But you request the Archbishop of Canterbury, “that it may be allowed by his Grace’s authority or sanctioned by his opinion, that in this form, all that relates to the gift of the Spirit” (the _ministration_ of it rather, since the Bishop is not the fountain of the power—not the _giver_), “may be considered precatory.” {59a}—_Precatory_!—“the great mysteries of our religion are _all_ by way of solemn prayer.” “The form of words,” says _Jeremy Taylor_, “doth not alter the case, for _Ego benedico_, and _Deus benedicat_ is the same, and was _no more_, when God commanded the Priest in express terms to _bless the people_.” {59b} But what is there in the words, “receive ye the Holy Ghost,” to prevent your taking them in the sense which would seem “to suit your own views?” You take, I doubt not the form, in which the bread and wine in the sacrament are administered in a precatory sense.—“The body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee, preserve thy body,” &c.—but in the absence of any auxiliary verb, you must imply the precatory sense—you might mentally substitute _shall_ or _will_, for _may_, for anything that there is in the form itself to prevent you. But you object also to the words as being an innovation, and contend that the use of them was unknown in the purer ages of Christianity. This, however, you must permit me to say, you have signally failed in your attempt to prove. The authorities you adduce, are those of _Morinus_ and _Bishop Burnet_. On these authorities “you hope to make it appear beyond all doubt that no such form of ordination was ever thought of, nor any resembling it for eleven centuries after the publication of Christianity.” {59c} “Prayer and the Imposition of Hands, were the only rites we find practised by the Apostles,” says the Bishop. But they were two distinct rites: “when they _had_ prayed, they laid their hands on them.” {60a} But they have left us no form of prayer used by them upon the occasion—how then do we know what form they used? And are we to suppose that the _Imposition of Hands_ was given in silence, unaccompanied by any words to indicate its signification to the person ordained, or to the faithful who were present? But nothing is left on record. How then can you undertake to say that they used not, as they most probably would, the very form of the primitive commission? Christ was designated for his ministry by the visible descent of the Holy Ghost, and by an efflux of the Spirit: He, having received the gift without measure, in like manner designated his Apostles for theirs—“_As_ my Father hath sent me, even _so_ send I you”—Receive ye the Holy Ghost. And there can be no doubt, that the Apostles in ordaining others, would declare both by word and deed: “_As_ Christ hath sent us, _so_ send we you.” “Stir up the gift of God that is in you by the putting on of my hands.” {60b}