2. Did these lay-preachers of yours, or did they not, both dress or officiate as clergymen of the church of England, in consequence of that ordination? And under the sanction of your own avowed approbation; notwithstanding, putting matters at the best, they could only be ministers of the Greek church, and which could give them no legal right to act as ministers of the church of England. Nay, did you not repeatedly declare, that their ordination was to all intents and purposes as valid as your own, which you received forty years ago at Oxford?

3. Did you, or did you not, strongly press this supposed Greek Bishop to consecrate you a bishop at large, that you might be invested with a power of ordaining what ministers you pleased to officiate in your societies as clergymen? And did he not refuse to consecrate, alleging this for his reason, that according to the canons of the Greek church, more than one bishop must be

Of this grace, which hath descended to our humility, I have ordained sub-deacon and deacon, at Snow-fields Chapel, on the 19th day of Nov. 1764, and at Wells-street Chapel, on the 24th of the same month, Priest; the Rev. Mr. W. C. according to the rules of the holy Apostles and of our faith. Moreover, I have given to him power to minister and teach, in all the world, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, no one forbidding him in the church of God, wherefore, for that very pur pose I have made this present letter of recommendation from our humility, and have given it to the ordained Mr. W. C. for his certificate and security.

"Given and written at London, in Britain, November 24th, 1774.

"ERASMUS, Bishop of Arcadia." I cannot help suspecting, that his humility, as he styles himself, if the truth was known, nearly related to another certain old gentleman, who no less humbly writes himself, Servant of the servants of God.-His humility of Arcadia, and his holiness of Rome, are, I doubt not, sons of one and the same ecclesiastical mother.

present to assist, at the consecration of a new one?

4. In all this, did you or did you not palpably violate a certain oath, which you have repeatedly taken? I mean the oath of supremacy: part of which runs thus ;

"And I do declare that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate, hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, preeminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm: so help me God."

Now is not the conferring of orders an act of the highest ecclesiastical power and authority? And was not this man a foreigner? And were not the steps you took, a positive acknowledgment of a foreign power and jurisdiction! And was not such acknowledgment a breach of your oath?

It matters not whether Erasmus was in fact an impostor or a genuine Greek Bishop. Unless you was very insincere, you took him to be what he passed for. If you did not, you was party to a fraud. Either way, pretend no longer to love the church of England! you who so lately endeavoured to set up imperium in imperio! If you are honest, you will either publicly confess your fault; or, for ever throw aside your gown and cassock. You will either return to the service of the church, or cease to wear her livery.-You may think, perhaps, that I make too free, in expostulating with you so plainly. And yet on maturer thought, I question whether you may or not. How can Mr. Wesley, who on all occasions makes so very free with others, be angry with young translators for copying (though at a humble distance) so venerable an example. Nor indeed ought a person who, beyond even what truth and decency permit, take so great liberties with

the rest of his contemporaries; to wonder, if so far as decency allow, the rest of his contemporaries take as great liberties with him.

You complain, I am told, that the evangelical clergy are leaving no stone unturned "to raise John Calvin's ghost, in all quarters of the land." If you think the doctrines of that eminent and blessed Reformer to be formidable as a ghost; you are welcome to do all you can toward laying them. Begin your incantations as soon as you please. The press is open: and you never had a fairer opportunity of trying your strength upon John Calvin, than at present. Only take care that you do not, with all your skill in theological magic, get yourself into a circle, out of which you may find it difficult to retreat-And a little to mitigate your wrath against the raisers of Calvin's ghost, remember, that you yourself have been a great ghost-raiser in your time. Who raised the ghosts of John Goodwin, the Arminian regicide; and of Thomas Grantham, the Arminian Baptist? who raised a ghost of Monsieur* De

As a specimen of Mr. Wesley's regard to, at least the minutiae of Popery, I shall select a few passages from his life of this Monsieur De Renty, which now lies before me. The reader will observe, that the sentences enclosed with inverted commas are Mr. Wesley's own words.

