himself being an Apostle? Our author is "of note" among the people of his charge; is he therefore one of that people? Does the fact that a student at one of our literary institutions is popular with the faculty, prove conclusively that he is a member of that faculty? Really, it seems to us that our author must have been hard pushed to make out his twentysix Apostles, or he would not have adopted such a subterfuge as this.

Here closes the argument under this head—and we think it must be evident to every unprejudiced mind, from a view of the whole case, that if jure divino Episcopalians wait for a prelate until they find one in the Bible, they will most certainly lose their Apostolic Succession.

LECTURE IV.

MINISTERIAL COMMISSION.

MATT. xxviii. 19, 20.-" Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."

JOHN XX. 21-23.-"As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained."

IN these passages we have the whole of what is called the ministerial commission. "Mark and Luke," says our author, "add nothing essential to these statements." This commission contains the elements of the great argument of exclusive Episcopalians in favour of the continuance of the Apostolic office in the New Testament church. This is, after all, the instrument whose talismanic charm is to transform every diocesan Bishop into a true Apostle, “bearing the same relation to Christ on the one hand and the church on the other which the twelve bore." We see interwoven with every argument framed to sustain the exclusive and arrogant claims of high churchmen such sentences as these, taken from this commission: "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." "Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them." Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." These sentences are rung

upon the voice of the exclusive preacher, through all the changes of the octave with an air of triumph, as though they contained, on the one hand, the battering rain which is to demolish the whole fabric of Presbyterianism; and on the other, the engine of erection, which is to build upon its ruins the magnificent temple of Prelacy. No individual can read the pamphlet of our author upon this subject, without at once perceiving that this commission forms both the web and the woof of his argument.

Perhaps some may be surprised to hear it stated as a prominent object of the present discourse to prove that the ministerial commission had nothing to do with the Apostleship. This commission was given by Christ to his disciples after his resurrection and just previous to his ascension into heaven. This, we are told by our author, is the only permanent ministerial commission which Christ has ever left with his church. His words are, "It hence appears that there is but one ministerial commission in the New Testament, emanating directly from Christ himself, viz., that to the Eleven." Again he says, "The Apostles were the only commissioned ministry of Christ." So that it is here expressly asserted that Christ left but one ministerial commission, and that this commission was given to but one order of personages, viz. the eleven. The only powers

which it is pretended by prelates themselves are communicated by this commission are,

1. To disciple the nations through the instrumentality of a preached gospel.

2. To administer the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

3. To administer the ordinary government of the church, in which is implied the admission and expulsion of members.

4. The power of ordaining others to perform the same duties, and thus to extend and perpetuate their order.

The right to preach the gospel, to baptize, and to govern, we are told, is a direct and positive grant of this commission. The right to administer the Lord's Supper and to ordain is inferential: the one growing out of the clause "teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you;" the other being inferred from the two clauses, as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you," and, “lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." To show that this statement is entirely correct, only a single quotation from our author will be necessary. He says, "Let reference now be made to the second instrument, (viz., the one given by Christ to his disciples just before his ascension.) All there is ministerial. What? The gospel.

"1. They preach.
"2. They baptize.

"3. They teach the observance of the Saviour's commands. Of these we know one was the Lord's Supper.

"4. They remit or retain sins; open or close the door of the church to any.

"5. They acted in all respects as Christ did and would have acted in the church, being sent by him as he was sent by the Father.

"We shall consider the point then as fully made out, that the Saviour's last charge to the eleven is the ministerial commission." Here, then, we have the sentiments of our author in his own language; and if, by this language, he means that the ministerial commission conveys any other powers than those which we have defined above, he wanders into paths where no truly protestant Episcopalian would be willing to follow him. That this commission communicates the powers we have just delineated, we readily admit. have no dispute with exclusive churchmen upon this part of the subject. We believe that this commission authorizes an order of ministers iu the church until the end of time, who have the power to preach the gospel, to administer the

We

sacraments, and in a very important sense to govern, and to ordain others to discharge the same duties, thus extending and perpetuating their order. But to affirm that these ministers are Apostles, is a complete begging of the question. It is an assumption which never can be proved, as will be abundantly evident from the following considerations:

1. This commission did not in any sense confer the Apostleship upon the eleven.

They were appointed Apostles by Christ some time before his crucifixion. It was under this last-named appointment, and not under the ministerial commission, that they acted as Apostles, after the ascension of their Lord and Master. This fact is most manifest, from the 17th, 24th, and 25th verses of the first chapter of Acts. "For he (Judas) was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. And they prayed and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show whether of these twain thou hast chosen, that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place." From these passages it is evident that the eleven disciples acted as Apostles in the New Testament church, under the very appointment which they, in connexion with Judas, had received from the Lord before his crucifixion. Judas was an Apostle in the same sense in which they were; and they propose to fill a vacancy made in the Apostolic college by the defection and death of Judas. But Judas never had received the ministerial commission; for he died before that commission was delivered to the disciples. Peter, in his remarks upon this occasion, makes no reference to the ministerial commission, but evidently refers to the appointment of the twelve to the Apostleship, before the crucifixion of Christ. No unprejudiced mind can examine this narration without being brought irresistibly to the conclusion, that the Apostles, after the ascension of their Lord, acted as Apostles, under the appointment which they received