will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them'."

I am aware that many persons regard these, and other similar promises contained in the prophecies, as referring to the temporal restoration of Israel, and the conversion of the Jews; but, even if this secondary acceptation be admitted, it will not exclude the sense in which the promises have generally been received by the Christian Church in all ages, as announcing to her that dignity and independence of outward circumstances, which has enabled her to controul spiritual wickedness in high places, to influence the whole frame of civilized society, and to diffuse the blessings of charity throughout the habitable globe.

My limits preclude me from entering further into the discussion of this part of the question, and oblige me to leave un

1 Isa. lxi. 6, &c.

noticed many declarations of the Scriptures from which the same conclusions might readily be drawn. And I purposely pass over the obvious, and, I think, the unanswerable argument, that the State owes to its subjects the same duties, on a larger scale, which parents owe to their children; the first of which, in importance, is to provide them with sound religious and moral instruction, and to guard them against erroneous opinions and false principles; and how can this be done, without the establishment of a National Church?

The contrary system involves the impracticable attempt to frame our public and our private character upon different, and, indeed, opposite principles to be Christians in the closet, and heathens in the senate; to be churchmen at home, and latitudinarians abroad; to be just, and pure, and charitable in our individual capacity, but to adopt the practice of the world in our social relations; to serve

God when alone, but to cast off His fear and renounce His faith in the arduous discharge of our most conspicuous and important duties.

II. But if it be the will of God that the governnent of a Christian community should be Christian in its constitution, in other words, that there should be an Established Church, it will hardly be denied that the discipline and doctrine of that Church must be framed entirely according to Divine Revelation, and in no respect accommodated to secular interests. The Church must be Apostolical. Its ministers must derive their commission and authority from a spiritual Head; and they must prove that commission, they must exhibit that authority, not by the gratuitous assertion of an inward call to preach the Gospel, of which there can be no means to ascertain the genuineness or sincerity; but by the ordination of a competent authority, empowering them to teach in the Church, and to administer

its ordinances 1. The argument of St. Paul on this head is conclusive. No man is to take this office on himself, but he who is called of God, as was Aaron". Now, although no one will presume to doubt that Aaron was inspired by the Holy Ghost, it is remarkable that his inward call is passed over in silence, and mention is made only of his formal appointment and consecration; and yet this is the call and the ordination to which the Apostle refers as the indispensable pattern for a Christian ministry. The necessity of a conscientious conviction is not questioned; the offence of counterfeiting it is not palliated but surely the essential requisite of a regular commission can scarcely be more unequivocally pointed out than in this comparison to the hereditary priesthood of Aaron.

1 Si enim hæretici sunt, Christiani esse non possunt. Tert. de præsc. Hæret. c. 37.

2 Heb. v. 4.

3 Exod. xl. 12, &c.

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But, if a minister must be ordained by some lawful and competent authority to preach the Gospel and administer the sacraments, where is that authority? An ambassador must produce his credentials; a messenger must show his token; "How shall they preach," St. Paul asks 1, cept they be sent ;" and, in this case, who will presume to send ambassadors in the name of the King of kings, or messengers from the Divine Head of the Church! Certainly, unless we can prove an outward and visible commission, derived directly from Him, we have no claim to become His ministers.

If the mere profession of an inward call be insufficient, it is at least equally clear that no authority can be derived from those who possess none themselves2; and, consequently, that no ordination to

1 Rom. x. 15.

2 Quisnam tam demens qui-aliquem, quod ipse non habeat, dare alteri posse-arbitretur. Lactantius, Lib. i.