69.  Why need I speak of the things of ancient days?  Who can test himself by the rules and standards which Paul laid down for bishops and presbyters, that they are to be temperate, soberminded, not given to wine, no strikers, apt to teach, blameless in all things, and beyond the reach of the wicked,215    1 Tim. iii. 2. 3; Tit. i. 7. without finding considerable deflection from the straight line of the rules?  What of the regulations of Jesus for his disciples, when He sends them to preach?216    S. Matt. x. 9; S. Luke ix. 3.  The main object of these is—not to enter into particulars—that they should be of such virtue, so simple and modest, and in a word, so heavenly, that the gospel should make its way, no less by their character than by their preaching.

ΞΘʹ. Καὶ τί μοι τὰ παλαιὰ λέγειν; Τίς δὲ, τοῖς Παύλου κανόσι καὶ ὅροις ἑαυτὸν παρεκτείνων, οὓς περὶ ἐπισκόπων καὶ πρεσβυτέρων ἔταξε, νηφαλίους, σώφρονας εἶναι, μὴ παροίνους, μὴ πλήκτας, διδακτικοὺς, ἀλήπτους ἐν πᾶσι καὶ ἀνεπάφους τοῖς πονηροῖς, οὐ πολὺ τὸ διαφεῦγον εὑρήσει τὴν τῶν κανόνων εὐθύτητα; Τί δαὶ ἃ τοῖς μαθηταῖς Ἰησοῦς ἐπὶ τὸ κήρυγμα πέμπων νομοθετεῖ; ὧν τὸ κεφάλαιον, ἵνα μὴ τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον λέγω, τοιούτους εἶναι τὴν ἀρετὴν, καὶ οὕτως εὐσταλεῖς καὶ μετρίους, καὶ ἔτι συντόμως εἰπεῖν, οὐρανίους, ὥστε οὐχ ἧττον διὰ τὸν τρόπον αὐτῶν, ἢ διὰ τὸν λόγον τρέχειν τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον.