clad and struggling peasant, or humble dependant, from whom the proud worldling averts his eye, and is ashamed to acknowledge as his fellow-it is the man he sees, the immortal man, and the Christian.

And what, my brethren, are the privileges of the Christian, in his own estimation? Does he not pity the mere worldling that despises him? Does he not regard himself, though humble, as of the noblest of God's works, as an intelligent being, as exhibiting the stamp of his Creator, an image of the eternity of God? Is he not rich in faith-rich in the inheritance of immortality?-Does he not feel the independence of virtue, and the dignity of an adopted son-a son of the King of kings— a joint heir with the Lord of lords? Can the frown and height of worldly grandeur sink such a man into insignificance, into selfabasement, and make him tremble in the presence of his fellow man? No: in reference to his immortal soul, he is as noble as the noblest-in reference to Christ, he is his servant, and the greatest can be no more-in reference to God, he is his offspring, and the monarch is no more. In his bodily powers, his intellectual faculties, his creation, his preservation, his redemption, wherein is he inferior to the most exalted of the human race? And in the eye of Heaven, he is far above the great bad man. With God there is no respect of persons. In Christianity, the distinctions of this world are wholly obliterated; and he who would be Christ's, must put off these vain distinctions, and put on the Lord Jesus Christ. He must neither plume himself upon his riches, or his rank, or his power. He must consider these things. as merely adventitious, as having no intrinsic value, as giving him no pre-eminence in the eye of God, or of his Christ.

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This vice of partiality and subservience to false principles, made its appearance early in the Christian Church, and has never been rooted out of it. On the contrary, the evil hath been aggravated, since the simple majesty of truth hath been allied with the powers of this world. That it is antichristian, is evident from the exhortation of the Apostle James, 'My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel; and there come in also a poor man, in vile or sordid raiment, and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool; are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts, (or evil judges of the thoughts ;) for if ye have respect to persons, and not to principles and character, ye commit sin, and are convicted of the law, and particularly by the law of Christ, as transgressors." In the view of God, then, who alone knoweth the thoughts, the poor man, although in homely dress, and coarse raiment, is honoured

equally with the richest, if he be but clothed with the adornment of the Christian spirit.

Such are the inestimable privileges of the true Christian, whatever his rank or station may be. Shall we not, therefore, earnestly desire to be Christians? Yes, assuredly. But the apostle tells us, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. How, then, shall we obtain this Spirit? Or how shall we ascertain whether we have acquired it? That it is attainable, is obvious; for, otherwise, we should incur no blame, and ought to suffer no inconvenience by the want of it. Now it is manifest, that if we are none of his, we must suffer the greatest possible evil; for in that case we are cut off from his fold here, and we shall be outcasts from his eternal kingdom. This surely would be a hard destiny, if the result of an inevitable decree-if we could by no possibility acquire that spirit of Christ, which would entitle us to the adoption of children. The spirit which we are expected to acquire, is not that which is utterly beyond the reach of human beings-that communication of the Divine Spirit, which enabled our Lord to perform miracles, and to foretel the future. Such Spirit of Christ we neither need, nor can possess. The spirit which we must have, if we would be his, is his moral spirit-his unbounded love of God-his tenderness and compassion for the human race. Are these within our reach? Assuredly, unless God has given us the perceptions of moral obligation to deceive us, and beguiled us with a fancied responsibility, while, in reality, according to this system, we are nothing more than mere machines, the subjects neither of praise nor blame. The whole system of the Law and of the Gospel rests upon the moral agency of man. If we have no power to obey the commandments, no ability to cultivate the spirit and temper of the blessed Jesus, -all the exhortations of the prophets, all the preaching of the most zealous servants of Christ, is vain and idle." But you know, beloved, notwithstanding the specious reasoning of the metaphysician, that you have the power, and the consequent responsibility -that you can dwell upon the lovely character of our blessed Lord, until you imbibe its very spirit—that you can accompany him from the cradle to the cross-that you can hear him speak as never man spake-that you can witness the kindness of his spirit, in the different relations of life, and the fervour of his piety to God, until you become, in some degree, transformed into his image. You know that it is not impossible, at an humble distance indeed, to follow the blessed Jesus-you know that there have been distinguished Christians in every age, men, who have caught the very spirit of their Master, and whom Jesus will rejoice to own as his, amidst assembled angels. Be ye, beloved, like unto them: pray fervently that ye may imbibe the spirit of our gracious Master. Lay it down as a fixed principle-an in

your

dubitable axiom, that if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Contemplate, again and again, the glory and the happiness of being his. Remember that it is not this or that doctrine, this or that speculative creed, which will entitle you to this glorious distinction. The most orthodox believer may have very little of the spirit of Christ. Take to yourself no credit for the correctness of your religious knowledge, and the truth of religious opinions. Truth is valuable, but the spirit of Christ is still more so. If it prevailed, we should have no wars-not even the war of jealous rivalry and jarring opinions: we should have no pride, no bitterness, no persecution for conscience sake, no ungodly animosities, not even the breathing of an unkind wish; the very earth would become a heaven, and Christ himself might be said to dwell in the midst of us.

