fact that he was ordained by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. We may indeed reason on probabilities; in which case it would be very natural to suppose, that he became the subject of this ceremony when he was first sent out upon ministerial service:unless the present habit of "licensing," without ordaining, can be sustained by scrip- V tural law. The account of his missionary call is given in the Acts of the Apostles;* by attending to which, each inquirer must decide for himself to what presbytery reference is made.

It may further be asked, whether Timothy was not twice set apart by the imposition of hands to the work of the ministry; or whether Paul laid his hands upon him at the same time the presbytery did? I reply that I do not know. It might have been, or it might not have been, so. We shall presently see that even an apostle submitted to the imposition of hands, when sent out on a particular mission. A like occurrence might have taken place in Timothy's history, without prejudice to our argument, and without sustaining any claims to prelatical supremacy. But at the same time let it be remarked, that we often hear of the apostles laying their hands on individuals, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:-which thing Paul is recorded to have done, when he met at Ephesus certain disciples, whose instruction he found to be exceedingly limited. Let it further be stated, that when Timothy was called to the ministerial office, Paul was on the spot; having just returned from Jerusalem, where he had been consulting with the apostles and elders on the subject of circumcision; and that he selected this amiable young man as his companion at that particular time, in consequence of the warm recommendations given by the brethren. And to conclude this matter, let it not be forgotten that both Peter and John explicitly

Ch. xiii. S.

style themselves elders, so that it can require no very great stretch of imagination to suppose, nor is it an improbable conjecture, that Paul laid his hands on Timothy's head as a simple presbyter.

Again. In the church at Antioch, we are informed,* that there were certain prophets and teachers, who were ministering to the Lord; that during this solemn scene, the Holy Ghost said, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them:" and that, "when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they . sent them away. 99 Now let it be remembered that both Barnabas and Saul were ministers before this ceremony took place, and that they were expressly recognized as such at the very time the call was made. Here then are men set apart to a particular work by the imposition of hands, unaffected by any previous ordination to office they may have had.— Moreover, Paul was an apostle, and his investiture with that high office was wholly independent of any consultation with flesh and blood:-like the priests, called by express designation; like the eleven, commissioned by the Lord himself; or like Matthias, chosen by lot, and by immediate divine direction, on whose head the apostles laid not their hands. Yet, on the present occasion, he was set apart for the purposes of a particular mission by the imposition of hands; and that too by officers of a lower grade; which, according to our modern ideas of the etiquette of office, might seem to be considerably out of the way.-Nevertheless here is the scriptural fact.

Thus we have men ordained to offices, both high and low, by the imposition of hands; and we have men, already ordained to office, afterwards set apart to some particular service by the imposition of hands. Indeed the ceremony, solemn as it appears, has been appropriated, in scripture Acts, xiii. 1-3.

*

story, to a variety of objects. So the dying patriarch blessed Joseph's sons; Moses laid his hands on Joshua the son of Nun; and the children of Israel put their hands upon the Levites, when they were offered before the Lord.

Redeemer laid his hands upon young children, who were brought to him that he might bless them: and promised to his disciples, when he ascended up on high, that those who should believe, among whom elders, whose business it is to visit the sick, might be very readily included,—should lay hands on the sick that they might recover. In short, the apostle, in his epistle to the Hebrews, considers this ceremony of laying on of hands to belong to first principles, with which christians in that day ought to have been familiar.

Once more, and to return to the eldership:-Paul, in his first epistle to Timothy, gives some specific direction concerning elders, in which their ordination to office is not overlooked.* He first prescribes that the elders who rule well should be accounted worthy of double honour, especially those who laboured in word and doctrine. He next cautions him not to receive an accusation against any elder, but at the mouth of two or three witnesses; though, on the other hand, he requires that those who sin should be rebuked before all. He deems the whole a very solemn matter, and seriously charges the evangelist "before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, to observe these things without respect of persons." Still he admonishes him, in order to prevent, as far as a prudent course of conduct could prevent, a resort to disciplinary measures, not to be hasty in laying hands on any man. This admonition, as the whole nature of the passage evinces, is a prohibition forbidding him suddenly to ordain any man an elder: but to make due inquiry concerning his qualifications, his deportment, his social standing, &c. If this be so, then it was the general

* 1 Tim. v. 17-22.

habit to ordain elders by the imposition of hands; for the apostle, instead of telling the evangelist not to ordain any man suddenly, forbids him to lay hands suddenly on any man, as though these were synonymous phrases. The sin which he would prevent consisted, not in the imposition of hands, but in ordaining an elder too hastily: provided hands were not imposed hastily, he does not forbid the ceremony itself; while the implied fact that it had been, or the supposition that it might be, done so improperly, is a sufficient argument that this was the common form of ordination.

There is no gratuitous assumption in this argument; for the immediate context requires such an explanation. No other meaning can posssibly be attached to the phrase, lay hands; and no other officer is alluded to but the elder. This train of reasoning we take to be as conclusive as circumstantial testimony generally is; or as an argument can well be made, which is derived from brief historical allusions, that rest on the established customs of society.

This subject however is connected with another inquiry we have to make, and will be further illustrated by the remarks to which it may lead.

ces.

WHO POSSESSES THE ORDAINING POWER?

That apostles did ordain men to office, we have full proof: that evangelists did ordain elders, our text abundantly evinWhether any one of them did it singly, or unassociated with other apostles, or evangelists, or elders, it does not concern us to inquire. In the opening up of a new dispensation, whose principles would of course be in collision with the religious habits of both jewish and gentile com-. munities, the disciples must have been embarrassed by persecution, or involved in circumstances of necessity, which must provide for themselves. And moreover, let it be remembered, that it is no principle of the divine government,

to sacrifice a substantial moral benefit for any punctilio of form.

On this general subject, or the value of forms in certain cases, a passing remark or two, shewing the difference be tween the divine and human modes of proceeding, may not be out of place. On a certain occasion, when God commanded Moses to bring seventy men of the elders of the people to the door of the tabernacle, that he might put his spirit upon them, and consecrate them as fellow-labourers with this meek and faithful apostle, it seems that two of the seventy, Eldad and Medad-did not come to the door of the tabernacle, but remained in the camp. Why they acted in this manner, I pretend not to know; but it belongs to an honourable man always to suppose a good motive rather than a bad one:-perhaps they were necessarily detained. This, however, did not prevent the spirit from coming down upon them: they prophesied in the camp where they had remained. Such an occurrence would be thought strange now-a-days; for, judging by the command given to Moses, and the mode employed in the case of the rest, these two men were not formally ordained;-there was a flaw in their credentials. In fact, it was thought a strange proceeding then;-even Joshua would have forbidden them to speak, and it required all the prudence, humility, and influence of Moses, to prevent bad consequences from following.

How do we act? Alas! facts report but a melancholy answer. Thousands of our fellow citizens are without the

means of grace. Vacancies after vacancies stretch out a gloomy scene before us,—all waiting for young men of talent and learning, which our theological seminaries are supposed adequate to furnish. Year after year rolls by; death waits not the tardy approach of the messenger of peace; the love of many waxes cold; other sects avail themselves of the opportunity to increase their numbers; heart-burnings