their successors, the power of administering Christ's ordinances, and of communicating saving blessings by such administration.

This doctrine further appears false and unscriptural, because it must reflect dishonor upon the adorable Saviour, by maintaining, that he has given to his Church bad men as true ministers, or by denying that ministers are his gift. The Scriptures declare, that pastors and teachers are given by Christ, "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.' -Eph. iv. 11, 12. Now it is a fact which cannot be disputed, that some bad men, not to say many, have, by episcopal ordination, been introduced into what is deemed the line of apostolical succession, and have, according to the views of the successionists, been true ministers of Christ. Did Christ give these bad men, that were consequently Satan's slaves, as ministers to his Church, for the perfecting of the saints? If this be maintained, does it not involve a blasphemous reflection on the wisdom of Christ? Would any earthly sovereign act so absurdly as to choose his most important and confidential officers from among his bitter foes? And shall it be assumed, that He has done this, in whom dwell all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge? If, to avoid this dilemma, it be granted, that these men were not the gift of Christ, what follows? they were, notwithstanding, true ministers, then the scriptural statement is directly contradicted, that the ministers of Christ's Church are his gift; for these men are believed to be ministers, and were not his gift. The only way to avoid this conclusion is to allow that these men were not true ministers; but, if that be allowed, there is an end of apostolical succession; for these men, by ordination, were brought into the fancied apostolical line, and yet were not true ministers.

If

As the doctrine of apostolical succession thus impeaches the wisdom of

Christ, so it reflects on the character of God the Father, who is declared to set ministers in the Church. Under its sanction, in the Romish and other Churches, many, not to say myriads, of ungodly men, have been employed as Christian ministers. They either were true ministers, or they were not. If they were not, apostolical succession, and its fancied authority, is a fable, a cheat, for they had it; but, if they were true ministers, then myriads of Satan's slaves have been employed as God's servants-to do, in fact, Satan's business; for what is the effect of such a ministry, but to make men worldly, vain, and wicked? Many testimonies respecting the wickedness of men that professed to be ministers of Christ, might be easily adducedone must suffice. Cardinal Baronius, writing respecting the state of his own Church in the tenth century, says, "What was then the face of the Roman Church? How deformed, when harlots, no less powerful than vile, bore the chief sway at home, and at their pleasure changed sees, appointed bishops, and, which is horrible to mention, did thrust into St. Peter's see their own gallants." But this was long ago,-True; but still these strumpet-made bishops and popes form a part of the line through which comes apostolical succession. Facts of recent date might be adduced, not much less disgraceful than these, respecting the appointment of wicked men, from worldly motives, to places of episcopal wealth and power. Even the columns of the Record have borne a strong testimony against such pretended ministers among the Episcopalians, when lists have been given of gay, dancing, hunting clergymen, attending the scenes of worldly dissipation. These men-some so vile, and others so vain -were either sent by God into his Church, or they were not. Let the advocates of succession take which side they please. Say that they were, and how is God dishonoured! Can it be believed, that he employs im

penitent sinners and sinners and workers of iniquity to establish his kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost?

Has he commissioned fort his purpose the prostitute's gallant, or the stateman's gay, jovial, drinking associate? If this alternative, as absurd and dishonourable to God, is rejected, we are again brought to the point, they were true ministers, or they were not. If they were, the Father, as well as the Son, is robbed of his prerogative to set ministers in the Church; for it is acknowledged that he did not set them, and yet they were true ministers. If this is too monstrous to be received, we come to the only remaining alternative, that apostolical succession, which they had, but which did not make them ministers, is a mere cheat, and that all the vauntings about its value are but great swelling words of vanity.

In close connection with these views, it may be added, that the doctrine of apostolical succession is directly opposed to the scriptural views of the authority which Christ exercises in the Church. He is declared to be head over all things to the Church. He holds his ministers as stars in his hand; (Rev. ii. 1) and, as we have seen, in union with the Father and the Holy Ghost, gives them to his flock. According to the doctrine of apostolical succession, a bishop, by ordination, can introduce a man into the fancied line, and make him a true minister of Christ. Now

His

it is evident, that if any man can make others, irrespective of qualifications, true ministers of Christ, the work of giving ministers to the Church is, in fact, taken out of Christ's hands. authority is virtually set aside; and, on a subject more vitally connected than any other with the prosperity of his Church, a mortal man has really stepped into his place. The matter, in fact, soon comes to an issue. A bishop in the apostolical line can make others, irrespective of qualifications, true ministers of Christ, or he cannot.

