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To understand the subject of "Ministry," as it is exhibited in the New Testament, is no small degree of knowledge, for not only must it be connected with most important truths, and lead to most important results, but it must solve a problem which by many persons is considered nearly inexplicable. The different opinions that prevail on this subject are immediately apparent, if we take but a glance at the different practices prevalent in the numerous sects of professing christianity in their "ministerial" arrangements. matter of fact in ecclesiastical history the Church of Rome takes precedence of all other sects, in time and in pretensions, on the subject of "ministry," as it is generally understood. In that communion all" ministry" flows from the Pope, the fabled successor of St. Peter: to Peter the Roman Catholics say, the power of the keys was entrusted by our Lord. Peter, they tell us, was the first pope, the prince of the apostles, and the bishop of bishops, and every pope is his successor in the prerogative of absolute and general episcopacy; the pope therefore is the head of the church, the supreme ruler of the whole ecclesiastical body, the pastor of all the faithful, the archbishop of that diocese which is no less than the whole habitable globe wherever faithful christians are to be found. Every functionary in the Romish church holds his office under him; neither can any bishop ordain clergymen to the clerical functions but by virtue of that authority which is received from the bishop of bishops, the sovereign pontiff himself. This was the faith and practice in England till the famous reign of king Henry VIII. The bishops used to receive their palls (i. e. their chief episcopal robe) from Rome, and swear ecclesiastical fealty to the pope at their consecrations. Archbishop Cranmer himself, the founder of the English Protestant Church, took the oath of ecclesiastical obedience to the pope, when he was consecrated archbishop of Canterbury. The Reformation, which was commenced by Henry VIII., and carried out more fully by his son Edward VI., broke off the connection with the pope; for by the laws which those sovereigns introduced, it became a high crime against the state to acknowledge the papal authority in ecclesiastical matters. Thus "the church of England," as it is now seen in the

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his is a general view of the Calvinistic division be borne in mind that these divisions originat of "ministry." On the restoration of Kig copal sect was again placed in power, and again up arms against the Puritans, endeavouring ess, but to exterminate their opponents. A t sanguinary era of persecution, the overthrow art, and the accession of William III. to the .... iciple of revolution, of necessity introduced a sew t was tolerated by law, and the principle of rela came a boast of the English constitution. A rprising event; for never since the days of the he had a Christian Government entertained the lat to preach and to persecute had for twelve busores een considered the inherent attributes of the CIA ..

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parties, is, and must be, teaching; except, indeed, in the Roman Catholic persuasion, where performing the sacrifice of the mass, and executing "the sacraments," takes precedence of preaching and teaching; but now we are talking of Protestants, and amongst them-in all their sects-teaching and preaching constitute, of necessity, a large portion of ministerial functions. Let us now see what the New Testament says of these functions, their origin, and the persons to whom they are assigned. We find all this stated in 1 Cor. xii. "Now, concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant..... .(4) there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; (5) there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord; (6) there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. (7) But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal: (8) for to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; (9) to another, faith by the same Spirit; to another, the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; (10) to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, discerning of spirits; to another, divers kinds of tongues; to another, the interpretation of tongues: (11) but all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will."

This statement is very clear: we are here very plainly informed, that the Holy Spirit gives many gifts to many members of the church; that the donation is not to a privileged class, separated from their brethren, nor according to man's appointment or election, but that selection is made out of the whole body, according to the unrestrained will of the sovereign Agent. "The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man, to profit withal” (v.7), and that in consequence of this divine regulation, one man receives wisdom, another knowledge, another faith (v. 9); gifts surely requisite for any efficient ministry of teaching. There are, indeed, other gifts mentioned, but with them we are not now concerned, as the church confessedly does not now possess them; but wisdom, knowledge, and faith must, in degree at least, exist, otherwise there would be no ministry of teaching at all. "Now all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will" (v. 11).

If this be a true description of the church as it was at the first, then of course it bears no resemblance to the arrangements of the sects, where the division of ministry is not by the will and appointment of the Spirit, but by the direction and choice of man. This is indeed so plain, that almost all commentators seem quietly to yield the point, that ministry in the Corinthian church was of an order now lost, and that all known existing churches have adopted another method. They speak of the Corinthian order as a pattern n only in the Scriptures; it is, in fact, terra incognita to them, reustomed are they to the systems introduced by tradition, stribution of gift by the Spirit to every man in the church,

they consider some strange phenomenon of the days of miracles. Amongst the sects we do indeed see quite another order; in the churches of Rome and England, the bishops appoint to the ministry; in the kirk of Scotland, the Presbytery is the fountain of clerical functions; amongst the Dissenters, the people, or the church, as it is called, elect the minister, and other ministers ordain him after he has been elected; and amongst the Wesleyans, the Conference, or some power deputed by the Conference, names and governs all the ministers and preachers. Now, it must be clear to every one, that bishops, popular elections, Presbytery, or Conference, are not the Holy Spirit; and beyond this, one need not push the inquiry, in order to be satisfied that all sects, from the stately church of England, down to the lowest denomination of dissent, are gone far astray from the order recorded in the New Testament. If the Scriptures, then, are to be our guide, we have already advanced far in the solution of the problem before us; and we have only to apply the statements in the New Testament to facts before our eyes, to assure us of the accuracy of our deductions. For instance, let us try the existing church of Rome, by Paul's description of the church of Rome. Paul, in writing to the Romans, says, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another, for we have different gifts-and there are amongst us prophets, ministers, teachers, exhorters, rulers, helps, shewers of mercy, and others" (chap. xii). But now all that can be said of the church of Rome is, that it is entirely clerical; that the Spirit does not appoint to ministry, and that every thing there is under the supreme control of the pope. The church of Rome, therefore, has lost the order set forth in the Scriptures; and so it is with others also; for we do not find it written, He gave some bishops to rule dioceses,-or he gave rectors and curates for the ruling of parishes,- -or he gave ordained ministers," &c. This is not stated, but something dissimilar in every respect; the Protestants, therefore, as well as the church of Rome, have departed from the word of God in their arrangements of ministry.

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Again: supposing, for argument's sake, that such a form of the church did exist, as has been described in the twelfth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians,—that there was no "ordained" ministry, no clerical or official appointments, no clergymen or "ministers" consecrated or chosen to act as functionaries for the people, but that all the people, without any recognition of official distinction, met as a gathering of the saints, to receive any "diversity of gifts" which the Spirit might raise up amongst them; that "wisdom," knowledge," "faith," were exhibited here and there, without man's direction, and wholly independent of it, and that the saints so gathered had no idea of any other order, would not such a church resemble a body in active and vigorous life; every limb, every member, contributing, in proper proportion, to the life and activity of the whole body? Now this is exactly the similitude selected by the apostle Paul, to describe the church of the Corin