every religious assembly, who should be wise and prudent, grave, sober, and faithful, and better skilled in the things of religion than others; and who should be capable in a more clear and happy manner to express them, that he, or they, may go before the congregation, and lead them in their several acts of worship; that they may give instruction to the rest, and with their lips offer up their common addresses to God, and celebrate the sacred rites of their religion.

For this purpose reason teaches us, that if a person so qualified be not found in any particular religious society, they ought to seek one elsewhere. And persons who have superior skill in this religion, should train up others, from time to time, in the articles of their religion, that they may be able to instruct the people, and become more capable of this public service.

If it be enquired, what the light of reason directs about the investiture of such a person in this office? I know of nothing more, but that the people should make all due enquiry concerning his qualifications; that they should ask the opinion or advice of other teachers, who are better skilled in this religion than themselves, where it can be conveniently obtained; and when they themselves also have had sufficient experience of his abilities, and knowledge of his virtues, they should agree to chuse him into this office; and that he himself solemnly should accept of it; and devote, or give up, himself to it; and that he should be with great solemnity recommended, by public prayers, to the blessing of God, in the discharge of it. This is all the investiture that reason seems to require*. And this man, thus set apart to the sacred work, should continually endeavour to improve his qualifications, and render his religious services more and more useful to the people, and take due care, as a faithful overseer, that the people maintain the practice of the religion they profess. Reason itself also teaches us, that if there be any persons in the assembly who give sufficient evidence of their being inspired, or taught of God, and of having any divine commission to instruct the people; these persons ought eminently to be received as teachers, and employed in such religious service.

Let us now see what the New Testament, or the rule of christianity directs in this point.

This is sufficiently evident, that scripture has appointed such

* According to the light of nature and reason, no man should be made a teacher, or president, or leader in any voluntary religious society, but by the consent and agreement of that society, to put themselves under his instructions and care. No civil powers have authority, by the law of nature, in these matters of religion and conscience; nor can any man be made an officer in any society, without his own free consent: And as all religious affairs regard either the honour of God or converse with him, so an address to God for a blessing is a natural and reasonable solemnity, that should attend the entrance into a religious office.

a set of men, or such officers in the christian church, as may lead divine worship in their assemblies, and may celebrate the institutions of the gospel among them. We find their names and titles frequently mentioned as pastors, teachers, elders, bishops, shepherds, &c. We find the duties of their station often spoken of, the characters and qualification of the persons described, their support provided for, and the people's duty to them enjoined. And since the church is to continue to the end of the world, or till Christ comes again from heaven, it is plain there must be always such persons to minister in holy things in every age.

In the very primitive times there was a great variety of talents and capacities, for the ministrations of christian worship, conferred by inspiration upon those who embraced the religion of Christ These were taught of God in a more immediate manner*: And where these extraordinary gifts were numerous, either they needed no other preachers, teachers, or ministers, always supposing some wise person amongst them to be a poros, a president, or chairman, who, by natural rules of prudence and order, should keep their various performances within the limits of decency and edification; or, at least, they were not yet furnished with particular officers, being then but in an imperfect state as to regular order. Such was the Corinthian church: And where any apostle or evangelist was present, he is reasonably supposed to preside; or, in his absence, he sometimes gives direction for their conduct, as though he were present; 1 Cor. v, 3, 4. But in other churches, where these gifts were but few, the chief possessors of them, and especially the early and more experienced converts, were chosen out to be elders, or guides, and leaders of their worship, pastors, or teachers, according to their peculiar talents of exhortation, or of instruction: And they were sometimes called overseers, that is, bishops, having an oversight of the people, and their behaviour; being reasonably supposed to know more of the will of Christ than the common people, and to be more solicitous for the honour of christianity, and for its preservation.

It is probable that sometimes these elders, or overseers, which words are used promiscuously in several places of the New Testament†, might be pointed out by the direction of a spirit of

*These gifts were so much distributed in that day among the christians at Jerusalem, that even the deacons, who were appointed to take care of the poor, had such extraordinary gifts and exercised them now and then in teaching the people as evangelists. See Acts vi. 2, 3.