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If he can-if successionists maintain that ordination, irrespective of the qualifications required in Scripture, can make a man a true minister, then plainly Christ is set aside; and, should a bishop happen to be a bad man, (and there have been such) then to him is entrusted the tremendous power of inundating the Church with wolves in sheep's clothing, that yet shall be true Christian ministers. If all this seems too absurd and wicked to be maintained, and it be allowed, that a bishop cannot make a man a true minister, unless Christ have first called him, and given him the requisite qualifications, then the doctrine of apostolical succession is substantially renounced, for the man is not a true minister, because he is in a real or fancied line, but because Christ has called him to the ministry, and qualified him for it. The validity of his ministry rests on the appointment of the Master, not on the recognition of a fellow-servant.

If the supporters of apostolical succession would escape the difficulties connected with maintaining that a bishop can make ungodly men true Christian ministers, by asserting, that he can bring into the line, and endow as ministers, those only who have the Scriptural qualifications for the ministry, they then are involved inextricably in other difficulties; for, as there cannot be a doubt that there have been unconverted men in the line, that goes backwards 1800 years, these men, upon this theory, would not be true ministers, and the fancied line of succession on which they rest so much, has been repeatedly and irreparably broken.

In fact, it must be maintained, either that true Christian ministers are called by God to the ministry, or that they are not. If the latter notion be advocated, we see how it contradicts the Scriptures, and to what absurdity and wickedness it leads; but, if the former be asserted, it conducts us to this conclusion, that a servant of Christ has from his Lord what is most essential to the validity of his ministry, though, by ordination,

he should in a solemn and orderly manner be introduced into the sacred office. Thus, though Moses could add nothing to the validity of Joshua's call, whom the Lord had chosen, he still was directed to give him a charge, and by the imposition of his hands to put honor upon him.

It should not be overlooked, that in things connected with religion the part performed by God is so much more important than any ceremony or ser vice performed by man, that even where an institution originally divine was concerned, the latter was represented as a trifle compared with the former. The Holy Spirit by the apostle de clared, "He is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God."-Rom. ii. 28, 29. The principle here maintained will doubtless apply as really in reference to the ministry, as to personal religion. If he was not a Jew that was one outwardly, but he whose heart God had renewed, he is not a minister of Christ that is one merely by outward form and ceremony, but he that is one by the work and leadings of the Holy Ghost.

Another absurdity connected with the dogma of apostolical succession is its virtual maintenance of the notion, that men who occupy an office which Christ never instituted, may, through their authority in that office, appoint others as officers in his Church, even though they themselves should not be his disciples; for, according to its principles, any episcopal bishop, whether pious or ungodly, may constitute men true ministers of Christ. A state prelate, as such, is not a Christian minister. The New Testament gives no nint of such an officer in the true Church of Christ. Papists, in the Established Church and out of it, who would support their favourite dogma, must not only show an unbroken line

of succession, which is utterly impos sible; but they must prove that their bishops are Christian bishops, which is equally out of their power. Till this be proved, what is the value of their authority? Can a man, who is not an officer of Christ, by his appointment, make others officers of Christ? What would be thought of a servant of the king of France pretending to have authority to appoint officers in the army of the sovereign of England? Has he, it might be asked, any authority to make such appointments? Not an atom. No more scriptural authority have state prelates in the Christian Church. They are not, as such, its officers. It is true the Scripture mentions bishops; but these were the overseers of Churches; (Acts xx. 28; Phil. i. 1) not revellers in wealth, and peers in parliament. Every Christian pastor is, in God's sense of the word, a bishop. Such bishops are men that Christ gives to his Churches for their edification. In God's sense of the term bishop, men appointed by statesmen, often for political motives, are not bishops. Among such state-made bishops, some, who are truly pious, and who truly serve Christ in the ministry, are, in a scriptural sense, bishops; but then they are such, not through their appointment to an office of worldly grandeur, but through the grace of Christ, who put them into the ministry. As ministers of Christ, they may officiate in his Church; as state bishops, they have no scriptural authority. Hence succession through state prelates is fallacy and folly.

Many bitter enemies of Christ are found among state prelates, and among the men who advocate the high claims of the priesthood. Men of this kind were the persecutors of the prophets und apostles. When Christ was upon earth, the scribes and pharisees were the high churchmen of the day, and he and his apostles were the dissenters. As was their spirit then, such has been their spirit ever since. No more

inveterate foes of real christianity have existed than many who boast of their apostolical succession, and who, like the proud, yet reprobate Jews of old, exclaim, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we." To such the Saviour's words apply,-"I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. (Rev. ii. 9.) The writer of these observations would have it distinctly understood, that though his remarks apply to the

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popish part of the ministers of the Establishment in the present day, they have no reference to any humble and pious men connected with it who are devoted to the glory of the Lord Jesus. They are doubtless true ministers of Christ; but then they are such, not because they have been ordained by a state prelate, but because they have been called by God to labour in the ministry, and, like their dissenting brethren, are the gifts of Christ to his Church.

