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The strictest precaution was exercised by the church to guard against the introduction of unworthy or unsuitable persons into the ministry. Several classes of persons were accordingly excluded from ordination, such as the following.
The exceptions above mentioned are comprised in the following lines:
Besides the foregoing negative rules, there were others of a positive character prescribing the requisite qualifications for ordinations.
The age at which our Lord entered upon his ministry is frequently alleged as a reason for requiring the same age in a presbyter and bishop. That was usually the lowest canonical age. Children were sometimes appointed readers. The age of subdeacons, acolyths, and other inferior officers, was established at different times, at fifteen, eighteen, twenty, and twenty-five years.
The extracts in the margin show how carefully the church observed the apostolic injunction to lay hands suddenly on no man.
(* denotes Greek text in Rev. Lyman Coleman's translation.)
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