there must be always such Persons to minifter in holy Things in every Age.

*

In the very primitive Times there was a great Variety of Talents and Capacities, for the Miniftrations of Chriftian Worship, conferred by Inspiration upon those who embraced the Religion of Chrift: These were taught of God in a more immediate Manner : And where thefe extraordinary Gifts were numerous, either they needed no other Preachers, Teachers, or Minifters, (always fuppofing some wise Person amongst them to be a pass, a Prefident, or Chairman, who, by natural Rules of Prudence and Order, fhould keep their various Performances within the Limits of Decency and Edification ;) or, at least, they were not yet furnished with particular Officers, being then but in an imperfect State as to regular Order. Such was the Corinthian Church: And where any Apostle or Evangelift was prefent, he is reafonably fuppofed to prefide; or, in his Abfence, he sometimes gives Direction for their Conduct, as though he were prefent. 1 Cor. v.

3, 4.

But in other Churches, where thefe Gifts were but few, the chief Poffeffors of them, and espe

*Thefe Gifts were fo much diftributed in that Day among the Chriftians at Jerufalem, that even the Deacons, who were appointed to take Care of the Poor, had fuch extraordinary Gifts, and excercifed them now and then in teaching the People as Evangelifts. See Ats vi. 2, 3.

cially the early and more experienced Converts, were chofen out to be Elders, or Guides, and Leaders of their Worship, Paftors, or Teachers, according to their peculiar Talents of Exhortation, or of Instruction : And they were fometimes called Overseers, that is, Bishops, having an Overfight of the People, and their Behaviour; being reasonably supposed to know more of the Will of Christ than the common People, and to be more folicitous for the Honour of Chriftianity, and for its Preservation.

It is probable that fometimes these Elders, or Overfeers, (which Words are used promifcuoufly in feveral Places of the New Teftament *) might be pointed out by the Direction of a Spirit of Prophecy, or by the Gift of Difcernment of Spirits, by the Apoftles, or other infpired Men, in that Day, as Timothy was pointed out by Prophecy, to be an

*It may not be improper in this Place to point out the chief Scriptures where thefe Characters are ufed promifcuously, and feem to denote one and the fame Office. Acts xx. 17. From Miletus Paul fent to Ephefus, and called the Elders of the Church. But in Ver. 28. St. Paul calls thefe very Perfons Overfeers, nós, Bishops. Tit. i. 5. Ordain Elders in every City. Ver. 6. If any be blameless, &c. For, in Ver. 7. a Bishop must be blamelefs. 2 Pet. v. 1, 2. The Elders which are among you, I exhort, who am also an Elder; feed the Flock of God, taking the Overfight thereof, the Bishoprick thereof, TOоles. But our English Tranflators have generally taken Care to keep the Word Bishop for the most Part out of Sight, where it is applied to Prefbyters, or Elders, in the Greek,

Evangelift. 1 Tim. i. 18. and iv. 14. And in this Sense the Apoftles and Evangelifts, Paul and Barnabas, Timothy and Titus might perhaps, by the Direction of the Holy Spirit, nominate the Perfons fit to be ordained Elders in the Churches, and, upon the Confent of the Churches, might ordain or appoint them for that Purpose. Acts xiv. 23. 1 Tim. v. 22. Tit. i. 5. And perhaps this is the Reason why it is faid of the Elders of Ephesus, that the Holy Ghost had made them Overfeers. Acts xx. 17, 28. But it is hardly to be fuppofed that any Perfons were made Rulers, Teachers, or Overfeers of any Church of serious Chriftians, without the Confent of the Society, who were to be taught and governed by them in Matters relating to their eternal Interefts.

Even when an Apoftle was to be chosen in the Room of Judas, the Hundred and Twenty Difciples, of whom Eleven were Apostles, joined in the Choice of Two Perfons, out of which the Lot determined One to be an Apoftle. Acts i. 15, 23. Deacons, who manage the fecular Affairs of the Church, were chofen by the People. Acts vi. 3. And still more reasonable it is, that Elders, or Bishops, who have the Care of their Souls, should be chofen by them who want and defire their Instructions in such important Concerns. In following Ages, when these extraordiGifts ceafed in the Churches, it is more evident

nary

evident from the Hiftories of thofe Times, that their Overseers, or Bishops, were chosen by the People. And the Characters of them are given us at large, and very particularly, in two Places of Scripture. 1 Tim. iii. 1, &c. and Tit. i. 5, 6. And certainly this is left upon Record, that we might be directed in fuch a Choice to the End of the World, as well as to give Directions to Timothy and Titus in the Performance of their extraordinary Office at that Time.

As for the Inveftiture of Men with this Office, the New Teftament gives us fome Notices that they were fet apart by folemn Prayer and Fafting, and generally with laying on of the Hands of Perfons who were inspired, or poffeffed of fome fuperior Character. Whether this Rite were defigned to communicate any new Gifts, or to pronounce an inspired and effectual Bleffing on their Miniftrations; or whether it was only retained in the Chriftian Church as it had been an antient Rite, used almost from the earliest Ages of Mankind, on several Occasions, particularly in the folemn Benediction of a Perfon, or in the Prayer for a Bleffing on him, or Appointment of him to any fpecial Service, I am not able to determine * This is certain,

*

Timothy, a young Evangelift, had the Hands of the Elders, i. e. the Prefbytery, laid upon him. 1 Tim. iv. 14. And perhaps, at the fame Time, he was bleffed by

the

certain, that the Rite of Impofition of Hands has fomething natural in it, when we pray for a Bleffing to defcend on any particular Perfon, and more especially at his Entrance into an Office; as it were to point him out in a visible Manner to God and the World. Good old Jacob laid his Hands on Ephraim and Manaffeh, when he bleffed them. Gen. xlviii. And in Deut. xxxiv. Mofes laid his Hands on Jofua, as his Succeffor.

The Children of Ifrael alfo laid their Hands on the Levites, at their Dedication to the Service of the Tabernacle. Numb. viii. But as there are different Opinions on this Subject, I difmifs it, without any further Determination than this, that it seems to be a Sort of natural Ceremony, an innocent and antient Rite at fuch Seafons; though I do not fee fufficient Proof of the certain Neceffity of it. Even as lifting up the Hands to Heaven, in Prayer for a Bleffing on one's felf, is a Sort of natural Rite, or Gefture, ufed by Jews

the Hands of St. Paul with extraordinary Gifts. 2 Tim. i. 16. And he himself, an Evangelift, was ordered to lay Hands fuddenly on no Man. 1 Tim. v. 22. It is a Queftion indeed whether Timothy, or the Prefbytery, could confer any extraordinary Gifts or Bleffings; it is more probable, for many Reafons, that this belonged only to the Apoftles; and then this their Impofition of Hands could not be defigned for the conferring of extraordinary Gifts; but still it might be used to pronounce a prophctical Bleffing on the Preacher, which no uninfpired Perfon could do; or finally, it might be the ordinary Form of Benediction, or of Inftitution to an Office.

and