Page:The Church, by John Huss.pdf/209

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THE CHURCH WITHOUT POPE

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presbyter Evagrius, Dist. 93, Legimus [Friedberg, 1: 328], when he says: "What does the bishop do, except ordain, that the presbyter does not do? Nor is the church of the city of Rome one thing, and the church of the whole world another. And the church of Gaul and of Britain and Africa and Persia and the Orient and India and all the barbarous nations adore one Christ and observe one rule of truth. If authority is sought, the world is greater than the city. Wherever there may be a bishop, either at Rome, Constantinople or Alexandria, the bishop is of the same merit and of the same priesthood. The power of riches and the lowliness of poverty make^[1] the bishop either higher or lower. Besides," he says, "all are successors of the apostles." So we see that the pope and his cardinals are not the only successors of Christ.

The same is made to appear by Bede who, commenting on Luke 10:1 [Com. on Luke, Migne's ed., 92: 461], "The Lord hath appointed seventy-two others," says: "There is no one who doubts that just as the twelve apostles prefigured the class of bishops, so these seventy-two the class of presbyters and bore the mark of the second order of the priesthood."^[2] From the things already said it is shown that others than the pope and cardinals may be given and found as true successors of the apostles. Inasmuch, therefore, as by Christ's appointment in the days of the apostles, two orders of the clergy sufficed for his church, that is, the deacon and the priest, as the saints say, and also the Decretum, 93, Dominus Noster (Friedberg, 1: 329], where it runs: "The Lord chose apostles, disciples, bishops and presbyters,

↑ Huss's text omits non and also Rhegium and other cities of whose bishops Jerome makes mention.
↑ The number, seventy-two, is given by some MSS. and in the Vulgate. Bede goes on to say that in the first period of the church, as the Scriptures bear witness, the terms bishop and presbyter were used interchangeably. The Venerable Bede, d. 735, the first English scholar, wrote commentaries, and on many subjects, but is more particularly known by his Eccles. History, a history of England from the time of Cæsar to 731. Huss as well as Wyclif quote Bede frequently.

[1] Huss's text omits non and also Rhegium and other cities of whose bishops Jerome makes mention.

[2] The number, seventy-two, is given by some MSS. and in the Vulgate. Bede goes on to say that in the first period of the church, as the Scriptures bear witness, the terms bishop and presbyter were used interchangeably. The Venerable Bede, d. 735, the first English scholar, wrote commentaries, and on many subjects, but is more particularly known by his Eccles. History, a history of England from the time of Cæsar to 731. Huss as well as Wyclif quote Bede frequently.

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