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And again,' If any man among you,' saith he,' think himself a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge what I say to be the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ.' Granting, therefore, that Episcopacy was only instituted by the Apostles, yet that itself amounts to a divine institution; nor can we place this primitive government upon a lower foundation, without striking at the root of all that infallible authority which the Saviour committed to the Apostles, when he gave them 'the keys of the kingdom of heaven.'

I conclude in the unanswerable argument of Hooker, (Ecc. Pol. B. 7. § 5. London Ed. of 1825. Vol. 2. p. 275.)

'What need we,' saith this distinguished author, 'to seek far for proofs that the Apostles, who began this order of regiment of bishops, did it not but by divine instinct, when, without such direction, things of far less weight and moment they attempted not? Paul and Barnabas did not open their mouth to the Gentiles, till the Spirit had said, 'Separate me Paul and Barnabas for the work whereto I have called them.' The Eunuch by Philip was neither baptised nor instructed, before the Angel of God was sent to give him notice that so it pleased the Most High. In Asia, Paul and the rest were silent, because the Spirit forbade them to speak. When they intended to have seen Bithynia, they stayed their journey, the Spirit not giving them leave to go. Before Timothy was employed in those Episcopal affairs of the Church, about which the Apostle St. Paul used him, the Holy Ghost gave special charge for his ordination and prophetical intelligence; more than once, what success the same would have. And shall we think that James was made bishop of Jerusalem, Evodius, bishop of the Church of Antioch, the Angels in the Churches of Asia, bishops, that bishops every where were appointed

to take away factions, contentions, and schisms, without some divine instigation and direction of the Holy Ghost? Wherefore, let us not fear to be herein bold and peremptory, that if any thing in the Church's government, surely the first institution of bishops was from heaven, was even from God; the Holy Ghost was the author of it.'

CHAPTER II.

Is Episcopacy essential to the being of a Church? SINCE We maintain that the institution of Episcopal government is of divine authority it might seem to follow that it is essential to the being of a Church-that there can be no Church without Episcopacy. But this does not appear to be a necessary consequence. A Church may be a true Church, and yet be imperfect or unsound, just as a man may be a real man, whose constitution is impaired, or whose body is mutilated. There have, indeed, been some strange applications of this analogy, which, considering the bishop as the head of the Church, likened the case of a Church without a bishop, to a man without a head. But this is truly a very wild comparison. A bishop may be called, in a certain sense, the head of a Church within a particular diocese; although even this phraseology is better avoided, because it is exceedingly liable to misrepresentation. But in no possible sense can a bishop be called the head of the Church at large, nor, in the highest sense, the head of any part of it. 6 CHRIST IS THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH THE BISHOP AND SHEPHERD of our souls.' All other bishops are members of his body, governing and leading the rest, indeed, but always in subordination and obedience to him, who is the 'ONE LAW-GIVER—able to save and to destroy.'

Hence, we deny, in opposition to our Roman Catholic brethren, that there should be any such thing as a univer

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sal bishop-a bishop of bishops-a vicar of Christ on earth. This is a distinguished and well known tenet of Popery, which all Protestants Episcopalians reject. The great Redeemer has, indeed, re-ascended to the throne of his glory, but he has not left his Church, nor placed it under the rule of vicar-general. The Apostles had no Prince but Christ amongst them, neither had the Church of the Apostles' planting. Consequently, the bishops of the Church are many, equal in official rank and authority. The Head of the Church can be but One.

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Hence, also, arises the necessity of general councils, whenever any circumstance occurs in which the consent of the whole body is required. And when the bishops have assembled in those councils, their whole object has been to discover the will of the Head, even Christ; and their decrees have always been promulgated upon the acknowleged principle, that they were according to the mind of the Lord, being the interpretation of his own word, under the influence of his own Spirit.

If, therefore, the bishop of a diocese should die, the Church of that diocese is not to be compared to a man without a head, during the interregnum which must take place before the consecration of a successor. And if that diocese should have to wait for many years before the defect is supplied, it is not deprived of its place in the body of Christ. And if, owing to any circumstance of necessity, it should never have the benefits of that Apostolic office again, but should find itself obliged, like a mutilated man, to make shift with its other members, still it has not lost its head, nor has it ceased to be a part of the body of Christ,

THE CHURCH CATHOLIC, OR UNIVERSAL.

In order to set this important matter in as clear a light as I can, within the prescribed limits of this brief treatise,

I shall close this chapter with the definition of the Church set forth by that celebrated man, who maintained with so much force, the divine institution of Episcopacy. I shall then discuss, succinctly, the difficulties supposed to encumber the question.

'Church,' saith Hooker, (Eccles. Polity, Book 5. § 68 p. 17 of 2d vol. London Ed. of A. D. 1825.) is a word which art hath devised, thereby to sever and distinguish that Society of men which professeth the true religion, from the rest which profess it not. There have been in the world, from the very first foundation, thereof, but three religions Paganism, which lived in the blindness of corrupt and depraved nature; Judaism, embracing the law which reformed heathenish impieties, and taught salvation to be looked for through One whom God in the last days would send and exalt to be Lord of all; finally, Christian belief, which yieldeth obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and acknowledgeth him the Saviour whom God did promise. Seeing then that the Church is a name, which art hath given to professors of true religion; as they that will define a man, are to pass by those qualities wherein one man doth excel another, and to take only those essential properties, whereby man doth differ from creatures of other kinds, so he that will teach what the Church is, shall never rightly perform the work whereabout he goeth, till in matter of religion he touch that difference which severeth. the Church's religion from theirs who are not the Church. Religion being therefore a matter partly of contemplation, partly of action; we must define the Church, which is a religious Society, by such differences as do perfectly explain the essence of such things; that is to say, by the object or matter whereabout the contemplation and actions of the Church are properly conversant, For so all know

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