It may not be improper in this place to point out the chief scriptures where these characters are used promiscuously, and seem to denote one and the same office. Acts xx. 17. From Miletus Paul sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church. But in verse 28, St. Paul calls these very persons overseers, .cxanes, bishops; Tit. i. 5. Ordain elders in every city; verse 6. If any be blameless. For in verse 7, a bishop must be blameless; 1 Pet. v. 1, 2. The elders which

prophecy, or by the gift of discernment of spirits, by the apostles, or other inspired men, in that day, as Timothy was pointed out by prophecy, to be an evangelist; 1 Tim. i. 18. and iv. 14. And in this sense the apostles and evangelists, Paul and Barnabas, Timothy and Titus might perhaps, by the direction of the Holy Spirit, nominate the persons fit to be ordained elders in the churches, and, upon the consent of the churches, might ordain or appoint them for that purpose; Acts xiv. 23. 1 Tim. v. 22. Tit. i. 5. And perhaps this is the reason why it is said of the elders of Ephesus, that the Holy Ghost had made them overseers; Acts xx. 17, 28. But it is hardly to be supposed that any persons were made rulers, teachers or overseers of any church of serious christians without the consent of the society, who were to be taught and governed by them in matters relating to their eternal interests.

Even when an apostle was to be chosen in the room of Judas, the hundred and twenty disciples, of whom eleven were apostles, joined in the choice of two persons, out of which the lot determined one to be an apostle. Acts i. 15, 23. Deacons, who manage the secular affairs of the church, were chosen by the people. Acts vi. 3. And still more reasonable it is, that elders, or bishops, who have the care of their souls, should be chosen by them who want and desire their instructions in such important concerns. In following ages, when these extraordinary gifts ceased in the churches, it is more evident from the histories of those times, that their overseers, or bishops, were chosen by the people. And the characters of them are given us at large, and very particularly, in two places of scripture. 1 Tim. iii. 1-13. and Tit. i. 5, 6. And certainly this is left upon record, that we might be directed in such a choice to the end of the world, as well as to give directions to Timothy and Titus in the performance of their extraordinary office at this time.

As for the investiture of men with this office, the New Testament gives us some notices that they were set apart by solemn prayer and fasting, and generally with laying on of the hands of the persons who were inspired, or possessed of some superior character. Whether this rite were designed to communicate any new gifts, or to pronounce an inspired and effectual blessing on their ministrations; or whether it was only retained in the christian church as it had been an ancient rite, used almost from the carliest ages of mankind, on several occasions, particularly in the solemn benediction of a person, or in the prayer for a blessing on him, or appointment of him to any special service, I am not able

are among you, I exhort, who am also an elder; feed the flock of God, taking the oversight thereof, the bishopric thereof, ils. But our English translators have generally taken care to keep the word "bishop" for the most part out of sight, where it is applied to presbyters, or elders, in the Greek.

to determine*: This is certain, that the rite of imposition of hands has something natural in it, when we pray for a blessing to descend on any particular person, and more especially at his entrance into an office; as it were to point him out in a visible manner to God and the world. Good old Jacob laid his hands on Ephraim and Manasseh, when he blessed them; Gen. xlviii. 14, 18. And in Deut. xxxiv. 9. Moses laid his hands on Joshua, as his successor. The children of Israel also laid their hands on the Levites, at their dedication to the service of the tabernacle ; Numb. viii. 10. But as there are different opinions on this subject, I dismiss it, without any other determination than this, that it seems to be a sort of natural ceremony, an innocent and ancient rite at such seasons; though I do not see sufficient proof of the certain necessity of it. Even as lifting up the hands to heaven, in prayer for a blessing on one's self, is a sort of natural rite or gesture, used by Jews and heathens, and not necessary to be used in every solitary or personal prayer. The laying on the hands on another person, when we are praying for a blessing on him, seems to be of the same kind, viz. a sort of natural rite or gesture, much used in the Old Testament and the New; and though it is not plainly made necessary on every such occasion, yet it must still be acknowledged it was often, if not always, used in the primitive and inspired times, when either gifts or offices were conferred by some particular persons upon others. And it certainly adds a sort of solemnity to the work; and it has so much of countenance from scripture, that I think it cannot be called a mere human and arbitrary invention of men.

