men.

mere intellectual relish for the sublime truths of redemption, or by any other carnal motive, ventures to invade the sacred precincts of the pulpit, to stand between the living and the dead, and to assume the awful responsibility involved in preaching the glorious Gospel of the blessed God to the deathless souls of But they who have felt that God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in their hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, may well be content to bear all discouragement, and endure all trials, in accomplishing their high vocation, and, with the Apostle, exclaim: "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed. We having the same spirit of faith according as it is written, I believed and therefore, have I spoken; we also believe and therefore speak."

We see, too, in the light of this subject, what it is that the preachers of the Gospel are commissioned to proclaim. It is not the facts of nature, the speculations of philosophy, or the theories of science, physical or political, it is the glorious Gospel of the blessed God that is committed to their trust. I do not mean to convey the impression that science and philosophy constitute a tree of knowledge the fruit of which is forbidden to those who preach the Gospel of Christ. But these are not the Gospel. A dying Saviour, a risen Saviour, an exalted and immortal Saviour,-repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, these are the themes which are to be pressed upon the attention of sinful men, in view of their solemn relations to God and to the eternal world. And oh, my Brethren, what responsibilities thicken upon those who preach this Gospel! Standing between God and the sinner, between the Cross of Calvary and the Judgment bar, between the glories of heaven and the glooms of hell, dealing on the one side with the perfections of God, and on the other with the immortal destinies of men, who of them is sufficient for these things? How shall they secure the glory of Him who has commissioned them to preach, and the eternal welfare of those to whom they minister? Erelong preachers and people shall stand before that bar at which all human ties and human duties will be subjected to a rigid and impartial scrutiny; and of all the solemn relations which will there be reviewed, none will appear to be so big with momentous issues, springing into light amidst the splendours and terrors of that day, as that which has existed between a preacher of the Gospel and immortal souls. The complexion of eternity must largely depend upon the manner in which the Gospel has been proclaimed and received. Were it not that he who has been called of God to preach, is constrained to exclaim,

with Paul, "necessity is laid upon me: yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel," would it be any marvel that, conscious of his weakness and short-comings, he should sometimes be tempted to shrink back in dismay from the gigantic work, and even pray that he may be released from farther incurring its all but intolerable responsibilities?

But if these responsibilities are confessedly not less than awful, the reward which, through grace, will be conferred on the faithful preacher of the Cross will be proportionately great. To be called of God to minister in the Gospel of His Son, is to be possessed of an honour which he who enjoys it may well prefer to the thrones and diadems of earth. To win one immortal spirit to Christ is to perform an office with which no worldly labour can compare, and to attain an end which richly compensates a weary life-time of toil. It will afford ineffable satisfaction to be conscious of having been the instrument of adding a single crown-jewel to the treasures of a Saviour once crucified, now despised, but destined to reign King of kings and Lord of lords. To be impelled to labour by the love of sinners is to partake of the spirit of Jesus, to undergo in this work discouragement, self-denial and pain, is to share the sufferings of Jesus, and to prosecute it unto the end through watchings, fastings, temptations, and tears, will be to participate in the joy of Jesus and reign with Him forevermore. Brethren, the day in which we are privileged to labour for our blessed Master, with some of us at least, is sensibly passing away. "The night cometh when no man can work." Happy, thrice happy will he be who, standing on the extreme verge of life, and looking back upon his mortal history, can feel that its record of sins and short-comings in the ministry is expunged in the blood of atonement, and looking forward to the future, opening upon him with the glories of a celestial morning, can exclaim with the dying Apostle,-"I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day!"

THE NATURE AND ORDER OF ORDI

NATION.

Before proceeding to the service of ordination and installation Dr. SMYTH said that in view of the very peculiar nature of the combined services now to be performed, he would endeavour to state clearly their nature and the order to be followed:

This is not merely an occasion of solemn service and Divine worship. It is the association of all that is awful and Divine with the exercise of the highest power, both of order and jurisdiction, by the Presbytery as the primary delegated court of the church.

1. In its joint character, as composed of a senate and a house of delegates, that is, of ministers and elders or representatives of the people-all that is required for ordination and installation has been jointly accomplished.

A call has been received from this church for the services of Dr. THORNWELL, as senior pastor, and of Mr. MULLALLY, as junior pastor, which, being found orderly, was put into their hands, and by them accepted.

All the necessary examinations were made and approved, and this occasion appointed for the ordination of Mr. MULLALLY, and for the installation of both Dr. THORNWELL and Mr. MULLALLY.

