of knowledge they possess, or their appointment by any ordinance of man to this holy work.

By others again, who have not gone this length, it has been regarded as an excuse for dissemination of Gospel truth, wherever the preacher may think it expedient, without regard to prescribed places and seasons, and the established order of any particular Church, provided the preacher be duly qualified by ordination, and by knowledge of the Scriptures, to perform this office well.

How widely at variance these opinions are, not only with the constitution of our national Church, but with all that we can collect of the practice and the regulations of the Church of Christ, in every part of the world, from the first establishment of Christianity for more than 1500 years, it is hardly necessary for me to prove. The fact is familiar to every person at all acquainted with ancient ecclesiastical history. If any thing be certain of those remote times, this at least is placed beyond dispute-that governors and superintendents not of equal authority were appointed over every Church; that the highest in authority regulated the proceedings when they met for social worship and for edification in the faith; that no man took the sacred office upon himself either of preaching God's word, or of administering the Sacraments, but was duly called to that office either by an Apostle, or by some one or more recognized as governors of the Church in which he was to minister.

There is a striking uniformity in these points, as far as they can be traced upwards, in all the Churches of the world-whether in Asia, in Greece, in Italy, in Africa, or in the western provinces of the Roman Empire. Independent as they were of one another, and differing in forms and matters of minor importance, in this fundamental character they all agreethat no man was held qualified to minister without appointment from the spiritual governors of his Church; and these governors were Individuals-whose lines of succession have generally been preserved in all the principal churches from their original foundation.

That this constitution should have prevailed in all of them, as we know it did in the first three centuries, without the approval and direction of the Apostles, no unprejudiced man can imagine. It is a fact which affords even more satisfactory evidence, than if the judgment of early Churches had been distinctly recorded, for this would have implied that some doubt or dispute existed of sufficient importance to call for their decision; but the silent progression of Christianity under this uniform discipline, in the midst of strifes, and heresies, and intestine feuds, brings with it an overwhelming conviction, that it is agreeable to the first injunctions given by our Lord; and that the Apostles took care, in all the Churches they planted, to provide in this manner for the maintenance of order, and unity, and internal peace.

True it is, as we learn more especially from St. Paul's Epistles, disorderly and ambitious persons often arose, sowing divisions, and disturbing this harmony, either introducing false doctrines and novel customs, or spurning controul, and disputing even his own spiritual pre-eminence and authority. But in no instance do these practices escape reproof. They seem indeed to have happened to them for examples, that we might be instructed through them, and not suffer the like natural passions and infirmities to interfere with our duty as members of the Church. In every instance he gives orders for the suppression of these enormities. And to the bishops appointed by himself, both at Ephesus', and at Crete2, he delivers rules and principles of government, which plainly show that the choice and appointment of presbyters, and the correction of irregularities of every kind, was a part of their office, to be exercised with firmness whenever the case might seem to require it.

Still it has been a frequent endeavour in modern times to disparage this authority, and to show, from some insulated passages of Scripture, that much was left in the primitive Churches to their own management, and that individuals undertook the office of preaching without the appointment of any spiritual superior, and exercised it according to their own discretion. To this end the text I have chosen for this day's consideration has been adduced, as not only recording the fact, but expressing the joy of

' 1 Tim. v. 1.

2 Tit. i. 5.

the Apostle at the preaching of Christ, even by these

means.

Now it is impossible duly to estimate the force of this passage, without adverting to the time and the peculiar circumstances under which this Epistle was written, as well as to the whole tenor of its argument. From a careful attention to these points, the inference drawn by any candid mind will be, that the Apostle is merely giving utterance to personal feelings, excited by the conduct of some unruly and selfwilled teachers who sought to vex him, and to lower his authority; whereas he was resolved not to give way to any such feelings, but to put them down gladly to the account of that persecution which he was often called upon, and which he was ever ready to endure, for the sake of Christ.

It will be of use to state briefly the occasion of the Epistle. St. Paul was then a prisoner at Rome, in continual expectation of being brought before the tribunal of Cæsar, to whom he had appealed, when accused of stirring up the people against civil authority. His real offence was preaching Christ crucified, which his enemies the Jews represented as speaking against Cæsar. During his long continuance at Rome the church at Philippi had sent him supplies by Epaphroditus, who is now about to return thither, and to be the bearer of this Epistle.

It is natural then that St. Paul should write in a tender and affectionate strain to the Philippians, and

describe to them his situation, knowing well how heartily they would sympathize with his afflictions. They were the only church who had ever given this proof of their love and esteem. He is deeply moved by their kindness. He pours out his heart to them; and it is observable that from beginning to end there is not a single reproof or a single harsh admonition. He informs them that the afflictions he suffers for Christ's sake are aggravated by the unkind conduct of some who professed the Gospel; that his sufferings have nevertheless tended rather to the furtherance of the cause, inducing many of the brethren to preach boldly at Rome, as encouraged by his firmness under persecution, and being ready for love of him to suffer the same trouble. Others, however, (and here lies the difficulty,) others, he observes, preach Christ of envy and strife, supposing to add affliction to his bonds, and yet herein he rejoices, and will continue to rejoice.

Now if by the phrases preaching Christ not sincerely, preaching him in pretence, not in truth, be meant any false doctrine, any perversion of the truth, it is impossible that this could in any sense be an occasion of joy. That this was done in many places and to a great extent by judaizing Christians is certain-by men who taught that the law of Moses was still binding, that circumcision was necessary, and that justification came by the law: but whenever St. Paul adverts to these false teachers, it is always with expressions of severe condemnation, of deep