DISCOURSE III. Some of the Sayings Τίς ἄρα ἐστὶν ὁ πιστὸς οἰκονόμος καὶ φρόνιμος, ὃν καταστήσει ὁ κύριος ἐπὶ τῆς θεραπείας αὐτοῦ, τοῦ διδόναι ἐν καιρῷ τὸ σιTOμÉTρLOV; St. Luke xii. 42. THE Sayings of our Lord which we have hitherto acknow- considered, fulfilling many predictions and proledge governors in mises of former times, first announced His own the Church. eternal Royalty, and then put His Church, represented in the Apostles, into His own place upon the earth. With her, and in her, He promised to be ever present; and the completion of this holy delegation by the fulfilment of His promised presence, was to take place when He had ascended in the flesh to heaven. Thus far the sacred commission, office, and delegation, seem to have been entrusted to the whole Church as one body in Christ. All the faithful, baptized into one body, and having drunk of one Spirit, constitute that single Vine, that single Spouse, that single Church, which altogether, each member discharging its own separate duty and ministry, is sent into the world by Christ, even as He was sent by the Father. As one in Christ, the Church is the heir of Abraham's promise. As one in Christ, she is royal, priestly, and prophetic. As one, she has the indwelling Presence, the truth, the grace, the hope, and the salvation. As one, she is the Temple of the living God', from within which sacred enclosure, "what prayer or supplication soever be made by any man, or by all his people, God will hear in heaven his dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways"." But though in the Apostles the whole Church was thus completely represented in all its estates and degrees, so that the humblest of lay Christians, in his own single person, truly and unquestionably inherits many of the great blessings and privileges pronounced upon the Apostolic Company alone, we nevertheless perceive, on a very cursory survey of the remaining Sayings of the great Forty Days, that some of them are spoken to the Apostles as governors, teachers, pastors of the Church, and belong to them and their successors in these capacities to the end of the world. This distinction is fully recognized in the anticipatory discourses of Christ which have been already noticed. In the twelfth chapter of St. Luke, of which we have already cited the passage 1 2 Cor. vi. 16. 2 1 Kings viii. 38, 39. H 3 from ver. 32 to ver. 40, as containing a very signal promise of the kingdom to the Church, St. Peter is recorded to have asked, exactly to our present point, "Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even unto all 3 ?" Our Lord, in His reply, not denying, perhaps affirming, the application of His recently uttered words "unto all," that is, to the whole Church, thus confirms the particular application of them to the Apostles themselves. "Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink and to be drunken; the lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers." Stewards, therefore, there are, who are rulers over God's household, having authority over their fellowservants, appointed to give them their respective portions of "meat in due season," who are charged with a separate responsibility, and encouraged with a higher reward. 3 St. Luke xii. 41. Perhaps the truest way of regarding these sacred Sayings in this respect, is to look upon them all as having this double application. In this view they do refer "to all," and yet they do refer also, more especially, to the Apostles; that is, they may be taken as said to the Apostles, partly as the representatives, and partly as the rulers of the Church, or, more exactly, as the representatives, and therefore the rulers of the Church. It is in this manner that St. Augustine says, that "it is confessed that the strong things which are said to St. Peter are said to him, inasmuch as he bears the figure of the Church *;" and, interpreting the passage in which our Lord breathes on the Apostles and imparts to them the power of absolution, alleges that "the Apostles bore the character of the Church, and so these things were said to them as if they were said to the Church; so that it is the peace of the Church which forgiveth sins"." Thus it is because the Church is royal, that the Apostles rule on thrones; because the Church is priestly, that the Apostles absolve; because the Church is prophetic, that the Apostles are the teachers of the world. The gift which is diffused in all is concentrated in them. It is in all, because it inheres essentially in the Body of Christ, which all together are; it is in them, because they have the * S. Augustin. Enarr. in Ps. cviii. (4. 1215.) 5 S. Augustin. de Bapt. adv. Donat. lib. iii. c. xviii. (9. 117.) V. The separate duty of ordained shepherds, and overseers of the flock. As Christ is both the Head and the Body, both the Door and the Shepherd, both the Sacrifice and the God of the Sacrifice; so are His people, too, kings and subjects, priests and penitents, trusted with the oracles of God and disciples; so are His Apostles and their successors sheep as well as shepherds, sinners and subjects as well as guides and comforters of their brethren. However, there are three of the Sayings of these great days which do most clearly impart authority within the Church. The first of these is thus recorded by St. Matthew: "Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you "." And again by St. Mark: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature"." And it is thus referred to in the words recorded by St. Luke: "Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem 8." When we combine these Sayings into one, we find that the Apostles were directed to go forth to all the world, to all nations, to every creature; 7 St. Mark xvi. 15. 6 St. Matt. xxviii. 19. 8 St. Luke xxiv. 46. |