letters to his mother, and to have been cut from it. The address on the back of it, 'To Mrs. Elizabeth Asbury,' is in his hand writing. Mr. Whatcoat was elected and ordained Bishop at the General Conference held in Baltimore, in May, 1800. The intimate union which subsisted between him and Bishop Asbury is most pleasingly exhibited, as well in the fact of Mr. Whatcoat's uniting in Mr. Asbury's private correspondence with his mother, and on the same sheet, as in the strong and explicit declaration of Mr. Whatcoat himself. We are like David and Jonathan, united to live, travel, and labour together.'

It is a matter of great regret that so few memorials of Mr. Whatcoat are extant. From the few that do remain, as well as from the universal and uniform testimony of those who knew him in life, we believe him to have been one of the most holy and spiritual men of that or perhaps of any other age. As an illustration of those spiritual breathings which animate whatever fragments from his pen we have ever seen, we have the pleasure to rescue from oblivion the brief specimens which follow; and shall be much obliged to any of his surviving friends, or the representatives of deceased ones, who may enable us hereafter to add to the collection.]

To Joseph and Elizabeth Asbury.

MY DEAR FRIENDS,-May the dew of heaven fall richly on your grey heads, and honest hearts! May his Spirit be as a fountain of spiritual life in your souls! May it purge away the last and least remains of sin! May you be filled with love, with heaven, with God! O prove the virtue of redeeming blood, the power and comfort of the eternal Spirit. May heaven's glory beam forth upon your ripening souls. Perhaps you have not altogether forgot poor me, as I was with you when your son left his father's house, and I called upon you before I sailed for America. I have been traveling with your son eight or nine months. He has been as a brother and a father to me in this new world; and I rejoice to see the prosperity of Zion. Please to remember me to Edward Slater, John Negus, Jonathan Robinson, Frances Whitehead, &c, &c. May the good Lord bless you all. So prays your affectionate brother in Christ, R. WHATCOAT.

To my dear Sister, or Mother in Israel.

I, with your son, acknowledge the Hand Divine that has so marvellously prolonged his life, and restored his health, as well as my own. We are like David and Jonathan, united to live, travel, and labour together. But the best is that God is with us, and owns and blesses us, in our souls, bodies, and labours. After our Conference in the state of Delaware, [at Duck Creek, now Smyrna,] which was held the first of this month, [June, 1800,] such a time I

think I never saw before. The people scarcely left the preaching house day or night. Since then, I am informed the preacher proposed to take the names of those that chose to join society. One day one hundred and nine, and the next day six, came forward. We have just closed our Conference at New-York. We were owned [of the Lord] the other night.

Yours in love and esteem,

RICH'D WHATCOAT.

THE EDIFICATION OF THE CHURCH

PROMOTED BY A DIVINELY CALLED MINISTRY OF DIVERSIFIED TALENT.

From the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine.

PART FIRST.*

USING the old scholastic form of expression, the sentence with which I have headed the present paper furnishes the THESIS which I have undertaken to explain and establish. It contains two distinct propositions, to one of which I shall at present confine myself,-A divinely called ministry is necessary for the edification of the church.

I here use the term, divinely called, not in reference to any special ministration, or extraordinary ministers, required by the temporary exigencies of any portion of the catholic church of Christ, but in reference to ordinary ministers, and their ordinary ministrations. In exigent cases, the great Head of the church will not fail his people; and in such cases, the grand proof of the reality of the interference, and the specialty of the call, will not be found in the exhibition of miraculous power,-that belongs to the promulgators of a message from God in whole or in part new,-but in the conformity of doctrine and mode of teaching with the immutable, written records of the kingdom which cannot be moved; and in the Scripturally marked successes which result from the labours of the instruments who may be employed. By their fruits ye shall know them,' is the rule laid down by our Lord, when enforcing his solemn caution, 'Beware of false prophets.' When, therefore the Papists called on the Protestants to justify their secession by

