as numerous as in the quays of the Isle St. Louis, where rich persons live in large and well ventilated apartments. He also shows that the mortality rises or falls with the rate of wages.

The coronation of the young king of Tahiti, Pomare III. took place in April last, and was made a solemn and religious festival. The king is only four years of age; his aunt is at the head of the government during his minority. The laws of the island, since it became christianized, were established about four years ago; but as in the interval many things needed settling, from the result of experience and unexpected circumstances, a parliament, the first parliament ever held in the South Seas, met in February last. It consisted of all the families related to the kings of Tahiti and Eimeo, the governors of districts and provinces, and two persons chosen as representatives by the people at large of every district. The session lasted nine days. Every thing submitted to consideration was fully discussed, with calm deliberation and good breeding. The members often differed much in their views, but they never interrupted one another; and when any found that the general sentiment was in favour of a decision contrary to their own, they always yielded to the majority; and their votes were thus, without exception, unanimous.

The Penang Gazette gives the following description of an entertainment given by a Chinese merchant to the European residents-" The bird-nest soup was admira. ble, as well as the six other soups of mut ton, frogs, and duck liver. We did ample justice to an excellent hasher made of stewed elephants' tails, served up with the sauce of lizards' eggs. We also noticed particularly that some French gen tlemen present seemed to eat with parti cular gout a stewed porcupine, served up in the green fat of a turtle. The beech de mar was excellent, as well as the fish maws served up with sea-weed. There was also a dish quite new to the party, the expense of which was estimatad at 200 dollars it consisted of a platter full of snipes' eyes, garnished round the border with peacocks' combs, and was the most delicious and delicate viand we ever tasted. The desert corresponded with the dinner. We cannot pass over without remark the exquisite gout of the jellies made from the rhinoceros' hide."

Ordinations and Consecration.

At an ordination recently held by the Right Rev. Bishop White, in St. Andrew's Church, Philadelphia, the Rev.Enoch Huntington, rector of St. Stephen's Church, Wilkesbarre, was admitted to the holy or

der of priests. Morning prayers were read by the Rev. Mr. Bedeli, and the sermon by the Bishop.

At an ordination, in St. Paul's Church, Boston, on Sunday, the 13th of March, the Rev. Joseph Muenscher, minister of Christ Church, Leicester, was admitted to the holy order of priests, by the Right Rev. Dr. Griswold, Bishop of the diocese,

On Wednesday, the 16th of March, the new church erected by the Merrimack manufacturing company, at Chelmsford, was consecrated to the worship and service of Almighty God, by the Bishop of the eastern diocese, under the name of St. Ann's Church. And immediately after the consecration, the Rev. Benjamin Clark Cutler, A.B. deacon, and minister of Christ Church, Quincy, and the Rev. Theodore Edson, A. B. deacon, and minister of the new parish at Chelmsford, were admitted to the holy order of priests. Morning prayer was read by the Rev. Dr. Gardiner. The candidates were presented by the Rev. Dr.Jarvis, and an excellent and appropriate discourse delivered by the Bishop.

On Thursday morning, March 17th, at an ordination held in St. Ann's Church, Chelmsford, George Richardson, A. M. of New-Hampshire, was admitted to the holy order of deacons. An address was delivered by the Bishop, and the candidate was presented by the Rev. Dr. Jarvis.

On Friday, the 15th of April, an ordination was held in Christ Church, NewBrunswick, by the Right Rev. Bishop Croes, when Mr. William W. Bostwick, of the diosese of New-York, was admitted, in the absence of the Right Rev. Dr. Hobart, to the holy order of deacons. Morning prayer was read by the Rev. John Croes, jun. and a sermon delivered by the Rev. William Berrian, assistant rector of Trinity Church, New-York.

Calendar Notices for June, 1825. 5. First Sunday after Trinity. 11. St. Barnabas, the Apostle. 12. Second Sunday after Trinity. 19. Third Sunday after Trinity. 24. The Nativity of St. John the Baptist. 26. Fourth Sunday after Trinity. 29. St. Peter, the Apostle.

