siastical authority; and one Christian can only exercise it over another by proving he has received such authority from Christ. Accordingly, our Lord selected a body of men from among his disciples, and set them over his infant church, saying: " He that receiveth you receiveth me," (Matt. x. 40 ;)" He that despiseth you despiseth me," (Luke x. 16;) for " He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me," (John xiii. 20.) This was the fundamental principle at the first institution of the Christian clergy, that they represented Christ, in his office of "Shepherd and Bishop of souls," (1 Peter ii. 25.) We have before seen that He is represented, in some capacity or other, by the husband to the wife, by the parent to the child, by the master to the servant; but in none of these relations is Christ so plainly set forth and represented as by the minister to his flock. If Christ is disobeyed and denied by a transgression against the duty owed to a husband, a father, or a master, much more directly is he rebelled against by a wilful infraction of our duty to those whom he has deputed to represent him in the CHURCH. The primitive clergy received from our Lord, before his ascension, a regular commission, with an outward sign of subordination: "As my Father sent me, even so send I you," said Jesus to the Apostles; and "when he had said this he breathed on them, and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost," (John xx. 21, 22.) This delegated ministerial authority they were commanded to extend into all nations and countries, and to perpetuate to the end of time: "Go ye into all the world," (Mark xvi. 15,)" 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, unto the end of the world," (Matt. xxviii. 19, 20.) In order to carry into effect this commission, extending to all the globe and to the end of time, and which included the functions of teaching, baptizing, and ruling in the name of Christ, the Apostles delegated their authority to other men, by ordination. (See Acts xiv. 23.) They also granted to certain chosen men the very power of ordaining, and the same mission which they had received from Christ. (See 1 Tim. i. 11, 18; 2 Tim. i. 6; Titus i. 5; 1 Tim. v. 22. History, and the surviving works of early Christian writers, abundantly testify, that as the Father had sent Christ, and Christ had sent the Apostles, and the Apostles had sent the primitive clergy; so these transmitted their delegated authority and office to others, according to one uniform rule and practice in every country where the Apostles had founded branches of the universal Church. Consequently, every minister received authority in the congregation from the Apostles, either immediately from their own hands, or mediately through one or more successive delegations. And exactly in the same manner has the power of baptizing, ministering, and ruling in the Church been perpetuated. The clergy have always been a distinct body, not self-constituted, but sent, as ambassadors of Christ himself. (2 Cor. v. 20.) No powers of eloquence, or extent of knowledge, or burning zeal, or eminent piety, can transform a layman into a clergyman; not even the being elected by a congregation, mounting a pulpit, preaching, baptizing, and administering the Lord's Supper, can transform a layman into a clergyman, or render his ministrations valid. If he be not ordained in the manner instituted throughout all nations by the Apostles, and continued uninterruptedly in the Church until our time, he cannot speak or act in the name of Christ. The rule (John xiii. 20) that "He who receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me; and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me," is the single ground of ministerial office in the Christian Church; and all who stand not on this ground, have not entered by the door, but have climbed over the wall. "Verily, verily, he that entereth not by the door into the sheep-fold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber: But he that entereth in by the door, is the shepherd of the sheep." (John x. 1, 2.) The door by which Christ's shepherds enter into his sheep-folds, is ordination. If any one desires, in this day of multiplied sects and rival denominations, to investigate the ministerial question, in order to be preserved from following a false shepherd, "whose own the sheep are not," because the Chief Shepherd has not committed them to his pastoral care, I recommend such an inquirer to procure Sinclair's "Dissertations on the Church." The question of episcopacy is there treated with an amplitude and clearness of historical evidence which I have not found in any other recent work, and which must always render it a desirable addition to any library. The names by which an office is designated by the Holy Ghost, must always convey much light as to the nature and functions of that office. Scripture speaks of the clergy as ANGELS, (Rev. ii. 1, 8, 12, &c.) that is, messengers, (which the word angel means,) sent by Christ, in the manner and for the purposes pointed out in this essay; as AMBASSADORS, (2 Cor. v. 20,) which adds to the idea of a person sent, that of a person officially representing the sender, and able to produce credentials entitling him officially to represent the absent party-this should be remembered, for in baptism and in the Lord's Supper, especially in the former, the minister acts in the name of Christ, officially admitting a heathen into the visible church; and to do this without proper authority is a sinful usurpation, and possibly a useless and ineffectual ceremony; as PASTORS, (Eph. iv. 11,) which assimilates the clerical office to the occupa tion of a shepherd-a shepherd guides his flock to pasture and water, cares tenderly for the sickly and the young, goes after wanderers, and watches against thieves and wild beasts; as BISHOPS, or overseers, (Phil. i. 1; 1 Tim. iii. 1, 2: Titus i. 7,) exercising rule and authority over those committed to them. To enter further into this subject would carry us far beyond the limits of an essay. I must therefore conclude with a recommendation of a little book, in which the extent and limits of ecclesiastical authority are judiciously defined: "Letters to a Friend who has seceded from the Church of England; by the Rev. H. M'Neile, M. A." E. H. S.. SALERNO. "His name only is excellent-his glory is above the earth and heaven."-Psalm cxlviii. 13. I LOVE to see the sun arise, While ocean, earth, the air, the skies, Drink in the living ray But rather, rather would I see One token of my God to me! 'Tis sweet to list the rising breeze; Hold converse with the waving trees, And steal upon the soul But sweeter far, where'er I rove, I love to feel the balmy air Captive the willing sense, Mantling in haze the prospect fair |