This is certain, that such persons were to be trained up in a succession for this service in the churches. Timothy was required to commit to faithful men the things that he had heard and learned of St. Paul, that they might be able to teach others also: 2 Tim. ii. 2. And these persons were to give up themselves continually to the word and prayer, as the apostles did; Acts vi. 4. and to excite and stir up their talents for instruction and edification, to give attendance to reading, to exhortation, and give themselves wholly to them, that their profiting might appear to all. For if this be required of so extraordinary a person as Timothy; 1 Tim. iv. 13-16. much more reasonably is it re

*Timothy a young evangelist, had the hands of the elders, that is, "the presbytery, laid upon him," 1 Tim. iv. 14. "And perhaps, at the same time, he was blessed by the hands of St. Paul with extraordinary gifts ;" 2 Tim. i. 6. And he himself, an evangelist, was ordered to lay hands suddenly on no man ; 1 Tim, v. 22. It is a question indeed whether Timothy, or the presbytery, could confer any extraordinary gifts or blessings; it is more probable for many reasons, that this belonged only to the apostles, and then this their imposition of hands could not be designed for the conferring of extraordinary gifts; but still it might be used to pronounce a prophetical blessing on the preacher, which no uninspired person could do; or finally, it might be the ordinary form of benediction, or of institution to an office.

quired of those who have no extraordinary gifts. I might further add, that these teachers and ministers of the gospel are required in the New Testament to be faithful, diligent, and zealous in the work of Christ, willingly taking the care, or oversight of the religious concerns of the people, in instructing and oversecing the flock, and watching over them for their spiritual good, as well as going before them in all acts of holiness, and being examples to all other christians in word, in conversation, in faith, in charity, and in purity from all sin; verse 12.

SECT. III.-4 brief Enquiry how far the Modes of the Mission, or Ordination of Primitive Ministers, are our Rule now.

Upon this short survey of things, under this head, give me leave first to make one observation, and then consider the enquiry proposed. The observation is this: Various were the affairs and regulations of the primitive churches, relating to their several officers, whether apostles, evangelists, bishops, pastors, teachers, prophets, elders, &c. and in the nomination of those officers, whether by Jesus Christ himself, by prayer and lot, by inspiration of the Spirit, by prophecy, by gifts of discerning spirits, or by the choice of the people, &c. And in their ordination, or mission, by fasting, and by imposition of hands, as well as prayer: And whether this were performed by the apostles, prophets, presbyters, or elders, or evangelists, &c. Now all these things at that time were so much directed, governed, influenced, determined, and transacted by extraordinary gifts, and the inspired persons who possessed them, that I cannot find, in the New Testament, any one instance of the choice and mission, appointment or investiture, of any ordinary officer, or officers, who were not of the extraordinary kind; and therefore these things cannot, in every point, be rules or patterns for all following times.

If any one here object, that if we suppose the formation, ordination, and mission of ministers, to be so described in the Acts of the Apostles, as not to give following ages an exact rule or pattern for their ordinary practice; why may we not also suppose some of the doctrines and duties of personal christianity described in the gospel, to belong only to extraordinary times? The answer is easy: viz. That mankind are to be saved through ages of christianity in the same way, by the same gospel, the same doctrines and duties. But the preachers of this gospel may not be furnished nor ordained the same way, when extraordinary commissions, extraordinary gifts, and powers, are ceased: For it is apparent, that these extraordinary preachers and governors of the church mingled the exercise of their extraordinary powers with some of their ordinary ministrations.

all

Hence it comes to pass, that it is so difficult a question, and so exceeding hard to affirm with exactness and certainty, how