it is probable that they would consult them, and use their judgment, in matters in which they possessed better and more immediate opportunities of information than themselves; as in the trial of Bishops and Deacons, who were required to be blameless, a character, which seems to imply the deliberate testimony of competent judges, and to exclude the disorderly votes of a promiscuous multitude. The Presbyters certainly acted in conjunction with the Apostle, in laying their hands on the person ordained, as is still the practice of Episcopal Churches, and as was exemplified in the ordination of Timothy, in which the operative part of the ceremony was performed by St. Paul, from whose act therefore the ceremony derived its validity, with the concurrence of the Presbytery, in the mere form of imposition of hands, for the greater solemnity of the act. There is however no scriptural precedent of ordination, conferred by those who were raised to no other rank than that of Presbyters; no record of the conveyance of this privilege; no directions concerning the use of it; no reproof of its neglect or misuse, nor any intimation concerning it, except the prophecy, that the time would come, when men would not endure sound doctrine, but having itching ears would heap to themselves teachers, according to their own lusts, and would turn away their ears from the truth, and would be turned unto fables": a prophecy, corresponding with that which St. Paul had himself delivered to the Ephesian Presbyters, and the accomplishment of which Timothy

* 1 Tim. iii. 2, 10, 11. Titus i. 6. 1 Tim. iv. 14. 2 Tim. i. 6. "2 Tim. iii. 4. x Acts xx. 29, 30.

was left at Ephesus to prevent. It is recorded indeed, that the prophets at Antioch laid their hands on Barnabas and Saul, but it was not to ordain them, for they had previously received and exercised ministerial authority, and were included in the list of the prophets at Antioch, and was no more than a form of recommending them to the favour of God, in the particular ministry, for which the Holy Spirit had separated them and in the ordination of Presbyters in every Church by Paul and Barnabas, the latter acted only as the assisting Presbyter, unless indeed, as is more probable, he was now invested with the Apostolic character. The original word, which is used on this occasion, has led some persons to suppose, that a popular election is implied, an opinion in immediate opposition to the clear evidence of the text. In the use of the classic writers, it is not denied, that the word generally denotes a shew of hands, or the suffrages of the people, in favour of any person proposed to their choice, or any measure submitted to their decision; in the sacred writings it certainly means a personal act, as it is applied with reference to God, and it may mean a popular election. The grammatical construction of the text requires, that the act implied in this word should be appropriated exclusively to the persons, who prayed with fasting, who commended either the people or the presbyters to the Lord, and who passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia; and these were unquestionably Paul and Barnabas. When it was pretended, that the Apo

y 1 Tim. i. 3.

c Acts xiv. 23.

Z Acts xiii. 3. d Acts x. 41.

a Ver. 1. b Acts xiv. 26. e 2 Cor. viii. 19.

stles took" the votes and suffrages of the members of the Churches, shewn by the stretching out of the hand, as the word signifies, and which they directed them to, and upon it declared the Elders duly elected and ordained," some authority should have been produced for this signification of the word; and it should have been shewn, that the officer, who proposed the election, was said to stretch out the hand, and be the organ of the sentiments of the people. If the stretching forth of the hand, however, be confined to the Apostles, as the order of the history and the construction of the text require, no variation of the version will countenance the supposed right of popular election; and to specify the nature of the action was the less necessary, as it is illustrated by the detailed form of laying hands upon the seven Deacons, upon the Presbyters whom Timothy was to ordain, and yet more clearly in the detached records of his ordination..

The Apostles, deeply interested for the welfare of the Churches, which they had severally planted, on various occasions personally visited them, and inspected their order and sincerity in the faith, or commissioned others to visit them with delegated authority. Personal visitations were held by St. Paul over the Churches at Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, of Phrygia and Galatia, and for a similar purpose the elders of Ephesus were summoned to Miletus". Visitations by persons acting with deputed, or, if a more modern expression may be allowed, with suffragan authority, may be exemplified in the mission of Peter and John

f Acts xiv. 21. s Acts xviii. 25.

h Acts xx. 17.

m

to the converts at Samaria', and into the deputation of Timothy and Erastus, into Macedonia, of Timothy' and of Titus " to Corinth, of Tychicus to Ephesus by himself", and to Colosse in connection with Onesimus, and of Timothy to Thessalonica". These persons carried letters of recommendation from the Apostles, who required the Churches to which they were sent to receive them; maintaining at the same time a scrupulous jealousy of their proper jurisdiction, and warning them to beware of unauthorized intruders.

At the time of these visitations, confirmation, with imposition of hands, was administered to such as had been previously baptized. Thus did St. Paul lay his hands on those disciples of John at Ephesus, who had been baptized into the name of Christ; and thus, according to a more exact and particular relation, did Peter and John lay their hands on those disciples at Samaria', who had been converted and baptized by Philip, the Deacon," who, though full of the Holy Ghost, left their confirmation, as an act which exceeded the limits of his office, to be performed by those superior ministers, to whom it belonged." Confirmation is confessedly an ordinance of Apostolical institution, and was exclusively administered by the Apostles. They also took a chief part in the congregations, in which they were present, in the celebration of the death of Christ; and it is certain that the words of institution', primarily relate to their

k Acts xix. 22.

1 Cor. iv. 17. xvi. 10.

Eph. vi. 22. • Col. iv. 8, 9. P 1 Thess. r Acts viii. 17. s Luke xxii. 19.

9 Acts xix. 6.

G

administration, but not in such a manner, as to exclude that of the inferior orders, since St. Paul repeats them in his Epistle to the Corinthians, at a time when no one superior to a prophet was resident among them. On the same occasion he speaks of the cup which we bless, and of the bread which we break"; and when the disciples were assembled at Troas to break bread, Paul preached to them and when the principal design of their meeting was delayed by the long discourse of St. Paul, by the accident of Eutychus and the Apostles miraculous recovery of him, they seem to have waited the leisure of Paul, till he came up again, and had broken bread and eaten. That they were in the habit of administering baptisın, does not appear. St. Paul expressly declares, that he had not baptized any of the Corinthians, but Crispus and Gaius and the household of Stéphanas, and that Christ indeed had not sent him to baptize, but to preach the Gospel. Persons converted by the preaching of the Apostles were immediately baptized; but it is not reported that the Apostles officiated on the occasion. Cornelius on his conversion by St. Peter was with his family immediately baptized; but the names of those who baptized them are not specified, though Peter is certainly excluded: the converted gaoler and his family may have been baptized by Silas; and the Ephesian disciples by Timothy or Erastus: and it is an important coincidence, that when Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, yet Jesus himself baptized not, but his

t 1 Cor. xi. 24, 25. u Ver. 16. x Acts xx. 11. y 1 Cor. i. 14, 16, 17. z Acts x. 48. a Acts xvi. 33. b Acts xix. 5.