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the : public estimation * irntil it was pretty generally discontinued , as in Lancashire and Cheshire , or until its high import was so explained awayr , that nothing remained but an empty name . These remarks * inserted here as they suggested' themselves , will be verified and illustrated by the continuation of our brief historical sketch .
I shall next extract a few passages from * A Sermon preached at the Ordination o € Mv * Thomas Morgan ,. at Frewwaa ,, m the county © f Somerset , Sept . 6 , 1716 , by Nicholas Billingsley . " I €€ 'Tm the will of Slmst , ( pv 12 ;)
* ' that this ministry should hr common eases Be conveyed to persons ** * * , by solemn ordination to it . * ** The ordination * voiw may be as needful t ® engage a man to ^ be a faiths fill minister , as * the baptismal vow is to engage him to be a faithful Christian * T&e vow itself , in either of
these cases * I take to be absolutely necessary . ? * * I take t&e person ordained to be the principal agent in : his own ordination , a 3 the contracting parties are in the case of marriage The part he performs is a free-wilJ offering of himself to God in Christ . * Tis he that makes the solemn vow
tobe his minister . The answer of a good conscience to the questions proposed ia his . Ministers and people assist in the solemnity :. They beau their parts * , But , I think , their parts * are not of equal necessity with , the part he sustains himself . ****** But it seems
highly agreeable to the rule of his ; word and to the nature of things , that that they who are ataeatly in the ministry should be concerned' in the conw veyance of it Co others * * * * * T ? he < people are also much concerned In the ordination of a minister . * " *
Eve ry devout soul i& engaged in commending * him to the grace of : God . So that none here should think , that they have nothing to do in the present ordination . " From the last ) extracts it i& evident , that a change in the views and
sentiments of , our Presbyterian ancestors ' tvas already begun . From several expressions ,, it is manifest , that the preacher found himself under the necessity of choosing new ground * the old ground of ministerial atUshority , according to the Presbyterian disci-
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phne , being become untenable and dm is still' more evident frorn ^ a very sensible preface ft * tfee above sermon , wrtofce i * by Mr . Henry Chandler , of Bathy from which t shall select a ffew passages : ' * All that the ordainers have to do
in that solemnity [ ordination ]; is to declare that those persons are ministers of Jesus Christ , that really are so antecedently ^ to that their declaration ; and' to recommend- them to the Christian people , by their approbation , and to tne IKvine blessing ? by their conjoined importunate prayers . And that to make them ministers is no
part ? of their duty ,, because it is wholly out ofi tlieir power . ? * * They cannot possibl y qualify any person for the work of a ^ minister . * * * They cannot efficaciously incline any person to undertake the wovk . ** ^ ? ' And
they cannot make any Christian people accept or invite any person as their minister Near the " conclusion of the preface , the writer gives his own opinion
concerning ordination , that " 'tis a laudable custom to preserve order , encourage the qualified , and prevent the intrusion of ignorant and bold pretenders .
I shall next make an extract from a Sermon at the Ordination of Mr . JohnMurckley , 1717 ^ by Dr . Edmund Galamy : ' * As the Holy / Ghost has from one time to another inclined some persons to the office of the ministry and qualified them for ifc , so has he also called
fchena forth to i& This he has done by giving ^ them oppoutrunity for a solemn investiture by ordination , when their commission has been delivere&to them , upon their dieclared : readiness * to accept sucb an office , and tlie trust which it implies and carries in it , upon the terms laid down in die word of God .
This ordination is * what in several ages > according- to diflferent schemes , there has been a diversity of sentiments a&out . Some have reckoned it to be much / like an inserting the names of auch and suck particular persons in the liat or register of public officers ,: others look ore it to * be a solemn
inveBtiture . m the office , upon proof given of a concurrence of ail the qualincationn that / are necessary to fit men for it y while others have apprehend ed
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SIS On Ordination Services *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1825, page 216, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2535/page/24/
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