The state of being ordained or appointed; established order or tendency consequent on a decree. Virtue and vice have a natural ordination to the happiness and misery of life respectively.

The act of conferring holy orders or sacerdotal power; called also consecration.

In the presbyterian and congregational churches, the act of settling or establishing a licensed cleryman over a church and congregation with pastoral charge and authority; also, the act of conferring on a clergyman the powers of a settled minister of the gospel, without the charge or oversight of a particular church, but with the general powers of an evangelist, who is authorized to form churches and administer the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s supper, wherever he may be called to officiate.