Let us hope, that this blessed consummation of all that is valuable and good is in reserve for the human race-that the various sects, that are now so apt to slight and despise and revile each other, will at length, taught by the spirit of Christ, blend into one harmonious society,- —a society animated by the same spirit, and regarding every sincere disciple as a friend and brother. Wherever the spirit of Christ is, no matter under what forms of discipline or government, or doctrine; there let our spirit cordially acknowledge the bond of brotherhood, and the indissoluble ties of Christian love. Cultivate, beloved friends, this enlarged benevolence, and you will, in your degree, contribute to promote the cause of Christ, and to sustain his spirit-you will do your part to extinguish that narrow bigotry, and those bitter animosities, that rankle in the bosoms of brethren, and that convert into fiends, those that should be Christians.

I beseech you, brethren, examine yourselves often and closely, whether ye be in Christ. Is your piety that of him, who passed whole nights in communion with his God in prayer? Can you say in the hour of affliction, as he did?" The cup which my heavenly Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? Not my will, O God, but thine be done." Can you bear the revilings, the scoffs and taunts of the wicked?-Can you endure even slight reproofs, with the meekness of the Lamb of God?-Can you forgive your enemies, as he did his murderers?" Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."-Consider, again and again, the illustrious example of every virtue, which he hath set before us; and let it be our daily prayer to God, that he would assist us by his divine grace to imbibe more and more of this heavenly temper; "that we all with open face beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, may be changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord"-that so we may be Christ's here, and his for ever; and, through him, to the one only living and true God, be all glory, and honour, and blessing, and praise, for ever. Amen.

DISCOURSE

ON

PRESBYTERIAN ORDINATION,

BY

THE REV. JAMES ARMSTRONG, A.M.

Senior Minister of the Presbyterian Church of Strand-street.

HAVING been appointed by my brethren in the ministry to the office of explaining, on the present occasion, the nature and validity of Presbyterian ordination, I consider it to be my duty to lay before you, in as brief and comprehensive a manner as I can, the Scriptural arguments upon which our usages, connected with this solemnity, are justified and supported.

The validity of the pastoral office presents a subject of deep importance to every Christian society in which a person has been appointed or selected to minister in sacred things. In order to satisfy our minds on this subject, the only legitimate and unerring rule to which we can apply is the New Testament: for, if the duties of a pastor and the relation between him and his flock be really prescribed as a necessary part of the discipline of the Christian church, we may reasonably expect to find, in the statute book of Christianity, some clear instructions by which we can ascertain and define the nature, the functions, and the validity of the office which he is appointed to fulfil.

For information on this subject, as well as on every other matter connected with our ministrations in religion, genuine Presbyterians appeal to the Scriptures alone. We maintain not only that the Bible is an unerring rule of faith and conduct, but, also, that it contains such regulations for order, and directions for worship as are adapted to every state of the church. Therefore, whatever is not either positively directed in the word of God, or clearly warranted by the practice of our Blessed Lord and his Apostles, we feel ourselves compelled to reject as the invention of fallible uninspired men, as a corruption of Christian discipline, or an encroachment on religious liberty.

On examining the books of the New Testament, we find that the holy Apostles, bearing the commission of the Son of God to diffuse the blessings of true religion through the world, collected together churches or societies of faithful men to worship the One only living and true God, in the name and as the disciples of the only Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. For the government of these societies they adopted certain regulations, to which all suc ceeding churches ought to conform, as the wise and safe directions of persons who acted under the immediate and express authority of the Redeemer himself.

In congregations of Christians thus gathered together, we find there were appointed two, and only two, distinct classes or orders of persons to superintend the affairs of their church. The first of these orders was the Pastors of the flock, who were to give themselves to the ministry of the word, and to conduct the ordinances of religion. The second of these orders, denominated Deacons in the New Testament, consisted of members appointed out of the flock, as a Committee to take in charge its temporal concerns, and, in particular, to superintend the charitable contributions of the congregation.

In affirming that there were only two orders of persons appointed to superintend all the affairs of Christian churches, both spiritual and temporal, I ground my assertion fearlessly upon the New Testament.

The Pastors of Christian congregations are indeed designated by different titles in holy writ. Thus the term Presbyter is applied to them as expressive of the honourable station they hold in human society. This term, derived from the Greek word gerburgos, signifies literally an aged person or elder. Amongst the Jews it was employed as a title of office, to indicate the dignity of persons holding such situations of high trust as required not only respectability and faithfulness, but matured wisdom, prudence and experience. The term Presbyter, as thus used by the Jews, was adopted by the Apostles, and applied by them with peculiar significancy to the pastors of the different congregations which they collected together, in order to mark out not only the dignified office of a minister of the Gospel, but the seriousness of mind, sobriety of manners, and prudence of conversation, with which that sacred profession ought to be peculiarly adorned.

As the term Presbyter has been applied to Christian Pastors in the Apostolic writings, to indicate the dignity of their station, so the term Overseer has beeu applied to them in the same writings, to intimate the duties of their office. This term is the exact and literal translation of the original Greek swionowos, from which is derived the English word Bishop. The word Overseer