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Hence the Clergy, generally speaking, are not the men from whom a refutation of this doctrine of Apostolical Succession is to be expected. Yet it evidently increases Popery in the Church and the nation. Its exposure may be a general benefit to Protestantism.

It will not be amiss here to obviate a difficulty that may arise in some minds. Perhaps some persons, especially the members of the Establishment, may think that the writer is attacking the Church. If by "the Church" they will understand the principles of the Reformers, Archbishop Cranmer, Bishop Jewell, &c. on the questions here discussed; then he most unhesitatingly declares that, with some trifling exceptions, he heartily embraces them, and means to defend them; but if, by "the Church," they mean the principles of such men as Archbishop Laud, and his disciples, the Oxford Tract-men, Dr. Hook, &c. then he does controvert them; because he believes them to be unscriptural, anti-Protestant, exclusive, intolerant and Popish. The author writes not to attack but to defend. These men make the attack. The consequence of their principles is to charge all other ministers as thieves and robbers; they try to trouble and frighten their flocks; they expect their gain by gathering those they never sought out of the wilderness:—what sort of shepherds, then, should we be to look with indifference upon such proceedings?

In prosecuting the subject, we shall first produce the statements of this doctrine of Apostolical Succession from the Advocates of the system. We shall then endeavour to give the true state of the question, and refute the arguments advanced in favour of that system. In the next place, the arguments against these Claims will be brought forward, shewing the whole to be contrary to the principles of the Reformation, and leading to persecution and Popery.

SECTION I.

STATEMENTS OF THIS DOCTRINE OF APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION BY ITS ADVOCATES.

We shall first produce the statements of this doctrine of Apostolical Succession from the Advocates of the system.

We will place these statements under three heads :—

(1.) What their doctrine of Apostolical succession is; (2.) that ordination by succession Bishops, however wicked they may be, is valid and divine; (3.) that ordinations by them ONLY are valid and scriptural; and that all other ordinations are null and void.

1st. Then hear what their doctrine of Apostolical Succession is. Bishop Jeremy Taylor's "Episcopacy Asserted," was published by Royal command, He closes his argument for the Divine right of this doctrine of Apostolical Succession as follows;—" The Summe of all is this, that Christ did institute Apostles and Presbyters, or 72 Disciples. To the Apostles he gave a plenitude of power, for the whole commission was given to them in as great and comprehensive clauses as were imaginable, for by vertue of it, they received a power of giving the Holy Ghost in CONFIRMATION, and of giving his grace in the collation of HOLY ORDERS, a power of JURISDICTION, and authority to GOVERNE the Church; and this power was not temporary, but successive and perpetuall, and was intended as an ORDINARY office in the Church, so that the successors of the Apostles had the SAME RIGHT and institution that the Apostles themselves had, and though the personall mission was not immediate, as of the Apostles it was, yet the commission and institution of the function was all one. But to the 72 Christ gave no commission but to preaching, which was a very limited commission. There was all the immediate Divine institution of Presbyterate as a distinct order, that can be fairely pretended. But yet farther, these 72 the Apostles did admit in partem solicitudinis, and by new ordination or delegation Apostolicall, did give them power of administering Sacraments, of absolving sinners, of governing the church in conjunction and subordination to the Apostles, of which they had a capacity by Christ's calling them at first in sortem Ministerii, but the exercise, and the actuating of this capacity they had from the Apostles. So that not by Divine ordination, or immediate commission from Christ, but by derivation from the Apostles (and therefore in minority and subordination to them) the Presbyters did exercise acts of order and jurisdiction in the absence of the Apostles or Bishops, or in conjunction consiliatary, and by way of advice, or before the consecration of a Bishop to a particular Church. And all this I doubt not, but was done by

