differ from them, both with respect to doctrine and practice, will then be relinquished and cease. But most of them, if not all, will be greatly disappointed in their views and expectations with respect to this. A church will then arise, which will have all that is good, right, and excellent, in the different denominations and churches that exist now, or have been, and will renounce all the superstitions and corruptions, in principle or practice, which have taken place. Blessed are all they who are real members of the invisible church of Christ.

SECTION II.

Concerning the Officers of the Church.

EVERY distinct and particular church, in order to be complete, and properly organized, must have officers, or persons distinguished from the members in general, by being chosen and appointed to particular service and duties, who are to superintend the affairs of the Church, to preside and act a particular part, in teaching and exhortation, and administering the ordinances which Christ has appointed, and taking particular care of the temporals of the church.

Of these, pastors, elders, presbyters or bishops, are the first and most important. By these names, not different orders, higher and lower, or different offices, are meant; but one and the same person, in one and the same office, is called by all these names, and, therefore, they denote the same office. This has been abundantly proved by many who have attended to the subject; therefore it is needless particularly to attend to it here.

The apostles were a distinct and superior order of men, and appointed by Christ immediately, as extraordinary officers, to constitute the first churches, and to give infallible rules and laws to them, by which they were to be regulated and governed; in which extraordinary office they had no successors. The apostles were elders, or presbyters, or bishops, and more; they were appointed immediately by Christ, as infallible judges and dictators to the churches. They ordained presbyters or bishops, as being such themselves, in their ordinary capacity; but their extraordinary commission was not, nor could be transmitted to others, but died with them; and there have been no apostles in the church since their death, nor will there be any such officers again in the church to the end of the world.

The apostles ordained elders or bishops in the churches which they constituted, who were first chosen by the members of

these churches, or they did it with their consent. "And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed." (Acts xiv. 23.) The word in the original, here translated, when they had ordained, zeigoror,daries, signifies to point out persons by lifting up of hands, or voting, and the sense has been given in the following words: "When they had, with the concurrent suffrage of the people, constituted presbyters for them in every church;" or, "They ordained them elders by the votes of the people." The old English

Bible translates it, "When they had ordained them elders by election." This is essential to a free society of any kind, that the members of it should choose their own officers. There must be one or more elders in every church, in order to furnish it to all the duties and transactions of a church, and to have it complete. From the above quoted passage, it appears that one elder was ordained in every church, if not more. It appears, also, from the addresses which Christ sent to the seven churches in Asia, by his servant John, that there was but one elder in each of these churches, who is called the angel of the church.

The business of this office is, to preside in all the transactions of the church, to administer the ordinances of Christ, to preach the gospel, and lead in the public worship of the church"giving themselves constantly to prayer, and to the ministry of the word." (Acts vi. 4.) To teach, exhort, warn, reprove, and rebuke publicly and more privately. The qualifications and character of these elders or bishops are particularly given and stated by the apostle Paul, in his letters to Timothy and Titus. These pastors or bishops, being chosen by the church, are constituted officers, by being publicly ordained to that office by some other elders or elder, by laying on of hands. (1 Tim. iv. 14; v. 22. 2 Tim. i. 6.) Thus Timothy and Titus were directed by the apostle Paul to ordain elders. (1 Tim. v. 22. 2 Tim. ii. 2. Tit. i. 5.)

It has been supposed by some, that the right and power to ordain their pastors or bishops is in the churches; at least, that it is not wholly lodged in the hands of the elders, and confined to them; and there have been some instances of the ordination of ministers by the brethren of the church, without the assistance, or even the presence of any other elder or pastor of a church. But there does not appear to be any example of this, or warrant for it, in the Scripture. It is said, if the church have

Doddridge on the place.
+ Mr. Harrington.
Sce Doddridge's note on this verse.

no authority or right to constitute and ordain their own officers, then there must be an uninterrupted succession of ministers, from the apostles to the end of the world; and if this chain of succession be once broken or interrupted, it cannot be renewed again, but the succession must necessarily cease, and there can be no more ministers and officers in the church to the end of the world. To this it may be answered, that if this be an appointment of Jesus Christ, a constitution which he has made, that his church shall be furnished with ministers by such a succession from one to another, then he will take care that it shall never be interrupted, but shall be continued so long as there is a church on earth.

But to this it has been said, that we have no evidence that such succession has not in fact been interrupted many times; and not one minister or elder at this day can prove, or have any evidence himself, that he has been ordained, by one or more who have received this right and power to ordain, by an uninterrupted succession from the apostles; which he ought to have, in order to be satisfied that he has a right to act in this office; and to be able to prove it to others, in order to their receiving and treating him as an elder. Besides, if this succession could be proved, it must be brought down through the hands of the pope, and the false anti-Christian church, which is not the church of Christ, and necessarily interrupts the succession of the ministers of Christ.

