APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION OF THE EPISCOPATE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXVI, Issue 17583, 29 May 1919, Page 3

APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION OF THE EPISCOPATE.

Sir, —The observations and critic- i isms of the Moderator and his affirmation that the pA'esbyterate of ;he established church of Scotland is in full possession of Agtoscoiical succession caused me to de2«nd the Anglican attitude criticised ?sy him. and also to deny that Presbyters, true or false, ore able to ordain v.o the ministry* or priesthood of the Church of God. I how further observe that while Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists ?an lawfully ordain ministers for their own respective church, anyone of them is unable to ordain a minister for the other, i.e., the Baptists are unable to ordain a minister for the Congregationalists or the Methodists for the Presbyterians, and so on; they are only able to make ministers for their own peculiar denomination. The Salvation Army, for instance?, alone is able to make a colonel or captain of the Salvation Army, and since ths denominations are unable to tto the impossible for man-created churches, by what miracle, are tlvay. each and all, able to make ministers of the Church of Gi*d?-a divine institution older than Christianity itself. Now the Christ of God, or ths authority and command of the Father, appointed a Catholic ministry for His church, and He promises tto that ministry guidance of the Hoiy Spirit, and that He would be with it—the ministry—until His second advent. The ministry of the Church of God is thus of God, not of man; it is from above, not from below. It did not ascend from the people; it descended from God. We therefore cannot, dare not, believe that the competitive denominational . ministers appointed by man to be ministers of "churches" having a sectarian or quasi-church name are also in some mysterious way ministers of the Church of God; or that the Head of God's Church has failed to ma.cc good His promise and His word to the Apostolate and its successor, the Episcopate. Christ is not peccable; He is inpeccable. Christ is not fallible; He is infallible: His word is not a rope of sand but Truth itself. We stand or fall by His teaching; we do not criticise Him. For instance He commanded His disciples to "Hear the Church." This the Churches of God do; this Protestants do not do. Again, He commanded His disciples to "Do. this." This the Churches of God do; this Protestants do not do; for among other things they either use multiple cups or a liquid other than that of the third cup, 'the cup of blessing," or both. Again the Apostolate laid hands «,on the baptized that they might receive the Holy Spirit. This the episcopate of God does; this Protestants, except Lutherans, do not do. Again, He commanded the Apostolate to absolve from sin. This the ministry of the Church of God does; this Protestants criticise and condemn. Aga'a He forbade the re-marriage of divorcees. The Churches of God refuse such marriages; Protestants perform them, and so I might go on. It is most significant. Sir, that Christians who deny the authority of ths episcopate, also deny to all Christian ministers the right to perform any of the special spiritual functions of the Apostolate, such, as absolution and confirmation. I now turn to the Bible, the church's own boo1:, the book in which some of her records are to be found. First, it is recorded that during the great forty post-resurrection days, the Head of the church not only convinced the Apostles and disciples of His resurrection but also taught the former the things pertaining to H\s Kingdom, i.e., He taught them the esoteric teaching of the Church of God. Such teaching doubtless comprised teaching about the Eucharist and its participants (female as well as male); the rites of confirmation and unction; the baptism of infants; ;he keeping hoiy the Lord's day; the establishment of the Presbyterate and how the Apostolate should be perpetuated; and so on. If Christ did not teach these things personally He did so by and through His minister, the Holy Spirit; for we have His infallible assurance that the Apostolate would be guided into all truth. And so we find on record in the Bible the existence of the aforesaid rites, orders, and customs among the Apostolic Christians without any record whatever of the details of their establishment. Secondly we find on record that James was firmly established in Jerusalem as its bishop (in the Anglican sense) and that the Apostles and tho elders (or Presbyters) gave hhr. due obedience. Furthermore, be it noted the Apostles themselves permitted him to be the first president or primate of the first Christian Council ever held. He gave on that occasion his ex-cathedra judgment, and that too in the presence of St. Peter; His judgment was accepted by all. Now who was this James? He was not James the Greater (brother of John), c:- Jrmes the Less (son of Alphaeus), but James the Just (not necessarily uterine), "brother of the Lord." He therefore was not one of the Twelve, nor even a believer until after the resurrection of the Lord. James' episcopacy of the mother I church ot Christendom is as certain as is Christ .s Headship of the Church of God. And from another source we learn that Symeon, the Lord's cousin, was next in the bishoprik, and that he ruled his diocese as strongly and as well as did his counsin James before him. I n-i.xt cite St. Paul, who exercised a true episcopate or oversight over all the churches he had planted or founded; he ruled imperiously. His episcopate is beyond dispute, and his authority to rule came direct from Christ Himself; he was also, together with Barnabas, ordained to the ministry. Now what provision uid St. Paul make for a continuance of his government of the churches after hi.^ j death? We have full information j on this point in his last three epis ties, one written shortly before his death (2 Tim.) They contain the transmission of his Apostolical authority to Timothy and Titus; they assume the continuance of that .'iuthority in the persons of these two •nen. It is most significant that

