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BROOKE MOUNTAIN, M.A. PREBENDARY OF LINCOLN; RBCT0.1 OF BLUNHAM, BEDFORDSHIRE; VICAR OF HEMEL HEMPSTEAD, HERTS; AND DOMESTIC CHAPLAIN TO THE LORD BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER- PUBLISHED AT THE DESIRE OF A FEW FRIENDS WHO HEARD IT. SOUTHAMPTON: PUBLISHED BY THOMAS KING, 22, HIGH STREET; SOLD BY C. J. G. AND F. RIVINGTON, LONDON; AND J. AND J. J. DEIGHTON, CAMBRIDGE. MDCCCXXXVI. ON THE COMMISSION OF THE MINISTRY. t John XX. ■>!, 22, 23. Thon said Jesus to them again, Peace be mito you : as my Father hath ^out mo, even so send I you. And wiien lie had siid this. He breathed on them, and saith unto them. Uocoive ye the Holy Giiost. Whososoovcr sius yo riinit, they are remitted unto thonx ; and whosesoever sms ye retain, they are retained. One of tlie titles of our Lord is Sliiloh — that is, the sent, the Messenger of the Covenant ; the Amhas.sador sent hy tlie Father to proclaim glad tidings of great joy to all people, and to reconcile the world to Himself. Being thus aj^pointed the Chief Minister of the Gospel, he deputes others to the same office under him; "as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." There seems no other reasonahle interpretation of his Avords than this — that as the Almighty Father had openly commi.ssioned his well-beloved Son, and poured out His spirit upon him "without measure," to qualify him for the wojk whereunto He had appointed him, "even so," in the same manner, hy the ceremony of a formal Ordination, and by the comujunication of the Spirit of grace and power, that Son commissioned the first human Ministers of His Holy Word,* to preach * I entirely concur in the opinion that our Lord's words in this text were addressed to the AP()H'!'!,F,.S n»/y; hw the jivinciplc ap-pHcs to all the inferior orders of the JliuiBtry deriving tiiexr autliority from Him through them. the doctrine of Salvation, through faith in His Name, to all the nations of the world. — They were sent in the same manner, furnished with the same means of discharging their duty, and charged with the same errand— "as ye go, preach, "saying the kingdom of Heaven is at liand; — heal "the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead? "cast out devils; freely ye have received, freely "give." — Their first husiness was to preach or proclaim the approach of Christ's Kingdom, and their next to confirm that Word with signs following; — the very same signs and miracles to which their Lord had Himself appealed as the evidences of His Mission from God. In this manner Jesus Christ authorized and sanctified his Apostles, to the work of the Ministry. He chose them, out of the numher who helieved in Him, as the fittest for His purpose. They were not elected by the Church, but expressly by the Head of the Church, who reminded them — " Ye have not chosen me, but / have '^ chosen you.'' There is, in Holy Scripture, no trace of any other mode of appointing Ministers of the Gospel. The Deacons indeed whose office, in the first instance, was that of Overseers of the poor, were nominated by the whole body of believers, with whose alms they were intrusted; but even in this business the appointment rested with the Apostles, whose charge to the people !^ was, "look ye out seven men of good report, **wliom we* may appoint over this business." But the office of the Ministry was unconnected with this duty of charitable distribution; and was even found inconsistent with an attention to its details. The Apostles complained that their time was withdrawn from preaching and prayer to "serve tables;" and it was on this ground that they recommended the appointment of Deacons, whose very title implies the nature of the duties which they were to perform. They who discharged this office well, St. Paul says, purchased to themselves good "degrees;" attained to a respectable station in the Church ; and were frequently promoted to become Preachers of the Gospel. }3ut the Ministers appear to have been always chosen, as well as ordained by Apostles; St. Paul "chose" Silas, when St. Barnabas " determined to take" Markf ; and the former Apostle likewise selected Timothy and Titus, whom he not only ordained, and consecrated Apostles or Bishops of his OAvn sole authority ; but he commissioned them also to "ordain elders, (presbyters, or priests,) in every "city;" and he furnished them with directions respecting the nature of those qualifications, which should guide them in their choice of the * The well-known fraud of the Puritans, in misprinting this word "ye" for "u?e," affords a convincing evidence that the original is unanswerably on our side. t Acts XX., 37—40. - • ._: 6 individuala to be orrlaiued. The CominisHioii first delivered by Jesus Christ to liis Ajiostles, has thus been handed down, in uninterrupted succession, to tlie Bisliops, and tlirou^h them to tlie Priests and Deacons of the present day ; nor do we, in tlie Ej)isc{)pal Church, consider any Ministry as hnvl'ul, or any ordination as valid, unless it he clearly derived from this 'sacred source. When our Lord had declared this principle in the manner already stated, and had formally commissioned the Apostles, he conferred on them the gift of the Spirit; *'He breathed on them, "and said, * Receive ye the Holy Ghost.' "Whosesoever sins ye remit, thev are remitted "unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, "they are retained." 