INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS: stating the Scriptural Authority, and the Church's obligation to nominate, and ordain to the Office of an Evangelist.-From Romans, 10th chap. 15th ver. By J. W. MASSIE.

QUESTIONS answered at his ORDINATION, by ISAAC DAVID: What reason have you to believe that you are a Christian? What reason have you to think that it is your duty to preach the everlasting Gospel to your fellow-men?

What are your views of the doctrines contained in the word of God?

In what manner ought the Minister of the Gospel to act so as to be faithful?

The CHARGE delivered at the ORDINATION of ISAAC DAVID: Founded on 1st Timothy, 4th chap. 16th ver. By S. LAIDLER.

SERVICE OF ORDINATION,

&c. &c.

INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS.

Rom. x. 15. "And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things."

CHRIST's kingdom, the church of God, which contains all the people of God, and those who alone shall be saved, is destined to fill the earth, to be established among all nations, to root out every false and superstitious system, to overpower all other religions, and to chase irreligion from among men. Jesus is a king, and all kingdoms, and nations, and people, and tongues, and tribes, are promised to him as his dominion,—all men shall be blessed in him, and all nations shall call him blessed. Already has the approaching fulfilment of this begun to appear.

Immediately after the ascension of Christ, when his followers were assembled together, the number of

the disciples was about an hundred and twenty, no gospel was preached in Africa, America, in Europe, nor in the islands of the sea. In Asia itself the cloud was like a man's hand, and no bigger,-the tree was only a plant germinating from that which did not appear greater than a grain of mustard seed;-though the Dayspring from on high had visited the earth, though the bright and morning Star had appeared, though the Sun of righteousness had dawned and darted his rays upon the children of men, though the manifestation from heaven had been magnificent, yet were the effects among men to appearance most diminutive: the fire which had been produced was only like smoking flax, or at most but as a glimmering lamp, whose faint rays were confined to an upper room, and apparently in danger of being extinguished by any adverse wind, and much more by the howling blasts which were gathering thick around it. But now, the plant has become a great tree, and the birds of the air lodge in the branches, its boughs are spread forth unto the nations, and have been made strong by the mighty God of Jacob. The smoking flax has been cherished and fanned to a flame-the lamp has become as the candle of the Lord, and the light of one day now is as the light of seven days. At evening time, it is light; the light of the moon is as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun is sevenfold. A star has come out of Jacob, and has lightened unto the ends of the earththe nations that sat in darkness have seen a great light. The preachers of the gospel have gone forth, and the

isles of the seas have been flocking to their Saviour as doves to their windows; and though it be only a partial accomplishment of the prophecy, yet whole countries even now are emphatically called Christian; and in some, it is a stain of no ordinary die which rests upon the character of an individual, when he is designated by any other than the name of Christ.

This is the progress of reason, the victory of truth, the power of God. It is a testimony to the efficacy of Christian principle, and a pledge of its wider diffusion. Kings and governors have already proved themselves nursing fathers in the kingdom of Christ, and princes and rich men have brought presents. His sons are now coming from afar, and his daughters from the ends of the earth. He is commanding the north to give up, and the south to keep not back; and his people are travelling from the east and the west, and sitting down in the kingdom as heirs with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Nor is this likely to continue only for a season, but the work must proceed until the knowledge of his name cover the earth as the waters cover the channel of the deep.

Means for the accomplishment of this are provided by the Head of all principality and power, and when he gives the word, great will be the company of them that publish it. The religion of Jesus is not a contingent production on the earth unforeseen by the great Jehovah, nor is it a crude, undigested scheme. It is the production of infinite wisdom and counsel, a system of means adapted to the end, not irrational, nor left to

the caprice of men. It comes as a whole, principles and precepts, offices and official characters, all of divine appointment, with divine authority and of divine obligation. And those who receive one part should accept all, and those who neglect any part have a right

to none.

It is the duty of all to whom the gospel has come to seek its extension, to adopt for this purpose the most efficient and most scriptural means, and daily to pray for a promised blessing. The likeliest way in which success is to be obtained, is in the offices of divine appointment; since this is submission to the divine will, and the way of obedience to divine authority. It is the path which infinite wisdom has prescribed, and surely the best fitted for the object to be accomplished; and it is the high-way of righteousness in which we cannot err, unto which the promise of blessings is attached, and where they most probably, yea, assuredly, shall be enjoyed.

Ordinances receive the weight of divine authority, and the character of a positive institute, when they are observed in the practice, especially if it be the invariable practice of inspired men, as much as when they are prescribed in a ritual and enjoined by a law. Wherever God has designed to effect a great work, he has sent forth his accredited servants; sometimes by extraordinary means only, but which have borne the satisfactory marks of divine interposition, and which have always been to accomplish an extraordinary work; on some occasions by means of a mixed nature,