which ought not to be unnecessarily wounded, and without constituting a sectarian sacrament; they are based on no want of confidence in the integrity of the brethren who are to be ordained; they have no pretensions to any authority, with which, as men, we might be supposed to invest them; they impose no sectional creed which men have framed; and they are asked under circumstances, which, it is supposed, render them altogether harmless, and which appropriate them to the present occasion. If in the judgment of any, the exercise of human authority, or the imposition of a sectarian creed is implied, let it be remembered, these things are distinctly disclaimed. They are as follows

1. Do you believe the scriptures of the old and new testaments to be the word of the living God, the only rule of faith and practice?

2. Do you promise diligently to exercise the gift which God has bestowed upon you, for his glory, and the good of this church, and in dependance on his grace, to "take heed to yourselves, and the flock" over which you are made overseers?

3. Do you promise to maintain "the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace," and to cultivate love and harmony with your brethren in office?

I have now offered to your consideration all the argument on this subject which has been thought necessary. The result of the whole is, that the elders of this church, of which I consider myself one, intend, as a council of presbyters, or as the presbytery of this church, to ordain the elders whom you have chosen by the imposition of hands, because we feel ourselves scripturally called upon to do so. If we did not suppose that the Bible required this of us, we have every argument which custom, expediency, and our own general ideas of the present condition of religious society can offer, not to do it.

I have not the smallest doubt that this transaction will call forth a good deal of remark. Nor have I the smallest objection that it should. I love to see christians roused to talk about those things, which their master has given them to keep with all integrity until he comes;-provided they examine the matters about which they talk by the scriptures; and provided they talk in good humour. But when they begin to tell us about the wisdom, and piety, and authority of the fathers; when they tell us about their "excellent standards," or would argue us down by asserting the usefulness of the ecclesiastical documents of past ages; when they excuse themselves from substantiating their strong and embarrassing declarations by the scriptures, as though the divine word was not entitled to speak upon the occasion; or when they "speak evil one of another," and, under the strong impulse of sectarian feelings, would trample on individual character, and blast individual reputation; we retire in sorrow, saying-Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

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In anticipating remarks, I foresee no objection which has not been fairly met in some part of this discourse, and which should detain us a moment longer, unless it may this:-The elders already ordained in this church, excepting the preacher, have not been ordained by the imposition of hands: how then can they lay their hands on the heads of their brethren? The objection deserves attention, though it is more specious than solid. It may perhaps trouble some tender consciences; it may be a powerful argument in the hands of a wily sophist; and its refutation may call forth some remarks of no secondary value. I meet it thus:

1. It is not the imposition of hands that makes an officer. None of the apostles were so ordained. Though hands were laid upon the jewish elders, yet they were not laid upon the jewish high priest, There are many other things, vastly

more important than this ceremony, belonging to an investiture with office. There is a divine call, manifested by the communication of gifts, or indicated by a combination of providential circumstances. There is a man's own desire to do good, sustained by the well-formed decision of his own mind. There is the election of the people, conducted without intrigue, and as in the presence of the great head of the church. There are the necessities of society, almost foreclosing discussion, and shutting up an individual to the alternative, either to serve the church according to his ability, or leave immortal souls to perish; and there is a long, repeated, and public recognition of a man's official character and standing. We are not arguing upon the imposition of hands as indispensable to official action, but we think that we perceive it to be a scriptural form used in recognizing, or in setting apart to, office.

2. On former occasions, when elders were ordained in this church, we acted according to our knowledge. Su ch were the habits of the community of which we formed a part, and we complied with the general usage, never suspecting that there was a deficiency even in form. For myself I speak, my entire confidence in the opinions of my fathers, my own timidity in personal investigation, when it would lead out of the common track, and such like considerations, account for all my impressions, or rather, want of impressions. Providential circumstances have brought me where I am, and if truth is to be gained by enduring difficulties, then let difficulties come. The master has promised that they who love him shall not be tempted above that which they are able to bear.

Thus situated, must we still go on perpetuating our own inconsistency with scriptural enactments, because the line of succession has been apparently broken? Have we no provision, by which to redeem the bad consequences of an uninten

camp,

tionally omitted form, in the superior value of moral principle? Did God make moral things to adorn physical things? Or did he make physical things to be subservient to moral things? Did he create man, rendered lovely and glorious by the impression of his own image, to set off this material fabric called earth, or did he make the earth for man? Is this earth worth one single immortal soul—can it redeem one man from the grave-or will it not be consumed by the Almighty's fires, when the ransomed are seated with Jesus on his throne? Were Eldad and Medad not ordained as helpers for Moses, because they were detained in the and did not attend at the door of the tabernacle, where the consecrating ceremony was visibly exhibited? Must the hungry disciples starve, when walking through the corn fields, because it was the sabbath day? Was the sabbath made for man, or was man made for the sabbath? Must David not touch the shew-bread which belonged to the priests, but faint and die? Did Paul do wrong in circumcising Timothy, or act inconsistently in not circumcising Titus? Is our God, a God of mercy, or a God of sacrifice? Did he redeem us by the blood of his own Son, and will he cast us off because of some official informality? In fine, in complying with scriptural precedent in ordaining this day by the imposition of hands, is there no forgiving love to cover an omission, of which at the time we could not be aware; but must all that was moral and spiritual be sacrifieed to a mere form, and must we painfully declare all these elders unordained, and their official acts unauthorized and unholy? Surely, O surely, we have not so learned Christ. If not, then these elders are ordained, and may confidently act their full part as members of the presbytery of this church. One more remark. You are deeply interested in having an additional number of elders; and so are we. You are deeply interested in having scriptural truth honestly and

elearly expounded; and so are we.

You are not, however,

éalled to ordain these elders, or formally to set them apart

to their office; but we are. Your province was to elect them, as you have done. The ceremony of ordaining them is entrusted to us as your executive officers. You have set them before us, as the brethren of old set Stephen, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas, before the apostles, and it simply remains that we do our duty. But every man must perform his duty according to scriptural law as far as he knows it; and we must discharge ours according to the scriptures, as far as we understand them. Should I then have failed to convince any of you, that the ordination should take place in the manner stated, still, as it is a duty we must fulfil for ourselves, you will not object to our doing it according to our consciences. And perhaps none of us will finally regret, that so marked an opportunity has occurred, whereby we can make our presbyterian principles manifest, and evince that we do maintain the government of the church by presbytery.

Having gone through the discussion, we shall now proeeed to the ordination itself, hoping that all may attend us through it with a prayerful frame of soul, and that every heart will beat high with an anxious desire, that God may freely dispense his holy spirit, and grant, to us and to our beloved brethren, his richest blessings. We have given ourselves unto the Lord, that he may make us the charge of his watchful providence; and that he may sustain all our interests according to the munificent provisions of his own covenant. love."Hear us when we call, O God of our righteousness."