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"Our Vicar has quoted the venerable reformers' and the venerable prelates of the Established Church, as if they were all of his way of thinking; and, indeed, such ignorance exists, or is counterfeited by the modern clergy in all Church history, that they scruple not now-adays to assert any thing to suit their purposes; taking it for granted, I suppose, that the world in general knows still less of these matters than they do, and that, therefore, anything may be asserted with safety. Let us then see what the venerable prelates' have said on the point in controversy. I find in Strype's Life of Archbishop Cranmer the following document, 'Articles con'cerning the Christian Religion, given by the Reverend Father in Christ, John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester, unto all and singular Deans, Parsons, 'Prebendaries, Vicars, Curates, and other eccle'siastical ministers, within the Diocese of Gloucester, to be had and retained of them for unity ' of agreement. 4. That they teach 'that the Church of God is the congregation of the faithful, wherein the Word of God is truly preached, and the Sacraments justly ministered, ' according to the institution of Christ; and the

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Church of God is not, by God's Word, taken for 'the multitude or company of men, as of Bishops, Priests, and such other, but that it is the com'pany of all men hearing God's word and obeying

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'the same-lest that any man should be seduced, * believing himself to be bound unto an ordinary 'succession of Bishops or Priests, but only unto "the Word of God, and the right use of the Sacra'ments. 5. That though the true Church cannot 'err from the faith, yet, nevertheless, forasmuch as no man is free from sin and from lies, there is, nor can be, any church known, be it never so 'perfect or holy, but it may err.'

"This astounding broadside of 'schism,' coming from a regularly appointed Bishop of the genuine Apostolical Church, must blow the crazy timber of our Vicar all to pieces; I do not, therefore, think it requisite to add to these words any comment of my own, nor will I say any more on the topic, except to add, that the nineteenth article of the Church of England exactly agrees with the fourth article of Bishop Hooper: for as the nineteenth article never once names archbishops, bishops, priests, and deacons as a part of the Church of Christ, so does the fourth article of Bishop Hooper carry out that silence into a corollary, by plainly saying that no man need be bound to believe an ordinary succession of bishops,' for such a belief is a SEDUCTION!

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"Having thus briefly noticed the delusion of the Successionists, we must now consider the office of Bishop itself; concerning which, the Protestant Episcopalians utter every possible falsehood,

short of that only falsehood which can make their theory plausible-a submission to the popes as successors of St. Peter.

"It is very well known that the word Bishop is to be found in our English Bible, that word being in the Greek Episcopus; and what is there said of that office is to be found at large in the Apostle Paul's Epistles to Timothy and to Titus, where any one may judge by comparison with the realities before our eyes, whether the Episcopus described by Paul can be taken as a faithful portrait of an Episcopus in the sees of Canterbury and York.

Supposing a stranger to our customs and religion were to ask for certain marks whereby to find out an Episcopus, and we were to turn him loose in the land with the following directions:

Go and seek through the land for persons who are blameless, the husbands of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no strikers, nor greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not brawlers, nor covetous-men that rule well their own houses, having their children in subjection with gravity; no novices, lest being lifted up with pride they should fall into condemnation of the Devil, having a good report of them which are without, free from the reproach of the Devil-moreover, they preach the word, are instant in season and out of season-they reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and

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doctrine; they watch in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of Evangelists, give full proof of their ministry'-Would it, I ask, be fair to furnish our stranger with these directions? Would they be of any use to him? Would they not grievously deceive him? and, instead of leading him to fix upon one of our mitred prelates-the only genuine Episcopi-rather direct his attention to some hated teacher of schism:' a Mr. James of Birmingham, a Mr. Parsons of York, a Mr. Scales of Leeds? Well, then, if these directions would be of no avail to our stranger in finding out one of the succession Episcopi of Parliament, how ought the Apostle to have written his description, so as that strangers really might be able to discover these wonderful men, in the palms of whose hands, and on the tips of whose fingers are hung all the glories, nay, the very existence, of the Christian Church? Ought not the indication to be rather in this language? This is a true saying, if a canonically ordained priest desire the office of a Bishop he desireth a good job. A Bishop, then, must be in priest's orders, and a doctor of divinity; one who hath taken a degree at one of the universities, formerly a tutor of a great nobleman, a scion of a noble family, a creature of a cabinet minister, an editor of Greek tragedies, or a writer in a ministerial review. He must be elected by the King's congé d'élire, directed to the dean and chapter of

a cathedral church, which electors must needs elect him or be prosecuted by the king's attorneygeneral. He must wear a rochet, lawn sleeves, cope, tippet, bands, and wig; keep a coach painted purple, dress his valets in violet-coloured coats, and have armorial bearings with a mitre. The whole body of the faithful must call him "My Lord," and "Right Reverend Father,” according to the express command in the New Testament (Matt. xxiii. 9); he must be a baron in Parliament, ordain priests and deacons, give canonries and livings to his sons and nephews, receive many thousand pounds sterling every year, and have precedence next to viscounts, and above barons. If he like to preach, he may; and if he like not, he may let it alone. He must have a diocese according to the Scriptures, and always sit in a throne when he is worshipping in his cathedral, and he may be promoted from one diocese to another, and finally become an Archbishop.' If we had been furnished with a portrait like this, then it would have been an easy task for our stranger to discover an Episcopus of the English or Irish Church; he might with this index have recognized the Archbishop of Armagh, or embraced the Bishop of London, as a true successor of the Apostles, and our Vicar then might have had some foundation for all his railing accusation of Dissenters; but as matters are

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