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ORDINATION AND INSTALLATION.

ORDINATION OF MINISTERS.

After the Sermon, the presiding Minister, having taken his place at the altar, shall begin thus:

Let us pray:

MEET us, O Lord, in all our doings, with Thy most gracious favor, and further us with Thy continual help; that in all our works begun, continued, and ended in Thee, we may glorify Thy holy name, and finally by Thy mercy attain unto everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Here the Candidate for Ordination, his name being distinctly announced, shall be requested to present himself before the altar; whereupon the Minister shall address the Congregation, as follows:

DEARLY BELOVED IN THE LORD: Almighty God, whom it hath pleased by His Spirit and word to gather and preserve to Himself continually, out of the whole human race, a Church chosen to everlasting life, hath given to all the members of the same, both ministers and people, a common interest in its welfare. For this reason, it hath ever been the practice, that in the ordination of those who have been called

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to the office of the holy Ministry, the people also should have an opportunity to express their voice. Now, therefore, in order that we may be assisted in the case before us by your knowledge and past observation of him who is here present for admission to this office, we call upon you, to the end that if you know any just cause or impediment, because of which he ought not to be ordained to the Christian Ministry, you do come forward in God's name, and make it known.

If no objection be offered, after a sufficient pause, he shall address the Candidate, and say:

DEARLY BELOVED BROTHER: It is now our part, solemnly and for the last time, before proceeding to lay upon you irrevocably the burden and responsibility of the holy Ministry, to remind you how great is the dignity of the office, and how weighty and momentous also are the duties which it involves.

The office is of divine origin, and of truly supernatural character and force; flowing directly from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, as the fruit of His resur rection and triumphant ascension into heaven, and being designed by Him to carry forward the purposes of His grace upon the earth, in the salvation of men by the Church, to the end of time.

All power, we hear Him saying after He had risen from the dead, is given unto Me in heaven and in earth; Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have comınanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world

men.

To this answers in full what is written also by St. Paul: Wherefore He saith, When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things. And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the mi nistry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

Consider well, dear brother in Christ, how much all this means, as declaring and setting forth the true nature and significance of the holy office. The first Ministers were the Apostles, who were called and commissioned immediately by Jesus Christ Himself. They in turn ordained and set apart other suitable men, as pastors and teachers over the churches which they had gathered and established in different places; and these again, in the same way appointed and sent forth others to carry onward and forward still the true succession of this office; which, being regularly transmitted in this way from age to age in the Christian Church, has come down finally to our time. The solemnity of ordination, through which this transmission flows, is not merely an impressive ceremony, by which the right of such as are called of God to the Ministry is owned and confessed by the Church; but it is to be considered rather as their actual inves

titure with the very power of the office itself, the sacramental seal of their heavenly commission, and a symbolical assurance from on high, that their consecration to the service of Christ is accepted, and that the Holy Ghost will most certainly be with them in the faithful discharge of their official duties.

These duties are of the same order with the high origin of the office, and its glorious design. The Ministers of Christ are set in the world to be at once the representatives of His authority, and the ambassadors of His grace. As My Father hath sent Me, He says, even so send I you. He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me. Let a man so account of us, says St. Paul, as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Again: We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. To them it belongs to baptize, to preach the word, to administer the holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. They are appointed to wait upon and serve the Church, which is the spouse of Jesus Christ, His body mystical; to offer before Him the prayers and supplications of His people; to feed, to instruct, to watch over and guide the sheep and lambs of His flock, whom He hath purchased with His own blood. They are charged also with the government of the Church, and with the proper use of its discipline, in the way both of censure and absolution, according to that awfully mysterious and solemn word: I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound

in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven.

Such being the character of the office to which you are now called, beloved brother in the Lord, and such the high and arduous nature of its duties, it is easy to see with what seriousness and godly fear, with what solemn forethought, with what holy caution, you should approach unto it, as you are now doing, in the present transaction; and with how great care and study also you ought to apply yourself, that you may appear hereafter to have been worthy of being put into the Christian Ministry, by being found faithful to its mighty trust. Know, at the same time, that for this you are by no means sufficient of yourself. All proper sufficiency here is from God alone; to whom therefore you should pray earnestly, through the mediation of our only Saviour Jesus Christ, for the heavenly assistance of the Holy Ghost; that giving yourself wholly to this office, with daily meditation, and study of the Scriptures, you may be able to make full proof of your ministry, being nourished up in the words of faith and good doctrine, and showing yourself a pattern to others in piety and godly living. In doing this, thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

And now, that this congregation of Christ may also understand your views and will in these things, and that you may yourself also the more feel the binding force of what you thus publicly profess and promise, we call upon you to make answer plainly to

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