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Philadelphia , Sir , February 13 , 1826 . LTHOUGH several pieces on Athis subject have appeared in your Repository , may I ask your permission to lay before your readers the state of the question as it presents itself to my mind ?
As it is confessedly proper to acknowledge God in . all our ways , a religious service on every interesting occasion has been usual among all denominations of Christians . At every settlement of a minister it is fit ami right to implore the blessing of God on the connexion that has been
formed : thus far there seems to be little , if any contrariety of opinion ; but objections are urged against the appendages of an Ordination Service , more especially as it is only at thcjirst settlement : of a minister that any special
public religious service is performed . It is immaterial by what name such a service is designated ; it is to all intents and purposes an Ordination Service . The question therefore is , why should a service of this kind be again introduced ? Here , the whole burden of proof lies on the advocates for Ordinatiou Services . Unitarians will not
be bold enough to assert that ordination is essential to a Christian minister ; for , in that case , it is of vital importance that it be derived from the true line of succession ; and , if so , it
birth and the circumstances attending it . To me they appear to savour strongly of the peculiar prejudices and predilection of the Jews , and yet to have a strong infusion of Heathenish ideas . The geuealogiess are at variance with the other particulars , if it be meant that Jesus had no human father ; but if this be sup . posed dubious , although God is represented as interposing in eui extraordinary
manner on the occasion , we may perhaps account for it from that contest of i&otive « which a Jewish Gnostic on embracing Christianity would have , under the necessity which he would feel of tracing the descent of Christ from David and his desire of ' ranking him among the highest o / preexisting intelligences .
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must be the safest eoitfse to s&ek f 3 r it ia . the Church of Rome . As this ground is evidently untenable , the next qttestidn will be—is ordination necessary *? In other words , are ordained ministers wiser , better , m
any respect superior to those ministers who have not been ordained ? Is their ministry more useful , and do their hearers exhibit a fairer model of Christian excellence than the hearers of unordained ministers ? As no
evidence has been exhibited to prove that ordination has been the means of producing such beneficial results , arguments against ordination founded on the abuses to which it has given
rise , may be urged with evident propriet y * It is admitted , that arguments from the abuse of any measure are not valid , if it can be made to appear that such a measure is necessary ; but if it is merely matter of discretion , its tendency to lead to abuse , and much more the undeniable fact that it
has led to great abuses , ought to operate as a conclusive reason against its adoption . That much superstition , and that a variety of abuses have arisen from ordination , has been acknowledged and lamented by wise and good men of different sects : probably , it was a melancholy conviction of this fact which caused the discontinuance
of Ordination Services among many of the English Dissenters during thirty or forty years . As it does not appear that any inconveniencies arose on that account , it is not easy to imagine why they should ag-ain be brought into fashion ; and it is particularly to he
deplored that such a measure should excite unpleasant feelings . If it is believed that any important benefits are derived from ordination , this is a good reason why those who think thus should avail themselves of it , and come forward as its advocates ; and it would be wrong in . those who hold
a contrary opinion to censure them for so 4 oing : at the same time , unless there be something like free-masonry in the matter of ordination , its moral benefits might he distinctly . specified , and the reality of their existence clearly exhibited .
The utility of Ordination Services has been urged because of the valuable information communicated to the person ordained , particularly in refer-
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a « d " aid wives' fables , " which were even in liis time diffusing their leaven into the Christian system . T . P .
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212 Oh Ordination Services *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1826, page 212, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2547/page/24/
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