nected with ordination by apostolic example, and should be perpetuated'; not as essential to its validity, nor as conveying any grace, virtue, or influence, but for the same reason for which the apostles practised it-because the teaching of nature, and the example of good men in all ages concur with the divine sanction of the act under the Mosaic dispensation, as an act appropriate to so solemn an occasion. The legitimate use of the practice is its public moral influence. It is fit and proper, that the ministers present, acting in be-half of all the ministry and of the churches, should, by some significant, outward act, as well as by words, express their hearty approval and consent to the induction of one to this sacred office, and this is done in the solemn act of laying on of hands.

This investigation of the subject brings us to the following conclusions:

1. That no mysterious or peculiar gift, or influence, is conferred in ordination. No apostolic virtue, no sacred clerical fluid, is transferred from one person to another. A minister is the same physically, intellectually, and spiritually, after ordination, as before. His relations and obligations, only, are changed. All that is conferred in any part of ordination may, from its nature, come from private Christians as well as from ministers, for no minister can impart his own ordination, or the essence of it, in any sense, to another minister. The notion that the presence or agency of an ordained minister is necessary to impart sanctity or validity to the ordination of another, by virtue of his own ordination, is unsupported by scripture, and is absurd. Ordination can no more propagate or perpetuate ordination, than conversion can propagate conversion; or than one man chosen to be President, can impart his office, or the virtue of it, to another.

2. That the ministry proceeds from the church, not the church from the ministry; that the ministry is for the church, and not the church for the ministry; that the ministry of each church holds authority in the church, and not that the whole ministry, as a body, is to rule over all the churches.

3. That the benefits or the validity of preaching, or of the

ordinances, baptism and the Lord's supper, are in no sense dependent on the validity, or even on the regularity of the administrator's ordination. Neither scripture nor reason teaches, that there is any such connection between these institutions, as that any irregularity in one, destroys the validity, or prevents the benefits of the others. If a man has been irregularly introduced into the ministry, the blame rests with him, or with the church, or the ministry concerned in the act, or on them all; and they must meet the consequences, and not the innocent and unsuspecting disciples to whom he may have preached, or administered the sacraments of the gospel.*

4. That the vows assumed, and the pledges given, in ordination, by the candidate, the church, and the presbytery, are of the most solemn character, requiring the utmost cau

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* The lengths to which prelatical pride and ecclesiastical fanaticism have gone in desperate attempts to convince the world that "there can be no church without a bishop," nor valid or beneficial ordinances except those administered by prelates, or clergymen ordained by prelates, will scarcely be credited. All, except those who have received the sacraments at the hands of Episcopally ordained ministers, are declared by the High Church writers to be unbaptized," " and "out of the pale of the church.” 'They and their children," says Palmer, "are as the heathen." Neither the preaching nor the ordinances administered by men not Episcopally ordained, they assert, can be of the least spiritual benefit. And all these consequences, they pretend, follow because the ministry have not been ordained by a prelate in "Apostolic succession." Yet the principle above stated, is held to be sound in civil law. A marriage contract, the most solemn and sacred of all is not vitiated by any official defect on the part of the officiating functionary.

"No marriage, solemnized before any person professing to be a justice of the peace, or a minister of the gospel, shall be deemed or adjudged to be void, nor shall the validity thereof be in any way affected on account of any want of jurisdiction or authority in such supposed justice or minister, or on account of any omission or informality in the manner of entering the intention of marriage, or in the publication of the bans; provided that the marriage be in other respects lawful, and be consummated with a full belief, on the part of the persons so married, or of either of them, that they have been lawfully joined in marriage.”—Revised Statutes of Mass., Part II, Tit. 7, Chap. 75, Sect. 24.

tion, prayerfulness, and sincerity, on the part of all concerned. No minister is obliged to consent to the ordination of a person whom he deems unworthy, nor to take part in the public services after a council has voted it, and it is an act of presumptuous wickedness to assist in vesting with the sacred functions of the ministry one of whose worthiness he is not fully convinced. 1 Tim. 5: 22.

5. That the dogma of the necessity of a historical succession of ministers from the Apostles downward, in order to give validity to ordination, is without foundation either in reason or scripture.

