u

he sent, during his ministry, to preach in Judea. After his resurrection he solemnly delivered to the apostles their commission with the assurance of his never-failing assistance and support. He prefaces it with a declaration of his power both to "call" and to uphold ministers of the word. He says, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."

Before I proceed further in tracing the progress of the ministerial office, I must notice, by the way, a circumstance in the appointment of the Apostles, which may seem to warrant the pretensions of the most ignorant to

" We may observe (Luke xxiv. 49. and Acts i. 4.) that the Apostles not only received a commission from our Saviour, but were also prohibited from exercising that commission, till they had received the Holy Ghost, for that especial purpose. And in the second chapter of the Acts, we find them obediently waiting this token of their being both "called and sent" "into the Lord's vineyard." They then go forth under the authority of their Master, and in the power of the Spirit; and baptizing "three thousand souls," they gather gloriously the first fruits of their great harvest.

* Matt. xxviii. 18, 19.

in

take upon them the sacred office; and may appear to argue, that no care is necessary the selection of those, who are to fill it. This circumstance is the calling of the Apostles from the lower ranks of life, and their general deficiency in point of powerful talents or splendid acquirements for accomplishing the great purposes of the Gospel, in short, their almost total weakness, except in the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit.

The Apostles appear to have been honest indeed, but plain, illiterate, humble men ; and some of them even weak of purpose, and slow of apprehension. The argument, therefore, derived from this, is, that the Spirit is all powerful; that as far as their personal qualifications appear, they were not calculated for any great work, and in selecting them no attention was paid to their fitness. But in this inference I cannot concur. It may be shewn that great regard was had to their fitness. They were selected; and admirable skill and wisdom was displayed in their selection. They were precisely the men that ought to have been selected; no other description of men would have answered the purpose in view. In order to judge of a man's fitness for any office, it is necessary to take into consideration, the circumstances in which he is to be

placed, and the objects which he has to accomplish in the discharge of that office.

The Apostles, then, were to establish a new religion. They were to overthrow, at once, all existing opinions and prejudices upon a most interesting and momentous subject,they were to destroy ancient and long venerated institutions; they were to urge men, heretofore permitted a licentious indulgence of their passions, to the painful exertion of subduing them; they were to require of them the relinquishment of present and visible objects of desire, for future and unseen advantage-the endurance of present loss, and persecution, for a promised and distant reward; all this they were to effect, not by reasoning merely, but by an appeal to facts, of which they had been eye-witnesses; to a system of religion, which, coming from them was itself a miracle; and to miraculous powers with which they were invested .

Now, had all these men been distinguished, and selected for their learning, their ingenuity, their acuteness, and their talents; would it not have been immediately objected, that the whole was a well contrived scheme craftily fabricated by these able men; that the system was of their framing? And while men ad

▾ Vide Paley's Evidences.

mired their wisdom in framing it, and their ability in recommending it, they would not have considered it as indispensably necessary and of Divine authority. But this was exactly the point on which the Apostles were to rest. It was only by authority, not by argument, that they could expect to induce men to renounce their prejudices and passions, and embrace the Gospel. It was authority only which could effect this great change.

But when these plain, humble, illiterate men were suddenly found bringing forward a system of religion* far surpassing all that had ever been before devised; speaking without any previous education divers kinds of languages; working miracles, and displaying an energy and wisdom which none could oppose or gainsay: the conclusion was obvious and

• "These men were illiterate, poor, and of mean extraction, and such alone were proper to answer the views of the divine Saviour. He avoided making use of the ministry of persons endowed with the advantages of fortune and birth, or enriched with the treasures of eloquence and learning, lest the fruits of this embassy, and the progress of the gospel should be attributed to human and natural causes."-Mosheim, Eccl. Hist. vol. i. p. 56.

"For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of Preaching to save them that believe."-1 Cor. i. 21.

"The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."-Ibid. verse 25.

inevitable.

The hand of God is with them. The religion they preach must come from Him. They were therefore selected; and admirably selected for the purpose which they were to fulfil. They were the very men fitted for the office as it was then constituted.

But, in process of time, as the condition and exigences of the Church became changed", the qualifications necessary for the discharge of the Ministerial office also became changed.

When the religion was established, and an appeal to miracles was no longer permitted or necessary; when the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit were withdrawn ; when more was committed to human reason in teaching and illustrating the word of God to men; when the language in which the Scriptures were written became a dead language; and many of the customs and events to which allusions were made, became obsolete and remote, and consequently could not be explained, without some knowledge of the times and countries

"It was necessary first to appoint extraordinary teachers, who, converting the Jews and Gentiles to the truth, should erect every where, Christian assemblies; and then, to establish ordinary ministers, and interpreters of the divine will, who should enforce and repeat the doctrines delivered by the former, and maintain the people in their holy profession, and in the practice of Christian virtues."-Mosheim, Eccles. Hist. vol. i. p. 94.

E