Upon this the following things are to be observed:

1. If there be evidence from the Scriptures, that such an order and succession of men as officers in the church has been instituted by Christ, and is implied in the commission which he gave to his disciples, "Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." (Matt. xxviii. 19, 20.) This is sufficient, positive proof that such a succession of ministers does in fact take place in the visible church of Christ, and that this commission has been transmitted down from one to another, from that time to this day; and this succession has not been interrupted, and will not be, to the end of the world. This, therefore, may safely, and with all desirable certainty, be taken for granted, without any further positive proof, by every minister of the gospel, unless there be strong positive evidence that such succession has been interrupted with respeet to him, and that he has been irregularly introduced to that office by him or them who have not had their commis

7*

sion and authority to ordain handed down by succession from the apostles to them.

Therefore, since the above-recited commission implies that there should be a succession of officers in the church to the end of the world, to proselyte, baptize, and teach men to observe the institutions and commands of Christ, to whom he has promised his presence and assistance; and since the apostles appear to understand their commission in this light, and to practise upon it accordingly, by ordaining elders in every church which they formed; and elders or presbyters ordained others by laying on their hands; and they who were so ordained were directed to commit the gospel, that is, the preaching and dispensation of it, "to faithful men, who should be able to teach others also;" and to lay hands upon them, not suddenly, but after proper examination and acquaintance, (1 Tim. v. 22. 2 Tim. ii. 2,) which can be nothing less or more than ordaining them to the work of the ministry; and Titus is directed to ordain elders in every city in the island of Crete; (Tit. i. 5; since all this is evident, and certainly so, and there can be nothing found in the Scripture to contradict such a succession appointed by Christ, or in the least inconsistent with it, it may and ought to be considered as positive evidence that there is, in fact, such an uninterrupted succession, sufficient to satisfy the judgment and conscience of an honest man, who is ordained to the work of the evangelical ministry, that he has derived his ordination and commission from Christ, by an uninterrupted succession, unless there be positive proof to the contrary, with respect to his ordination.

2. Though the succession of ordinations, in order to its being uninterrupted, must come through the hands of the pope, and the ministers of the church of Rome, (which is not certain, as it has been shown how it might be transmitted down by others who were not members of that church,) yet this affords no positive proof that a proper, uninterrupted succession has not taken place. A visible church may be very corrupt, and yet be a visible church of Christ, and the public administrations and acts of the officers of it authentic and valid. And who can prove that the pope and his adherents were visibly antichrist, and that the church of Rome was visibly not the church of Christ, but a false church, and was really and properly renounced and excommunicated by the true church of Christ, before the time of the reformation from popery? During the preceding dark times, there was not light enough, even among real Christians in general, to render that church visibly not the church of Christ; and so long as

this was the case, the officers, the ministers in that church, were visible ministers of Christ, and their visible acts, their ordinations, etc., were valid, notwithstanding they were very corrupt and wicked.* When the reformation came on, light arose and increased, and the great corruptions and wickedness of the church of Rome, and of particular churches included in it, and the irregularity and wickedness of the officers of it, and of their administrations, were clearly seen and exposed; and they were admonished, and great pains were taken to convince and reform the pope and his clergy, and all orders and degrees of men in that church. But they who still adhered to that church were deaf and obstinate, and refused to repent and reform. Upon which, those who were convinced of the errors and wickedness of that church came out and separated from it, and formed other churches more agreeable to the Word of God, among whom there were ministers, or numbers of the clergy, who had been ordained in the church of Rome, while that was visibly a church of Christ. They, by the consent of the reformed churches, took the oversight of them, and administered ordinances, and ordained others to be elders in the churches; and in this way an uninterrupted succession of ordinations and ministers in the Protestant churches in general has taken place, and may continue down to the end of the world, and certainly will, if this be the will and appointment of Christ, though the church of Rome should be considered now not the visible church of Christ, and properly excommunicated, agreeably to the laws of Christ; and though there may have been some instances of irregular ordinations, and which have not taken place in this succession in some Protestant churches.

3. There is satisfactory and abundant evidence from history and otherwise, that it has been the general, if not the universal, custom of the churches to ordain ministers by the laying on of the hands of others who were before so ordained, and that great care has been taken to keep up a succession in this way. And even those churches who have believed they had

A minister in the purest church may be a very wicked man, and practise abominable vices. But so long as this is not visible and known, he is a visible minister of Christ, and his public administrations are as authentic and valid as those of any other minister, until he is detected, and his wickedness becomes visible, and he is deposed from his office in the church by those who have a right to do it, according to the laws of Christ. So the church of Rome was visibly a church of Christ, till there was light to discover, or eyes to see, the corruptions and wickedness of it, and the veil and covering was taken off, so that the marks of the beast and the great harlot, described in the Scripture, were publicly seen to be upon it, and events took place by which it was visibly rejected by Christ, for the great apostasy of which the members of it had been guilty, and who continued visibly impenitent.