unnatural opinion only could sanction another error-that we all deserve everlasting punishment for Adam's sin: for the Scripture is too express in declaring, that " the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father," and that "the soul that sinneth, it shall die;" to allow of this hypothesis on any other principle than the strange and impossible one, that the son sinned in the person of the father. In this world, indeed, we often see instances of the son suffering in consequence of his father's guilt; but divine justice will remedy this in a future state. So, also, human nature being corrupted and rendered prone to sin in the person of Adam, is thus transmitted to his posterity; but in a future state, if it be not their fault, they will be eternally removed from the consequences of this inherited evil. 3. The actual guilt of every man, arising out of the weakness and corruption of his nature. This is not to be supposed the effect of necessity; for then God is the author of sin, it being impossible for any necessity to exist but by his appointment. In every thing subject to its test, recourse should be always had to experience, as affording evidence paramount to all other possible arguments. Now I beg every reader to lay his hand upon his heart, and ask if he has not sinned; and if, in any one case, he did so, by any compulsion, which frees from blame his own will and consent. This being done impartially and sincerely, can leave none in doubt of the Scripture truths, that all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God-that there is no man that sinneth not that in many things we offend all; and this, not as the result of any physical or moral necessity, but of our wilfully exposing ourselves to the effects of the weakness, and yielding to the corruptions of the nature we inherit, 4. That Jesus Christ, the second Person in the Trinity, took our nature into union with his divinity, and thus became Mediator between God and man, to redeem us from the dominion of sin, and from its consequences, the wrath of God, and everlasting punishment. 5. That this redemption was for all mankind; but that it will be effectual to the salvation of those only who avail themselves of it. "That he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man."* "He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."+ " Who gave himself a. ransom for all." These texts are as clear a demonstration of the first part of this proposition, as could be presented by a detail of the multitude of similar import which might be adduced. The latter clause is supported by the whole current of Scripture, which prescribes the discharge of duty, promises heaven as its reward, and threatens hell as the punishment of neglecting it. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." "Work out your own salvation."|| " Give diligence to make your calling and election sure; for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall." The whole Christian revelation speaks the same language. It, therefore, rests with man to avail himself of the redemption purchased by Christ, and be saved; or to slight and neglect it, to his condemnation. When the angel caused St. Peter's chains to fall "off from his hands,"** it remained with the Apostle to avail himself of this power of escape, or to continue in prison. That he could have done the latter, no reasonable person will deny. His escape, however, though his own act, was put within his power by the angel's interposition; and therefore all the merit of it belonged to him, or rather to HIM by whom he was sent. So, also, Christ breaks the chains by which, without him, we should be bound to sin, and misery, and everlasting death; but we may refuse to embrace the opportunity of escape thus afforded, and still continue in degrading bondage. If we do embrace it, we can claim no merit, for the opportunity was not of our own procuring, but of the mere grace and mercy of God in Christ. To him, then, only, all the praise is due. * Heb. ii. 9. † 1 St. John ii. 2. We have nothing to do with reconciling all this with the foreknowledge or sovereign control of God. That is among the secret things which belong to him. It is departing from the simplicity of the Gospel, and, of course, from evangelical consistency, to trouble ourselves with it. What has been stated above is clearly revealed; and it is, therefore, our duty to embrace it. If it involve any trial of our faith, let us humbly submit to this, as a part of the probation through which we are to pass to seeing, not as now, through a glass darkly, but face to face; and knowing not as now, in part, but even as also we are known. 6. That we are to avail ourselves of this redemption by faith in Christ, as our only and all-sufficient Saviour-by union and communion with his Church -by conforming to the spirit of the Gospel, and discharging all its religious and moral duties. That faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is necessary for our justification and salvation; that it is the principle upon which good works must be performed, in order to render them acceptable and pleasing to God; that this faith must embrace Christ as our Prophet, by whose doctrine alone we can attain to the knowledge of the true religion -our Priest, by whose atonement and intercession alone we can have the pardon of sin, and the favour of God -our King, to whom we should devote the entire homage of the heart, and the whole service of the life: these are points so generally regarded as fundamental in the Christian system, that their formal establishment is deemed unnecessary. It is presumed that the necessity of union and communion with his Church may be shown to be also required in the Gospel, as a condition of salvation. Men are to be made disciples of Christ, i. e. admitted into his religion, by being baptized "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the - Holy Ghost."* * St. Matt. xxviii. 19. where the word "teach" means, according to the original, make disciples of. In the conclusion of the third and beginning of the fourth chapter of St. Paul's epistle to the Galatians, he sets forth, more at large, the effects and privileges of baptism. " Ye are all the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus." That faith does not here mean the religious act of the mind usually known by that name, as an evangelical duty, appears from its being addressed to the very persons to whom, in this same epistle, St. Paul applies the following strong censures : - " I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ," (i. 6.) "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth?" (iii. 1.) " Now, after that ye have known God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage!-I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain." (iv. 9, 11.) Will it be said that persons who subjected themselves to such language, possessed that true and living faith "by" which they might be said to be "the children of God?" It is presumed not. Yet St. Paul expressly says" Ye are ALL the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." The difficulty vanishes at once, by giving to the term faith here, the sense which it must have in the following, among many similar passages-" A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith." (Acts vi. 7. 7.) "Do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." (Gal. vi. 10.) " Earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." (Jude 3.) The sense in which it is supposed necessary to understand the word faith in these passages, is the system of faith termed the Gospel. In support of this, the most respectable authority might be quoted. It is the obvious sense of the context. "The law," i. e. the Mosaic dispensation, " was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. But after that faith," i. e. the Christian dispensation, " is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster." Thus understood, the text in question may be paraphrased as follows: Ye are all the children of God by the Gospel which is in Christ Jesus : not because of your faith and holiness; for ye see that I have to condemn much unfaithfulness and irreligion among you, even to such a degree, that I am afraid, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain: but by virtue of the covenant relation in which you stand to God, under the Gospel, now that it has superseded the law, which served but as a schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. "For," (he proceeds to illustrate this,) " as many of you as have been baptized into Christ," and thus, in the appointed way, embraced the Gospel, "have put on Christ; and if ye be Christ's, then are ye heirs, according to the promise." Proceeding in an uninterrupted strain which shows that he continues his reference to being "the children of God," not by any personal holiness, but in virtue of a privilege conferred by the Gospel on" as many as have been baptized into Christ," St. Paul adds, "God sent forth his Son to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons; and because ye ARE SONS" (he still addresses the foolish, wicked, and unfaithful Galatians, upon whom he fears his labour will have been bestowed in vain) "God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father." That is, the Divine Spirit ratifies this covenant relation, whereby God becomes, in an especial sense, your Father. Hence it appears that by baptism men receive the privilege of the adoption of sons, and heirship of heaven. This does not necessarily suppose holiness of heart and life, or ultimate attainment of heaven. The sons of God, as were many of these Galatians, may be rebellious and undutiful children. The heirs of heaven, as the Apostle feared of some of these, may yet forfeit their inheritance. A further effect of baptism is revealed in the following passages: " By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." "Now ye are the body of Christ." (1 Cor. xii. 13, 27.) This is, in the next verse, called " the Church," agreeably to Eph. i. 22, 23. "the Church which is his body." Hence it appears, that the privileges just seen to attend baptism, are connected by the wisdom of God, with union with his Church, effected by that ordinance. This is a visible society, for it is entered by a visible ordinance, and is distinguished by a visible ministry, as appears from 1 Cor. xii. 28. In his first Epistle to Timothy, St. Paul gives him directions for the choice of fit persons to serve in the two lower grades of the ministry, and adds-" These things write I unto thee that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God." Here is additional evidence, that the body or Church of Christ, in union with which such inestimable privileges are possessed, is a visible society, under a visible ministry. That maintaining communion with this Church is an appointed mean of securing the sanctification and salvation offered through the Redeemer's atonement, is the last point to be established under this head. The reader is requested to bear in mind, what we have already seen, that the body and Church of Christ are synonymous. "By one Spirit, are we all baptized into one body, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." (1 Cor. xii. 13.) Here the connexion between union with the body, and participation of the Spirit, is most obvious. In the second chapter of Ephesians, verse 16, St. Paul speaks of Christ having "reconciled both" Jews and Gentiles "unto God in one body;" and giving "both access by one Spirit unto the Father." Compare this, for illustration, with 1 Cor. xii. 13. In the last four verses of the above mentioned chapter to the Ephesians, he changes the figure, but obviously retains his design of representing union with the Church of Christ as the appointed mean of possessing the privileges, and advancing in the piety of the Gospel. In the fourth chapter of the same Epistle, verses 11, &c. St. Paul de clares, that the divine purpose in sending religious teachers, was "for the edifying of the body of Christ;" proceeding most clearly to show, that in communion with this body, we are to enjoy the privileges, and preserve the true faith and piety of the Gospel. It is "the Church, for" which "Christ gave himself." (Eph. v. 25.) The spiritual good he would effect by his transcendent love in our redemption, is to "present to himself a glorious Church, holy and without blemish." (v. 27.) And to this end, he "nourisheth and cherisheth the Church." (v. 29.) "Not holding the Head," is represented (Col. ii. 18, 19.) as proud rebellion against the order of Christ, to be most assiduously opposed by all true believers; while the reverse, by communion with the body, is declared the mean whereby spiritual " nourishment" is to be "ministered," Christian unity preserved, and the disciples of the Lamb are to increase " with the increase of God." The writer is humbly conscious of having exhibited a true picture of Gospel doctrine under this head; and trusts that the reader will not think it an unwarranted assertion, that a system of religious belief, in order to be fully evangelical, must embrace the principle that union and communion with the Church of Christ, a visible society, entered by baptism, and characterized by a visible ministry, is