these three epistles, giving directions regarding the government of the church and the appointment of ministers were written —not to churches —but to Apostolic men to whom iho Apostle was committing his authority ;and that no other epistles were at any time written to the churches on these topics. St. Paul gives no intimation in these epistles that episcopal authority was to cease, and to be "suspended by some oligarchical or (so-called) democratic i'orm. They provide for its continued exercise through individuals. They make no provision for its future exercise in synods of presbyters all olllcially equal, and deciding their differences by a majority ot votes." Sadler. This is sufficient evidence from ihe Bible to show that, episcopacy really emerged from the Apostolate, and when rightlty understood is the Apostolate itself. I now give some quotations from tub-Apostolic Bishops: j"I am heart to heart with them w^o obey bishop, priests, deacons, with them I take my place by God."—lgnatius to Polycarp (bishop of Smyrna). "One bishop, with his presbytery, and his diaconate."—lgnatius to the Philadelphians. Who is Ignatius.' He was nsade bishop of Autioch by an Apostle: he was one of St. John the Divine's pupils, the disciple whom Jesus loved.' Now hear Ivenaeus, "We can reckon those whom the Apostles established bishops in then' churches, and their successors, even down to ourselves." Again, "and Polycarp, who not only had been taught by the Apostles, and had conversed with those who had seen Jesus Christ, but had been placed by cue Apostles in Asia as Bishop of the Church of Smyrna, whom I myself saw in my early youth." Polycarp was the ft^ow pupil of Iginatius; he was burned at Rome after j having served Christ, "eighty and six years." The above, Sir, is the fulfilment of my promise to prove the truth of the statement in the English Prayer Book: "It is evident un:^ all men diligently reading holy scripture and ancient authors, that Uuni the Apostle's time there have been these orders of ministers in. Christ's Church; bishops, priests, and deacons. . . No man shall be accounted or taken to be a lawful bishop, priest, or deacon in the Church of England, or suffered to execute any of the said functions, except he be called, tried, examined, and admitted there unto, according to the form hereafter following, or hath hid formerly episcopal consecration or ordination." When a deacon is ordained, the "Bishop, laying his hands

. . . upon the head" says "Tilic thou authority to execute the office of a deacon in the Church of God," etc., or when a priest is ordainjd. "Receive the Holy Ghost for the office and work of a priest in the Church of God, now committed unto thee by the imposition of our hands. Whose sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained. And be thou a faithful dispenser of th« Word of God, and of His Holy Sacrament," etc.; or, when a bishop is coy secrated. the Archbishop and Bishop, laying their hands on the head of th? elected bishop, say. 'Receive the Holy Ghost for the office and work of a bishop in the Church of God." *>tc. Thus, only those who are ordained ministers of the Church of God by bishop in succession Trom the Apostles can be licensed to exercise their ministry in the Anglican communion. Please accept my thanks for your courtesy in granting space for this letter.—l am, etc.,

C.L.W.