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the authority of the priesthood is for the priest is "the messenger of the Lord of hosts."

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And as the priest under the Law, was, in the prophet's language," the messenger of the Lord of Hosts," so in that of the Apostle, every lawful preacher of the Gospel is " an ambassador of Jesus "Christ." This was then, and is now, that which only can make authentic and valid every ministerial act, both of the one and the other, which otherwise is both injurious to God, and useless to the people. Of the first we hear God complaining by His prophet. "I have not sent and yet they ran, I have not spoken "to them and yet they prophesied." And of the second, the Apostle demanding, "How can they "preach unless they are sent ?" our Church, therefore, in her 23d article, declares that It is not law"ful for any man to take upon him the office of pub"lick preaching or ministering the Sacraments in the

congregation, before he be, lawfully, called and sent "to execute the same;" a thing plainly contained and often inculcated in Holy Scripture, and withal so agreeable to sound reason and good sense, that we cannot too much lament that there should be men who have either the art of perverting, or the boldness of out-facing it. I shall, therefore,

I. Shew the necessity from Scripture, and the expediency from reason, of such a mission, in general.

II. Assert the mission in particular, and justify the sacred authority by which the Church of England has sent its ministers forth into Christ's vineyard.

I. The necessity in general for a call and commission from God in order to exercise the ministeri office, as it is, evidently, set forth in Scripture. Where

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if to rise even so high as the patriarchal age, even in that there are visible footsteps of a divinely instituted priesthood, or of representatives empowered by God to intercede between Him and His creatures, to send up prayers for them to Him, and to bring down blessings to them from Him: "He is a prophet," saith God, " and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live! so "Abraham prayed unto God, and God healed Abi "melech." Under the legal priesthood it pleased Almighty God to choose and sanctify one only tribe, the tribe of Levi, out of all the other twelve, to minister to Himself, and out of that tribe one only family, to the highest sacerdotal dignity." He exalted Aaron, "and gave him the priesthood among the people; He "chose him out of all men living to offer sacrifices

to the Lord, and to make reconciliation for His "people." (Ecclus xlv. 6, 7. 16.) And the severe punishments, which God inflicted upon any, that presumed to invade the office, to which they were not called, or with sacrilegious hands to touch those holy things, that appertained only to the high priest, abundantly witness, how jealous God was of this His own holy sanction. Out of the many instances of this nature in the Old Testament, I shall mention but two, the most remarkable for the quality of their persons, their crime, and punishment. Nothing can be more terrible than the vengeance which was executed upon Dathan and Abiram; and what was their crime, but that being only Levites they aspired to the priestly office. Let us hear Moses, expostulating with them, and aggravating their offence from the dignity that they were, already, invested with. "Seemeth it but a small « thing to you, that the God of Israel has separated.

you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation, "to minister unto them? And he hath brought thee "near to Him, and all thy brethren the sons of Levi "with thee and seek ye the priesthood also?" (Numb. xvi. 9, 10.) This was so prodigious, so unheard-of a provocation, that God also, as Moses proclaims, (v. 30, &c.) " made a new thing to punish it.

And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed "them up, with all that appertained to them; and "they went down quick into the pit, and the earth "closed upon them. And there came out a fire from "the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty "men that offered incense" with them. And in aftertimes, when Uzzah, otherwise a good and religious, and so long a prosperous and victorious, king, forgetful of this terrible work of the Lord, waxed proud, and took upon him the priestly office, " and went into the "temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar "of incense, his heart," as it is there said, "was lifted "up

up to his destruction;" for in that very act of presumption, while he had the " censor in his hand to "burn incense," and was "wroth with the priests," who would have prevented his sacrilege, he "was "smitten with a leprosy, and was a leper to his death, "and was cut off from the house of the Lord." These remarkable judgments, what do they else but proclaim aloud from Heaven, how great an impiety it is for any person, of what degree or qualification soever, without being, lawfully, called and appointed by God himself, to assume so sacred an employment, as to minister at His altar, without " being ordained for men in B 3 «< things

" things pertaining to God," to take upon him to transact between God and His people!

To come, therefore, to that which is our sole aim and principal concern, namely, the ministry of the Gospel, we shall soon discover," that no man taketh "this honor" neither to himself, but he that is "called of God, as was Aaron," as we are taught by the author of the Hebrews, who has illustrated the Old Testament by the New, and confirmed the New by the Old. And the first and most unanswerable proof of this is, that our High Priest himself, from whom all our claim is derived, did not. For ❝ Christ also glo❝rified not Himself, to be made an High Priest: but "He that said unto Him, Thou art my Son, this day "have I begotten thee, Thou art a Priest for ever "after the order of Melchisedec." Can it then be less than blasphemy to imagine, that any other person whatever, though never so well furnished with gifts or graces, without a like commission from God, can take upon him to represent His person, or exercise with effect any spiritual office in His name! No surely! and that our Lord might not leave the world without providing for His flock those that should feed and govern it in His absence till His second coming, He chose out certain persons for this very purpose, to whom He imparted His authority, by making them partakers of His mission just before His ascension, in these words, "As my father sent me, so send I you.' But here it is to be observed, that as soon as ever our Blessed Lord had pronounced that commission, He "breathed upon them, and said, Receive ye the Holy "Ghost," which was the first act of His mediatorial office, after that "all power was given unto Him in "heaven

"heaven and in earth." The Holy Ghost, at Pentecost," came upon them, like a rushing mighty wind,” to enable them to propagate his Gospel. But for the constant work of the ministry, which was never to cease from the Church, they received power also, of conferring the authority upon others, and they also on others, successively, for ever, according to our Savi. our's promise," Go ye, therefore, and teach all na❝tions, and lo I am with you, always, to the end of the "world." And it is manifest, that they, actually, exercised this authority which they received. And St. Paul, afterwards, who had the same authority given him by our Saviour from heaven, which the rest of the Apostles received from Him on earth, as he sent Timothy and Titus so he gave them authority to send others also; as is plain by his saying to the one, "Lay "hands, suddenly, on no man;" and to the other, "For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldst "set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain "elders in every city, as I appointed thee." And all this the Apostles did by the power of the Holy Ghost, given them by Christ, by which, as they were enabled to perform, personally, their apostolical functions, so they were empowered also to ordain others to the same, whose office, therefore, as theirs was, is also from the Holy Ghost: which St. Paul himself shews, speaking to the elders of Ephesus, to whom, though they were, certainly, ordained by some of the Apostles, probably by himself, yet his charge is, "Take 66 ye heed, therefore, unto yourselves and to all the "flock, over which the Holy Ghost has made you "overseers, to feed the Church of God." And thus, as under the Law, there was a successive priesthood continued

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