the direct and short road to the philofophic incredulity of modern times. If they will not be good Catholics, I am defirous that they fhould remain good Church-of-England-men, being convinced that thereby the facred code of Revelation will be much lefs violated, and the public peace and happiness much more effe&tually secured.

Before I enter upon the prefent queftion I must make the following obfervations. First, it is not my intention to refute the doctrines of Hoadly by arguments drawn from fcripture, or from any other theological fource, but barely to contraft them with the articles and liturgy of the church of England, and my object in this is not fo much to justify the expreffion in my HISTORY, (1) which has been the fource of your oppofition to me and the religion I profefs, as to demonftrate the fact itself, to which that affertion relates, for the purpose of oppofing the further progress of incredulity, and of guarding our common country against the evils to be apprehended from it. 2dly, I fhall not take the unneceffary pains of tracing this fyftem in the voluminous works of Hoadly himself, through all the ambiguities, difguifes, and contradictions, which his rank in the church and the oppofition of his able opponents obliged him to adopt, in order to palliate it. fince I find

Z 2

caufed the convocation to be diffolved, which has never been allowed to proceed to any bufinefs fince. If the bifhop did not procure this measure, he at leaft approved of it, as proceeding from "a fincere regard to the conftitution in church and state." See Hoadly's Preface and Anfwer to the Reprefent. ch. iv.

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(1) Thus it may be said with truth of Dr. Hoadly, that both living and dying he undermined the church of which he was a prelate." Vol. ii, p. 32.

find it exhibited in a more concife, open, and fyfte matical manner by two of his moft illuftrious difciples; than whom none can be better qualified by their talents and fituation fully to comprehend it and accurately to explain it. I fhall therefore make much more ufe, in the prefent difcuffion, of the writings of the fcholars than of thofe of the mafter. There are other reafons for my following this conduct. One of the refpectable characters whom I allude to, is ftill living, and in poffeffion of every advantage neceffary for defending his opinions, unless he should prefer the more honourable part of retracting them upon discovering their falfehood and pernicious tendency. This gentleman has adopted and made his own the publication of the other which I fhall have occafion to refer to. In a word, he is no other than my prefent opponent, the very person who has taken fuch uncommon pains to exhibit me to the nation as a writer that has weakened the establishment in church and ftate. (1) It will now be feen which of us two is more deferving of this character. The points on which I fhall contraft the plain doctrines of the establishment with thofe of Hoadlyifm are, the Nature and Form of the church, the Sacraments, the Christian Myfteries, and the Affent and Subfcription that are required to the xxxix Articles and the Book of Common Prayer.

1. The nature of the church is particularly defcribed in the xxth of the above mentioned articles, as follows: "The vifible church of Chrift is a con

gregation

(1) Reflections on Popery, pp. 6, 111, &c.

gregation of faithful men, in which the pure word of God is preached, and the facraments be duly miniftered." The xxviith article afferts, that "men are grafted into the church by baptism, as by an inftrument," and the whole liturgy of this facrament, in the Common Prayer Book, is grounded upon that doctrine. (1) Again, the xxxiiid article teaches, that a perfon may, " by open denunciation of the church, be rightly cut off from the unity of the church and excommunicated," in which cafe "he ought to be taken of the whole multitude as an heathen and publican,....until he be received into the church by a judge which hath authority thereanto." It is needlefs to add, that the fentence of excommunication is ftrictly conformable to this doctrine. (2) Finally, the xviiith article goes fo far as to pronounce, that "they are to be had aecurled who prefume to fay that every man fhall be faved by the law or fect which he profeffeth, fo that

(1) Before baptifm the minifter prays, that the perfon to be baptized, whether a child or one of riper years, 86 may be received into the ark of Chrift's church." Immediately as he pours the water he fays, "We receive this child (or person) into the congregation of Chrift's flock." In conclufion he thanks God for having "adopted and incorporated him into his church.” See the Common Prayer Book.

