scheme of Church Government. They have uttered the loud note of triumph, as if, in this single text, they had found the means of discomfiting and silencing all opponents. In the moment of their exultation they have forgotten that it is imprudent to depend for victory upon one doubtful word. St. Paul must even by themselves be allowed to be a competent and safe interpreter of his own language. We remark then that the Apostle thus addresses Timothy, in the Epistle, following that from which the text is taken: "I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of GOD, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands." The gift mentioned is, unquestionably, the same in both cases. The occasion and manner of conferring it, although described in somewhat different terms in the two places, are undoubtedly the same. If we read, in the one place, of the imposition of the hands of the Presbytery; and, in the other, of the imposition of St. Paul's own hands; we are led to conclude that these two impositions of hands were virtually the same. Nor indeed is it easy to

account for the employment of the latter phrase, as equivalent to the former, unless we suppose that the imposition of the hands of the individual Apostle had contained whatever was essential to Timothy's ordination and appointment. Whoever may be included, together with St. Paul, under the name of the Presbytery-whether there were joined with him other members of the Apostolical Order, or Ministers belonging to an inferior rank it is clear that their aid, in the ceremonies of Timothy's ordination, was, by St... Paul himself, held to be over and above what was absolutely and indispensably necessary:-secondary only and subordinate, if they were of inferior rank; co-operative and contributing to the solemnity and dignity of the occasion, if they were of the same rank, and fellow labourers with the Apostle. It was, in either case, by St. Paul's Apostolical authority that. Timothy was raised and placed on a level with himself; and, from that time forward, was addressed, as having full powers of Spiritual. Government within his allotted district.

Thus we find, even in the language of the

text, when it is rightly understood and fairly,

interpreted, a Scriptural indication of that form of Church Government, as already existing in the Apostles' times, which our Church to this day retains. St. Paul, himself a Governor in the spiritual society, chose, and, by the imposition of his hands, set apart Timothy to an office and rank like his own; and Timothy, when once so chosen and set apart, was empowered, by virtue of what had now become his own authority, and according to his own views of what was right and necessary, to ordain, appoint, and regulate inferior Ministers. Into a minute account of the constituent elements of the Presbytery, mentioned by St. Paul, we are not careful to enter: we presume not to settle, with positive exactness, a point, which neither our adversaries nor ourselves have the means of determining for our argument it suffices, that of such Presbytery the holy Apostle himself was an integrant and essential part; a part, moreover, so prominent and so indispensable as fitly to stand for and represent the whole. With great probability we conclude that he had, on this occasion, associated with himself other members of his own, that is, of the

Apostolical order; and that this early instance was among the number of such precedents as laid the foundation of that Canon of the primitive Church, which enjoins that three or at least two Members of the highest Clerical order (already called Bishops, in that venerable monument of Christian antiquity, the First of the Apostolical Canons) be present and assist, on every occasion of addition to their number. According to this view, the Presbytery, mentioned in the text, was a body, consisting of Apostles alone." It is however possible that the case may have been otherwise. St. Paul may have been the only Apostle present at Timothy's ordination; those, of whom he speaks, as having, together with himself, made up the Presbytery, may have been of a lower order, and by him specially summoned to lend their assistance. The authority of an inspired Apostle may have warranted, on the part of his inferiors, a step, which they would not otherwise have taken; and which the absence of other Apostles rendered expedient. It is true that the annals of the Church, in later than Apostolical times, record some instances, wherein even

and

Presbyters, properly so called, have been admitted to a share in the ceremonies of Episcopal Consecration: these instances, however, are rare and extraordinary; and whenever they are mentioned, are anxiously justified and excused, by stating that it was impossible to procure the attendance of the Canonically required number of Bishops. And even then, Presbyters are to be regarded, not as the official, but as the numerical, substitutes for Bishops; called to attend, rather for the sake of form and of propriety, than from any necessity of order. The point of importance to be observed-the only point to be insisted on--is, that of the Ordination or Consecration of a Governor in the early Church, without the presence, the authority, and the imposition of hands, of one or more of the Apostles; of persons, extraordinarily commissioned to act as Apostles; or of the successors of the Apostles; there is no trace, either in "Holy Scripture or in ancient Authors." It is to a diligent reading of both "Holy Scripture and ancient Authors" that

h Preface to the Form and Manner of making, ordaining and consecrating Bishops, Priests and Deacons, according to the Order of the Church of England.