Our Saviour at first ordained his twelve Apostles according to the number of the tribes of the Church of Israel. Afterwards he ordained other seventy, according to the number of the Elders, whom Moses appointed as his assistants. When the Church in Jerusalem was multiplied, seven Deacons were ordained, by the laying on of the hands of the Apostles, to preach, and baptize, and minister, in distributing the alms of the Church, Here then we have three orders of men, each distinct from the other; the twelve Apostles, the seventy Disciples, and the seven Deacons and by these the first Christian Church in Jerusalem was governed and administered. The Apostles were superior in office to the Disciples; because, when Judas fell from the apostleship, one was chosen by lot out of the Disciples into the apostleship: the Deacons were inferior to both; and it appears that they were appointed by the laying on of the hands of the twelve Apostles: for it is said, Acts vi. 2, "the Twelve called the multitude of the Disciples unto them," &c.-That the Apostles appointed others to succeed to their own order is evident from the case of Timothy; who in the ancient superscription, at the end of the second Epistle, is said to have been ordained the first Bishop of the Church of the Ephesians. He is admonished to lay hands suddenly on no man; therefore he had power to ordain : and he is likewise admonished not to receive an accusation against an Elder (or Presbyter), but before two or three witnesses: therefore he had a judicial authority over that order. Directions are given with res

If we

Priests of God, than those who pretend to make them so. had lost the Scriptures, it would be very well to make as good books as we could, and come as near them as possible: but then it would not only be folly, but presumption, to call them the word of God." See the second Letter to the Bishop of Bangor: Postscript.

pect to the Deacons of the same Church; therefore, in the first Church of the Ephesians, there was a Bishop, with Elders and Deacons under him; as in the Church which began at Jerusalem, there was the order, of the Apostles, of the Disciples, and of the Deacons, In the Christian Church, throughout the world, we find these three orders of ministers for fifteen hundred years, without interruption. The fact therefore is undeniable, that the Church has been governed by Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, from the Apostles downwards; and where we find these orders of ministers duly: appointed, the word preached, and the sacraments administered, there we find the Church of Christ, with its form, and it authority.

The wisdom of God is here very evident, in appointing the orders of the Christian ministry after the pattern of the Jewish Church, which was of his own appointment so long before. That there might be no uncertainty in a case of such consequence to the souls of men, there was no novelty, but a continuation of the like administration with that which had all along been known and acknowledged in the Church. Aaron was an High Priest, with a ministry peculiar to himself; under him there was an order of Priests, twenty-four in number, who served by course in the daily sacrifices and devotions of the Tabernacle and Temple; and these were assisted by ten whole tribe of the Levites. As the law had its passover, its baptisms, its incense, its sacrifices, its consecration, its benedictions, all to be realized under the sacraments and offerings of the Gospel; so its ministry was but a pattern of the ministry which is now amongst us; and we cannot mistake the one, if we have an eye on the other; such is the goodness of God in directing and keeping us, through all the confusions of the latter days, by a rule of such

great antiquity, to the way of truth, and keeping us in it.

The great use of the Church is to receive and minister to the salvation of those who are taken out of the world; but this it cannot do without the truth of the Christian doctrine; the Church is therefore as an instrument, or candlestick, for the holding and preserving of this sacred light. It is called the pillar and ground of the truth; not as if it had any right of making or imposing doctrines of its own; for the ground and the pillar do not make the roof, they only support it; nor doth the candlestick make the light, it only holds the light. And these similitudes will be found just, if we pursue them farther; for as when the pillars are removed, the building must fall; and when the lamp or the candlestick is broken, the light will be extinct: so if the Church be taken away, the truth' falls along with it; as we have seen, and do see, in this country. Our Quakers, who are farthest from the Church, are totally departed from the truth of Christian doctrine; and many of those separate congregations, who were Puritans and Believers in the last age, are Socinians and Infidels in this; a consideration which should prevail upon sincere people of all persuasions, who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, to lay aside their animosity, and unite against the Socinians, who are the common enemies of all Christian people, and are now endeavouring to overthrow the faith of our creeds and articles.

When we speak of the use of the Church, we should never forget the great benefit and information which arises from the fasts and festivals of the Church: (totally neglected by the sectaries) by the course of which the piety of the Christians is directed to all the great subjects of the Gospel: some of which might other

wise never be revived in our thoughts during the whole year. But the Church spends its year with Jesus Christ, and follows him in faith, through all the great works of his mediatorial office, from his Advent to the sending down of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost. On this ground, the work of Mr. Nelson is of great value to all Christian families; and we have reason to hope it will never fall into disuse though all persons fanatically inclined, are very cold to the merits of it, and the sectaries, it is to be supposed, must reject it on their own principles.

Here I must add, that the wisdom of God is farther manifest, in appointing a provision for his ministers, independent of the people. The maintenance of the Jewish priesthood was from God; for the tythes and offerings, on which they lived, were first dedicated to God, and from him transferred for the support of his ministry. So doth he himself state the case by the prophet: Ye have robbed me, saith he, in tythes and offerings; as if they were his own property; and so they were; for being dedicated to God, the first proprietor of all things, they belong to him before they be long to his Church. The wisdom and piety of christian states followed the rule of the Scripture from the earliest times and it still obtains in this country. And what would be the consequence if it were not so? While the minister depends only upon the God to whom he is accountable, he dares speak the truth: but where he is dependent on the people, and the people are corrupt, then he must accommodate himself to their fancy. For this reason, if the people of a congregation, who chuse their own minister, fall into heresy, they rarely or never get out of it, because they will bear no teacher, but one who is of their own persuasion, and will flatter them in their errors.

VOL, Y.

I have nothing more to say upon the nature of the Church, but to shew the extent of its authority. Every society must have power over its own members, to admit or exclude as the case requires; it cannot otherwise subsist. The Church, from the days of the Apostles, always exercised the power of excommunicating notorious offenders, and of absolving and restoring true penitents. Excommunication is nothing but a reversing of baptism; and they who have authority to baptize, must have authority to excommunicate. The Church must also have authority in directing its own worship and services, as to time, place, and ceremonies. Let all things be done decently and in order but what is decency, and what is order, is not specified, and must be left to the discretion of the rulers of the Church. The Church has no authority to ordain any thing contrary to the law of God; nor doth the law of God depend upon the authority of the Church. There are three sorts of things about which the Church is conversant; good, bad, and indifferent: the good oblige by their own nature; the bad cannot be enforced by any authority: therefore the authority of the Church must extend to things indifferent, that is to order and discipline, to circumstances of time, place, forms of worship, ceremonies, and such like; and to disobey because they are indifferent is to deny that God hath given power to his Church to regulate any one thing whatsoever.

Ought we not, on the foregoing considerations, to magnify the goodness and wisdom of God, who hath provided a Church for the reception of lost mankind, and given to it the light of truth, and the means of grace? No subject can be plainer than this of the nature and constitution of the Church; and the necessity of its ministry and ordinances to the salvation of