Governors; a Power in which the Peace and Purity of the Chriftian Church is effentially concern'd; and yet not able, nor when called upon pretending, to produce one fingle Text of Scripture in Support of this Claim.

I have pointed you to feveral exprefs Commands of the Sacred Law, which directly forbid and condemn this pretended Power; have fhewn you, that Chriftians are the LORD's Freed-Men, that they are each for Himself, to ftudy, and teach the Scriptures To examine and try the SpiritsTo call no Man upon Earth MASTER, and are not to be called RABBI, i. e, are neither to acknowledge, nor to claim any Authority over others in Things of Religion, becaufe ONE only is our Lawgiver and Mafter, in thefe Things, even CHRIST; and all Chriftians are Brethren. That tho' the Princes of the Gentiles exercife DOMINION over them; and they who are great, exercife AUTHORITY upon them, it SHALL NOT BE SO AMONGST YOU -What have you replied, Sir, to thefe plain and direct Commands : Have you fo much as attempted to evade their Force? No: but with confcious Impotence ftand ftill; and fee this Scripture-Artillery demolishing the boafted Thrones of your Paftors and Governors, and beating down the high Places to which your Imagination had raised them, without fo much as extending a feeble Hand for their Support.

From what has been faid, on the Point of Church Power, you fee with how little Reafon you plume yourfelf and Gentlemen of the Eftablishment, as the only proper Champions to encounter the Church of Rome

“Upon the Head of Herefy, Schifm, Ordination, "Tradition, Church-Unity, and Catholic-Communion, no Proteftant is fo well qualified to write upon thefe, "and fo likely to do it to the Conviction of a Papist, "as one of the Church of England; but, to be fure, "not a Proteftant Diffenter." What Proteftant Dif fenters can do on the Popish Controversy, the Salter'sHall Lectures will fhew to their lafting Honour. And,

in

in Truth, all your mighty Champions, Chillingworth, Hales, Stilling fleet, Middleton, &c. in all their Conflicts with the Church of Rome have been ever forced to quit their own, and to borrow our Weapons; and to these alone have owed the Triumphs they have gain'd.

Councils, Fathers, the Church's Power to decree Riles and Authority in Controverfies of Faith-are Armour in which no Proteftant dares look a fagacious and learned Jefuit in the Face. No; but the Sufficiency of Scripture, and the Right of private Judgment (our diftinguishing and proper Principles) are the only Method of Affault before which the Romish Syftem immediately falls. Thefe, Sir, if you know any Thing of the State of that Controverfy, you muft know to have been the Principles upon which your own learned Doctors have defended the Reformation; and the Principles on which alone it is capable of Defence. But then you are to remember alfo, that they are Principles on which the Church of England can never possibly be defended; and which, if faithfully and duly follow'd, would have brought Chillingworth, and Hales, and Middleton amongst us; and would make every intelligent and honeft Proteftant, in this Kingdom, a Diffenter from the establifh'd Church.

For if the SCRIPTURE be, indeed, a fufficient and perfect RULE; what becomes of your additional Splendors (as you are pleased to call them) and your Improvements upon Chriftianity! What, of your Church's POWER to decree Ceremonies and Rites! What, of Sponfors and the Crofs in Baptifm, Kneeling at the Lord's Supper, Bowing to the Eaft, &c! of which the SCRIPTURES, the fufficient and perfect Rule, fay not a Word. And if the Right, and the Duty of private Judgment be acknowledg'd, into what a Fume, alas! evaporates the Church's boafted Authority in Controverfies of Faith! Your learned Doctors themselves felt, and own'd, the Difficulty of the Part they had to act. And 'tis, really, pleasant to obferve; how, in their Attacks upon Dif

fenters,

fenters, Councils and Fathers, Church-Authority and Church-Power, the Danger and Sin of Schifm, &c. are gravely mufter'd up, and plied warmly upon us. But

no fooner does a crafty Jefuit come forth arm'd, Cap a Pe, with Weapons of this Kind, than away they are all flung to our Quarters they retreat! Then, the BIBLE, the BIBLE only is the Religion of Protestants, and every Man is to read, and to judge for himself; then, not thofe, who feparate from a Church, that impofes unlawful (unfcriptural) Terms, are guilty of Schifm; but the Church alone is guilty in impofing fuch Terms.