Eeclesiastical Meetings in June, 1825.
1. Connecticut Convention, at Newtown.
Maryland Convention, at Baltimore.
Ohio Convention, at Zanesville.

4. Delaware Convention.
15. Massachusetts Convention.
22. Vermont Convention,

To correspondents.-The Sermon on the Priestly Office, delivered by the Rev. Benj. T. Onderdonk at the admission of the Rev. Cornelius R. Duffie to Priest's orders-and the extract from the Parish Journal of a Clergyman, will appear in our number for June.

No. 6.]

For the Christian Journal.

The Priestly Office.

A Sermon, preached in St. Luke's Church, New-York, on occasion of the Admission to the holy Order of Priests, of the Rev. Cornelius R. Duffie, A. M., Rector of St. Thomas' Church, New-York, on Monday, October 11, 1824. By BENJAMIN T. ONDERDONK, A. M., an Assistant Minister of Trinity Church, New-York, and Professor of the Nature, Ministry, and Polity of the Church, in the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. Published at the request of the Vestry of St. Thomas'

Church.

1 Timothy iii. 1.-"The office of a bishop.” ST. Paul's Epistles to Timothy and Titus afford very important information on the subject of the original constitution of the Christian ministry. There is no branch of this subject of deeper interest to the Church at large, and to Christians individually, than that which relates to the transmission of ministerial authority. It is obvious from Scripture, that the ministry is a special embassy from God himself. It follows, of course, that its powers can be rightly exercised, and so exercised as that a ratification and acknowledgment of its acts, on the part of God, can be certainly expected, by those only who have a direct commission from God himself, or who receive their commission from them whom He has authorized to impart it. The question therefore, with whom authority to impart the ministerial commission was originally intrusted, is one of infinite importance; inasmuch as they, and their legitimate successors only, can confer power for the valid exercise of the ministry.

It is not intended to enter, at present, into a minute examination of this subject; but only to notice two or three particulars relating to it, as introductory to a more special improvement of the interesting solemnities about to engage our attention.

There is an expression in each of St. Paul's respective epistles to Timothy and Titus, which has an important bearing on this particular. To Timothy he says, "Lay hands suddenly on no man"*-an ex

* 1 Tim. v. 22. VOL. IX.

[VOL. IX.

pression which, it will not be doubted, refers to ordination to the ministerial office. To Titus he says, "For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest ordain, elders in every city." And both Timo-, thy and Titus have minute directions given to them as to the persons whom they should ordain to the ministry.†

You must be aware, my brethren, that it is the doctrine of some Protestant communions, that the power of ordination rests with the Church in its aggregate capacity, that is, with its members at large; and of others, that it rests with a company of pastors, denominated a presbytery. It is obvious, however, that St. Paul determines otherwise, and regarded Timothy and Titus, in their individual official capacity, as each capable of conferring holy orders. And as we know, from Scripture authority, that there were at Ephesus, where Timothy was particularly appointed to ex-. ercise his ministry, and as there is every reason to believe, that there were also at Crete, at this very time, elders or pastors of the Church, it follows that Timothy and Titus must have possessed powers superior to those of the elders. This conclusion is corroborated, when we consider farther, that in an address of St. Paul to these very elders of Ephesus, recorded in the Acts, he says not one word on the subject of care in the most important matter of choosing and ordaining fit persons for the ministry.+

In the chapter whence the text is taken, St. Paul gives Timothy directions as to the proper qualifications of those who were to be advanced to the holy orders of bishops and deacons. A comparison of this with other parts of the New Testament, and especially with similar directions from St. Paul to Titus, seems clearly to evince that the persons here termed bishops, and those elsewhere termed elders, were members of the same order in the ministry. Hence the conclusion has been drawn, that the primitive bishops were but elders, or pastors of single congregations.

That the names bishop and elder were originally applied to the same order, is cheerfully conceded. But we think ourselves warranted by both holy Scripture

* Titus i. 5. t1 Tim. iii.; Titus i. 6-9. + Acts xx. 17, &e.