the direction of the Holy Ghost, as were all other acts of Apostolicall ministration, and particularly the institution of the other order, viz. of Deacons. This is all that can be proved out of Scripture concerning the commission given in the institution of Presbyters, and this I shall afterwards confirme by the practice of the Catholick Church, and so vindicate the practices of the present Church, from the common prejudices that disturbe us, for by this account, Episcopacy is not only a Divine institution, but THE ONLY ORDER that derives immediately from Christ."-P.46-48, edit. Ox. 1642, small 4to. Dr. Hickes, another distinguished scholar and Divine of the Church of England, thus speaks, "Bishops are appointed to succeed the Apostles, and like them to stand in Christ's Place, and exercise his Kingly, Priestly, and Prophetical Office over their flocks, can you, when you consider this, think it novel, or improper, or uncouth, to call them Spiritual Princes, and their Dioceses, Principalities? When they have every thing in their office that can denominate a Prince? For what is a Prince, but a chief Ruler of a society, that hath Authority over the rest to make Laws for it, to challenge the Obedience of all the Members, and all Ranks of Men in it, and Power to COERCE them, if they will not obey ?" "They stand in God's and Christ's stead over their flocks, the clergy as well as the people are to be subject to them, as to the VICEGERENTS of our Lord."—194-5 “And the Successors of the Apostles, the Bishops, like Spiritual Princes, exercise the same COERCIVE Authority that they did in inflicting Spiritual Censures upon their disobedient Subjects. It would require a Volume to shew you the various Punishments, with which they corrected their disobedience. They degraded Clergymen from their Order, and as for the People, they put down those who were in the uppermost Class of Communion into the Station of Penitents, and other inferior Places; others they forbid to come farther than the Church Doors, and those whom they did not so degrade, they often suspended from the Sacrament. The CONTUMACIOUS both of the CLERGY and Laity THEY PUNISHED with EXCOMMUNICATION; from which, after very long and very severe Penances, they absolved some; and others, who were enormous, and very frequent Lapsers, they would not reconcile to the Peace of the Church, but in the Danger, and Prospect of Death. I need not tell you how much the ancient Christians stood in awe of the APOSTOLIC ROD in the Hands of their Bishops, especially of Excommunication, which they looked upon as the Spiritual Ax and Sword to the Soul, and thought more terrible than Death." Hickes on the Episcopal Order, pages 191, 197 and 198, 8vo. London, 1707.

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And Dr. Hook, the present Vicar of Leeds :- -"Some persons seem to think that the government of the Church was essentially different in the days of the Apostles from what it is now, because they do not find the names and titles of the ecclesiastical officers precisely the same. For instance, as have just said, he whom we now call a Presbyter, or Priest, was frequently

styled in the New Testament a Bishop. But it is not for names that we contend. We ask what was the fact, and the fact was this: that the officer whom we now call a Bishop was at first called an APOSTLE, although afterwards it was thought better to confine the title of Apostle to those who had seen the Lord Jesus, while their SUCCESSORS, exercising the SAME RIGHTS and AUTHORITY, though unendowed with miraculous powers, contented themselves with the designation of Bishops. After this the title was never given to the SECOND ORDER of the ministry."-Two Sermons on the Church and the Establishment, page 5, 6. "The prelates, who at this present time rule the Churches of these Realms, were validly ordained by others, who, by means of an unbroken spiritual descent of ordination, derived their mission from the Apostles and from our Lord. This continual descent is evident to every one who chooses to investigate it. Let him read the catalogues of our Bishops ascending up to the most remote period. Our ordinations descend in a direct, unbroken line from Peter and Paul, the Apostles of the Circumcision and the Gentiles. These great Apostles successively ordained Linus, Cletus, and Clement, Bishops of Rome; and the Apostolic succession was regularly continued from them to Celestine, Gregory, and Vitalianus, who ordained Patrick Bishop for the Irish, and Augustine and Theodore for the English. And from those times, an UNINTERRUPTED series of valid ordinations has carried down the APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION in our churches to the present day. There is not a Bishop, Priest, or Deacon, among us, who cannot, if he please, trace his own SPIRITUAL DESCENT from St. Peter or St. Paul." Ibid. page 7, 8.

In the next place, let us hear what is said about ORDINATION by Succession Bishops, even when wicked and heretical.

Archdeacon Mason's "Defence of the Church of England Ministry," was begun and completed by the patronage, and under the counsel, of Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury; and was dedicated to King James I. Its authority is high amongst the Church of England Divines. He writes in the form of a Dialogue, between a Romish Priest, Philodoxus, and a Church of England Divine, called Orthodoxus. I use the second edition in Latin, fol. London, 1638. The title of Chapter eleventh, Book 2, is this, "Does Schism or HERESY take away the power of consecration?" He goes on to bring Philodoxus to confess that neither heresy, (p. 175,) nor degradation from the office of a Bishop, (p. 176,) nor schism, (p. 180,) nor the MOST EXTREME WICKEDNESS, (quamvis enim viri essent omnium sceleratissimi, p. 178,) nor ANY THING ELSE, can deprive a person once made a Bishop of the power of giving TRUE ORDErs.”

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"Orthodoxus. Quod candidè largiris, cupidè arripimus." The Church of England Divine says, "what you," the PAPISTS, "candidly grant, we JOYFULLY EMBRACE!!" Every pious reader must be grieved to the heart to see the Defenders of an important section of the Protestant Church joyfully

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