continued by a carnal propagation, and by a natural descent from Aaron, which was to succeed in his office; so now, after that "Christ our High Priest is made a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec, whe was without father, without mother, without de❝scent," that carnal propagation justly ceasing, there is, through the virtue of the Holy Spirit, conveyed by apostolical ordination, a never-ceasing, uninterrupted, ministerial succession, spiritually propagated to the end of the world.

II. I have thus, briefly, out of holy Scripture shewn the source and fountain of all that authority, which the ministers of the Gospel are endued with, which is no other than the commission of Christ himself, and the power of his Spirit given to his Apostles, and through them and their successors, as through so many living channels, derived down, in a direct course, ta the Church in this present age. And if we consider the whole compass, and extent, and the several important charges of so high an office, we shall see the reasonableness, as well as the truth, of all this; we shall perceive not only that it is so, but that it is, absolutely, necessary that it should be so. Now it is, confessedly, the duty of a minister of Christ, as on the part of the people, to offer up their prayers to God; so on God's part, to sign and seal the pardon of their sins to them, and bless them in His name. And as no man can, for another man like himself, without being legally commissioned by him, seal covenants in his name; much less can any one take upon him to put the seals, which are the Sacraments instituted by Christ, to the new Covenant, without His express warrant and commission. Such a proceeding between man and

man

man is forgery, between subject and prince is treason but between man and God is sacrilege, is blasphemy, is an impiety beyond what words can express, or thought can reach. Let us put together what, at se veral times, and on several occasions, our Saviour has given in command to his Apostles, " Feed my sheep;

No!

teach all nations; baptize in the name of the Father, "and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; do this in "remembrance of me; whosesoever sins ye remit they "are remitted, and whosesoever sins ye retain they "are retained." These are no mortal sounds. they are His, whose most inward affairs they, His chosen ambassadors were to manage, even the Lord Christ's; by virtue of which the evangelical ministry "trans❝lates out of darkness into God's marvellous light," raiseth men from the earth, and brings God from heaven; by blessing visible elements makes them become invisible Grace, disposes of that Body which was given for the life of the world, and that Blood which was poured out to redeem souls; whatever it "binds on earth is bound in heaven, and whatever it "looses on earth is loosed in heaven;" when it sheds malediction on the heads of the wicked they perish, and when it revokes the same they revive! what dullness is it not to admire, what profaneness not to revere, so great an authority! What stupidity to think, that any but God can give it! It is He, and none but He! as St. John the Baptist, who was himself a man sent from God to the same purpose, speaks, “A man

can take unto himself nothing, except it be given "him from heaven." Glory be to God, who has given such power to men! for on men, weak, simple, sinful men, was, and is this high power conferred,

which even angels themselves, though in other things ministering spirits to the Church, cannot exercise. Who then shall undertake to exercise such a power without a special commission, which even an angel from heaven was not sufficient for? And who can but with the highest gratitude, and unspeakable joy, acknowlege God's infinite goodness and condescension, who, in pity to the weakness of our nature, has ordered, that all the sovereign medicines of Grace should be applied to us by the intermediate office of men! "men of like "infirmities and passions" with their brethren, who have this treasure in earthen vessels," as St. Paul speaks," that still the excellency of the power may "be of God, and not of us!"

Besides, as it was necessary in respect of the great ends and heavenly purposes, that have been mentioned, that this power should be, originally, from God, sa very fit and congruous also was it, that it should be, mediately, by men, to the end that it might be, openly, and visibly, conferred. For no inward call, though never so importunate, no pretence to a private mission from the Spirit, no measure of real knowlege, or wis dom, or gifts, or sanctity, can excuse, much less authorize, the assuming of this character, without being legally called, and outwardly sent by those, who have been in like manner legally, and openly, and solemnly, empowered to call and send. The bold, the deluded, and the designing, having, unhappily, acted upon this mistaken principle, we see how wide a door has been opened to enthusiasm, folly, and madnesss! and what is more horrible, all these have been attributed to the Holy Spirit by whoever was wicked, or impudent, or distracted enough to give out, he was sent by Him. Therefore

Therefore Christ himself took not on Him the office of a preacher, till he was, outwardly, commissioned to it, We were told before by the Apostle, "That He glori "fied not Himself to be a High Priest, but He that said "unto Him, Thou art my Son, this day have I be

gotten thee." This was in heaven the eternal designation of Him to the priesthood in the secret council of God. But the public commission, which He received in time, was the voice from heaven, "This is

my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased;" and till, publicly, owned by the audible voice of the Almighty Father, and the visible descent of the Holy Spirit, the Son of himself entered not upon His ministerial office," but from that time Jesus began to " preach." And as Christ did not take this honor to Himself, till outwardly " called, as was Aaron," so He did not leave it to the inward call of any of His disciples, to make themselves Apostles. But He first, openly, called and chose by name twelve, whom He ordained to that high office, and after chose seventy others into an inferior degree, their commission to preach and to baptize being the same, which the Apostles themselves had. And it is notorious, that the Apostles, after His ascension, as the increase of the Church required, chose others; and after fasting, and prayer, and solemn imposition of hands, sent them forth to exercise the several powers they had received; and by such an outward ordination, regularly, and lineally, continued, has the same commission, which they received from Christ, descended to us, and our Lord's promise been exactly verified, that "He would be with them," which could no otherwise, possibly, be, but by their lawful successors, " to the ❝ end

"end of the world." And if these things be so, is it not deplorable to consider the slight regard that is had among some to this mission, which both Scripture, antiquity, and reason tell us is so necessary to the very being of a Church? Is it not a matter of just indignation, to hear men, in defiance of this carnal ordinance, as they call it, venting their own absurd extravagances, and execrable blasphemies, under the pretence of new light and immediate impulses of the Spirit? For, we find, that a good assurance, a voluble tongue, and especially an irreverent contempt of the only power that can authorize to teach, is enough to set up a teacher! which is just as reasonable as it had been under the Law, when it was one part of the ministerial office to kill, to cut up, and divide the sacrifice, that any one that took himself for a more dextrous butcher, should, immediately, have set up for a priest, and tried his skill at the altar! But if he had, and the earth had not swallowed him up, or fire from heaven consumed him-he would have been stoned to death by the congregation!

I now proceed to speak somewhat briefly of the necessity of episcopal ordination, such as our Church, most agreeably to the Word of God, and the purest antiquity, useth,

The government, which, in the language of the earliest antiquity, we call episcopal, and which, as it appears by a multitude of places in Scripture to have been practised by the Apostles themselves; so also that it was, by imposition of hands, derived and committed by them to other particular single persons, as to Timothy and Titus, is as plain. If ordaining Presbyters and Deacons, if giving orders to the Churches, esta

blishing