[(2) Idcirco hoc etiam vos infuper admonitos volo Episcocum noftrum nomine, atque auctoritate Dei optimi maximi excommunicaffe illum ab omni focietate ecclefiæ Dei, & tanquam membrum emortuum amputaffe a Chrifti corpore. Hoe ille in ftatu verfatur hoc tempore, et in tanto difcrimine animæ fuæ.” Form. Excom. apud Sparrow. Collect p. 247.] Similar to this in meaning is that of the kirk of Scotland and other reformed communions. See the fentence of depofition and excommunication against the four Scotch bishops for receiving confecration to the office of epifcopacy. Collier, vol. ii, rec. 113.

he be diligent to frame his life according to that law, and the light of nature."

With refpect to the authority and conftitution of the church, fhe claims, in her articles, not only "the power to decree rites and ceremonies," but alfo"authority in controverfies of faith,"(1) She teaches, that the orders of her minifters have defcended from the apoftles, and are appointed by God; (2) and that the power given to them in the ceremony of ordination is communicated by the Holy Ghoft;(3) moreover that the form of epifcopacy is divine and effentially neceffary to her exiftence. In proof of this we obferve, 1st, that it is required

(1) Art. xx.

(2) See the prayers appointed in the form of ordaining, &c. (3) The order of priesthood is conferred in the following words of fcripture, agreeably to the Roman Pontifical: Receive the Holy Ghost, whofe fins thou doft forgive, they are forgiven ; and whofe fins thou doft retain, they are retained. St. John xx, 22, 23. The form of confecrating bishops is: Receive the Holy Ghoft and remember to flir up the grace that has been given you by the impofition of hands. Burnet, Hift. Ref. tom. ii. Sparrow. In addition to the spiritual powers mentioned above, which are claimed by the Church of England, must be added that of abfolving from fin, expreffed in the form of ordination of priefts, unless the greatest perverfion of language, and that upon the most folemn occafion, be fuppofed. In confirmation of this affertion, the reader may confult the Warning for the Celebration of the Communion, in the Common Prayer Book, where fuch as cannot otherwife quiet their confciences, are directed to come to the minifter, "in order to receive the benefit of abfolution." This is more clearly inculcated in the Order for the Vifitation of the Sick. "Here fhall the fick perfon be moved to make a special confeffion of his fins, if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty matter. After which confeffion the priest fhall abfolve him in this fort:Our Lord, who hath left power in his church to abfolve finners, &c. forgive thee, and I by his authority committed to me ab. folve thee from all thy fins." N. B. This is the identical form of abfolution used in the Catholic church.

required by the act of Uniformity (1) that no perfon fhall be allowed to hold any living who has not received epifcopal ordination; though, from the confufion which had prevailed in the kingdom for almost twenty years before the paffing of the act, this had been impracticable with refpect to the generality of the officiating minifters: 2dly, that the practice of the Church of England ever has been to admit the ordination of the Catholic clergy, and of others ordained by bishops, who have paffed over to her communion, but to reject that of Diffenting ministers of every clafs, whether natives or foreigners, to whom this had been wanting. (2)

In oppofition to thefe tenets, Hoadly himself defines a church to be "the number of perfons, whether great or fmall, whether difperfed or united, who are fincerely and willingly subjects to Christ alone,

(1) 13 & 14 Car. II, c. 4.

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(2) Collier, vol. ii, p. 619. Strype's Life of Whitgift. The fuffragan of this archbishop, viz. Aylmer, bishop of London, condemned the Puritan minifter Wright, for preaching, as being only a layman, though he was ordained in a foreign church. Hift. of Churches in England and Scotl. vol. ii, p. 234. In 1661, epifcopacy being reftored in Scotland, four minifters in Prefbyterian orders were nominated bishops for that country, and fent to be confecrated by the bishop of Winchester and other affiftant prelates in England. Thefe required that they fhould not only previously be re-ordained, but also that they thould disclaim the validity of their Prefbyterian ordination. Collier, vol. ii, p. 887. -The importance that has been attached by the eftablished clergy to the controverfy concerning the Lambeth Register of Archbishop Parker's Confecration, from the time of Mafon, 200 years ago, down to that of Courayer, within our own memory, may be alfo alleged in proof of the Church of England's opipion concerning the neceffity of regular and uninterrupted fucceffion in the facred miniftry from Chrift and his Apoftles. [I need not hence prove that according to her doctrine the character of the priesthood and of deaconthip is indelible.]