:

wished to reprove but it bore on that case most directly as they were ministers; therefore, it is probable, that it was to some who were ministers that he designed his observations to apply. Now he solemnly commands, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they WITHDRAW themselves from every such brother, from every such MINISTER, who walked disorderly, and not after the tradition received from the apostles. So in Romans xvi, 17, 18, “Now I beseech you, brethren, MARK them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the DOCTRINE which ye have learned; and AVOID them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ; but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." He tells the presbyters of Ephesus in Acts xx, 29, 30,"For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous WOLVES enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." To suppose the flock bound by the chief Shepherd to follow ravening wolves, would be monstrous. Our Lord says his sheep "will NOT follow" them, but "will flee from them;" at once declaring and justifying the fact.

St. John says, First Epistle iv, 1, “ Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." And how are we to try the spirits? He tells us elsewhere: not by episcopal ordinations, and personal succession, but by their DOCTRINE. This is the way antichrist is to be discovered. In his Second Epistle he is very express on the subject, 7-11, "For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the DOCTRINE of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the DOCTRINE of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this DOCTRINE, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds." Jude's awful descriptions and warnings principally regarded wicked ministers. And nothing can be

plainer than that the design of his epistle is to lead all true Christians TO AVOID such corrupters of the truth. The seven churches in the Revelation have the same directions. The church of Ephesus is commended for trying those who say they are apostles, and are not. So the church of Pergamos has admonitions about the Balaamites and Nicolaitanes. Their leaders were evidently ministers or teachers, and were to be REJECTED at the peril of God's judgments: "Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth," Rev. ii, 16. The church at Thyatira is rebuked for "suffering that woman, Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to TEACH and seduce my servants to commit fornication," &c., verse 20. The same strain runs through the whole. Now everywhere truth of DOCTRINE, and HOLINESS of life, is the rule: and everywhere teachers, who are BAD MEN and PERVERTERS of the TRUTH, whatever might be their other pretensions, ARE TO BE FORSAKEN. To conclude these divine authorities: many of the Roman Catholics, before the Reformation, and the reformers generally, considered Rome to be the Babylon mentioned in the Revelation. This "Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth, who reigned over the kings of the earth," has always pretended to be before all others in episcopal ordinations, personal succession, &c. Yet, what saith the Spirit to the churches? He that hath ears to hear, let him hear, Rev. xviii, 1–4, "And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her PLAGUES."

Here is surely enough to confound for ever such a scheme as we have seen exhibited by such men as Bishop

Taylor, Dr. Hicks, Dr. Hook, &c. The words of Dr. Barrow, as to the duty of rejecting the pope, apply admirably to this scheme, simply changing the person of the pope for this Popery of binding all Christianity absolutely to episcopal ordinations and personal succession. For what

ever the popes have done, this succession hath done: the popes, as bishops of Rome, having always been the main pillars of the whole system. The SCHEME IS ONE, and its claims are one. The perfection of the whole depends upon the perfection of every part. It is a chain, forming, says Dr. Hook, an UNBROKEN line from Peter-to the present day." Every body knows that the POPES form the MAIN LINKS in this chain. If you break the links of a chain, you break the chain itself. Barrow breaks the popes as links in this succession chain; he breaks, therefore, the chain itself. "If, then," say he, "the bishops of Rome," (alias the ministers of this scheme, in any age,) " instead of teaching Christian doctrine, do propagate errors contrary to it; if, instead of guiding into truth and godliness, they seduce into falsehood and impiety; if, instead of declaring and pressing the laws of God, they deliver precepts opposite, prejudicial, destructive of God's laws; if, instead of promoting genuine piety, they do (in some instances) violently oppose it; if, instead of maintaining true religion, they do pervert and corrupt it, by bold defalcations, by superstitious additions, by foul mixture and alloys; if they coin new creeds, articles of faith, new scriptures, new sacraments, new rules of life, obtruding them on the consciences of Christians; if they conform the doctrines of Christianity to the interests of their pomp and profit, making gain godliness; if they prescribe vain, profane, superstitious ways of worship, turning devotion into foppery and pageantry; if, instead of preserving order and peace, they foment discords and factions in the church, being a make-bait and incendiaries among Christians; if they claim exorbitant power, and exercise oppression and tyrannical dominion over their brethren-cursing and damning all that will not submit to their dictates and commands ; if, instead of being shepherds, they be wolves, worrying and tearing the flock by cruel persecutions; they by such behaviour, ipso facto, deprive themselves of authority and office; they become thence no guides nor pastors to any Christian,

