Mens Duty and eternal Salvation fhould depend upon the nice Signification of fingle Hebrew and Greek Words; Languages so long fince out of common Ufe, and dead.

THE Almighty is too merciful to his Creatures to leave them at fuch Uncertainties, which is in Effect to let them throw Crofs and Pile for their Religion. When he makes an Establishment, and gives Laws to Mankind, he always expreffes himself in a manner not to be mifunderstood; fo he did in the Jewish Difpenfation, where there was no Difpute about the Meaning of their Law. Though there is nothing in Scripture to countenance thefe Pretenfions, yet the Gospel almost every-where forbids them, as I have partly fhewn in my last Paper, and fhall unanswerably make out hereafter, when I fhall more fully confider the Acts and Epistles; and then I will fhew, that the ApoAtles themselves claimed no Authority over other Chriftians, or any Power but that of Perfuafion. I fhall endeavour to fhew, what is meant by Baptifm and the Lord's Supper; and do undertake to prove, that the Clergy have no more Power from Scripture to adminifter them, than Women and Laymen, and that nothing is meant by Excommunication, but not keeping ill Company. I will fhew too,

that

that the Clergy, in the firft Ages of Chriftianity, were always chofen by the People, and lived upon their Alms, and by what Steps of Impiety and Forgery the Popish Priesthood came to be Lords of fo great a Part of the terrestrial Globe.

T.

NUMBER

NUMBER LI.

Wednesday, December 31. 1720.

Of the Three High Churches in
England.

H

AVING, in my former Papers, given fome Account of the Scripture-Church; I fhall, in this, give an Account of the Three High Churches in England, which are very different from it. And, tho' in order to this, I fhall be obliged to take in a good deal of Matter, and reveal many High-Church and Jacobite Secrets; yet I hope to give the Public a clear Notion of them in the Compass of one Paper. I fhall, First, ftate what the true Church of England is; and then describe the Three High Churches of England, fhewing how they differ from one another, and from the true Church of England.

I. FIRST,

4

I. FIRST, What the true Church of England is. All Churches by Law established, are Creatures of that State, where they are fo established. For whatever is established, neceffarily depends on the Legislature, which can and does repeal and enact whatever it thinks fit, and always calls its present Constitution in Religion, The Church by Law established. The Church of England therefore by Law established, is whatever the Legislature has enacted; and continues in Force, in relation to Religion, together with whatever is injoined by the Authority of the King, or is determined by the proper Judicatories, acting by the Authority of, and in Subordination to, the Legislature.' Thus the Act of Parliament requiring the Subfcription of the Thirty-nine Articles, the Acts of Uniformity, and the Act of Toleration, the King's Injunctions, the Canons of Convocation confirmed by the King, the Sentences of the Daegates, and the Determinations of the House of Lords, conftitute the Church of England; and the Members thereof are good and true Members, who conform their Belief and Practice to the feveral Particulars aforefaid: As, on the other Side, they fall fhort of being good and true Members, who recede from any Particular established and fettled as aforefaid. VOL. IL

Nor

Nor can thofe be truly faid to agree with, and conform to, a Church, who do not agree with and conform to it in the Sense intended by the Makers of the feveral Conftitutions of that Church. This laft is fo plain a Truth in itself, and fo manifeftly implied in taking all Oaths, and making Subfcriptions and Declarations, that it would have been needlefs to have obferved it, had it not been for the Equivocation and Jefuitifm of fo many of our Priests, who think that they may take Oaths, and make Subfcriptions, in Senfes contrary to, and different from, the Intention of the Imposers; and yet be good, and true, and perfect Members of the Church.

II. Now the High-Churches, which differ from this Establishment, are Three in Number; which I fhall rank under the Names of the most remarkable Leaders in them: 1. Dr. Bungey's * High-Church. 2. Mr. Lefley's High-Church. 3. And Dr. Brett's High-Church. The two laft are in an open Separation from one another, as well as from the true Church of England. But Dr. Bungey's High-Church has as yet made no Separation from the true Church. He and his People are only Schifmatics in the Church, (as were those upon whom St. Paul charges

• A Name frequently given to the late Dr. S A

CHEVERELL.

Schifm,