For instance, I think I can hear certain people answering, that the Clergy are folk of three kinds;--Bishops, who overlook the Church; Priests, who sacrifice for the Church; Deacons, who minister to the Church: thus assuming in their answer, that the Church is to be sacrificed _for_, and that the people cannot overlook and minister to her at the same time;--which is going much too fast. I think, however, if we define the Clergy to be the "Spiritual Officers of the Church,"--meaning, by Officers, merely People in office,--we shall have a title safe enough and general enough to begin with, and corresponding too, pretty well, with St. Paul's general expression [Greek: proistamenoi], in Rom. xii. 8, and 1 Thess. v. 13. Now, respecting these Spiritual Officers, or office-bearers, we have to inquire, first, What their Office or Authority is, or should be? secondly, Who gave, or should give, them that Authority? That is to say, first, What is, or should be, the _nature_ of their office? and secondly, What the _extent_, or force, of their authority in it? for this last depends mainly on its derivation. 195. First, then, What should be the offices, and of what kind should be the authority, of the Clergy? I have hitherto referred to the Bible for an answer to every question. I do so again; and, behold, the Bible gives me no answer. I defy you to answer me from the Bible. You can only guess, and dimly conjecture, what the offices of the Clergy _were_ in the first century. You cannot show me a single command as to what they shall be. Strange, this; the Bible gives no answer to so apparently important a question! God surely would not have left His word without an answer to anything His children ought to ask. Surely it must be a ridiculous question--a question we ought never to have put, or thought of putting. Let us think of it again a little. To be sure,--It _is_ a ridiculous question, and we should be ashamed of ourselves for having put it:--What should be the offices of the Clergy? That is to say, What are the possible spiritual necessities which at any time may arise in the Church, and by what means and men are they to be supplied?--evidently an infinite question. Different kinds of necessities must be met by different authorities, constituted as the necessities arise. Robinson Crusoe, in his island, wants no Bishop, and makes a thunderstorm do for an Evangelist. The University of Oxford would be ill off without its Bishop; but wants an Evangelist besides; and that forthwith. The authority which the Vaudois shepherds need is of Barnabas, the Son of Consolation; the authority which the city of London needs is of James, the Son of Thunder. Let us then alter the form of our question, and put it to the Bible thus: What are the necessities most likely to arise in the Church? and may they be best met by different men, or in great part by the same men acting in different capacities? and are the names attached to their offices of any consequence? Ah, the