ON

APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION;

BEING

A DEFENCE OF A GENUINE PROTESTANT MINISTRY AGAINST
THE EXCLUSIVE AND INTOLERANT SCHEMES OF
PAPISTS AND HIGH CHURCHMEN;

AND SUPPLYING

A GENERAL ANTIDOTE TO POPERY.

Also, a Critique an

THE APOLOGY FOR APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION,

BY THE HON. AND REV. A. P. PERCEVAL, B.C.L.,

CHAPLAIN IN ORDINARY TO THE QUEEN:

AND A REVIEW OF DR. W. F. HOOK'S SERMON
ON "HEAR THE CHURCH,"

PREACHED BEFORE THE QUEEN, JUNE 17, 1888.

BY THOMAS POWELL,

WESLEYAN MINISTER.

TENTH EDITION.

New York:

PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PORTER,

200 MULBERRY-STREET.

"THEY ARE EQUALLY MAD WHO MAINTAIN THAT BISHOPS ARE SO JURE DIVINO THAT THEY MUST BE CONTINUED: AND THEY WHO SAY THEY ARE SO UNCHRISTIAN, THAT THEY MUST BE PUT AWAY."-Selden.

"MEN CANNOT CARRY ON A RESOLUTE STRUGGLE AGAINST SOPHISTRY WITH THE SAME SMOOTHNESS AND SIMPLICITY WITH WHICH THEY ENUNCIATE TRUISMS."—QUARTERLY REVIEW, JAN., 1840.

CONTENTS.

Preface to the first edition

Preface to the second edition.

Introduction.....

SECTION I.

Statements of this doctrine of apostolical succession by its

advocates.

SECTION II.

The state of the general question

SECTION III.

No positive proof from the Scriptures of these high Church claims

-The commission of Jesus Christ to the apostles-The

claim of apostleship for bishops-High priesthood of bishops

—The case of Timothy and Titus-The angels of the seven

churches...

SECTION IV.

The general spirit and scope of the gospel opposed to this high

Church scheme

Page

5

7.

13

21

25

64

SECTION V.

Scriptural evidence against these claims, continued-Bishops and

presbyters the same, proved from the New Testament

80

SECTION VI.

The same argument continued-Presbyters and bishops the same,

proved from the purest Christian antiquity

Appendix to section vi

89

141

SECTION VII.

The Church of England at the Reformation against these claims 144

SECTION VIII.

Bisnops and presbyters the same order, shown by the testimony

of all the Christian churches in the world...

5917

734

(RECAP)

169

SECTION IX.

Page

Presbyters and bishops shown to be the same order, by the

testimony of the greatest divines of all ages

201

SECTION X.

No sufficient historic evidence of a personal succession of valid

episcopal ordinations..

SECTION XI.

Nullity of the Popish ordinations-Character of the Popish Church,

and Popish bishops, before and at the Reformation

SECTION XII.

212

224

Popish ordinations of English bishops before the Reformation ... 237

An Appendix: containing,-first, A Critique on the Apology for

the Doctrine of the Apostolical Succession, by the Hon. and

Rev. A. P. Perceval, B. C. L.

271

295

311

Secondly, A Review of Dr. W. F. Hook's Sermon, Vicar of Leed's,

on "Hear the Church"

340

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

THE writer of this Essay is alone accountable for all its faults and defects. He has written it without the counsel or the help of any man, or of any body of men. ⚫ He believes, and therefore he has spoken. Perhaps it will make him some enemies: this he would regret, as he desires, as much as lieth in him, to live peaceably with all men. If maintaining the truth should make him enemies, he cannot help it. Some may think that he speaks too freely on certain points, and as to certain orders of persons. All he can say is, that he thought truth and piety required it. He would give honour to whom honour is due; but he hopes he shall ever show the greatest courtesy to the truth of God. While men, or the ordinances of men, oppose not the truth of God, he would respect them, and would submit to them for the Lord's sake; but when they oppose that truth, either in principle or in practice, he would call no man father upon earth. The author makes no pretensions to style: he only regards words as a plain man does his clothes; not for ornament, but for use and decency. The confidence of his language arises from the conviction of his own mind, and not from any design to impose his opinions upon others. He dislikes to read an