A flight Attention will fhew you, with how extremely ill a Grace a Church of England Divine muft appear upon the Head of Schifm, Tradition, ChurchUnity Who by the TRADITIONS of Men (Sponfors, the Crofs, &c.) hath notoriously made void the Commandment of GOD (to receive one another, but not to doubtful Difputations *.) Who breaks, in aflagrant Manner, the UNITY of the Chriftian Church, by fetting up NEW Forms of Fellowship and Communion in it; and by cafting out fuch as Chrift receives into it: And who declares, before the World, against CATHOLIC-COMMUNION, by refufing to admit any to the two Sacraments of Religion; except, befides what Chrift and his Apofiles have ordain'd, they fubmit alfo to fome Rites which themselves have ordain'd, as Improvements upon the Plan which the infpired Apoftles left. And is this, now, a Man to encounter Remifh Emiffaries? Muft he not go forth with infinite Difadvantage, and feel his own Weapons turn'd violently upon himself? But, the Diffenter, who ftands faft to his diftinguishing and proper Principles (Sufficiency of Scripture, and Right of private Fudgment) at once beats them from the ftrong Holds of Councils and Fathers (where you have been affaulting, but hardly able to diflodge them) and makes all their learned So

Rom. XIV. I.

phistry

phiftry fall before the Sacred Force of the BIBLE and COMMON SENSE. And hence it is, as before observed, that the Swarms of unhappy Profelytes, which these Seducers are faid to make, are all drawn from your, not one that I have ever heard of, from our Churches: Your Doctrines and Forms too naturally preparing them to take that fatal Step.

But it is Time that we now quit the Subject of Church-Power. I have treated it the more largely, because it enters into the Effence, and is the one fingle Point, every Perfon fees, on which the whole Controvery turns. Your other two Points, the Sacramental Teft, and the Regal Supremacy, I fhall difmifs in fewer Words.

As to the Firft, The Sacramental TESTI perceive nothing in your Appendix which either merits or needs a particular Reply. Only because you ftill infist, that as the Law now ftands, the Prieft has a Power of Repelling evil Livers, when they come to receive the Sacrament, as a Qualification for a Place; and by this wrong Apprehenfion, are kept from viewing the Affair in a Light fo diftafteful as it really deferves; I fhall offer a few Things for your Illumination alfo here: Prefuming, when you fee, that you have not Power, in that Cafe, to refuse the CHRISTIAN COMMUNION to the wickedeft Man living, you will groan under the difgraceful Yoke; and for the Honour of Christianity, and the Eafe of your own Confciences, you will be the first to wish its Repeal. Now this is a Point of Law, and has been given against you, by the learned in that Profeffion. And, if you attentively weigh the Cafe, their Opinion will appear grounded upon Reasons of very great and unanswerable Strength. Becaufe, if the Prieft has a Liberty of DISCRETION in this Cafe, it is then in his Power to deprive the King of the Services of his loyal and good Subjects; as alfo, to deprive the Subjects of fome of the most valuable Favours of the Prince; yea, the Priest has then a Power to put a Negative, in many Cafes, upon the Nominations of his

5

SOVE

SOVEREIGN to Pofts of the highest Dignity and Importance in the State.

His Majefty appoints a Person to fome great Office in his Army, his Houfhold or his Fleet; but the LAW forbids him to act (at least, but for a fhort Time) till he has first taken the Sacramental Teft: He comes, therefore, according to Law, to qualify for his Place. No, Sir, answers the Prieft; I say you are a prophane and wicked Man, a notorious evil Liver: I am authorized therefore by the Rubric, and commanded by the Canon, to refuse you the Sacrament; and, be affured, I will not give it So here is the King's Commiffion, the Subject's Expectations, and the Officer's good Services, all quafh'd at once.

But can it enter into an Imagination fo vague as even yours, that our Laws have put it in the Prieft's Power thus to bar the King's Commiffion to a General, an Admiral, a Secretary of State. Gentlemen who too much merit, perhaps, the Character of evil Livers may, fometimes, by the Royal Choice be appointed to high temporal Offices; and may be capable of difcharging them with great Advantage to their Country, and great Honour to themfelves. But, muft the Priest's Confent be afk'd! at his Difcretion muft it lie! whether the Perfon, whom the King hath honour'd with an high Commiffion, fhall prefume to proceed in the Execution of his Truft!. -Yes, it really thus lies in the Prieft's Power (you will have it) to put a Negative upon the Crown. Without the Prieft's Approbation of him, as being NOT an evil Liver, no Officer fhall prefume, nor can be qualified by Law to a&t.

. I congratulate you much, Sir, that you are now even with the civil Magiftrate. The Noli Profequi's and Prohibitions he has granted to ftop Proceedings in your ecclefiaftical Courts, have been Matter of long Grievance: Now, you have it in your Power to make ample Reprizals on him. You have now a Power, by LAW, to judge after, above, the King. Tho' his Majefty ever fo much wants and defires the Services of a

brave