NOR may we think, that the Priesthood is lefs Sacred and Appropriate under the Gospel, than it was under the Law; for,

AS our Lord changed the Seal of the Covenant from Circumcifion to Baptifm, fo after he was himself ordained Prieft, he transferr'd the Priefthood from the Tribe of Levi and Family of Aaron, to Chofen Witneffes, who had conftantly attended him from the time he was baptiz'd of John in the River Jordan, to his Refurrection; and alter'd the Nature of Succession, from a lineal Defcent and Inheritance, to an external and visible Ordination, by Impofition of - Hands.

AND as Aaron was by a Demonstration, as evident to the Senfes, as it was miraculous, certified to the People to be the true High Priest of God, fo alfo it is obfervable (as St. Paul takes notice) that our Saviour himself, notwithstanding his Supereminent Gifts, and Qualifications, did not glorify himself to be made an High Prieft, till he was appointed thereto by God; which was done in a visible and audible Manner by a Voice from Heaven, and an apparent Defcent of the Holy Spirit, that fo all Perfons prefent might be af

• Heb. v. 5.

fured,

fured, that from thence-forward HE was Confecrated to be an High Prieft; for that is the true Import of thofe Words, §This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; i. e. «This Per"fon, whom you fee my Spirit refting upon, is

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my Son; that Son of my Love, whofe coming "the Prophets have foretold, and whom I now "visibly appoint to be my Prieft, to attone, by «his Interceffion and Sacrifice, for the Sins of "Mankind.

NOW that Affertion of the Apostle's, + wherein he declares, as an undoubted Maxim, that no Man taketh that Honour unto himself, but he that is ordained of God, as was Aaron, muft neceffarily refpect the Gospel-Miniftry, as well as the Levitical; because he expreffes it in the time then prefent; and immediately quotes the Example of Chrift, to prove, that no Person whatsoever is capable of being a Prieft, or tranfacting in things pertaining to God, without fuch a visible Appointment and Ordination as Aaron's was, and CHRIST'S Was.

THIS vifible Inftitution of Clergy in the Chriftian Church, is much to be obferv'd and infifted on, as the certain Mark of true and regular Ordination; and all other Methods of entring into

§ Mat. iii. 17.

† Heb. v. 4.

the

*

the Ministry, are no other than a Sacrilegious Intrufion; or, as our Saviour with fome Vehemence affures us, Verily I fay unto you, he that entreth not by the Door into the Sheepfold, but climbeth up fome other way, the fame is a Thief and a Robber. And that fuch an Ufurper of Holy Orders is far from doing any good to the Flock, much lefs inftrumental to their Salvation, appears from what our Lord adds, •The Thief comes not, saith he, but to fteal, to kill, and to destroy.

THIS we may prefume was the Reafon, why our Saviour took that special Care in the Manner of Ordaining his Eleven Apoftles: First, he feparated them from the World, by taking them into a folitary Place apart: Here he opens to them his own Commiffion; then Breaths on them vifibly, and with an audible Voice (of which Ceremonies they were all Witneffes one for another) he bade them Receive the Holy Ghost; and delegates to them the Power of Baptifm and Preaching, in as full and ample manner as he himself had received it from his Father. And, to the Intent that the rest of the Church, and all the People, might be convinced that these were his true Ministers, he afterwards fent down the Holy Spirit, in the Form of cloven Tongues, to notify and atteft their Miffion.

* John. x. 1.

THE

THE Practice of the Apostles, in Ordaining others, we find exactly agreeable to this, as to the Apparency and external Rite of Ordination; St. Matthias being visibly marked out and chofen by Lot, and then by Prayer and laying on of their Hands, Publickly received into the Apostolate.

THUS alfo (Acts xiii. 2, 3.) the Holy Ghost commanded Paul and Barnabas to be feparated unto him for the Work whereunto he had called them; and when the Elders, or chief Governors of the Church had fafted and prayed, and by Impofition of Hands ordained them to be Apostles, they then fent them away to the Gentiles; and this, in the 4th Verfe, is called, Their being fent forth by the Holy Ghost.

THE Word in the Original (Xgoro, neis) which we render ordained, does literally fignify Impofition of Hands, which is a visible external Action, and by St. Paul (Heb. vi. 2.) is reckoned amongst the chief Doctrines, and firft Rudiments of the Christian Religion.

AND as this Act and Power of Ordination was at firft committed to the Apostles, by our Lord JESUS CHRIST, apart from, and exclufive of all others; fo afterwards, as far as the facred Hiftory goes, we find it was conftantly exercifed by the Apostles Only, in fending Labourers into

the

the Lord's Vineyard; and by the fucceeding History of the Church, appears to have been perpetuated in their Succeffors the Bishops (according to our Lord's Promife) from that Time down to this, and never was controverted in the Church for 1500 Years together, until the Time of John Calvin.

THE Apoftles (which word fignifies Meffengers) were fo called from the Miffion they immediately received from CHRIST. Their Succeffors took the Name of Bifhops, or Overfeers, because the Extent of their Power, and Cure of Souls, was particularly limited to a certain Diftrict called Diocese, and Bishop's See, or Seat, where they conftantly refided, and fuperintended their Flock: But each Bishop's Power and Jurifdiction within their refpective Sees, was to all Intents and Purposes the fame with the Apostles; as appears plainly from the fuperior Rank which St. James (tho' not one of the twelve Apostles) held in his own See at Jerufalem, in that firft Council of the Apostles and Elders; and alfo from the Charge given to Bishops by St. Paul, in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus, the firft Bishops of Ephefus and Crete.

IT ought to be no Objection against the prefent Order of Bifhops, that they have not the fame miraculous Gifts which the Apostles had, because

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