2. Ordination constitutes the person ordained a minister of the Gospel. Installation constitutes an ordained minister the pastor of a particular congregation. Ordination establishes the ministerial relation to the church at large-anywhere and everywhere. Installation establishes the pastoral relation between a minister and the people of a particular church. Mr. MULLALLY is now, therefore, to be first ordained a minister, and then both he and Dr. THORNWELL are to be installed as the joint pastors of this church.

3. Ordination may be exalted too high, and also sunk too low.

Ordination is not the communication of Apostolic prerogatives, nor of miraculous power, nor of inherent grace, qualifications, or vicarious authority. Not merely Apostles but Evangelists, (1 Tim. 3:1, 12, 15, and 45:1-3,) Prophets, (Acts 43:1-3) teaches, (ibid), and presbyters, (1 Tim. 4:14), could and did ordain; and as these were all of the order of presbyters the claim of men who call themselves, to the exclusion of pres

byters, the successors of the Apostles, is baseless, both as it regards fact and reason.

Neither did ordination by the Apostles convey ordinarily or necessarily any miraculous or supernatural gift, but in every case pre-supposed the existence of gifts and graces qualifying for the office, as in the case of the Deacons, (Acts 6:3), of Barnabas and Saul, (Acts 13:1-3, with Acts 11, 24, and 9:17) and of the presbyters. And besides, many of these ordinations were conferred independently of the Apostles.

Scriptural ordination was in all cases the setting apart, to some particular office, of the persons chosen to that office, and qualified for it, and in every case by men in office.

Ordination does not create an office. It does not impart fitness for an office. It does not secure validity to improper acts or unscriptural teaching by those in office. It does not confer authority upon the office or officers, nor directly and immediately call to the office. All this prerogative pertains exclusively to the Lord Jesus Christ, who has already determined the nature, and limits, and qualifications, and duties of the office, and who, also, by His Spirit, Word, and other mediate instrumentalities, calls individuals into office.

Ordination, therefore, is the solemn ratification of this ascertained call of Christ, by His church, in her ecclesiastical jurisdiction-the laying on of hands in scripture being the mode of recognizing and publicly declaring the call and fitness of the person ordained, and for giving precision, prominence, and solemnity, to the particular occasion when investiture with office is consummated.

The importance of ordination is, therefore, apparent. No one ought to take upon himself the office of the ministry without a lawful calling. Ordination secures permanancy and succession according to the truth and order of the Gospel.

After these remarks Mr. MULLALLY was ordained in the usual form, and received the right hand of fellowship; and then Dr. THORNWELL and Mr. MULLALLY were installed, and the following charge delivered to them:

CHARGE TO THE PASTORS.

Reverend and very dear Brother, and you, my reverend, though much younger Brother, the solemn compact has now been formed and new relations established. Out of twain you have become one, and as such you have been united in bonds of holy spiritual wedlock to this chaste spouse of Christ. How wonderful is the effect of a simple service, legally performed, when two parties who may have been, until recently, strangers to one another, born in different hemispheres, and educated in different faiths, are forever after so identified in all the interests, occupations, and vicissitudes of this mortal life, as to become one flesh, one humanity in its original, complete, and undivided perfection. And how equally admirable that spiritual union now formally ratified between you who are the natives of different continents, the early disciples of such different faiths, and so lately brought to each other's intimate knowledge.

Our fathers were wont, on occasions of important marriage, to rise to the height of its great argument-as the chief visible emblem of God's greatest mystery, the wedded and inseparable union of incarnate Deity-and to impress holy counsels upon the parties permitted to represent it. And thus is it made my duty to charge upon you the solemn realization of that union now formed by you, so fraught as it is with eventful consequences to yourselves, to this church, and to the church at large. How delicate and how difficult the task! How tame and inappropriate would be any ordinary and general course of remark! And how assuredly would I have declined the unknown and inconvenient appointment but for tender love and heart veneration I bear to you, my Brother, which have rendered me willing to fail in making the attempt, to fulfil it rather than fail to make that attempt.*

How many, and yet how diverse the relations and consequent responsibilities into which you have now been brought! Let these, therefore, shape our remarks, and that they may be peculiar and pressed upon your hearts and memories, let me indicate them by the letter P. And first, your relations are personal, and involve the necessity of cultivating piety, poverty of spirit, and the bonds of peace.

Your union is based on individual and undivided personality. You are each alone before God, moving in your own orbit

*I was not at Presbytery, and my anniversary and communion had to be postponed.