a divine condition of our enjoyment of the spiritual and eternal blessings purchased by the death of Christ. The question immediately presents itself, Where is this Church? -Lo, here it is-and, Lo, it is there, are heard on every side. To determine between these contending claims, let us regard the word of the Lord by the prophet Jeremiah: * "Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein." And let the rule of our inquiry be that dictated by inspiration to Isaiah:t "To the law and to the testimony: if, they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." On so momentous a subject as the characteristics of the Christian Church, the Scriptures are not silent. Let us search and look, that we may know what is evangelical sentiment on this head. I presume it to be acknowledged that the Christian sacraments, public worship, and instruction, and a ministry, are essentials of the Church. That the ministry must derive its authority from the Divine Head of the Church, is obvious from those who sustain it, being called " ambassadors for Christ," acting as his agents, and "in" his "stead;"*" ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God:" and from that fundamental maxim of ecclesiastical polity, "No man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron."‡ Now the Church being a visible and well ordered society, we are necessarily led to expect that God, in his wisdom, will provide a ministry in such a way as to preserve its order, and guard it against imposition. If, by an immediate act, he commissions men to discharge its functions, he will doubtless enable them to give those incontestible evidences of their call, which were given by his prophets and apostles of old-supernatural powElse the delusion of fanatics, and the arts of impostors would keep the Church in perpetual confusion. If the ministerial office be not thus immediately conferred, it must be given through the agency of those who have received it, with power to transmit it; or else the divine commission ceases: for in any others, none but mere human authority can exist. ers. Where, now, was the power of transmission lodged? It will not be denied that the Saviour's promise to the Apostles to be "with" them "alway, even unto the end of the world," involves the authorising of them to transmit their office to that remote period. Let it be remembered, that this is recorded to have been said to " the eleven disciples," i. e. the apostles. There were also, at that time, other ministers, the * Jeremiah vi. 16. † Isa. viii. 20. * 2 Cor. v. 20. † 1 Cor. iv. 1. seventy. Hence we infer, that the power of transmission was not essential to the ministerial office, but given to the apostles especially. To whom, now, did they impart it? They ordained Deacons, who preached and baptized ; and elders. Were either of these empowered to commission others? It will not be questioned, that this power is the most important with which a minister can be invested. On its judicious and proper discharge, more is depending with regard to the interests of the Church, than on that of any other function. We may, therefore, reasonably look for apostolic directions on that subject. Let the reader turn to Acts xx. 17-35.1 Tim. iii. Titus i. 6-9. 1 St. Peter v. 2, 3. and he will see a body of wholesome advice for Bishops or Elders, and Deacons, whereby to govern themselves in the duties of their respective offices. But he sees not one word of counsel or direction in that most important function-ordaining to the ministry. And is it then possible, that the Church is left without the benefit of any caution on this momentous subject? No: at Ephesus, where were the very elders addressed by St. Paul in Acts xx. lived also Timothy. To him the apostle gives rules for the choice of Bishops or Elders, and Deacons ;|| and him he exhorts to "lay hands suddenly on no man;" but " commit the things that" he had "heard to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also "** To Titus, St. Paul gives similar directions for the choice of ministers, and declares that he left him in Crete to "ordain Elders in every city."++ What, now, reasonably and necessarily follows? That the Bishops or Elders, and Deacons did not; and that Timothy and Titus did, possess the power of ordination; for they only had directions given them for the due exercise of this power; while, in very full enumerations of the qualifications † Acts viii 5, 12, 13,38, §1 Tim. i. 3. * Acts vi. + Acts xiv. 23. || 1 Tim. iii. **2 Tim. ii. 2. 1 Tim. v. 22. Tit. i. 5-9. of Bishops or Elders, and Deacons, not one word is said on the subject. Consequently, Timothy and Titus held a grade of ministry in the Church, superior (because possessing superior powers) to the Bishops or Elders, and Deacons. To the first, then, of three orders, and to that only, it appears that the power of ordination was given. Its assumption, therefore, by either of the other orders must necessarily break the succession, and of course set aside the divine commission. That the practice of the primitive Church showed its sense, in its best and purest days, to accord entirely with the above view (an unimportant change having taken place in the names of the two first orders, by the reverent relinquishing of the name Apostle, and taking from the second, that of Bishop for the first,*) might be easily made to appear. Enough has been done, however, to show what is the evangelical view of this subject; and to evince that the Liturgy is in strict accordance with the Gospel, in declaring, that "from the apostles' time there have been these orders of ministers in Christ's Church, Bishops, Priests, and Deacons"- that they were "appointed by" the " divine Providence" of " Almighty God"-and that, consequently, "no man shall be accounted, or taken to be a lawful Bishop, Priest, or Deacon, or suffered to execute any of the said functions, except he hath had Episcopal consecration or ordination, "t i. e. consecration or ordination by a Bishop, as the highest of three grades in the ministry, and alone clothed with power to ordain. Theodoret, a Christian writer of the fifth century, gives the following account of this fact. "In process of time those who succeeded to the apostolic office, left the name of Apostle to the Apostles strictly so called; and gave the name of Bishop to those who succeeded to the apostolic office." (See quotation in lesson xix. Exp. & Enl. Cat.) The term Priest began early to be applied to the second orden. It is the fact of the three distinct orders, and not the precise names of those orders which is important. † Preface to the Ordinal, and Prayers in the services, |