1. The native signification of yjipo-ovsu, by virtue of its composi- tion, is to "lift up" or " stretch forth the hands," or a hand. And hereunto the LXX. have respect, Isa. Iviii. 9, where they render ^d^ i'^y^, "the putting forth of the finger," which is used in an ill sense, by -/iiporovia. XfiporovsTv is the same with rag yj7pag a'ipttv, nor is it ever used in any othei' signification.
2. The first constant use of it in things political or civil, and so consequently ecclesiastical, is to choose, elect, design, or create any person an officer, magistrate, or ruler, by suffrage or common consent of those concerned. And this was usually done with making bare the hand and arm with lifting up, as Aristophanes witnesseth : —
62 TRUE NATURE OF A GOSPEL CHURCH.
'E^&ifyiia'aa'ais tov inpov (ifx'^iovx. — Eccles. 2G6.
He is a great stranger unto these things who knoweth not that among the Greeks, especially the Athenians, from whom the use of this word is borrowed or taken, ^siporovla was an act 6'X»j$ r^; sxiiXri'^iag, "of the whole assembly" of the people in the choice of their officers and magistrates, xs/^oroi/sw is " by common suffrage to decree and determine of any thing, law, or order;" and when applied unto per- sons, it signifies their choice and designation to office. So is it used in the first sense by Demosthenes, Orat, De Corona, oS'. 'o 6^,«,o5 rag sij,ag yi/WjCias Tipi ffcozTipiag rtjg 'xCXiug l^siporovsi, — " The people con- firmed my sayings by their suffrage;" and in the other, Philip. 1, O'jTS (SouXi^g, c'lfTS drj/Mov •^siporovyjsavTog ahtov^ — " Neither the senate nor the people choosing him to his office," So is the passive verb used, " to be created by suffrages." xstporovta was the act of choosing ; whose effect Avas -^yi^iafia, the determining vote or suffrage. "Por- rexerunt manus: psephisma natum est," saith Cicero, speaking of the manner of the Greeks, Pro Flacco, 7. And when there was a divi- sion in choice, it was determined by the gi'eater suffrage : Thucyd. lib. iii. cap. xlix., Ka/ syevovro h rfi ^sipoTOvla dy^oj/MaXof sxpuTJ^ffs ds r, TOV Aiodorov, As many instances of this nature may be produced as there are reports of calling men unto magistracy by election in the Greek historians; and all the further compositions of the word do signify to choose, confirm, or to abrogate, by common suffrage.
3. The word is but once more used in the New Testament, 2 Cor. viii. 19, where it plainly signifies election and choice of a person to an employment : Xnporovi^Ssig vTh ruv s7iy,X7}<!i;^v ffuv'sxdrifiog riiMuv — "He was chosen of the churches to travel with us."
4. It is acknowledged that after this was the common use of the word, it Avas applied to signify the thing itself, and not the manner of doing it. Hence it is used sometimes for the obtaining or colla- tion of authority, or dignity, or magistracy, any manner of way, though not by election: " to appoint," " to create." But this was, by an abusive application of the word, to express the thing itself intended without regard unto its signification and proper use. Why such a use of it should be here admitted no reason can be given ; for in all other places on such occasions, the apostles did admit and direct the churches to use their liberty in their choice. So Acts xv. 22, " The apostles and elders, with the whole church, sent chosen men of their own company to Antioch," such as they chose by common suffrage for
^ This passage is not in the first Philippic, though in that speech ^ufioronia occurs frequently in the sense referred to. Owen seems to have found this sentence in Stephens, Tvho does not specify where it actually occurs in Demosthenes. The following expres- sions, however, are to be found in it, and are sufficieirt authoi-ity for the statement of
our author: Ol» l-^^eipor/ivsTTS Tt l^ vftuy avruv ^ixa rx^iap^ovs E/j rriy ayopav x^ifo-
mvUTi Tsui Ta^iap^ov;. — Ed.
THE OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH 63
that end; so again, verse 25. " Whomsoever ye shall approve, them will I send," 1 Cor. xvi. 3 : the church chose them, the apostle sent them. " Who was chosen of the churches to travel with us," 2 Cor. viii. 19. "Look ye out among you," Acts vi. 3. If on all these and the like occasions, the apostles did guide and direct the people in their right and use of their liberty, as unto the election of persons unto offices and employments when the churches themselves were concerned, what reason is there to depart from the proper and usual signification of the word in tliis place, denoting nothing but what was the common practice of the apostles on the like occasions?
5. That which alone is objected hereunto, by Bellarmine and others who follow him and borrow their whole [argument] in this case from him, namely, that yjipoTov7]Cavrii;, grammatically agreeing with and regulated by Paul and Barnabas, denotes their act, and not any act of the people, is of no force; for, — (1.) Paul and Barnabas did pre- side in the whole action, helping, ordering, and disposing of the jjeople in the discharge of their duty, as is meet to be done by some on all the like occasions; and therefore it is truly said of them that "they appointed elders by the suffrage of the people." (2.) I have showed instances before out of the Scripture, that when a thing is done by the people, it is usual to ascribe it unto him or them who were chief therein, as elsewhere the same thing is ascribed unto the whole people.