Heb. ix. 18, &c.) and that he is said to have been united with Aaron, in blessing the people.

(Levit. ix. 23.)

But, surely, these cases are hardly in point. He was raised up and designated to a special office, and was an extraordinary mediator, for a short period, between God and his people Israel. His mediatorial office was executed only while an important change was taking place in the discovery of the Divine plan, during the interval when the patriarchal dispensation was giving way to the Levitical. His priestly functions ceased as soon as his elder brother Aaron was consecrated, and invested with the priesthood. And it may even be doubted whether Moses was any further engaged in the solemn benediction of the people, recorded Levit. ix. 23, than in sanctioning with his presence, as the Divinely appointed Legislator and Prophet, the solemn duty which Aaron was for the first time to fulfil, and which from henceforth became the prerogative, exclusively, of himself and of his succession in the pontificate. For it is said at ver. 23, that "Aaron," solely as it seems, "lifted up his hands and blessed the people," though Moses is mentioned in the following verse as concurring in the act. But, however this were, the single and peculiar instance of Moses does not appear to be decisive against the hypothesis I have adopted.

Allow me, before I conclude, to inquire whether

any further light is shed on this subject by the New Testament Scriptures. Our Lord is therein called "the first born of every creature," or, as the words may signify, " the heir or Lord of the whole creation;" (Col. i. 15.) "the first born among many brethren," (ver. 8.) His brethren the church of Israel, being called "the church of the first born which are written in heaven," (Heb. xii. 23.) as distinguished from the Gentile converts who are denominated in the next clause "the spirits of just men made perfect." Here then we have the primogeniture from which all spiritual privileges are derived, and by which believers become "kings and priests unto God," -the foundation of all religious worship, whether on earth or in heaven. Christ is the first born, preheminently such: but the other branches of the family, and some in a more particular manner as the "royal priesthood," become entitled, through him, and by virtue of brotherhood with him, "to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God" by virtue of his mediation. It is His incense that perfumes the offerings of his saints, and procures for them a favourable reception in the sight of God. It is the sweet odour of his priestly garment that obtains the blessing for us.

From the view which we have taken of the patriarchal priesthood, it appears, that, neither under the first nor second dispensation, has any instance occurred of a self-constituted or elective

ministration in the service of God. Under both economies the ministry was the result either of a special Divine appointment, as in the cases of Adam and Aaron, the first in their several successions; or of a prescribed succession, as in the first born priests of the patriarchal line, or in the sons and successors of Aaron. In the primitive Christian church, the ministry bore a resemblance of the priesthood in the two former dispensations.* Our Lord as the first born

* This is evident from the language used by St. Clemens Roma nus, in his Epistle to the Corinthians, an epistle which was at one time read in the church as a part of the Canonical Scriptures. Clemens then, the friend and companion of the Apostles, writes thus : "In obedience to his commands, (those of our Lord Christ) every thing ought to be done in due order; our oblations ought to be made, and our religious offices performed, at stated and regular seasons, as well as at the places and by the persons, whom He, by his authority, hath appointed; that, being thus done according to his will, they may be acceptable to Him. Moreover to the high priest, by the Levitical law, are assigned his peculiar functions, and the priests and Levites each fill their proper stations; but the layman is to confine himself to such things as are commended to laymen."

The doctrine of the Church of England on the right of ministering in the congregation," or, of performing ecclesiastical functions, is clearly set forth in her 23rd article :-"It is not lawful for any man to take upon him the office of public preaching, or ministering the sacraments in the congregation, before he be lawfully called and sent to execute the same: And those we ought to judge lawfully called and sent, which be chosen and called to this work by men who have public authority given unto them in the congregation to call and send ministers into the Lord's vineyard.”—If it should be a question who have "public authority given unto them in the congregation to call

High Priest ordained his apostles and the seventy disciples; and these, after his ascension, ordained others, from whom a succession has been derived to our own day. And we learn from the earliest fathers of the Christian church, whose remains are the highest authority on subjects whereon inspiration is silent, that the threefold order of Bishops, priests, and deacons, was borrowed from and built upon the model of the Jewish hierarchy in its high priests, priests and Levites. So far as the nature of a typical and antitypical institution would admit, there is an identity of character in all the dispensations of Divine mercy to man. The idea of shadow and substance,* of outline and the fully coloured drawing, is maintained through the whole process of God's dealings with his fallen creatures. This identity of character, reaching already through a period of nearly 6,000 years' continuance, and existing under all the varied circumstances of human

and send ministers into the Lord's vineyard;" the answer of our church, contained in her ordination services, is equally explicit, that Bishops, and Bishops only, have such authority. And such is the view taken of their successional authority, that, in her 26th article, she considers " unworthy ministers," men perhaps of an immoral character, and who may have been ordained by unworthy Bishops, as ministering "by CHRIST'S commission and authority;" and on this Divine "commission and authority" she builds the efficacy of the word and sacraments to those who "by faith and rightly" (as to the temper of their own minds) "do receive them."

* Heb. x. 1.

society, affords one of the strongest external evidences I know, in support of the truth of the Scriptures and the revelation of mercy which they contain. Break either of the chains which form the bridge that connects earth with heaven, and you so far weaken the foundation of faith and hope. It appears to me that the essential identity of the threefold dispensation of what has been, in substance, Christian from the beginning, has not been sufficiently considered, and that the continuity of the original revelation with all succeeding revelations has not been duly maintained in all its complex bearings. And if my correspondence with you should shed any additional light on the subject, it will afford very sincere pleasure to,