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The Ruling Elder; His Place and Work and His Relation to the Synagogue
The Ruling Elder His Place and Work and His Relation to the Synagogue Author:Robert King General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1898 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million book... more »s for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER III. WERE THERE ANY CLERGY IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE ? The Clergy : -- Were there any in the Apostolic Age ? Or, Was any obedience to them inculcated ? -- Professor F. W. Newman's comment on their position -- Watchmen for souls, whether of Divine appointment ? "OETURNINGto a statement made in a former page, -1- that the Almighty, for the purpose of making known to mankind the revelation of His Holy Will, was pleased to employ the agency of certain ones chosen for this end, we may notice, that the persons on whom devolves the duty of carrying on a like work in our day are known as tlte Clcryy of the Christian Church ; a name that has been at times the subject of ambitious feelings, accompanied with more or less of contention and strife ; " our clergyman" appearing to some a title of considerably higher dignity than " our minister," without much reference to Scriptural authority for the difference. But were there any clergy in the Church of the apostolic age ? The First Century of Christianity divides itself naturally into three pretty nearly equal periods : the first includes the lifetime of John the Baptist, and that of our Lord Jesus Christ (a. d. 1-34, or so) ; the second contains for us the Acts of the Apostles, and of SS. Peter and Paul in particular (A. d. 34-66, or so); while over the third is spread the lifetime of S. John, and, in part, of other Apostles and Apostolic men. Now, it is to the second of those periods, almost entirely, with some little reference to the third, that our thoughts are to be directed in what here follows. Our enquiry is, in other words, to be concerned chiefly wi...« less