption; and while thus engaged, light from heaven shone upon his soul and he received that peace which is better felt than expressed.

Another of the young men, an apprentice, aged 20 years, was distressed about his soul, but could not take up

his cross to kneel in prayer in the presence of other apprentices-godless young men who slept in the same room. One Sunday evening I preached on the character of Daniel, and made special allusion to his constancy in prayer; that when he knew that his enemies had conspired against him, “he prayed and gave thanks to God as he did aforetime." From that night the young man was enabled to kneel and pray in the presence of his scoffing companions, and continues, by Divine grace, to keep on in the good way.

I have recently been visiting one of the senior scholars of our Sundayschool, who left her home a happy girl to go to service at a public-house in a distant town. The poverty of the parents led to her taking such a situation. After twelve months' absence she came home ill of a fever. I called repeatedly to see her, but she seems to have no desire for God. It has occasioned me much sorrow to see one so young so ill, and yet so unconcerned. I am thankful to say she is recovering, and hope her attendance at the means of grace will tend to awaken concern and lead to that peace she confesses to have lost.

AN EVANGELIST'S REPORT.

The following is a general account of my labours during the present year. I have made 1,234 visits, distributed about 1,000 tracts, and held 200 meetings, thirty-nine of which were in the open air. I have preached sixteen times during the summer season in the market-place, chiefly on Saturday evenings, there being at that period a great number of people in from the country. I have had from two to three hundred to hear me, chiefly of the common people, many of whom it may be said, "they heard the Word gladly."

The Lord hath greatly blessed the Word at one of the villages. When

I first commenced my labours there, the average number of hearers did not, exceed forty, but the attendance so much increased that the room became too small to accommodate those who were anxious to hear. Many who came were obliged to remain outside or go home again. The people then were anxious to have a chapel. Accordingly, ground was purchased, and a nice little chapel, calculated to seat about 120, has been reared at the sole expense of a private gentleman. The fittings have been met by the people. The average number of attendants is now ninety. Last Sunday afternoon it was comfortably full, when a collection was made to pay for lighting. Twenty-five shillings were collecteda noble sum when it is considered that all of them are poor.

LABORIOUS DUTIES AMONG THE POOR.

The scarcity of labour for the poor, owing to the over-supply of field labourers and the low wages, with the loss to the poor women of braiding for fishing-nets," make our poor in a more needy and destitute state than usual. We have taken a longer period, consequently, to get up the usual amount sent as "" October collections." No one but those who live in such a district can tell the difficulty of keeping up even those small contributions. It is hard work to have so much privation and none in the parishes to help, or if help, it is to the church-goers.

I am labouring on from week to week," in season and out of season.". By the help of God, I am always at my post in these comparatively obscure villages and lanes, teaching the poor, directing and comforting the sick, and preaching the Gospel of the ever-blessed God. Our schools are very large, and our chapels well filled. It would cheer you to see our village congregations on a Sabbath-day and

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