It may be proper to state, that the writer of the following remarks did not originally contemplate their extension to their present length. His design was simply to offer a few explanatory and practical observations on the necessity and value of diversified talent in the Christian ministry; and a few remarks on the divine call were only intended to be introductory to the other. But the subject grew under his hand, and he determined to devote a paper to it. He has endeavoured, not only to show that what are often, but erroneously considered as mere Methodistical opinions, are Scriptural, and that they place the ministry on its right foundation; but, likewise, that they are agreeable to the solemnly declared views of those devoted men of God, the English Reformers. The concluding observations will show that the subject is far from being one of barren speculation.

miracles, they only betrayed their ignorance of the real merits of the question. Miracles are the proper proofs of a new religion, and Protestantism claimed to be only a revival of the old one. Even of the first Methodist preachers, there were some who demanded a sign. And a sign was given. In support of their doctrine, they appealed to the law and the testimony;' and in evidence of their mission, they pointed to the sinners truly converted by their instrumentality, and said, 'The signs of our apostleship in the Lord are these.' They needed no other letters of commendation,' when there were so many who were manifestly declared to be the epistles of Christ, ministered by them.' And thus, in the only Scriptural way, did they prove that they had 'not taken this honour to themselves,' but that God 'made them able ministers of the New Testament.' To cases of extraordinary intervention I am not going to refer, but to what I have already termed the ordinary ministry of the word of God; and of them by whom it is exercised, I have said, that they must have a Divine call to their work. The great principles of Methodistical belief on this subject are contained in the Ordination Service of the Church of England. The correctness of the service itself, and the validity of the ministry which is founded upon it, were considered by the compilers of the Liturgy of sufficient importance to be placed among those articles of faith which the ministers of the English Church are called to subscribe. Whether the principles of the service are sacredly maintained in practice, is a question into which I have no wish now to inquire. Of this I have long been satisfied, that no honest and enlightened Churchman can consistently oppose the belief of the Methodists on the subject of the Divine call to the ministry. But, as this is a subject, on account of which we have often to sustain reproach, and which profane witlings often select as the butt of their pointless though sinful ridicule, I propose to remark upon it as much at length as the limits I have assigned myself will allow.

The Levitical priesthood was lineal. The existing priests consecrated their successors; not at the discretion of either party, but according to the primary appointment of God, that certain persons, members of a certain tribe, should be devoted to the divine service. A priesthood like that of the Mosaic does not now exist; but in its place we have the unsuccessive, unchangeable priesthood of Christ in heaven, and the Christian ministry on earth. The institution of this ministry by our Lord, its important objects, its perpetual existence, together with the constant presence of Christ in its proper exercise by proper persons, are all included in those solemn words, -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 always, even unto the end of the world.' From the ministers (to give them the more general name of office) thus appointed by the Saviour, their successors were to receive their external and official VOL. II.-July, 1831.