21

and ancient authors, in maintaining that there was an order, of which the Apostles were the first members, superior to this of bishop or elder; and that this order also embraced Timothy, Titus, Clemens, Epaphroditus, the angels of the apocalyp tick churches, and others, in the apostles' days; and was continued in the persons of their successors. A father of the fourth century* states expressly, that the successors to the apostolick office relinquished the name of apostle, leaving it as the peculiar designation of the first holders of the supreme ministerial dignity, and took to themselves, and for their successors, one of the titles-that of bishop-which had previously appertained to the second order. Thus, then, the three orders of ministers, originally styled apostles, bishops or elders, i. e. presbyters, and deacons, were afterwards denominated bi shops, presbyters, and deacons.

It is, therefore, in perfect consistency with the scriptural and primitive view taken by our Church on the subject of the ministry its existence in three orders, with the supreme power of government, and the only power of ordination, confined to the first-that we admit "the office of a bishop," named by the apostle in the text, to be that of the ordinary pastor, the second order in the ministry, known now by the name of priest or presbyter.

The promotion of a member of the third into this second order of the ministry, is now about to be solemnized. Among her edifying provisions for so important and interesting an event, the Church prescribes "a sermon or exhortation, declaring the duty and office of such as come to be admitted priests; how necessary that order is in the Church of Christ; and also how the people ought to esteem them in their office." To these topicks, therefore, my brethren, your attention is now solicited. The office of a priest is the second of the three grades in which, it appears from holy Scripture and ancient authors, Almighty God, by his Holy Spirit, constituted the ministry of the Christian Church.+

This ministry is declared in the New Testament to be an embassy from God, his vicegerency on earth, and in the stead of the personal ministry of the divine Redeemer. In order to secure that genuine commission from God himself, without which it is impossible for such an office to be held, he appointed, and, by his divine providence, preserves, an uninterrupted succession, wherein the ministerial authority, at first directly conferred, till

*Theodoret.

First rubrick in "The Form and Manner of Ordering Priests."

See preface to the Ordinal, and the collect in the Ordering of Priests. § 2 Cor. v. 20:

this time has been, and even unto the end of the world will be, continued among

men.

In every period, then, of the world, when a commission is received in this regular line, the individual receiving it is as if, at that instant, a voice from heaven vested him with power to go out among men on an embassy from the living God. Such then, so holy, so heavenly, so infinitely momentous, is the office of a priest. Who are we, that we should be the subjects of such a vocation! How careful should we be, and how guilty are we, and to what a tremendous account must we be called, if we are not careful, to walk worthy of it!

4

The duty of a priest-of one who holds this heavenly commission-is, first,

To administer the Christian sacraments. It is his to perform that holy office, which, by divine appointment, is the mean of taking men from their state of nature, and giving them that new birth which brings them into a state of grace, a covenant-state, in which God, as one party, pledges to man, as the other, on conditions which, when capable, he is to perform, and until then, absolutely, the spiritual and eternal blessings procured by

the médiation of Jesus Christ.

This covenant-state is membership of the body or Church of the Redeemer. And this holy society is the appointed channel and instrument for conveying to man all the good, here and hereafter, designed by the religion of his Saviour, and purchased for him by that Saviour's merits.

A ministration of such infinite and everlasting consequence as the admission of men into this Church and covenant, is a part of the duty of a Christian priest, by virtue of the heavenly commission where by only he can be qualified to represent the great God himself, and engage for him, in this holy covenant.

It is also his duty to administer that other sacrament which is declared, in Scripture, to present to the reception of the faithful the body and blood of their Redeemer; to be thus the communion of that body and blood; and to show, or represent, the Lord's death, in which they were given for the life of the world.

Thus it is his province to impart to the members of the Church their highest privilege, and a special mean of communion with their Lord, and thus of the sanctify. ing, directing, aiding, and saving grace of his Holy Spirit.

