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in their Wits,we find that a good Afsurance, a voluble Tongue, and efpecially an irreverent Contempt of the Only Power that can Authorize to Teach, is enough to fet up a Teacher! That if a Man has but the knack of Haranguing the People plaufibly, has an Edifying Powerful way with him, and a great stock of Gifts, he may, without the low formality of being Call'd or Sent by any but himself, mount the Pulpit and Difpenfe; which is just as reasonable as ic had been under the Law, when it was one part of the Ministerial Office to Kill, to Cut up, and Divide the Sacrifice, that any one that took himself for a more Dextrous Butcher, fhould immediately have fet up for a Prieft, and fell a trying his skill at the Altar! But if he had, if the Earth had not fwallow'd him up, or Fire from Heaven confum'd him, he would have been fton'd to Death by the Congregation!

But leaving the wild Enthusiasts with our hearty Prayers that God would send a better Mind and a right Understanding among them, Let us fee what the Sober, the Rational Socinian fays to this matter; and if we look into the Racovian Catechism, we may presently find both what they think, and how they argue. The Queftion there being put, Whether They who Teach in the Church have any need of being Sent by Others?

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The Catechumen pofitively and shortly anfwers, Non habent, and has these wife Reafons put in his Mouth for it: Because they Preach no New or Unheard of Doctrine, and because the Apostle, defcribing every thing that is Neceffary to this Office, makes no mention of fuch a Million. Where first we may take Notice, that the whole Bufinefs and Duty of a Minister of Chrift (as was before hinted) is by them dwindled into Preaching, and then if he has no News to bring, he need have no new Commiffion to tell over an old Story! Is not this a Glorious Character both of a Minifter, and of the Gospel itself? But have They then, that bring a New and Unheard of Doctrine, need of being Sent? Yes, This they allow, Nay, This, as in the Cafe of the Apoftles, they tell us is neces fary. If so, if a New and Unheard of DoAtrine requires of Neceffity, that they that publish it should have a Miffion, then of all that ever have Preach'd fince the beginning of Chriftianity, the Socinians need One moft; But whence fhould they have it? from the Holy Spirit they cannot, for they deny any fuch Perfon: They must then be fent by fome other Spirit, whom yet tho' they Obey, they are as Loath to Own, as him they refift. But the Apostle, it feems, in defcribing every thing that is necessary to his Office makes no mention of fuch aMillion. That

is, when St.Paul purposely writes about this very Business to Timothy, to caution him whom to fend, that he might lay hands fuddainly on no Man, and to instruct him fully and particularly how They were to be qualify'd that were to be Sent, To be Sent is not reckon'd up among any of those Qualifications. Is not this now reasoning clofely? are not these Socinians notable arguers? are not the fubtileft of the Jefuits, in comparison of them, Scolds and Bunglers? Yet, methinks, it makes fomewhat for the Orders of the Church which we contend for, that Men fo famous for Acuteness of Wit, and Strength of Reason, can find no better Arguments against them. But it is no wonder that thefe Men fhould oppose a Miniftry; For he that receiveth you, fays our Saviour, receiveth me; and fince they are refolv❜d to deny him that fends, how should they admit those that are fent? In the mean while we must not repine to meet with the fame Usage as our great Mafter, for the Servant is not above his Lord! We must rather count it as an Honour to our Function, that they who would fpoil us of our Orders, are the fame, who would rob Christ of his Divinity.

And thus having endeavour'd to fhew the Neceffity from Scripture, and the Expediency from Reason, of a Divine Miffion

in general, I proceed to do right to that Sacred Miffion in particular, by which we ourselves have receiv'd Authority to feed the Flock of Chrift: Where I fhall not prefume so much upon your Patience, as to detain you in confuting the little Objections and Cavils of the Romanifts against our regular Succeffion, much less in detecting their impudent Lies or Forgeries, or the sense less Tale of a Nags-head Confecration, which they themselves, Men not of the tendereft Foreheads, begin to be asham'd of; but taking that for granted which has been abundantly prov'd, and which cannot with any fhew of Reason be deny'd, that That Confecration which they fo much malign, was Good, and even according to their own Principles, if not Canonically, yet Effen.tially valid, and so no breach made in the lineal Succeffión: I fhall only fpeak fomewhat briefly of the Neceffity of Episcopal Ordination, fuch asOur Church, most agreeably to the Word of God and the purest Antiquity, ufeth. And here Two things are to be prov❜d,

Namely, That there ever has been in the Church of Christ such an Order as that of Bishops, diftinct from the Presbyters, endu'd with a Superiority of Jurifdiction, and larger Extent of Power.

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2dly, That this particular Power of Ordination has always been an incommunicable Right of that Order.

And ift, The Government, which in the Language of the Earliest Antiquity we call Epifcopal, and which we now fee exercis'd in our own Church, as it appears by a multitude of Places in Scripture to have been practis'd by the Apostles themselves; fo alfo, that it was, by Impofition of Hands, deriv'd and committed by them to other particular fingle Perfons, as namely to Timothy and Titus, is as plain: If Ordaining Presbyters and Deacons, if giving Orders to the Churches, if establishing Rules for Christian Discipline, if receiving and hearing Accufations against Presbyters and others, if exercising Ecclefiaftical Cenfures, if giving Offenders over to Satan, and reftoring the Penitent, may be allow'd to be fufficient Inftances of fuch a Power; as fure they must be, fince Bishops, as fuch, claim no more. That the Apostles exercis'd this Power is on all hands own'd, and the charge to Titus and Timothy is too plain to be deny'd. To evade this therefore, we are told, that they were Extraordinarily Call'd, and were but Temporary Officers, which, as it is faid precariously and without any manner of proof, fo it overthrows all the other Church Powers, which these Objectors allow and hold perpetual.

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