of the people, prescribed the form of the worship, and the order of the officiating ministries. The high groves, in which his idolatrous service was performed, might be supposed the peculiar residence of Baal, in which he gave instruction to his priests; and the impious policy of Jeroboam, in setting up an idolatrous altar at Bethel, was indebted for its success principally, if not entirely, to his reference to the divine authority in the deliverance from Egyptian bondage, and to the insinuation, that the one God who was every where present might be worshipped with the same faeility at Bethel as at Jerusalem. Even in the patriarchal ages, concise as is the account which the inspired historian presents of their principles and practice, evident marks may be traced of the divine institution of sacrifice; and it is natural to conclude, that some persons were set apart or ordained for men, in things thus pertaining to God, to offer these gifts and sacrifices for sins. Melchisedek was priest of the most high God, and his sacerdotal character was immediately recognized by Abraham when he received his solemn benediction, and offered him the tenth of his spoils. In the right of primogeniture, the office of the priesthood was included; and profaneness could not have attached to Esau from the sale of his birthright, if that act had not implied an alienation of the priesthood also in favour of Jacob, who now became the type of the great High Priest, the first-born among many brethren ". In a succeeding age, and according to a more dis • 1 Kings xii. 22. A Heb. xii. 16. P Gen. xiv. 18, 19, 20. Heb. vii. 1, 4. tinct account, the order of the Levitical priesthood and the minutest article of the Jewish ritual were ordinances of God, who would not suffer any beside the priests to serve at his altar, nor even the priests to disturb the order which he had appointed; and it cannot be supposed, that the religion of Christ, which was the perfection and accomplishment of that of Moses, and of which the establishment was designed from the beginning, and gradually introduced by a long succession of types and prophecies, should be deprived of advantages, which the Jew possessed, especially as the eternal priesthood of Christ was represented and typified in the priesthood of Aaron, and as the divine ordination of Aaron was not a singular fact adapted to a particular institution, but founded on the universal principle, that no man can take this honour unto himself. Under these direct and positive regulations of the Jewish and patriarchal priesthoods, it may be asked, whether there is any thing in the nature or constitution of the Christian Church to justify the supposition, that the forms and orders of its ministry are left to the arbitrary discretion of men. The supposition does not require an elaborate refutation. The Christian Church is not formed on a republican scale: it is not a tumultuary association, in which every man may choose his own station, and act his own part. It is a society, depending upon one universal Lord, possessed of certain privileges, administered by certain officers, regularly commissioned and acting under responsibility, and so combined and consolidated, that its very smallest divisions hold dependence on the common head, and maintain mutual connection with each other, without any dissolution of the social bond, without any disturbance of the original constitution, and of the order respectively assigned to every man. In this manner it is represented as a kingdom, in which the Sovereign rules with unlimited sway, and by his ministers provides for the execution of his laws, and dispenses his favours to subjects, who receive the one with gratitude, and obey the other with simplicity. It is a family, of which the Lord by his Stewards distributes to every man his proper gift, and assigns to all their proper office t. It is the flock of the chief Shepherd, folded under various pastors". It is a building, of which the several stones are not thrown together at random, nor left to arrange themselves, but are disposed by the great Architect, resting on a foundation, and held together by the chief cornerstone. It is a body, of which every separate member is formed in perfect symmetry, and ordained to a proper use ". In these figurative descriptions of the Church, all idea of its human constitution is excluded, and the ordaining and ruling power is reserved exclusively to God. The scriptural designations of the Christian Ministry imply the same doctrine. They are Ambassadors, sent by the Prince of peace, not elected by the subjects, whom he hath reconciled *. They are Stewards, not chosen by the servants whom W s Matt. xvi. 19. xxviii. 18, 19. Col. i, 13. 1 Thess. ii. 12. Matt. x. 25. Lake xii. 42. 1 Cor. iv. 1. Ephes. ii. 19. iii. 15. 1 Tim. iii. 15. Heb. iii. 6. "Luke xii. 42. John x. 1—16. xxi. 15, 16, 17. Acts xx. 28. Heb. xiii. 20. 1 Pet. ii. 25. v. 2, 4. 1 Cor. iii. 9. Eph. ii. 20, 21, 22. 1 Peter ii. 5. 4, 5. 1 Cor. xii. 12-27. Eph. iv. 4, 12, 16, 25. v. 30. Col. i. 18. * 2 Cor. v. 20. Eph. vi. 20. w Rom. xii. they are to rule, but having authority from the Lord and Master". They are Shepherds, not appointed by the sheep, but instructed by the great Shepherd of our souls. They are Ministers of the New Testament, executing the will of the Testator, and administering the legacy of peace, which he hath left to his people. They are Soldiers, acting under the Captain of our Salvation, and not commissioned by the disorderly, whom it is their office to restrain. They are Workmen in the husbandry of God, appointed by the Lord of the harvest, rightly to divide the word of God, to cut straight the furrow, and sow it with the seed of Truth". If in the language of Scripture there be any analogy, these designations of the Ministers of the Gospel denote that their power is neither assumed by themselves, who are represented as passively receiving it, nor conferred by the multitude, who are not described as being in a situation to convey it. Frequent and distinct mention is made of certain officers, deputed to execute certain offices, into which they are not allowed to intrude at their own discretion, and which they cannot discharge with validity and effect, without a regular and authoritative commission. The authority, which has prescribed the order of civil and domestic society, which probably regulated the heathen and patriarchal, and which certainly instituted the Levitical Priesthood, is divine. The same authority is required y 1 Cor. iv. 1. Titus i. 7. xi. 23. John xiv. 27. 2 Thess. iii. 6, 12. ix. 11. 2 Tim. ii. 15. z 1 Cor. iii. 5. iv. i. 2 Cor. iii. 6. vi. 4. a 2 Tim. ii. 3. Heb. ii. 10. 1 Thess. v. 14. b Matt. x. 10. Luke x. 2, 7. 1 Cor. iii. 9. in the circumstances in which the Christian Church is placed in the world, and is implied in the terms under which the sacred writers speak of Ecclesiastical persons; terms, which are either unmeaning or ambiguous, and perpetually liable to be misunderstood, unless they lead to the conclusion, that the constitution of the Christian Church, and the origination of the Christian Ministry, are the work and ordinance not of man, but of God. To these presumptive proofs may be finally added the master principle of Christian politics, that power is of God, that the powers that be are ordained of God, that they originate in the wisdom of his institution, and are supported by the power of his providence; and it is reasonable to assume, that He who is the Author of civil, is also the Author of ecclesiastical power; and that he hath not taken more interest in those things which affect the persons and properties of men, than in those which concern their spiritual welfare, and the edification of their souls. There cannot be more than three methods of deriving power to man; either immediately from God, as in the nomination of Saul to the throned, and Aaron to the priesthood; mediately from God by virtue of succession from a divine original, as Solomon inherited the sceptre of David', and the Levites the office of Aaron; or entirely from the suggestion of man, as in the usurpation of Jeroboam", and the inconsiderate zeal of Uzzah. Power of the first description Rom. xiii. 2. Heb. v. 4. d 1 Sam. x. 1. i 1 Chron. xiii. 9. e Exod. xxviii. 1. 8 Numb. xx. 25-28. |