BISHOP. 



modified according to the peculiar genius of each, a* the Italian 

 rora; Spaniah, ofttBO; and French trf</*t ; as well an the German, 

 Ur-Ao/; Dutch, MwdCw ; and Swedish, euhp. 



The won) tptmpt* literally signifies "an inipeetor or sunerinten- 

 dent;" and the etymological sense expreaMi even now much of the 

 actual sense ol the word. The peculiar character of the bishop's office 

 might be iiipmaiul in one word euperintendency. The bishop U the 

 overseer, overlooker, superintendent in the Christian Church, aod an 

 exalted station is allotted to him, corresponding to the important 

 dutiea which belong to his office. It was not, however, a term which 

 wai invented purposely to describe the new officer which Christianity 

 introduced into the tocial system. The term existed before, both 

 among the Greeks and Latins, to designate certain civil officers to 

 whom belonged some species of superintendency. (See Harpoorat. or 

 Ruidw in roc. Mvinmn.) Cicero (' ad Att,' lib. vii. ep. 11) speaks of 

 hiniKolf as appointed an MOKOTTOS in Campana. 



It has long been a great question in the Christian Church what kind 

 of miperintendency it was that originally belonged to tin- bisho>>. This 

 question, as to whether it was originally a miperintendency of pastor* 

 or of people, may be briefly stated thus : Those who maintain that it 

 was a superintendency of pastors challenge for bishops that they are 

 an order of ministers in the Christian Church distinct from the order 

 of pfesbyteis, and standing in the same high relation to them that (he 

 apostles did to the ordinary ministers iu the church ; that, in short, 

 they are the successors and representatives of the apostles, and receive 

 at their consecration certain spiritual graces by devolution and trans- 

 mission from them, which belong not to the common presbyters. This 

 is the view token of the original institution and character of the bishop 

 in the Roman Catholic Church, in the English Protestant Church, and 

 we believe in all churches which are framed on an episcopal constitu- 

 tion. Episcopacy is thus regarded as of divine institution, inasmuch as 

 it is the appointment of Jesus Christ and the apostles, acting in affairs 

 of the Church under a divine direction. There are, on the other hand, 

 many persons who contend that the superintendency of the bishop was 

 originally in no respect different from the superintendency exercised 

 by presbyters as pastors of particular churches. They maintain that, 

 if the question is referred to scripture, we there find that bishop and 

 presbyter are used indifferently to indicate the same persons or class of 

 persons, and that there is no trace in the scripture of two distinct 

 orders of pastors; and that if the reference is made to Christian 

 antiquity, we find no trace of such a distinction till about 200 years 

 after the time of the apostles. The account which they give of the 

 rise of the distinction which afterwards existed between bishops and 

 mere presbyters is briefly this : 



When, in the ecclesiastical writers of the first three centuries, we 

 read of the bishops, as of Antioch, Ephesus, Carthage, Rome, and thu 

 tike, we are to understand the presbyters who were the pastors of the 

 Chrictian churches in those cities. While the Christians were few in 

 each city, one pastor would be sufficient to discharge every pastoral 

 duty among them; but when the number increased, or when the 

 pastor became enfeebled, assistance would be required by him, and 

 thus other presbyters would be introduced into the city and church of 

 the pastor, forming a kind of council around him. Again, to account 

 for the origin of dioceses, or rural districts which were under the super- 

 intendency of the pastors, it was argued that it was the cities which 

 first received Christianity, and that the people in the country places 

 remained for the mort part heathens or pagans (so called from 

 a country village) after the cities were Christianised ; but that never- 

 theless efforts were constantly being made to introduce Christian truth 

 into the villages around the chief cities ; and that whenever favourable 

 opportunities were presented, the chief pastor of the city encouraged 

 the erection of a church, and appointed some presbyter either to 

 reside constantly in or near to it, or to visit it when his sen-ices were 



required, though still residing in the city, and there assisting the chief 

 ]Mtor hi his ministrations. The extent of country which thug formed 

 a diocese of the chief pastor would depend, it is supposed, on the civil 

 distributions of the period; that is, the dioceses of the bishops of 

 Smyrna, or any other ancient city, would >>e the country of which the 

 inhabitant* were accustomed to look to the city for the administration 

 of justice, or in general to regard it as the seat of that temporal 

 authority to which they were Immediately subject 



All this is represented as having gone on without any infringement 

 on the right* of the chief pastor, of whom there was a regular eerie*. 

 Lists nl them are preserved in many of the more ancient rh 

 ascending, on what may >>c regarded sufficient historical testimony, and 

 with few breaks in the continuity, even Into the second and first 

 oentnries. Bishops are however found in church. for which thin 

 high antiquity cannot l>c claimed. In these cases they are supposed to 

 be cither hi countries which did not fully receive Christianity in tin- 

 very earliet times, or that tl,.- bi-.h..| or chief pastors delegated a 

 portion of that superior authority which they possessed over the other 

 preabytein to the presbyter settled hi one of the churches which xvos 

 originally subordinate. This is supposed to have been the origin of 

 the distinction among the chief pastors of bishops and archbishops, 

 there being itlll a slight reservation of superintend en cy and authority 

 m the original over UM newly created chic* pastor*. 