there doth in such cases rest no obligation to hear or obey them; but rather to decline them, to reject and disclaim them. This is the reason of the case. This the Holy Scripture doth prescribe; this is according to the primitive doctrine, tradition, and practice of the church."*

SECTION V.

SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCE AGAINST THESE CLAIMS, CONTINAND PRESBYTERS THE SAME, PROVED

UED-BISHOPS

FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT.

EVERY reader must see that ONE of the ESSENTIAL PILLARS of this high Church succession scheme is the opinion that the order of bishops is, by divine right, superior to that of presbyters, having powers and authority incompatible with presbyters, as presbyters; the SOLE power, indeed, of ordaining presbyters, and of governing presbyters, as well as the people. In this section we shall produce from the New Testament decisive evidence against this position, and shall prove the truth of the declaration of the English reformers, Cranmer, &c., that "presbyters and bishops, BY GOD'S LAW, are one and the same." As preliminary, we shall make three general observations :

1. There is not in the whole book of God any solid proof that one STANDING order of God's ministers were ever appointed to have that power and authority over other ministers which these succession divines claim for modern bishops. The high priest among the Jews had the performance of some special duties of the sanctuary, typical of the Lord Jesus Christ; but there is no solid proof that he had, by divine right, this sole power over other priests. The proof is so far from it, as to ordination, that all the consecration or ordination he had, distinct from the other priests, was by the hands of these priests themselves. This is clear from the nature of the case; for as he could not succeed till his predecessor was dead, there could be none but common priests to consecrate or ordain him. Now presbyters are clearly as capable of consecrating bishops, as common priests were of consecrating the high

* Dr. Barrow on the Pope's Supremacy, supposition 7th.

priest. The apostles were not a standing order; but I think there is not very clear evidence that they had this sole power and authority. When churches were once planted, and ministers had been appointed, the apostles visited them to encourage them; they wrote epistles, by immediate divine authority, to all the saints, and sometimes, though seldom, they mention the ministers; but I think we find no declared authority SOLELY belonging to them as apostles, to call any ministers to account, or to depose them; and I am sure they did not claim the SOLE right of ordaining. See 1 Tim. iv, 14.

2. There NEVER was any general council; never any number of accredited fathers; never any modern church, since the time of our Lord and Saviour, who maintained that bishops were, by divine right, an order superior to, distinct from, and possessing powers and authority incompatible with presbyters, as presbyters. He that affirms there was, let him prove it.

3. If the sacred writers viewed this matter of the order of bishops, as essentially superior to that of presbyters, in the same light as our high Church divines do, we may expect to find them manifest equal, or rather greater care and anxiety to MARK this distinction, and lay down Laws to guard the dignity, powers, and authority of that important order, from all misapprehension and encroachment. This was done as to the Levitical priesthood, though belonging to a far inferior dispensation. But if we find the sacred writers speak of bishops and presbyters AS IDENTICAL, marking No distinctions, leaving No laws for the regulation of such distinctions, we may CERTAINLY CONCLUDE that the sacred writers had no such views on this point as our high Churchmen hold, but that bishops and presbyters are, by divine right, identical,—that they are one and the same order and office.

Let us now turn directly to the New Testament. HERE, and here ONLY, is the DIVINE RULE, as to the qualifications, ordination, duties, and powers of gospel ministers. Beyond this all is human, mere matter of opinion and prudential arrangement. And, while nothing is done contrary to the letter or the spirit of the New Testament, nor any human arrangement urged as a matter of faith, every church is at liberty to make such prudential arrangements as they may