is, when St Paul purposely writes about this very Buifinefs to Timothy, to caution him whom to fend, that he might lay hands fuddainly on no Man, and to inftruct 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 closely? are not thefe 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 these Men fhould oppose a Miniftry; For he that receiveth you, lays 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 Ufage as our great Mafter, for the Servant is not above his Lord! We muft rather count it as an Honour to our Function, that they who would fpoil us of our Orders, are the fame, who would rob Chrift 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 ourfelves have receiv'd Authority to feed the Flock of Christ. Where I fhall not prefume fo 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 lyes or forgerys, or the fenfelefs Tale of a Nags-head Confecration which they themselves, Men not of the tendereft Foreheads, begin to be afham'd of; but taking that for granted which has been abundantly prov'd, and which cannot with any fhew of Reafon 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 fo no breach made in the lineal Succeffion, I fhall only fpeak fomewhat briefly of the Neceffity of Epifcopal Ordination, fuch as Our Church moft agreeably to the Word of God and the pureft Antiquity useth. And here Two things are to be prov'd,

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

2dly,

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 Apoftles 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 Chriftian Discipline, if receiving and hearing Accufations against Presbyters and others, if exercifing 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 muft 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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Befides

Befides which it is manifeftly falfe in matters of Fact: for it both appears in Hiftory, that each of thefe had a Succeffor endu'd with the fame Epifcopal Power, and in thefe Epiftles alfo, that St Paul defign'd fuch a Succeffion. For, 1 Tim. 6. 14. Where he charges him to keep this commandment without Spot, Unrebukable, untill the appearing of our Lord Fefus Chrift, which was impoffible to be done without a continu'd line of Succeffion, he must be prefum'd to have intended, that he fhould have fuch Succeffors, and in order to it to have given him power to Ordain them. We may add to this the Teftimony of the Holy Ghoft, owning afterwards, and approving this in the Angels of the Seven Churches of Afia, who by the Unanimous confent of the Fathers were the Bishops of thofe Churches, as may plainly be gather'd from the Text itfelf. One of thefe we find the Spirit commending for not bearing with thofe that were Evil, and for purging his Church of Hereticks and falfe Teachers, that come without being Sent: Thou hast try'd them which fay they are Apostles and are not, and haft found them Lyars. Thou hateft the Deeds of the Nicolaitans, whom I also hate, Of others the Spirit complains, that they fuffer'd the Doctrines of the fame Nicolaitans, and the Doctrine of Balaam and Jezabel, Prophefying and Seducing, in their Churches,

and

and lays to their Charge the faults of the Clergy as well as the People, which had been an ungrounded and an unjuft Reprehenfion, if Authority had not been in them over both, the Rod of Ecclefiaftical Difcipline, and the Power of cafting Seducers out of the Church. He, then, that hath an Ear let him hear what the Spirit fays to the Angels of the Churches, and learn to revere that Authority which the Son of God by his Teftimonial Letters, and which the Holy Ghost falutes with this Title of Honour, faying to St John his Secretary, To the Angel of the Church of Ephefus, To the Angel of the Church of Smyrna, To the Angel of the Church of Pergamos, &c.

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The Places in Scripture that prove this Power are fo pregnant, that all that can be urg'd against the being of fuch an Office as that of Bishop, diftinct from a Presbyter in the New Teftament, is that those two Names are there often promifcuoufly us'd; which (if it were granted, for the late Learned Bishop of Chefter, will by no means yield, that it has been prov'd) yet from Community of Names to argue Identity of Office, is a very weak and fallacious way of Arguing, and which, if admitted, would prove as well, that the Offices of a Presbyter, and a Deacon, and an Apoftle were all One; for the Apoftles themselves in their own U 2 Writings