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Untitled Article
easfe of associations , ) provided the object proposed to be answered be not in itself objectionable , they are not anlv oftert very gratifying to those who attend them , riot only instructive and beneficial in their general tendency ; but often become the channels of
communication highly interesting and encouraging to the friends of religious truth and liberty , and stimulating'their zeal and perseverance to more vigorous and successful efforts . But of this kind of utility I do not perceive
that ordination services contain any thing peculiar or extraordinary , either deserving the high-strained encomiums which have been bestowed upon them , or justifying the importance which has been ascribed to their observance .
Is it therefore right and proper to revive this practice , which our denomination has for powerful reasons discontinued , the observance of which is of no ascertainable value more than
ordinary , and its celebration connected with superstitious notions in the minds of the generality of Christians , especially in regard to the validity and sacredness of the clerical character ? On what other or better
grounds than these can we attack superstitious notions and observances ? Two objects of utility are mentioned by Mr . Baker ; first , that the candidates may be " recommended to the favouy of God by a public act of devotion ; and , secondly , that they may " receive from their reverend fathers
m the ministry lessons of experience and wisdom : " and , in connexion with this , we are assured that " no general advice already on record respectingthe objects of the ministry , can be so forcible as a charge drawn up for every particular occasion . "
In regard to the first of these , I hesitate not to prefer the scriptural mode , which we learn from a passage , to which Mr . Baker refers , Acts xiv . 23 : 4 € And when they—the apostles — had ordained" ( i . e . appointed ) " them elders in every church , and liac \ prayed with fasting , they
commeuded them to the Lord , on whom they had believed . " Surely , the appointing , praying and fasting took pljiCQ in every particular churchv ^ t luiv each society , without a conc o ^ Bd ' df persons from distant places , Hoxy , except it can be shewn with sc > me appearance of truth and reason .
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that this mode of soliciting the blessing of the Almighty Is Ie 6 3 efficacious th&n the parade of an inaugural or ordination service , I shall eertafrily prefer it , not only because if ? is scriptural , but also because it is folly adequate to every purpose of utility chat can be contemplated by the united prayers of the reverend brethren *
In regard to the second object of utility , no one , I presume , can suppose that I maintain that good advice , judiciously and affectionately given , is
not calculated , in a greater or less degree , to do good ; but I am ready to acknowledge , that no advice which it is practical and possible to introduce into an ordination service , can be *
under the actual circumstances of the case , of the importance and consequence contended for . I have , however , a better opinion of good advice than Mr . Baker seems to have . I
think the good advice and general instructions already on record for qualifying a person for the ministry , are much more comprehensive and valuable than any short address can be ,
however " forcibly" drawn up , on a particular occasion . I also wish Mr . Baker to explain how it is that general advice cannot be suitable to < c every particular occasion , " when every particular occasion is so much alike . I
certainly have never observed that ministers , in framing their inaugural address , ( if they must be so called , ) suit them so scrupulously to the particular occasion ; and as gentlemen from a distance are mostly chosen to officiate , who are ignorant of most of the particular circumstances of the parties , the thing is impossible .
In order to qualify a minister for the proper discharge of his duties , much , very much , more is necessary than a short address , containing a few topics of common-place advice , with which , too , one of the parties , at least , is already very well acquainted . The
qualifications for the ministry should be acquired , previously , by lectures on systematic theology , on scriptural criticism , on the pastoral office , &c ., by suitable exercises in the
composition and delivery of public discourses , by advice , when needed , derived from judicious friends and from a variety of valuable publications , by cultivating and cherishing the moral temper and a devout frame and disposition of
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Mr * Johns on OYdination Service * . 735
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1825, page 735, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2543/page/31/
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