The Church historical Society. President:-THE Rt. Reverend M. CREIGHTON, D.D., LORD BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH. The Voice of the Church and the Bishops (III). BY THE REV. R. B. RACKHAM, M.A., OF THE COMMUNITY OF THE RESURRECTION. PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE TRACT COMMITTEE. LONDON: SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C.; 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C. BRIGHTON: 129, NORTH STREET. NEW YORK: E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO. ii. but are not infallible acceptance of the whole body B. In the first four centuries i. the bishop is the teaching authority a. its character of witness PAGE • 97 98 100 102 · 104 109 ib. iii. the utterance of the general council must be ratified by the general ac- 130 • 134 THE VOICE OF THE CHURCH AND THE BISHOPS. διὰ τοῦτο ἔχοντες τὴν διακονίαν τάυτην . . . οὐκ ἐγκακοῦμεν . τῇ φανερώσει τῆς ἀληθείας συνιστάνοντες ἑαυτοὺς πρὸς πᾶσαν συνείδησιν ἀνθρώπων ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ.—2 Cor. iv. 1, 2. WE start to-day with the assumption that there is such an utterance as the voice of the church, the vox ecclesiae: that the church has in technical language a magisterium or office of teaching: that in view of our Lord's commission to His apostles (St. John xx. 21, St. Matt. xxviii. 19) this magisterium is authenticum, or in other words has authority in matters of faith,-an authority which we can trust, relying upon the guidance of the Holy Ghost and the presence of our Lord with His church even unto the end of the world" (St. John xiv. 17, 26, xvi. 13; St. Matt. xxviii. 20). 66 Our object is to inquire How does this vox ecclesiae speak? how are we to discern the true voice of the church among the many kinds of voices in the world? And as the subjects of these lectures are to be treated historically, we shall endeavour to obtain our answer by examining how in matter of fact did the voice of the church find expression in the first three or four centuries of its history. A Let us begin then with the apostolic age and observe what happened. We find certain letters of individual apostles addressed to individual churches or to the church at large, and we find the writers writing with calm but absolute assurance of authority: they write as uttering the truth, which will without question be accepted by those to whom they write. False teachers indeed there are and will be-who resist, but this very resistance only throws into greater relief the certainty of the apostles' tone. Higher authority-other than inspiration of God or the word of Christ-they know not; even to other coordinate, and therefore limiting, authority there is extremely little reference 2. In fact we might look upon the apostolic epistles as a series of decretals. On the sur 1 e g. Diotrephes (3 John 9): cf. Jude 4, etc. 2 in 2 Peter we have references to the "apostles" (iii. 2), and to St. Paul (iii. 15). face these remarks apply chiefly to the catholic epistles, for in the epistles of St. Paul we do find considerable reference to other authorities in the church: but in this case it is simply to declare St. Paul's entire independence of them. He gives an account of his intercourse with "James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars," but it is to assure us that he did not receive his gospel from them, nor indeed "from men or through man" at all1. If then the epistles generally resemble decretals, St. Paul in his claim to authority and in his no less exacting claim. on the obedience of his converts stands out as a very pope. Even in St. Paul's epistles however we can trace a distinction in the tone and claim of authority. When he speaks with absolute authority, he is speaking "in the person of Christ:" but at times he speaks in his own person, as an individual he gives his own. judgement-"I, not the Lord 2"-and then his opinion is weighty indeed 3 but not binding. Further we have direct statements 4 which show that the truth which he asserts 1 Gal. i. and ii. 3 for he 21 Cor. vii. 12. also has the Spirit of God" (1 Cor. vii. 40). 4 I Cor. xi. 23, XV. 3. 425566 |