28

appointment. The originating call was to be with the Saviour himself, acting by the Spirit, the Paraclete, sent, according to his promise, to supply his personal presence, and to remain with his church unto the end. To guard against false or mistaken pretensions, the existing ministry is bound to a strict examination of the candidates, conducted with unwavering reference to the question, 'Is there sufficient reason to believe that they are indeed moved by the Holy Ghost, and called according to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ?' Thus far is the spirit of the prophets subject to the prophets. Not that the existing ministry originally calls, or absolutely authorizes, but seeks to ascertain the call of God, and so recognises the only proper foundation of personal right to the sacred office. Thus does St. Paul speak of the ascended and glorified Saviour, as having received, that he might bestow, the gifts necessary to the restored dwelling of God with men. In another place, we are told that he received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost;' and by that Spirit is it, that he bestows his various gifts upon men. Is the Saviour exalted 'to give repentance? It is the Spirit which 'convinceth men of sin." And remission of sins? The Spirit is given to them, that, shedding the love of God abroad in their heart, and witnessing their adoption, they may know the things thus freely given them of God. Does the messenger of the covenant sit as a refiner and purifier of silver? This renewal of the heart in righteousness and holiness is the sanctification of the Spirit.' Just so in reference to the ministry. Writing to the Ephesians, St. Paul speaks of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers, as the gifts of the Lord Jesus; speaking to the ministers of the same church, and exhorting them to fidelity in watching over and feeding the flock of God, he tells them that they were made its overseers by the Holy Ghost. When, therefore, St. Paul requires Timothy to provide for the regular descent of the sacred office, this Scriptural branch of ministerial authority is to be taken with a twofold restriction on its exercise; the first, arising from that work of the Spirit of which I have spoken; the second, from that brief, but important and very comprehensive, description of character which he expressly lays down, These things commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.' Now by what rule of logic is it inferred, in what mood and figure must the syllogism be constructed to justify the conclusion, that Timothy was authorized to commit the evangelical deposit to whomsoever he pleased; and that the mere act of commission, however mistaken, was yet so valid as to confer a mysterious, indelible character on the recipient, utterly irrespective of his mental or moral fitness,-according to the maxim of the Papal canonists, 'Once a priest, always a priest? The description is very full. Faithful men, that is, men who have not only orthodox belief, but the true Christian faith; and who are faithful to the trust reposed in every individual child of God. God calls no men of unsound piety to the Christian ministry. They are to be able to

teach others also. They must well understand the Gospel, and have those qualifications by which they may be adapted instruments of making men wise unto salvation. The blind and the dumb are not the watchmen whom God sets on the walls of Jerusalem. And whenever the outward commission is given without due regard to the previously existing and indispensably required qualifications in the recipient, the act is illegal, and the commission is invalid. Because the high priest might consecrate the sons of Levi, might he consecrate an Amalekite? Timothy is therefore enjoined to take time for the requisite examinations: Lay hands suddenly on no man.' Not to do this, it is said, would make him a 'partaker in other men's sins.' It follows, then, that he who, for want of requisite inquiry, admits an uncalled man into the ministry; who grants the outward commission to him who seeks it for a livelihood, for its dignities, for its learned leisure, or as a respectable profession, somewhat more tolerable to pride than commerce, putting divinity side by side with law and physic; he who admits this man, admits a sinner, and shares in his guilt.

In this arrangement for the continuation of the ministry, as in all his proceedings, we see the wisdom of the great Head of the church. Had the individual been constituted the sole judge of his own pretensions, a wide door would have been set open for enthusiasm and imposture. All would have been unavoidable and irremediable confusion. Had it been left entirely to the ministers of any age to elect their successors, the ministry would have become a mere human profession. The choice depending on fallible men, not guided in their election by any limiting rules, failures must have occurred early and frequently; every failure would multiply the probability of repetition, till failure, ere long, would become the general rule, and successful choice the very rarely occurring exception. But no. This is one branch of that actually exercised dominion of Christ over his church, by which all exigencies are foreseen and provided for. The Lord of the harvest is faithful. He well knowsfor the pleasure of our Lord is not Epicurean repose-what number, what kind of labourers, are from time to time wanted; and if the work be left to him, according to his own directions, in earnest prayer, he will neither be unmindful of his own promise, nor of the wants of his church. To send labourers into the vineyard is one branch of his sacred prerogative: let us never interfere with its exercise. It is his promised work: let us not fear that there shall be at any time any other lack of labourers than what he may permit to stir up the church to pray the Lord of the harvest,' that so he may'thrust out labourers into his harvest.' Care, indeed, must be taken, that the new comers bring their credentials with them. The sower of tares would be glad to have all the wheat trampled under foot, and the field thrown again into the waste; his cunning will attempt to send his own servants under a borrowed name. Therefore does our Lord positively enjoin us to beware of false prophets;