WE all profess to hate deceit in whatsoever it exists, and by whomsoever it is practised. If a person be detected in acting deceitfully toward ourselves, or toward others, we feel disposed to avoid his company, and think it right not to hold unnecessary intercourse with him. "He that worketh deceit shall not dwell in my house." If we are unable to exercise a free choice in this matter; if business, or residence, or other things, oblige us to come into occasional or more frequent contact with such a person, we think it prudent to be reserved and guarded in our conversation and transactions with him; and we look with the eyes of lynxes or of eagles to detect, if possible, any attempted repetition of his duplicity and fraud.

But this very thing which we watch so vigilantly, detest so heartily, and denounce so unsparingly in others, often finds a seat and a home in our own bosoms. Our nature seems to be impregnated with deceit. It poisoned the fountain of our fleshly being. "The woman, being deceived, was in the transgression.

"The serpent, subtlest beast of all the field,
Allur'd our credulous mother to the tree
Of prohibition, root of all our woe,
He ended, and his words, replete with guile,
Into her heart too easy entrance won.'

And now, admitting that there is a wide difference between one individual and another, we must confess it to be universally true, that “the heart is deceitful above all things."

Nor is the deceit, of which the human heart is full, dormant and powerless. It is ever at work, and its operations are both vigorous and various. Its constant tendency is to lead us to impose upon ourselves. Self-deception is a general thing and, though more pernicious and fatal, it is less guarded against, than any other kind. "Let no man deceive you by any means," is a divine admonition; and there is something within us which almost instinctively answers, "No man shall." But "thus saith the Lord, deceive not yourselves."

We are extremely liable to this selfdeception with respect to our bodily constitution, our mental abilities, and our worldly plans and projects. Some appear to suppose that their bodily frame is so sound and robust as to be able to endure any kind and degree of labor; that but little care is needed to preserve it in a state of health; and that they have no reason to be apprehensive of untimely or premature death. But let not the mighty man glory in his strength.

The steps of his strength may be straitened. "He weakened my strength in the way: he shortened my days." Some deceive themselves with respect to their mental powers. They greatly overrate their abilities, both natural and acquired; and suppose themselves competent to fill situations and perform services which far surpass their real capacities. Much disappointment and dissatisfaction result from such self-deception. Others experience the evil consequences of it in relation to their mercantile affairs. More fond of speculation than of patient and persevering labor, they seldom realize the pecuniary profits they had anticipated, and are often mortified to find that they have "wearied themselves for very vanity."

It is highly desirable that on none of these points we should at all deceive ourselves; but we have higher interests at stake-souls as well as bodies to engage our attention, and another world, besidse the present, for which to prepare. And it behoves us, with intense anxiety, to guard against all deception respecting our moral character, our spiritual condition and our eternal destiny. We are in danger of self-deception on the momentous subject of religion. Mistakes about what we have already adverted to may be limited in their effects to time; but mistakes about religion may extend their melancholy results to eternity. "Be not deceived, God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." Religion has respect to our opinions, our feelings, and our conduct; on which account we often speak of theoretical religion, of experimental piety, and of pratical godliness. Each of these divisions of the subject affords ample scope for the operation of self-deception.

Many are self-deceived in their religious opinions. Nearly all persons we meet with have some opinions on religion. They have heard its

doctrines discussed, perhaps from their childhood; and it has formed a frequent topic of conversation in the circles wherein they have moved. Yet the opinions which are entertained on this subject, by the greater part of those around us, are of a very crude and erroneous character. They are not Scriptural opinions, and, for this main reason, that they are not derived immediately from the Scriptures. Instead of taking the Bible as the sole authority in religious matters, believing that it is able to make wise the simple; to enlighten the eyes; to convert the soul; and to rejoice the heart; they pay an undue deference to human standards of faith; they believe whatever their own prurient imaginations may suggest; and hold themselves ready to be "carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." It has been contended that man is not responsible for his religious belief; that God has not made him accountable for the sentiments he may entertain; and that those sentiments are of no moral consequence provided his dispositions are amiable and virtuous, his intentions good, and his actions upright. On this matter, we think the divine admonition necessary" deceive not yourselves." According to the Bible there are errors which entail destruction on those who live in them. The Gospel is to be preached for the obedience of faith. That Gospel teaches that human nature is corrupt; that man is guilty and helpless; that when we were without strength Christ died to atone for our sins; that we are justified by faith in the Son of God; that we are sanctified and comforted, helped and strengthened, led and "sealed by the Holy Spirit, unto the day of redemption." If these are doctrines of the Gospel, and if the belief of the Gospel be essential to salvation, then we do not see how