It is to be remarked further, that the tenour of the commiffion delivered to the Apostles feems purpofely calculated to provide against, and thereby to render unneceffary, all felf-conftituted authority in the church. "As my Father has fent me," faid CHRIST, "fo fend I you;" &c. According to the common import of which words, as well as the received fenfe of them in the Catholic church, our SAVIOUR is to be understood as if he had faid, "With the fame power and authority that my Father fent me into the world to conftitute and

govern

my church, I fend you and your fucceffors for the further advancement of the fame divine purpose; and lo! my fpirit fhall accompany the regular adminif tration of the office to the end of the world. As therefore, in confequence of the miffion which I have received from my Father, I send you; so, by virtue of the miffion received from me, you have authority to fend others, for the purpose of carrying on and perpetuating the plan which I have fet on foot in

purpose of delivering to them their commiffion, is calculated to re move it. See Luke vi. 12, 13; Mark iii. 13, 14; Matt. x. 1; Xxviii. 16, 19, 20; John xx. 21, 22. This important point the reader will find particularly made out, and infifted upon, in "POT. TER'S Discourse of Church Government," chap. ii. p. 45, et leq. and chap. iii. p. 61, et seq.

the world, by a regular administration of the affairs of my kingdom to the end of time." The government committed to the Apostles was, therefore, of the fame nature with that of CHRIST; for thus he declares to them: "I appoint to you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed to me." Luke xxii. 29.

The keys of the kingdom of heaven CHRIST re

ceived from GOD; by virtue of which

grant, he had

Matt. ix. 16. These

power to remit fins on earth. fame keys, with the power which belonged to them, were delivered by CHRIST to his Apostles in these words: "Whofefoever fins ye remit, they are remitted; and whofefoever fins ye retain, they are retained." John xx. 23. "The Father (we read, John v. 22, 27) committed all judgment to his Son." And our LORD promised, that when the Son of Man fhall fit on the throne of his glory, the twelve Apostles should fit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Ifrael." Matt. xix. 28. Hence it is, that the Apostles are represented as conftituting part of the foundation on which the Christian church was built. "The wall of the holy Jerufalem, defcending out of heaven from GOD," the Spirit defcribes as having twelve foundations, and in them "the names of the twelve Apofties of the Lamb.".

Rev. xxi. 14. And St. PAUL told the Ephefians, that they were "the household of GOD, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, JESUS CHRIST himself being the chief corner-ftone." Eph. ii. 19, 20.

But it may be faid, although this commiffion, delivered to the Apostles, ftamps a distinction upon their characters, and evidently invests them with a particular office and authority; yet it does not furnish fufficient light by which to determine the precife constitution of the Christian church. It certainly does not; and were there no other light vouchfafed to us on this fubject, we should not speak fo decidedly upon it as we now feel ourselves authorised to do. But, perhaps, more information may be expected in this cafe than the Bible was defigned to furnish. Divine revelation, it is to be observed, was not meant to gratify the curiofity, but to furnish information fufficient to establish the faith, and govern the practice, of the Chriftian profeffor. It is not to be supposed, that in the short history given by the Apostles, one thousandth part of the doctrine, or instruction, delivered by our SAVIOUR to his difciples, could be recorded. St. JOHN makes use of a strong expreffion, where he fays, that" if all things which

JESUS did fhould be written, every one, the world itself could not contain the books that should be written;" thereby giving us to understand, that the histories written by the Apostles furnish but a very short abstract of our SAVIOUR's life and conversation, by no means fufficient to qualify the reader to form a minute and circumftantial jndgment, with respect to any particular tranfaction recorded.

Upon the subject before us, for instance, we have no information but what is derived from the mere recital of the fact; that our SAVIOUR did, after his resurrection, deliver a commiffion to his eleven dif ciples, relative to the government of his church. The manner in which this commiflion was to be carried into effect, is to be ascertained by the fubfequent practice of the Apostles; which doubtless conformed to the direction they had received from their Divine Master. For it is not to be supposed, that our SAVIOUR would fail to accompany the delivery of fo important a commiffion with all the information neceffary for the parties entrusted with it. Indeed it should feem, as if this were one of the principal objects our SAVIOUR had in view, in re maining fo long upon earth after his refurrection; fince we are exprefsly told, that he employed that

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time in fpeaking of the things" pertaining to the kingdom of GOD." Acts i. 3. If the Apostles have not recorded the directions which accompanied the delivery of their commiffion, we are not from thence warranted to conclude, that no directions were given; but that they were judged unneceffary to be particularized; for this reafon, it may be, because the government of the Christian church was to correfpond with that of the Jewish. For the Jewish and Christian church are to be confidered, not fo much different establishments, as two editions (if we may fo fay) of the fame church of God; the former constituting, as it were, the ground-plan upon which the latter has been built.

Indeed, as the œconomy of man's falvation forms one complete whole, it is but to be expected, that there should be an uniformity in its several parts; although the modern Chriftian, by confining his attention to one particular part of the Divine difpenfation, is thereby unqualified to trace the refemblance between them.

If God, then, thought proper Himself to regulate the fervice of the Jewish church, by the express appointment of those who were to bear office in it, it is reasonable to fuppofe, that He would adopt a