'J'hese words which are still adopted in the Ordination of Priests to their sacred function, have been strangely misunderstood by those who have supposed them to convey to the Church, or even to the first Apjostles, the power of pardoning sin, or of condemning sinners. "The JSon of Man, "indeed, had power on earth to forgive sins;" but it was because "the Father had comliiitted all judgment to the Son," and "made him the judge of quick and dead." "Who can forgive sins, but God only ?" To the Apostles and to their successors was given merely tliat power, >\ithout which there can be no discipline ti « in the Church, (nor indeed in any Society); the power of Ahsohilion, and of Excommunication ;— in other words, the power of excluding offenders from the Society for the violation of its rules, and of re-admitling them, upon satisfactory evidence of their sincere repentance. This authoiity to govern the Church was intrusted hy our Lord to His Apostles in the w.uds already cited, and has heen hy them handed down to its Governors for the maintenance of discipline — " for edification, and not for "destruction;" to he exercised hy them "not "as having dominion over your faith, hut as "helpers of your joy ;" and to this legitimate power you are commanded, in the word of God, to pay a ready and willing obedience. " Remember "them who have the rule over you," says the Apostle to the Hebrews, (xiii , 7, 17,) "who have "spoken to vou the word of Goi>."-"Obey them "that have the rule over you, and subnnt "yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as "they that must give account." Our Lord Himself having thus settled the constitntion of His Church, and conferred on His Ministers the powers necessary for its continnance and government, "ascended np "where he was before," and left them to the guidance of that Holy Spirit, who "giveth light "and understanding to the simple ;"-No further commission can be obtained immediatdy from 8 Him who "now sittetli at the right hand of God ;" tlio power of onUiining MiniHters, of autliori.sing tliem to preach, of Hiiperinl ending tlieir discliarge of duty, and overseeing the wliole flock of Christ, rests »vit]i that succession of Jiiahops who have ruled the Churcli since the days of the Apostles,* and whose sanction is indispensahle to " Ihe work "of the Ministry, to the edifying of tlie hody "of Christ." This general principle having heen laid down, a question naturally arises, how far the duty of ohedience is affected hy the cessation of inspira- tion ; — for our Churcli, though trusting that we are still called to the Ministry hy the Holy Spirit, directing our understandings and influencing our hearts, and still guided hy Him in the discharge of our functions as long as we humhly seek his guidance, — rejects all pretensions to sensihle calls* direct revelations, or miraculous communications from Heaven; and heing thus left to the direction of the human mind, enlightened and assisted hy those ordinary gifts of grace which are common to all true helievers, — the Ministers and Governors of the Churcli are liahle to error, and the Church itself is not infallible. But, if we will look at tliis question without prejudice or passion, we shall surely see that the fallibility of the Church, and of its Ministers, does * We challenge all opponents to produce evidence that any form of polity other than Episcopal, has prevailed in the Church from the days of the Apostolic men, to the eera of the llefoimation. „ not operate to exempt the people from the duty of lc()itimate uhedieiice; of obedience to constituted authority, and estahhshed niles, and hiwful discipline; — l)ut merely from an absolute and servile obedience. — As long as the Apostles spake t]ie express dictates of the Holy Ghost, — as long as the Church could use sucli language as — "it seemeth good to the Holy Ghost, and «to us," — there can be no doubt that any resistance to their commands was disobedience not to man, but to God ; — but when this awful power was withdrawn, the Bishops and Pastors of the Church were to govern it l)y Canons, and Articles, and fixed niles; and the duty of the people became a canonical obedience, — an obedience, not to the will or power of man, but to the laws laid down by tlie whole body of the Church, and administered by its officers. Every act of autliority in conformity with those laws is b-n ling upon your consciences; but if any attempt be made to exercise an arbitrary dominion beyond them, you are entitled to refuse submission lo it. But if the cessation of miraculous gifts, and our consequent liability to error, cannot justify disobe- dience to authority lawfully exercised, still less can it excuse separation from the Clmrch, and a division of the Christian body into sects and parties. Such schisms are condemned in the Word of God as deadly sins,* and denounced as cutting off" the ♦ 1 Cor. hi, 3, xii. 12. &c. Gal. v, 20. 