as

"the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world," the only door of admission into the kingdom of heaven; and declared all, who entered by this door, to be the true sheep, without stopping to inquire, by what ministry their admission was procured. Of the same tenor, were all the instructions of his apostles, after his ascension, both by word and epistle. Their constant effort was, to draw away the minds of men from all external grounds of hope towards God, and to fix their reliance exclusively upon faith, as appropriating the righteousness of Christ, and leading by consequence to a life of holy activity in the service of God. These instructions were not without their effect, at the time; and, for a while afterwards, their fruits were visible, in the eminently spiritual character which the church maintained, and exhibited to the surrounding world. But, although the old leaven was thus restrained in its operation for a time, it was not destroyed; and, very soon after the death of the Apostles, it began to show itself, in the prevalence of the same sentiments re specting the christian ministry, which had before prevailed in reference to the Jewish priesthood. Spiritual piety was again lost sight of, while the religion of forms was unduly exalted. A change obtained, in this respect, which increased from century to century, until it became the received

doctrine over more than half the world, that the only authorized hope of salvation was in connection with a ministry constituted in a particular way —that, of this ministry, the occupant of the Papal throne was the visible and supreme head, upon earth—and that, beyond the pale of its influences and virtues, men had reason to expect nothing, but the curse of God, both in this world, and the world to come.

During the period of the Reformation, the principle of this error was again searched out, and exposed. The light of truth was made to shine upon it, revealing its deformities and dangers; and the minds of men were called back to the true nature of religion, as consisting in immediate personal intercourse with God, through the atonement and intercession of Christ. Over extensive regions of christendom, the influence of this reformation extended, with the rapidity of light: the system of formality and superstition, which had been gathering strength for ages, was assailed with success: and, in general, the march of improvement has been onward, from the days of Luther until now. In the mean time, it is true, the symptoms of a relapse have been often seen, to a limited extent, in particular places. The tendency in human nature, to rely more upon the forms than the spiritualities of religion, has never disappeared entire

ly. And the signs of the times now are, that, under the guidance and propelling force of this tendency, another retrograde movement is about to be witnessed on a large scale-that the old error of connecting the hope of salvation exclusively with a particular ministry, is destined to reign elsewhere than within the visible limits of the Papal dominion-that its dark shadow, and its blighting influence, are likely to extend over an important branch of the Protestant Church-and its work of mischief upon the souls of men, to form a conspicuous feature of the times, through which we are now passing.

TO CHARACTERIZE this error, in the form in which I propose to examine it—to furnish you with some EVIDENCE of its existence, and increasing prevalence—and to exhibit some of the REASONS why its examination seems to be called for, under existing circumstances—is all that I propose, farther, to accomplish, at the present time.

In setting forth the doctrine of APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION, as involving the error to which I have just referred, I shall rely, mainly, upon the statements of its own advocates. They shall speak for themselves. And, from their exposition of their own views, it will appear-that membership in the church of Christ, together with a scriptural hope of salvation, depends upon a mere forma

lity. Their scheme is, that there cannot be a church of Christ, excepting in connection with a Hierarchy, the orders of which are Bishops, Priests, and Deacons-that Bishops, who are the superior order, are the only persons who have the power of perpetuating a christian ministry—that this power belongs to them, by virtue of their descent from the Apostles, by an unbroken line of succession-that a true ministry and church are, therefore, to be found, only in connection with the Prelatical Episcopacy of this, and of other countries-and, of course, that none, who have not re ceived Episcopal ordination, have any right to regard themselves as called by the Head of the Church, either to preach his gospel, or to administer the ordinances of his house. "Our Bishops," they say, "are successors of the Apostles; and we, as ordained by them, share in the succession, and are therefore the authorized teachers of God's word, and the administrators of his sacraments.""The only ministrations to which the Lord has promised his presence, are those of the Bishops, who are successors of the first commissioned Apostles, and the other clergy, acting under their sanction, and by their authority."-"The sacrament of the Lord's Supper can only be administered, by ministers duly ordained; and, therefore, it is needful to continue in a church, professing an

Apostolical succession."-" Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, alone, can administer Christ's sacraments and ordinances."-" The real ground of our authority, is our apostolical descent."-"An uninterrupted series of valid ordinations, has carried down the Apostolical succession, in our churches, to the present day"; and "we must necessarily consider none ordained, who are not thus ordained."

These declarations are selected from different authors; and they are sufficiently explicit, not only, as presenting the true notion of the succession scheme, but, also, as exhibiting its exclusive, and unchurching character. As this is a point, however, of great importance, in the discussion on which we are entering, and, as I am anxious that no doubt should remain upon your minds in relation to it, you will bear with me, in the recital of some other testimonies, from the same, or from kindred sources. And, that you may not regard me, as calling up from the dead, the narrow-mindedness and bigotry of other and darker ages, I shall confine myself, mainly, to the writings and sayings of persons, who are now living, or whose memory is still fresh, in the minds of the intelligent and reading public:-in the first place, to authors of other countries; and, in the second place, to those of our own.