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of it , there occur various passages which we suspect will startle the prejudices of some of their English friends * The service is introduced by the Rev . J . Mutton in a sensible and judicious discourse on " the character , duties , and privileges of the Christian , ' * from Rom . viii . 9 ; which is followed by an elaborate view of the nature , and defence of the validity , of Presbyterian ordination , by the Rev . James
Armstrong . He sets out with a critical examination of the terms presbyter , and bishop , or overseer ; which , as used in the New Testament , he clearly shews to be synonymous ; from whence he infers , in opposition to the Episcopalians , that there were in the primitive church not three , but two , orders of ministers . This is a point which we , of course , feel no inclination to dispute ; but , in order to give it any importance in its connexion with the
present argument , it is necessary also to make out , first , that the presbyters or elders deputed from different churches were associated in councils or synods , and exercised , in their collective capacity , authority over distinct congregations ; and , secondly , that this constitution was not only established by the apostles themselves , but was contemplated by them as a permanent system or mode of discipline to which the successive societies of Christians ,
in all future ages , were expected to conform . Of such , synods , or assemblies of presbyters , we are told ( p . 16 ) there are several intimations in the Acts and Epistles , and we are referred to what has sometimes been called the council of the apostles at Jerusalem , as an instance . Though Mr . Armstrong speaks of several , we do not at present recollect any other , and are much disposed to doubt whether this will be admitted to be a case in- point . In the first place , it does not appear to have had any resemblance to a
preshytenan assembly , consisting of deputies from different churches exercising a control over the whole body , but was composed merely of the apostles and other elders of the single church of Jeruralem ; and , secondly , whatever authority it was permitted to exercise was derived entirely from the personal character of its members ; who possessed , in virtue of their apostolic office , a power to " reform abuses , " which was not communicable to any successors , and which could , therefore , establish no precedent for the proceedings of any subsequent ecclesiastical body . It may be added , that there is
nothing in the history to shew that this was any thing more than , an occasional meeting summoned for the express and sole purpose of taking into consideration the particular question on which their opinion had been asked . But even though it were admitted that it was a body regularly constituted according to the strictest Presbyterian plan , where is the proof that it was intended as a model to be followed by Christian societies in all parts of the world , and in every subsequent age ? This is a position of primary importance in the argument which the present writer , and all who have proposed to found the administration of Christian churches in these latter times on
what they have called a scriptural basis , have contented themselves with taking for granted . " On examining the books of the New Testament , we find that the holy apostles , bearing the commission of the Son of God to diffuse the blessings of true religion through the world , collected together churches or societies of faithful men to worship the One only living- and true God , in the name and as the disciples of the only Mediator , the Lord Jesus Christ . For the government of these societies they adopted certain regulations , to which all succeeding churches ought to conform , as the wise and safe directions of persons who acted under the immediate and express authority of the Redeemer himself . "— -P . 12 .
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410 Ordination Service ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1829, page 410, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2573/page/42/
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