1 Tim. i, 20, Titus iii. 10. &c., &c. io inembers from the Head of the Church, and depriving them of the influence of the Spirit ;* and, however unwelcome and unpopuhir may be the declaration of this doctrine, the plain sense of Holy Scripture forbids us to compromise it from false delicacy, or worldly timidity, or from any other motive whatever. But, — say tiiey who are anxious to excuse schism,— if separation from the established Church constitutes the deadly sin of schism so fearfully denounced by the Apostles, how can you justify your o^Vn separation from the Church of Rome ? — The plain answer is that we did not separate from it._^e reformed the Church of England; we reformed many abuses which ignorance and corruption had introduced; we abolished many practices which savour of idclatry, and many more which are in direct contempt of the Word of God, and contrary to sound doctrine; and we denied the right of the Bishop of Rome to govern the whole Church by his arbitrary power, as well as the infallibility of the Church, upon which that usurpation is founded: We established tha principle, to which I have before adverted, of a canonical and legal, instead of an absolute and slavish obedience ; and lor having done these things, the Church of England is denounced as heretical by the Chiij ch of Rome, excommunicated on earth, 11 i I • 1,1^ ^f «o/»oT»iaTino iri T-Tpnvpn, and (leclareii lucupauic \ji a,tvvpi"xx^v ,.; -j. ♦ Jude V. 19. I . ll . Tlie separation is of their mailing, not ovrs ; and we liave incurred it by our adherence to the Apostolical principle tliut "we ouolit to obey God "rather than man." The same argument will imdouhtedly justify dissent from the Church of England, if it can be shewn that we require of our members assent to any doctrine, or conformity to any practice, which is plainly and essentially unscriptiu'al ; and if we excommunicate them for a conscientious refusal of such assent and conformity : — but unless this can be undeniably proved, I do not see how it is possible fairly to read the New Testament, and especially the Epistles of St. Paul, without entertaining that awful apprehension of the guilt and danger of separation which shook the soul of Luther in his pious work of Reformation, and, at one time, nearly unhinged his powerful mind. Our Church is a branch of that Universal Church, — planted upon "the foundation of the «' Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Ch.ist Himself being "the chief corner stone;" unjustly repudiated by the Church of Rome, which is another, and as we alledge, a corrupt branch of the same Catholic stem, because we have cleansed ourselves from corruption, and restored the primitive docUines and Worship of the Christian Faith; deserted, as we think, without any sufficient plea to excuse the schism, by all the protestant sects which sprung up amid the confusion of the Reformation, when tlie minds of men 12 became unsettled in tlie mighty conflict of opinions, and liberty degenerated into licentiousness and misrule. But v/E ARE NOT A SECT : we liave never been separated from the Parent stem of the Primitive Church of wliich we form an undoubted Branch ; and we cannot be separated from it by the anathemas of another Branch, nor by the encroachments of wild offsets A\hich have sprung up from the scattered fragments of the spreading tree. And now, if we are satisfied that we are members of a true Church ; that we possess an Apostolical commission in our Ministers ; that we have all the appointed means and channels of grace ; all the doctrines and institutions necessary for salvation ; — are we to rest contented with these advantages, and trust to them to deliver us "from "the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty "of the children of God?" — Surely no. These things are but the outward forms of introduction to the Christian Covenant, — necessary indeed and indispensable, as being "required of God in Holy Scripture," but, of themselves, utterly vain and helpless. The member of the Church by outward conformity will be no nearer to Heaven, till he become a member of Christ through a lively^ "Faith wliich worketh by Love ; " the communicant in Sftcraments grasps only an empty casket, if he ^ 13 receives not with them the inestimable pearl above all price, the gift of the Holy Spirit of God ; the hearer of the Word preached by commissioned Ministers will not be profited, if that Word be not "mixed with faith in them that hear it;" the very purity of the reformed doctrines will be only a reproach to the professors of them, if their lives are not answerable to their professions ; if they do not put away their moral as well as their doctrinal corruptions. We must no longer endure luhewarraness in principles, nor laxity in conduct; we are assailed on every side by numberless and unrelenting enemies, from whose incessant attacks our only hope of safety is in the protection of our Almighty Head, the Lord Jesus Christ;— and that protection will only be afforded us, if we study, and labour to deserve it. Look at his declarations to the seven Churches of Asia, and behold how He has fulfilled* them all! — Those among them which He "TT— "A few" heaps of stones, and some miserable mud cottages* occasionally tenanted by Turks, without one Christian residing there, are all the remains of ancient Ephesus. inn nnn inhabitants 2.-Sm>rna is still a large city, contaming nearly 100,000 inhabitants, with several Greek Churches. , _-„ 3 Ipircramos still contains at least 15,000 inhabitants; of whom 1,500 are Greeks, and 200 Armenians, each of whom have a Church. 4_Thvatira still exists embosomed in cypresses and poplars. 1 he Grc;ks occupy 300 houses and the Armenians 30. Each of them have "" ?"-A 'few wretched mud hut. scattered among the ruins are the only dwellings in Sardis, and form the lowly home of Turkish herdsmen who arc its only inhabitants. No Christians reside on the spot. 6.-Phadelphia alone long withstood the Po«" of the Turks and at length capitula ed with the proudest of the Ottomans. Among the Greek Colonie^of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect, a column in a scene of Ss The Christians occnpy 300 houses. Divine Service is performed every Sunday in tivc Churches. The present Bishop is a zealous Bible Chri-^tiin an'xious to reform the abuses of the Greek Church. 7.lLaodLa is utterly desolated, and without any inhabitant, except wolves, jackals, and foxes.-See Keith's Evidence and Arundell s Vint. H commended continue, to this day, flourishing more or less, in exact proportion to tlie respective commendations; those which He threatened have Jong since fallen, and the cities Avhere they once flourished, have become rnii s for their salve. 80 will it be with us. If we regard the venerable fabric of our Apostolic Church, the clear com- mission of our Ministry, the primitive purify of our doctrine and worship, the Holy Sacraments of our Covenant, as so many calls and incentives to a gi*eater watclifulness against sin, a more fruitful abundance in good works; if we feel that we are deeply accountable for these blessings, and labour to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called; to let our liglit so shine before men, that they may glorify our Heavenly Father, and be drawn, by our example to follow Christ in the Regeneration; — ^if Ave do these things, we shall never fall; the fierceness of our enemies will only strengthen our cause, and their calumnies will add lustre to the cliaracter of our Church. But if we rest in the propriety of outward and formal things; if Ave value the endoA\^ments of the Church more than its doctrines, and its rank in the state rather than its honor in the presence of God; if Ave contend for its Avorldly privileges Avhilst Ave undermine its spiritual discipline by our loose and carnal livivs; if Ave indulge ourselves in ease and plenty Avhilst means are wanted in sr»rpad tliP lio-Lt nf i]M> Gospel, in our oAvn laud, or among kindred nations; if papists and dissen|;ers excel us in - V tt a 15 missionary zeal, or domestic charity; — then indeed are we " wretched, and miserable, and poor, and "blind, and naked;" — then, "because we are "lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, will our Lord spew us out of his mouth;" — Then is our ruin nigh even at the doors, and we shall fall, lamentably yet justly fall, unpitied of man, and rejected of God ! The choice is yet before us. "Draw near "to God, and He vnW draw near to you." Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded." Let us reform the worldliness, the luxury, the selfishness of our habits, and refine our zeal from the dross of party spirit, and interested motives;— let the love of Christ rule in our hearts, and become the source of all our sentiments, the guide of all our actions; let it be for His sake, and for the sake of men's souls, whom He died to redeem, that we love and maintain the Church of our Fathers, and defend the altars of the Protestant Faith. Let us defend them in a truly Christian spirit — a spirit of invincible courage without animosity, of unflinch- ing firmness without obstinacy, of ardent zeal without rashness, of holy confidence without presumption. Let us "study to adorn the doctrine "of God our Savioui- in all things;"— and "let all "bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, "be put aw^y from us, mth all malic^." "And 16 "be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, "forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's "sake, hath forgiven you." Now &c. FINIS. T. KING, PRINTER, 22, HIGH-STREET SOUTHAMPTON.