If this view ..f the origin of the episcopal character and office be 

 WM i<wl| it wlU follow that originally then WM no wwntiil difltrtnce 



between the bishop and the presbyter, and also that the duties which 

 belong to UM pastor of a Christian congregation were performed by UM 

 bishop. But when the increase of the number of Christian* rendered 

 assistants necessary, and this became a permanent institution, then Uw 

 chief pastor would divest himself of those simpler and cosier duties. 

 which occasioned nevertheless a great consumption of time, a* a 

 matter at once of choice and of necessity. Having to think and to 

 consult for other congregations beside that which was peculiarly hu 

 own, aod to attend generally to schemes for the protection or extension 

 of Christianity, he would have little time remaining for catechising, 

 preaching, baptising, or other ordinary duties; and especially when it 

 was added that he had to attend councils, and even was called to assist 

 and advise the temporal governors in the civil and ordinary affairs of 

 state. When Christianity, instead of being persecuted, was coun- 

 tenanced and encouraged by the temporal authorities, it was 1000 

 perceived that the bishop would be a very important auxiliary to the 

 temporal authorities; while in agea when few beaidei ecclesiastical 

 persons had any share of learning, or what we call mental cultivation, 

 it is manifest that the high offices of state, for the performance of the 

 duties of which much discernment and much information -were 

 required, must necessarily be filled by ecclesiastics, who might be 

 expected, as we know to have been the case, to unite spiritual pre- 

 eminence with their high political offices. The Lord High Chancellor 

 of England was always an ecclesiastic, and generally a bishop, to the 

 time of Sir Thomas More, in the reign of Henry VIII. 



The functions which belong to the -bishop are in all countries 

 nearly the same. We shall speak of them as they exist in the English 

 Church. 1. Confirmation, when children on the threshold of maturity 

 ratify or confirm the engagement entered into by their sponsors at 

 baptism, which is done in the presence of a bishop, who may be 

 stood in this ceremony to recognise or receive into the Christian Chun h 

 the persons born within his diooese. 2. Ordiiution. or the :i- 

 mcnt of persons deemed by him properly qualified, to the office of 

 deacon in the church, and afterwards of presbyter or priest. .">. 

 secration of presbyters when they are appointed to the office of ' 

 4. Dedication, or consecration of edifices erected for the performance 

 of Christian services, or of ground net ajKirt for religious purposed, M 

 especially for the burial of the dead. 5. Institution or colic 

 vacant churches in his diocese. 8. Superintendence of the com I 

 the several pastors in his diocese, in respect of morals, of reni 

 and of the frequency and proper ]>crformancc of the public services ol 

 the church. And 7, Excommunication ; and, in the case of ministers, 

 deprivation and degradation. 



These are the most material of the functions which have been 

 retained by the Christian bishops, or, if we adopt the theory of apostolic 

 succession, which have from the beginning been exercise] by them. 

 To these it remains to be added, that in England they are the medfam 

 of communication between the king and the people in respect of all 

 affairs connected with religion; and that they are an important 

 constituent part of that great council of the realm which is called 

 parliament. 



Whatever kind of moot, assembly, or c<mn<-il for the advice of the 

 king there was in the earliest times of the English monarchy, the 

 bishops were chief persons in it. The charters of the early N". 

 kings usually run in the form that they are granted by the assent and 

 advice of the bishops as well as others ; and when the ancient great 

 council became moulded into the form of the modern imrliann 

 bishops were seated, as we now see thrui. in the rpjier HOUM>. It in 

 argued that they sit as borons [B.\noxJ, but the writ of summons 

 runs to them as bishops of such a place, without any referring t,> the 

 temporal baronies held by them. Down to the period of the Reforma- 

 tion they were far from being the only ecclesiastical persons who had 

 scats among the hereditary nobility of the land, many abbots and 

 priors having been summoned also, till the houses over which they 

 .1 were dissolved, and their office thus extinguished. II. nry 

 VTIT. created at that time six new bishoprics, and gave the 1 

 placed in them seats in the same assembly. But before the- nation 

 hod adjusted itself In its new position, there was a powerful party 

 rained in the country, who maintained that a government of the church 

 by bishops was not accordant to the primitive practice, and who sought 

 X back the administration of ecclesiastical affair* to the state in 

 which there was an equality among all ministers, and win- 

 authority was vested in synods and assemblies. Churches upon this 

 model had been formed at Geneva and in Scotland ; and when this 

 party became | ..... lomiii.-int in (lie- ]uirli;im.-nt ..f 1'il'J. a bill Was pasaad 

 for removing the bishops from their seate, to which the king gave a 

 it and forced assent. It was soon followed by an nitii-p dis- 

 solution of the Episcopal Church. At the Restoration this A> 

 repealed, or declared invalid, and the Em- 1 a since 



had Beats in the House of Lords, except that on the er.-ction of Man- 

 chester into a see, it was enacted that tl I shall 



not have a scat, and the bishop of Sodor and Man never had one. 

 They form the Lords Spiritual, and constitute one of the three estates 

 of the realm, the Lords Temporal and the Commons (the titrt flat) 

 being II 'ut of this ho arisen the question, now laid at 



huthi-r bill has passed the House in a constitutional rat 

 it it has happened that no Lord Spiritual was present at any of jt 

 tagts. When the Houe become* a court for the trial of a peer 



