It may be only fair to suppose that those good men, by whose means a new order of things was brought into the church, and the free ministry of the Holy Spirit in the members of the body excluded, had the welfare of the church at heart. It is evident that Ignatius, by this arrangement, hoped to avoid "divisions." But, however good our motives may be, it is the height of human folly—if not worse—to interfere with, or seek to change, the order of God. This was Eve's mistake, and we all know the consequences too well. It was also the original sin of the church, from which it has suffered these eighteen hundred years.
The Holy Ghost sent down from heaven is the only power of ministry; but the Lord must be left free to choose and employ His own servants. Human arrangements and appointments necessarily interfere with the liberty of the Spirit. They quench the Holy Spirit: He only knows where the ability is, and where, when, and how to dispense the gifts. Speaking of the church as it was in the days of the apostles, it is said, "But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He [the Holy Ghost] will." And again, we read, "There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal," or for the profit of all. (1 Cor. 12.) Here all is in divine hands. The Holy Spirit dispenses the gift. It is to be exercised in acknowledgment of the Lordship of Christ; and God gives efficacy to the ministry. What a ministry—Spirit, Lord, and God—its source, power and character! How great, how sad, the change to king, prelate, or people! Is not this apostasy? But while we object to mere human appointment to office, qualified or not qualified, we would contend most earnestly for the ministry of the word to both saints and sinners.
The church alas! soon found that to hinder ministry, as it is set before us in the word of God, and to introduce a new order of things, did not hinder divisions, heresies, and false teachers springing up. True, the flesh, in the most real and gifted Christian, may manifest itself; but when the Spirit of God is acting in power, and the authority of the word owned, the remedy is at hand: the evil will be judged in humility and faithfulness to Christ. From this time—the beginning of the second century, and before it—the church was greatly disturbed by heresies; and as time rolled on, things never grew better, but always worse.
Irenaeus, a Christian of great celebrity, who succeeded Pothinus as bishop of Lyons, A.D. 177, has left us much information on the subject of the early heresies. He is supposed to have written about the year 183. His great book "against heresies" is said to contain a defense of the holy catholic faith, and an examination and refutation of the false doctrines advocated by the principal heretics.