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convened to set him apart to the holy office by prayer. Many of us deem the imposition of hands a scriptural adjunct "to this service, but we leave it to his judgment to admit or "decline this rite. We have no gift to impart, we believe "that God has called him to the ministry, and we are assem"bled to introduce him in an orderly and as we believe scriptural "manner into his pastorate." This brethren is honest, it makes the ordination a seemly but not essential thing. The man's authority and commission were gotten elsewhere, "from God, through the election of the people;" and the preacher said the truth when he expressed it "we have no gift to impart;" when he made the imposition of hands only a decent ceremony which could be "admitted or declined." Let the elected minister be only satisfied with his authority from the people, or his secret call, and the preacher's words were "well spoken;" conscience would require no torturing, language would need no forcing to enable his tenets to square with the service performed. But now call to mind, the authoritative ordination, the bona fide commission conveyed by the bishops of the English church to the men whom they send forth as Christ's ministers. "Receive thou the Holy Ghost for the office and work of a priest in the church of God, now com"mitted to thee by the imposition of our hands. Take thou authority to preach the word of God, and to minister the holy sacraments in the congregation whereto thou shalt be "appointed." Are not these words fearfully plain? can any bed of Procrustes be made to stretch or curtail their only and unchangeable meaning? The Bishops have a gift, and a power to confer; our office is visibly conferred upon us only through the imposition of their hands, it is not a seemly adjunct but the very giving, our ministry does not stand inde

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pendently of it, so that we may "admit "it or decline," the people may, or any one person may, choose or present us, but the Bishop only can authorize us, the church at large among whom we dwell has a power to object against and on good cause to prevent our ordination, and granted we had some discipline and thereby a purified body of the lay people, I would to God that every privilege of the people, anciently theirs in the church catholic, were gradually and duly restored: Imagine now one of our order holding loose notions as to the ministerial commission, believing that it was not by and through his ordination, but by his desire, or his fitness, or the state's law, that he was constituted a minister, and could the poisoned shirt of Hercules be more horribly galling than the ordination service and the remembrance of it, ought to be to such a man? Rev. brethren, there is nothing but the real holding and transmitting of the apostolic trust, which can render the words you once listened to, from the Bishop, fit to be uttered or endured, if our chief rulers are not the living holders of all that remains in the church of apostolic authority, if (setting aside miraculous gifts) they be not the trustees of all the remaining treasure yet among us to enrich the church "which is Christ's body," to commit it to earthen vessels even like themselves, then how can they perpetuate the ministerial endowment? how dare they hand over to you, the authority once committed by Jesus to the twelve. "Whose sins ye remit they are remitted, and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained"? My present purpose is not with the interpretation of these words but their adoption into our ordination service you know they are there, you remember they were uttered to all of you; conceive now that this precious trust was given to men of like passions with yourselves, that the

Saviour bestowed it as a part of their ministerial equipment, that they intrusted the same power to others who, withal, should have right to confer it, and that thus it has reached our times, that the church was never despoiled of it, and that rolling centuries never abridged the commission at the first by Jesus given to those whom He had chosen, then with this faith, you can receive the charge, though it be "with reverence and godly fear;" you may be, not fain to dispute the interpretation of the words, but you do not tremble when to you they are applied, you may recal the truth, "who can forgive sins but God only," and may consider withal that the apostles to whom Jesus spake, were but men, that in whatever sense humanity could receive them then, men can receive them now, that in the offensive meaning of them they could no more belong to the apostles, than to you, whilst as a ministerial trust you may be the holders of them equally with the first receivers; and at any rate, that to God's ministers now is uttered only what was given them in the beginning, though we may marvel at God's doings "who hath given such gifts unto men." I remind you Rev. brethren with respect and affection, that the real delegation of a real authority in the beginning from Christ derived, is the only and the obvious doctrine, which relieves all our services, from their otherwise burdensome significance, they have never been denuded of bold sayings, and unflinching maintenance of catholic truth, they refuse a Proteus-like compliance with the spirit of our times, they hold forth the faith not as it is now generally limited, but as it was in the beginning held, the measure of our present opinions, is not made "the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ," God is deemed true in his promises though every man be a liar, He is counted and spoken of as

the faithful, though we be the fallen and unbelieving, there is no verity slurred over, or cast away, because we, (whose faith may not be overstrained,) like it not, and I do feel that as touching our prayer book, the Clergy must either never think of it for meditation, or they must take clear views of truth as the men did who compiled it, or else in it they must " groan being burdened." As concerning laxity of opinion on the great controverted points of our day, you are not Rev. brethren on a footing with the ministers of seceding communions, you have assented to the church's judgment, and her interpretation of catholic truth; on your own commission, on baptism, on the holy eucharist, on the constitution of Christ's church visible, your faith and sentiments have been recorded and avowed, I do not say that our formularies shut up all differences of opinion, but they ought to confine our differences within narrow bounds, they call to a brotherly union, they condemn a false and dispersive liberality. I ask you all Rev. brethren to remember the day when you confessed that nothing in our prayer book is contrary to the word of God, you " set to your seal that it is true," ought not this, then, to be your belief either consistently maintained, or conscientiously recanted? Perhaps the subscription was made without much thought, or much examination, perhaps you assented as far as you knew, and took for granted the consistency of the rest, be it so, I will not stay to condemn a fault which many may have been guilty of, (though a wrong thing it certainly must be,) but however, mature deliberation has convinced you (shall I suppose) that the church in her doctrine is unscriptural, that the prayer book which you solemnly declared agreeable to God's word, savours of Popish corruptions, that it teaches what is false, and not what is true upon baptism, or the holy supper,

or the ministerial authority, ought you not immediately to confess your error and resign the sacred office given you upon the faith which you declared? Can you still minister an unscriptural service, and bear the yoke of formularies which your conscience condemns? If you have with you the "wedge of gold" and the "Babylonish garment," and not the holy utensils and the sanctuary robe, are you comfortable with such a treasure and such a dress? And if in sermons, or pamphlets, in conversations or on platforms you tacitly or openly condemn the prayer book, as though the good reformers purged away much of Popish corruptions from it, but not all, as though the catholic doctrine it contains was in reality false doctrine, which you at ordination professed to hold as true, as though the more enlightened nineteenth century ought to be indulged with a little relaxation from the tightness of one common avowal, do you not feel, how greatly inferior is our position to that of the honest minded, and sincere dissenting teacher, who never bound himself to any statements or interpretations of God's truth, but who intends and professes to take the Bible and make and preach only his own? And when you feel your heart drawn towards whatever is lovely and of good report in any whom you may believe to love Christ in sincerity, ought this to make you ashamed of the portion of Catholic truth which you hold and they do not? I would hope better things of you Rev. brethren, though thus I speak, but full sure I am that some of our order have cast their words behind them which ratified the prayer book doctrine; some have feared to baptize publicly lest the "doctrine of baptisms" should stagger any, some would keep back the ordination service, lest there be found in it "hard sayings," some tremble at the visitation for the sick, lest the