7. The Ordination of Elders. — When Paul and Bar- nabas went forth upon their mission, it is recorded of them that " they ordained them (i. e. for the disciples) elders in every Church" (Acts xiv, 23). As to the ceremonies employed in these ordinations, only prayer, fasting, and commending the persons ordained to the Lord, on whom they believed, are mentioned. But in the narrative the word \tipoTovijaavTiQ {ordained) is for the first time introduced. It is again used in 2 Cor. viii, 19, where Paul speaks of Titus as " the brother whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the church- es." "And not that only,but who was also chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord." Being chosen of the churches signifies elected or appoint- ed, and implies ordination by the laying on of hands, as well as being elected by the holding up of hands. The employment of tlie word quoted, and the subsequent use of it by Christian writers as signifying all that be- longed to ministerial ordination (see subscriptions to the 2d Epistle to Timothy and the l'>[iistle to Titus), implies that the ordination of ciders throughout the churches involved the co-operative action of those churches. In so important a matter the apostles ob- viously did not act arbitrarily or alone; but when, for the confirming of the souls of the disciples, they judged it important to ordain ciders in every Church, they doubtless called on the several cliurclies to determine by prayer, attended with fasting, whom among their number the Holy Ghost would make their spiritual
overseers. Upon those designated they doubtless, in connection with other elders, laitl their hands, with cor- responding praj'er, and thus ordained them to the special service of the Lord. A comparison of several passages in Paul's epistles will show that this view of the apostolic custom of ordination is by no means con- jectural. In 1 Tim. iv, 14, he savs, "Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery." The word prophecy in this verse may be understood in the sense of the divine gift or designation. Again, in 2 Tim. i, 6, referring to the same subject, he says, " Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands." Comparing the two verses quoted, it becomes evident that ordination, even by an apostle, was not an individual act, but one participated in by the elders of the Church, who, in connection with the apostle, laid their hands upon the head of the subject. Hence, when the apostle in his charge to Timothy says (1 Tim. V, 22), " Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins," we may understand that he warns his son in the Gospel alike against hasty and individual action, in which he might be deceived. Again he says (Titus i, 4, 5), " To Titus, mine own son after the common faith : Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shoiddest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee." He then proceeds, as he had already done in his letters to Timothj', to state in detail the essential qualifications of ministers, those which he had himself required, and those which he demanded that his successors should require; and by reference to his own example in both cases (see Acts xvi, 2; 2 Cor. viii, 19) he clearly inti- mates their duty of enlisting the prayers and the godly judgment of the churches in the selection and ordina- tion of ministers of the Word and administrators of the ordinances of God.
Such was apostolic ordination, so far as we can know from the inspired writers, and since they have written nothing on the subject further for our learning, we may safely infer that nothing more is essential. A few points involved in the above scriptural examples may be summarily noted :
(1.) Christ ordained in the sense of appointing his disciples to ministerial service by his own authority, and without employing any exterior ceremony.
(2.) In the election of Matthias to the place in the apostolate from which Judas fell, it was deemed suffi- cient to ascertain by prayer and the lot whom the Lord had chosen ; and in like manner, without any exterior ceremony, "he was numbered with the eleven apos- tles."
(3.) The laying on of hands as a ceremony of min- isterial ordination was first practiced by the apostles in the case of the seven deacons, in immediate sequence of the miracle of the Pentecost.
(4.) It was subsequently practiced in the ordination of Paul and Barnabas, and the elders of the New-Testa- ment Church.
(5.) No account is given of any one having been or- dained to the office of bishop in distinction from that of elder, still less is there any intimation that bish- ops were or were to become the only officers in the Church competent to ordain ministerial candidates; whereas elders were frequently, if not always, associ- ated even with apostles in the act of ordination.