Leading the publick devotions of the Church, is another part of the priest's duty. And this he does, not merely as one of the congregation, expressing their common wants and common praise, but in his peculiar of

fice as the minister of Heaven, duly authorized to appear for God to men, and for the Church at the throne of grace. Having come, as it were, from the celestial courts, on an embassy to mankind, in the exercise thereof, he admits them into the Church; and then, preceding them to the mercy seat, lays before their covenant-God, their and his humble supplications, and devout praises and thanksgivings.

Preaching the Gospel is a highly important duty of the Christian priest.

This office, it is well observed by the judicious Hooker, does not merely include the delivery of sermons, but also all those publick acts in which the ministers of the Church impart her instructions and conşolations.

One of leading importance is the reading of the Scriptures.

In this, also, the priest is not to be regarded merely as one of an assembly of Christians, reading for their mutual com. fort and edification. He should be viewed in his official character. He has a commission from the same divine source whence emanated that of the prophets, evangelists, apostles, and other inspired men, by whose instrumentality the Holy Ghost gave to the world the volume of revelation. He is even sent as the Father sent his only Son, by whose divine coun. sels the evangelical pages are enriched; and thus appears in the stead of Christ himself.

When, therefore, he reads the volume of the holy book in the ears of the people, it is as if the prophet, the evangelist, the apostle, or the Lord himself, was again communicating what has been written for our learning.

The duty of preaching the Gospel is also discharged in the reading of those apocry, phal books, and those exhortations and other addresses to the people, which, not being inconsistent with the Gospel, the Church sets forth in her holy offices.

Two particulars of the sacerdotal functions, under this head, deserve especial notice.

The first is the declaration of absolution or remission of sins.

There is something in the commission which our Saviour gave on this subject, to the ministry of his Church, and which the ordaining officer repeats, at the present day, when he imparts the priestly function, "Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained;"* which clearly shows that more must be meant than merely the consolatory assurance, which any Christian may impart, that repented sins will be forgiven. It must refer to a solemn authoritative act.

But the broad principle that none can

* St. John xx. 23.

forgive sins but God only, forbids such a sense of this commission as supposes the act it expresses to be the man's own, his own forgiving, or his own retaining, of the sins. We can find a satisfactory and consis tent solution, only in regarding it as referring to an official and authoritative decla ration, by the priest, in the name of God, that pardon is extended on repentance, and withholden without it; and as declaring this to be the ordinary and appointed mode whereby the divine prerogative of forgiving and retaining sins is exercised.

We may, therefore, believe assuredly that where this declaration meets, in those to whom it is made, the hearty repentance and true faith which are essential requisites for pardon, it is the mean of actually Conveying to them the forgiveness of their sins; and connected with announcing these requisites, is an official declaration that the sins of those who do not possess them are retained or unforgiven.

Imparting the sacerdotal benediction, is another duty of a priest to be similarly viewed. It is an act in the name of God, and if properly received, we should not doubt, is ratified by him, and thus made the mean and instrument of imparting his blessing.

Another particular in preaching the Gospel, are the priest's own expositions of holy writ, in the form of sermons, lectures, or other addresses to the people.

This requires great care and attention that it be truly the preaching of the Goapel. Its matter should be drawn entirely from the sacred pages, and should be a sincere and full exhibition of their contents; and its manner, such as is demanded by their high character, infinite importance, and awful sanctions. What will please, what will be popular, what will promote his own reputation or temporal interests, what will shield him from cen sure, what will sit as easily and lightly as may be upon his people, are questions which should not enter the mind of the faithful pastor. What is his duty, what is their's to whom he is sent, what does the word of God require, what is demanded by the particular circumstances of his flock, their prevailing errors, and their besetting sins, for what will he be responsible, when called to render an ac count of his stewardship, are the ques tions which he should anxiously ask him. self, and pray and strive that he may so answer them in his ministry, as not to be dismayed when they are asked at the bar

of God.

The various particulars comprised under the head of parochial duty, also de. volve on the parish priest.

