fail to accompany the delivery of so important a charge with the information neceffary for the parties entrusted with it. But even admitting, what is more than we are bound to admit, that particular information refpecting church government was not delivered by our SAVIOUR to his Apoftles, yet, when it is confidered that the Apostles were forbid to enter on the discharge of their commiffion till they had received the gift of the Holy Ghoft, whofe office it was "to lead them into all truth;" we are authorized to con clude, that whatever form of government the Apostles agreed to establish in the church, if not exprefsly communicated to them by CHRIST in perfon, muft be confidered as eftablished under the direction of the Holy Spirit.

Thus far, I prefume, it will be admitted, that the pofition before us ftands upon firm ground.

But a difference of opinion has arisen in the world, from different interpretations of the Apoftolic writings, on the fubject of church government. What step then shall wife and prudent men take for clearing up the difficulty? There is but one that appears equal to the occafion, and that has been taken; namely, an appeal to the teftimony of those persons who lived with the Apostles; in whofe authentic writings, if

any paffages can be found which speak decidedly and authoritatively on those points, which the fupposed ambiguous language of the Apostles may have left uncertain, the validity of evidence drawn from fuch writings muft, it is prefumed, be admitted as competent to the determination of the dispute. For, as it is obferved in my fecond Difcourfe, if it can be supposed that those who lived with the Apoftles, and exercised the office they had received in the church by virtue of their appointment, and in fome measure under their fuperintendance, could deviate from the plan laid down by the Apostles, who were confidered as acting under the immediate infpiration of the Holy Spirit; or that the immediate difciples of the Apostles did not know the minds of their mafters; or if it be imaginable that the whole world fhould, immediately after the death of the Apostles, confpire together to feek themselves, and not the things of JESUS CHRIST; to erect a government of their own devifing, not ordained by CHRIST, not delivered by his Apoftles; and to relinquish a Divine foundation, and the Apoftolic fuperftructure, which, if it were at all, was a part of our Master's will; we may fuppofe and imagine any thing; and there is no ground left, on which any conclufive reafoning on

the subject can be built. The two primitive writers produced on this occafion, and upon whose testimony, fhould it be required, I am contented to rest the whole weight of this cause, are, CLEMENS ROMANUS and IGNATIUS. The former, one of the first bishops, and a fellow-labourer with ST. PAUL; the latter, a difciple of ST. JOHN. Proof, drawn from fuch fources, is the best of which the subject in question is capable; and is indeed much stronger than any, on which many hiftorical facts of great moment have been and are received. It is, therefore, that proof with which every reasonable man will remain fatisfied.

After having, in the thirteenth and fourteenth pages of your book, said something about the regular fucceffion of bishops, and the fate of Uzza, Korah, DATHAN, and ABIRAM; of the particular circumstances of whofe cafe you do not feem to have formed a just conception; after having faid fomething about the Pope, the titular bishops in this kingdom, and the nonjuring bishops, which have nothing to do with the subject in hand; you conclude by telling me, that you will leave me in peaceable poffeffion of all my quotations, from the time of IGNATIUS down to the Rev. Mr. LAW.

Now, Sir, there are two ways in which this conceffion may be understood. You leave me in peaceable poffeffion of my quotations; either because you are fenfible that the force of them is irresistible; or, that being of no weight or moment in determining the point in question, they are, on that account, beneath your notice. For my own part, I feel perfectly fatisfied in taking advantage only of part of your conceffion. In granting me the authority of CLEMENS and IGNATIUS, you put me in poffeffion of ground which is not to be fhaken. And though I do not mean to be understood, that the authority of fubfequent writers upon the fubject of the church eftablishment is to be despised; yet, as I confider their authority to ftand on the original foundation, time need not to be wasted in drawing your attention to those different parts of the fuperftructure, which have from time to time been raised upon it. As you have (and I think unneceffarily) introduced the nonjuring clergy, you will permit me, Sir, to say a fhort word on their fubject, before I pafs on; because I have always been taught to fee thofe perfons in fuch a light, as to make me with that their names fhould never be mentioned but with becoming refpect. When I confider, that among the nonjuring clergy

are to be found fome of the moft pious, most learned, and most confcientious Divines that ever adorned the church of England; I cannot help thinking, that the government would have gained more in honour than it would have loft in fecurity, had fuch men been permitted to have remained in poffeffion of their preferments. But, admitting that policy demanded that the nonjuring clergy fhould be deprived; you will obferve, Sir, they were deprived of thofe fecular poffeffions which the church had derived from her connexion with the ftate. Their offence, if it may be called by even fo harfh a name, was of a political nature; their punishment correfponded to it. They offended against the ruling powers; they, in confequence, loft their patronage. But, can it be neceffary to remind you, all the rights, dignities, and emoluments which the priesthood derives from the piety and patronage of civil rulers, are quite distinct from that fpiritual commiffion, by which the clergy administer the affairs of CHRIST's kingdom. Of this commiffion they could not be deprived by civil rulers, because it had been received from an higher authority. The office, therefore, which the nonjuring clergy held in the Chriftian church, was precisely the fame; and every act of it as valid, ab