ful St. Gregory was, that nothing (hould be done irregular or indecent, even in the Infancy of a Church. The preaching of the Gofpel being a pecuHar Office of the Miniftry, he permits not the Laity to aifume any fhare in the facred Employment, enjoining, that the very Inter- preters they made ufe of (hould be Men in Orders, and honour'd with the Prie(tly Dignity, as well to avoid all Pretences from a contrary Precedent of the Laity's medling in facred things, as alfo to encreafe the number of the Labourers, in Preaching and Baptizing, ^c. in cafe the Harveft ffaould prove great. That Su Gregory order'd Augujiine td do this, appears from an Epiflle of his to Tbeoderic and Thcodeberti Kings of the Franks* For having recommended Auguftin and hM Companions to them^ he adds ; Quibus etiam injtwximuSy ut dliquos Juum e viclno dsbsanP Fresbytms dncere^ cum quibus mum pofflnt mentes agiif |
Page:Elizabeth Elstob - An English-Saxon homily on the birth-day of St. Gregory.djvu/112
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An Homily on the