All questions relative to the validity or sufficiency of ordination performed by other religious bodies, must be settled by reference to the principles above established: viz., whether the individual has received the call or election of a properly constituted church and the public recognition of the ministry and presbytery of such churches; and whether he has assumed ordination vows to practice and promote that form of church order, doctrine, ordinances, worship, and government, which the churches to whom he proposes to minister have received as of divine appointment. If he has received the election of such a church, and the sanction of such a ministry, to preach the doctrines, perform the ordinances, and sustain the church order maintained by such churches and ministry, he ought to be received as a regularly ordained minister of the gospel; otherwise he has no claim to be so received, and should be ordained to the ministry as though no such service had taken place. This conclusion, it will be seen, is arrived at irrespective of any questions whether the churches or the ministers of the religious body to which the candidate previously belonged are true churches, or a true ministry; since it is manifest that a man is not ordained to do that which he did not agree to do when the alleged ordination was performed. If his views of church polity, ordinances, and government, are changed, so that he desires to sustain those which he before opposed, he should give a public pledge and receive public testimonials accordingly.

SECT. 6. Summary of Principles.

The reader who has thus far patiently and attentively followed this investigation of the fundamental principles on which churches are constituted, according to the scriptures, will now be gratified to see the results arrived at, in a condensed form; for convenient reference. Those principles of polity, which are essential to the existence, the functions, and the lawful organization of a true and scriptural church of our Lord Jesus Christ, may be thus briefly summed up:

The Holy Scriptures, containing an authentic revelation of the will of God, of supreme authority in all matters relating to doctrine, morals, church order, discipline, and ordinances, are addressed to the reason and consciences of men, who consequently have the right to take them for their guide, and in obedience to their instructions, any competent number of persons may form themselves into a distinct church; to profess and promulgate what they unitedly believe to be the teachings of the scriptures, and to maintain christian worship.

It is the duty of eyery man to repent, believe the gospel, be baptized, seek religious instruction and christian fellowship, connect himself with a gospel church, and partake of the Lord's Supper.

Persons who profess to believe in and obey the Lord Jesus Christ, and whose lives conform to that profession, should be admitted as church members; and no others.

The holy catholic church is composed of all the truly regenerated on earth; who being known to Him only who searcheth the heart, it cannot be a visibly organized body.

A visible church is a company of baptized believers, voluntarily associated in a sacred covenant to obey and execute the commands of Christ.*

The formative union, or incorporation of believers into a church, is made by a voluntary covenant, or agreement, expressed or implied.

* Since this work was written, the author has met with the following definition, by that profound scholar and thinker, as well as

It is the right and duty of every church to declare what it considers the will of Christ to be, in respect to ordinances, moral duties, the terms of communion, and church order, and to govern all its members accordingly.

Every church derives its ecclesiastical power immediately from the Lord Jesus Christ, comes into possession of it by conforming to his will, and is accountable directly to him for its rightful exercise.

Church power cannot be delegated, nor can it be increased by an aggregation of churches, or a denominational league, since each church is complete for all the purposes of its formation, and may perform the highest acts of judicial power.

.A church properly consists of no more members, including all who usually assemble with them, than may conveniently meet in one place for worship.

44. Churches are independent of each other, and of all others, so far as authoritative interference or control is concerned; yet they sustain an intimate relationship, and are bound to watch over each other in love.

The power to receive persons to the fellowship and privileges of the church, or to expel offenders, therefore, in accordance with the laws of Christ, is vested in the whole body.

The members of a church have the right to choose their own officers, and this election is the essential part of ordination; though the relations of churches and ministers, as well as apostolic example, render a public recognition or

unrivalled poet, John Milton; in his "Treatise on Christian Doctrine, compiled from the Holy Scriptures alone."

"The visible church is either universal or particular.

"The universal visible church is the whole multitude of those who are called, in every part of the world, and who openly worship God the Father through Christ, in any place whatever, either individually, or in conjunction with others.

"A particular church is a society of persons professing the faith, united by a special bond of brotherhood, and so ordered as may best promote the ends of edification,and mutual communion of the saints."