He speaks favourably of this French Papist, for his regularly saying the Itinerarium," and then singing the Litanics of our Lord," before he set out on any journey; and for taking due care to "sing the Vespers," while he was upon the road page 3. Among the instances of Monsieur's humility, are reckoned (page 9 and 10.) his not permitting "a cushion to be carried for him" when he went to mass; and his frequently saying "his prayers at the outside of the church." Also his going abroad to visit a monastery 66 on foot," and that too" in thawing weather:" nay, he would sometimes "traverse, in a manner, all Paris," even when "it poured down with rain." And yet, with all this mad humility, Mr. De Renty, it seems, kept a coach of his own. Had he been

Renty the French Papist ; and of many other Romish enthusiasts; by translating their lives into English for the edification of Protestant readers?

consistent, he would have entirely shorn himself of this su pernumerary convenience, by laying down his carriage. But then, where would have been the merit of spontaneously traversing all Paris on foot when it poured down with rain? His dutiful demeanour to the priest, which had the care of his soul, as its father-confessor, is a feature of Mr. De Renty's saintship, on which Mr. Wesley, with peculiar rapture, dwells and dilates. Page 11. "A further proof of his humility, was his carriage to his director. He did nothing that concerned himself without his conduct. To him he proposed whatever he designed either by speaking or writing, clearly and punc tually; desiring his advice, his pleasure, and his blessing upon it; and that with the utmost repect and submission. And without reply, or disputing, he simply and exactly followed his order." This was good Catholic obedience indeed! and, no doubt, Mr. Wesley had a view, in proposing such an example to the imitation of his Protestant followers. Under the article of De Renty's "self-denial and mortification," we are informed (page 14.) that "he made but one meal a day for several years," and "always of the worst provisions he could meet with." He would "often step into a baker's shop," and dine on a piece of bread and a draught of water." From the same principle of gloomy and unthankful su perstition, he would do penance, by “passing the night in a chair," or lying down "in his clothes and boots," or sleep. ing on a bench till morning." Being at Pontois," in winter," he desired "the Carmelite Nuns not to make a fire, or prepare a bed" for him. "He parted with several books," (page 16.) "because" they were "richly bound." He "used no gloves in any season; wore no clothes, but plain and close made;" and "carried no silver" in his pockets, cept for charity." After which detail of austerities, the biographer gravely adds, "I have seen him in his coach, with a page and footman." His coach, I presume, was to carry him on foot, when it rained; his page was to hold up his clothes, which were plain and close made; and the office of the footman was to reach him his gloves, whereof he wore none in any season. Who could ever have surmised, that such a doleful series of mortification and self-denial would end in the fopperies of a coach, a page, and a footman! Mr. De Renty's vanity, which mixed itself with his very austerities, reminds me of what I am told is common in the streets of

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Should you take any notice of this letter I have three requests to make; or rather, there are three particulars on which I have a right to insist:

1. Don't quote unfairly.

2. Don't answer evasively.
3. Don't print clandestinely.

Paris; where you may see many a blind beggar bawling for alms in a bag-wig, his hat under his arm, a wooden sword by his side, and paper ruffles adorning the hand that is extended to receive charity. But to return to the hero of the tale. Having had a quarrel with his mother, and the breach being made up, "he was no sooner returned home, than he caused Te Deum to be sung," page 24. “He had great respect to holy persons; especially to priests. Whenever he met them, he saluted them with profound humility; and, in his travels, would alight off his horse to do it," page 33. Nor does Mr. Wesley omit to inform us, page 39, of Mr. De Renty's regard to such fugitive Papists, as had either rendered themselves obnoxious to the laws at home, or preferred begging in France, to living under an heretical government in Great-Britain. "He was the first that motioned some relief to the poor English, driven by persecution out of their own country." Nor must his very pilgrimages be overlooked. "Going, one day, to visit the holy place of Montmatre; after his prayers said in the church, he retired into a desolate part of the mountain, near a little spring: there he kneeled down to prayer; and that ended, he dined on a piece of bread and a draught of water." Page 45. Would it not have been still more devout, not to have dined at all on such holy ground" One day he visited a person, who, from a groundless suspicion, had cruelly used his wife. Mr. De Renty accosted him with such soft language, that he was persuaded, at length to go to confession, which he had not done in twelve years before." Page 47, 48. Himself, says Mr. Wesley, speaking of Mr. De Renty's last illness," made his confession, almost every day till his death." Page 62.

I dismiss these, and many other passages in this obnoxious performance, without farther remark. Their tendency is self-evident. I shall only add, that, if the reader has a desire to see still more enormous instances of Romish superstition and fanaticism, he will find them in Mr. Wesley's lives of some Spanish monks, (who, more nationally grave, did not imitate the French ascetic, by retaining their coaches, pages, and footmen) in the last volume, or last but one of his compilation, entitled The Christian Library.