Church be governed by Congregational, Presbyterial, and Synodical assemblies."*

The same standards admit the existence of but one order of gospel ministers. To this order they represent the power of ordination as confined. The power is exercised by a Presbytery. "The presiding Bishop shall, by prayer, and with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery, according to the apostolic example, solemnly ordain him to the holy office of the gospel ministry."+

Thus the Presbyterial form of Church government is placed on the ground of Scripture. Ordination is represented as the act of a Presbytery, and this is referred to the authority of apostolic example.

But I am dwelling unnecessarily on this part of the subject. The exclusive validity of Presbyterial ordination is the fundamental principle of the Presbyterial association.

Mark, then, the following simple train of propositions.

1. There is a visible society, called the Church, instituted by Christ and his apostles, of which all men are commanded to become members;

2. To the existence of this Church a divinely appointed ministry is essential;

3. There can be no ministry without an external ordination;

* Form of Government of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, chap. vii. sect. 1.

† Ibid. chap. xiv. sect. 12.

4. And no ordination is valid unless Presbyterially performed.

Thus Presbyterial ordination is the basis on which the whole fabrick of the Church visible is made to rest.*

It is utterly impossible to set aside the foregoing plain statement of facts.

To say that there can be no Church without a ministry, and that there can be no ministry without Presbyterial ordination, is plainly to say that there can be no Church without Presbyterial ordination. The Westminster Divines, the General Assembly of Scotland, the Associate Reformed Church in North-America, the particular society to which you belong, unite in declaring the ministry to be essential to the Church, and Presbyterial ordination to be essential to the ministry. They all, then, make the very existence of the Church of Christ to depend on ordination by the hands of a Presbytery. You go to the full extent of this doctrine in the Letters which you have addressed to your Christian brethren; inveighing against the exclusive claims of your neighbours in the very breath with which you issue claims as exclusive as language has the power of expressing.

* I am aware that you admit Episcopal ordination to be valid. But you do not admit it to be valid as contradistinguished from Presbyterial; nay, you represent it as substantially Presbyterial, and rest its validity on that circumstance alone. Were it not for this, you would deem it necessary, as Dr. M'Leod expressly tells us, to re-baptize Episcopal laymen, and to re-ordain Episcopal priests. But this subject will be fully considered in my next letter.

LET us now endeavour to ascertain the degree of value which Presbyterial standards and Presbyterial authors attach to communion with the visible Church; thus depending on ordination by Presbyterial hands for its very existence. We shall then know precisely how far your society carries its pretensions, and the exact degree of importance which it gives to External Order.

The standards of Presbyterial societies expressly declare that there is NO COVENANTED POSSIBILITY OF SALVATION OUT OF THE VISIBLE CHURCH.

Take the following passage from the Confession of Faith of the Church of Scotland: "The sacraments, as well of the Old as of the New Testament, were instituted of God not only to make a VISIBLE difference betwixt his people and those that were without his LEAGUE, but also,"* &c.

League signifies agreement, or covenant. The sacraments of the Church, then, put a visible difference between those who are in league or cove

*The confession of the faith and doctrine believed and professed by the Protestants of Scotland, exhibited to the estates of the same in Parliament; and ratified and established by act of Parliament, 1567, as the public and avowed Confession of Faith of the Church of Scotland. Article xxi. of the Sacraments.

nant with God, and those who are not in league or covenant with him.

We will now attend to the language of the Confession of Faith set forth by the Westminster Divines.

"The visible Church is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation."*

It would be difficult to attach greater importance to the visible Church than is implied in the above passage. There is no ordinary possibility of salvation out of this Church. If persons not belonging to such Church be saved, it must be in some extraordinary way, of which we know nothing. Communion with the visible Church, as far as we see or know, is the only method in which salvation is to be attained. Such is the express language which you yourself use in commenting on this passage. Now, I humbly conceive that the ordinary way of salvation is the covenanted way. You surely will not assert that the covenanted plan of salvation is a plan which is extraordinary and unknown to us; while there is some other plan, different from the covenanted, that is the ordinary plan of salvation. It is clear, then, that your Confession of Faith confines all covenanted title to salvation to the members of the visible Church.

very

Bear with me, however, a few moments longer.

• Presbyterian Confession of Faith, chap. xxv. sect. 2. Constitution of the Associate Reformed Church in North-America, p. 145, 146. † Continuation of Letters, p. 44.

"A sacrament is an holy ordinance, instituted by Christ in his Church, to signify, seal, and exhibit unto those that are WITHIN THE COVENANT OF GRACE, the benefits of his mediation; and to DISTINGUISH THEM FROM THOSE THAT ARE WITHOUT."

"Baptism is not to be administered to any that are OUT OF THE VISIBLE CHURCH, AND SO STRANGERS FROM THE COVENANT OF PROMISE, until they profess their faith in Christ, and obedience to him."*

* Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. Larger Catechism, questions 162 and 166. Constitution of the Associate Reformed Church in North-America, p. 372, 373, 375.

Mark this well! We are "out of the visible Church, and so strangers from the covenant of promise, until we profess our faith in Christ. Then it is possible to have faith, and yet be without a covenanted title to salvation; for we are first supposed to profess our faith in Christ; and, upon the strength of this profession, are placed within the covenant by the ordinance of baptism. Faith, therefore, does not, of itself, put us within the covenant, but merely renders us fit subjects of admission.

Let us now attend to the language which you employ on this subject. You represent it as the universal doctrine of Calvinistic Presbyterians, that all who have sincere faith in Christ are in covenant with God, whether members of the visible Church or not; in short, to use your own pointed phraseology, even supposing them never to have seen a Church officer in their lives.t

Pray, Sir, were the Westminster Divines Calvinistic Presbyterians? They hold, as we have seen, a very different language; telling us, in so many words, that all who are out of the visible Church are strangers to the covenant of grace, and providing that persons shall first have faith in Christ, and profess that faith; after which they are to be admitted within the covenant by the holy ordinance of baptism. The Westminster Catechism is the catechism of your own religious society; which society, I presume, you will, without hesitation, acknowledge to be Calvinistic.

In the chapter of your Confession which treats of saving faith, it is not said that faith places a man within the pale of the covenant of grace.

+ Continuation of Letters, p. 58, 59, 60.