'Have I conceived all this people?  Have I begotten them, that Thou

shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father

beareth the sucking child?' (Num. 11:12).

It is evident that Paul intended the Thessalonians to understand that

he had been both nursing -mother and nursing -father to them.  A ministry

that can be likened to such wonderful figures as these, must be a ministry

that is gentle, cherishing, characterized by a willingness to impart one's

own self, a labour that makes no charge for its services, and a ministry that

exhorts, comforts and charges, with the object that the children of such love

and care should 'walk worthy of God, Who hath called you unto His kingdom and

glory' (1 Thess. 2:12).

It is important to note the two sides of this wonderful ministry.

There is the gentle cherishing that we rightly associate with the mother's

care; and the exhortation and discipline that fall to the father's lot.  Both

are necessary, whether for the actual child at home, or for the believer

growing up in the faith.  All gentleness, or all discipline, is not good for

either child or saint.  A blend of the two, with the unselfishness that

characterizes the feelings of a parent, is as near an ideal of ministry as

this world affords.

As we begin to realize the length and breadth of Christian ministry, we

are driven to exclaim with the apostle, 'Who is sufficient for these things?'

It is a joy to know that the same grace that enabled Paul to be a wise master

-builder, an ambassador in bonds, an under -rower, and a nursing -mother and

nursing -father, is at the disposal of all who are engaged in the Lord's

service.  And we can remember, too, that we are never called upon to exhibit

to our fellows any grace that has not first been shown towards us in

superabounding measure.

It is remarkable that the controversy between Episcopalians and

Presbyterians that was waged with so much bitterness years ago, should have

been associated with two names which have fundamentally the same meaning.

The Anglo -Saxon language tends to smoothness of speech.  Thus the Scottish

'kirk' becomes the English 'church', and the Greek word episkopos becomes the

English 'bishop'.  The word 'presbyter' that gives us the other term, means

an 'elder', and by comparing the passages where episkopos and presbuteros

occur in the New Testament we discover that these two words are two titles of

the same office.  The literal meaning of the word episkopos is an 'overseer',

and the word is so translated in Acts 20:28:

'Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the

which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of

God, which He hath purchased with His own blood'.

The same 'overseers' or 'bishops' are called 'elders' or 'presbyters'

in Acts 20:17, showing that the titles are interchangeable.  The word is

translated in its four other occurrences by the word 'bishop'; and in one of

these references the title is applied to Christ Himself:

'For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the

Shepherd and Bishop of your souls' (1 Pet. 2:25).