erward he
taught us, that whatever work or office any one might have, he should
discharge it as though God wrought in it. But the present passage
refers particularly to the bishops or pastors as to what their
fitness and conduct should be. But here you must pause and learn the
meaning of the words. The expression presbyter or priest is a Greek
word, rendered in Dutch an elder, just as in Latin these were called
senators; that is, a number of aged, careful men of much experience.
So Christ also has called his officers and his council, who bear
spiritual rule; that is, who are to preach and provide for some
christian church. Therefore you must not mistake, though they are
called at the present day by a different title, priests. For of those
who are now called priests, Scripture knows nothing. Put the real
state of things as it now comes to pass out of sight, and apprehend
the matter thus: that St. Peter and the other Apostles, when they
arrived at a city where there were faithful people or Christians,
have selected there some few aged men of honorable standing, having
wife and children, and being well-grounded in the Scriptures. These
were called presbyters. After this Peter and Paul call them
_Episcopos_, that is, bishop. So that priest and bishop are one and
the same thing. Of this we have a fine example in the legend of St.
Martyn, where an individual, with several companions, arrives in
Africa at a certain place, and perceives a man lying there in a
hovel, whom they took for a husbandman, though they knew not who he
was. Afterwards, when the people had come together at that place,
this very man arose and preached, when they perceived that it was
their pastor or bishop; for at that time they were not distinguished
from other people by their peculiar kind of clothing and attendance.

Those elders, says St. Peter, who are to care for and to oversee the
people, do I admonish, who am also one. Hence you clearly perceive
that they whom he calls _elders_, have been in the ministry and have
preached, since he speaks of himself also as an elder. And here St.
Peter humbles himself--does not say that he was a Lord, although he
might have had authority for it since he was an Apostle of Christ,
and speaks of himself not only as a fellow-elder, but also as a
witness of the sufferings that were in Christ. As though he had said,
I do not merely preach, but am a partaker with Christians, even
suffering Christians. Thereby he shows th