By these he is to form that acquaintance with his flock, which will enable him to be their enlightened counsellor, and so

rightly to divide among them the word of truth, as that each may have, in due season, his appropriate portion.

In this way, too, they are to have extended to them the instructions, consolations, and ordinances of religion, who are prevented, by sickness or infirmity, from seeking them in the temple; or who, under circumstances of affliction, need the special kindness and care of their spiritual guide.

It ought not to be unnoticed, that the connexion of the priest with the Church at large, imposes upon him corresponding obligations. As a member of her councils, and in other relations to her in which he may be placed, his attention will be claimed, and should be conscientiously devoted, to the various duties thence arising, promotive of her order, unity, purity, and prosperity.

A very essential and comprehensive class of the duties of a priest, is composed of the various means he must employ to fit himself, through the divine blessing, for discharging his holy functions.

He must give peculiar attention to cultivating, in all the appointed ways, the true spirit and power of religion in his own heart, and manifesting them by the purity and holiness of his life. He must cherish the virtues of meekness, patience, long suffering, gentleness, and love, which should characterize the intercourse of a pastor with his flock, and under the influence of which, bearing long with their waywardness and slowness of understand. ing, he may hope that patience and perse verance will be blessed with the success long sought by industry and earnestness. He must have that zeal, disinterestedness, and prudence, which are essential to an effectual exercise of the ministry among the hard hearts, perverse tempers, and endlessly varying dispositions, with which he will have to contend. He must strive to be every thing, and do every thing, sanctioned by undeviating adherence to the doctrines and order of the Gospel, and consistent with the maintenance of a good conscience, which holds out any prospect of winning souls to Christ.

Besides cultivating the principles which are to regulate his heart, and govern his conduct, the faithful priest must be assiduous in the studies which tend to increase the knowledge whereby he is to make others wise unto salvation. "The priest's lips," say the lively oracles, "should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth.'

Every thing, therefore, which tends to throw light on the true understanding of the Scriptures, (and there is hardly a branch of science not here included,) is an interesting and important subject of

* Malachi ii. 7.

inquiry to him who would lead men into the truth, combat the specious objections of errour, and expose the sophistries of infidelity and heresy.

With this view of the duty of those who come to be admitted priests, it is surely not too much to say, that while there is a sinner to be converted, an errour in faith or practice to be reformed, a soul to be saved, or a God to be worshipped on earth, their work is not, and cannot be, com. pleted. Let them, then, keep back from all pretence to this holy office, who are not prepared to give to it their whole. soul, and their whole life. Let them stop before they take those vows which must be faithfully performed, or their souls be perjured,

How necessary this order of the priest. hood is in the Church of Christ, cannot but be evident, when we consider that it is intrusted with the administration of that sacrament which admits men into a covenant, wherein alone are pledged the spiritual and eternal blessings of the Messiah's mediation; that it is empowered to administer that other sacrament, wherein Christians receive, in lively commemora tive symbols, the sacred body and blood, the reception of which has promise of grace and everlasting life; and that in the services of the sanctuary, and in imparting, generally, the instructions, consolations, and means of grace, afforded by the Gospel, it is intimately connected with the advancement of Christians in ho liness here, and to eternal happiness here. after.

We may, therefore, proceed to consider, lastly, how the people ought to esteem the priests in their office.

It is hoped, my brethren, that the preceding considerations have not been altogether without effect in exciting proper ideas on this subject. The priesthood of the Church presents its claims to your reverent esteem on the ground of its divine commission. We ask not that this shall be a screen from just reproach and ignominy for failure in moral and religious duty. But we do ask that it may secure respect for our office, due regard for the several parts of our holy function, liberal construction of our views and motives, and kindness towards our unavoidable failings and imperfections.

We ask that the people of our charge, in their several domestick, social, and civil relations, and with a conscientious regard to the preservation of ecclesiastical order, strengthen our hands in the efforts we make to promote the interests of the religion and Church of him under whose banners we are enlisted.

We ask full credit, where unfaithfulness does not manifestly appear, for conscientiousness in doing our duty to the best of our judgment and ability.