upon them the Epifcopal Office and Power in ordaining and fending of other pretended Presbyters into the Church, as they did a little before the Reftoration, in all or moft Parts of the Nation, after the Abolition of Epifcopacy, and the Downfal of the National Church with it, in the Times of which I fpeak. Such Arch-schifmaticks as these were Mr. Bowls of Tork, Mr. Baxter of Kiderminster, and Mr. Hughes of Plymouth, not to mention

es, Rev. i. 20.

I

Of which St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna was one. Now that these Succeffors of the Apostles, to whom the Power of ordaining others into the Miniftry was committed, were not mere Prefbyters, is evident from hence, That they had the Overfight of the Church of God, 1 Pet. v. 2. A Power to receive an ACCUSATION against (and therefore were each of them a JUDGE of) an Elder, or Minifter of a confequently inferior Order, 1 Tim. v. 19. It was alfo their Province to rebuke with ALL AUTHORITY, fo as to let no Man defpife them, Tit. ii. 15. to reject, i, e. excommunicate, a Man that is an Heretick, after the first and fecond Admonition, Tit. iii. 10.- Without PREFERRING one before a-. nother, doing nothing by PARTIALITY, I Tim, v. 21.

Hence the particular Angel, or Bishop of the Church in Pergamos, was juftly reproved for tolerating them that held the Doctrine of Balaam, and the Nicolaitans in that Church, Rev. ii. 14, 15, 16. So alfo was the particular Angel or Bishop of Thyatira, for SUFFERING the falfe Prophetess Jezabel, Rev. ii. 20. And they could never have been thus juftly cenfur'd, if they had not been yefted with the Powers and Authority a bove-mentioned, and thefe Powers do vaftly exceed all that can be duly claim'd by any mere Presbyter, or Body of Pref byters whatfoever..

SMECTTM NUUS,

in and about London, where I prefume, pretended Prefbyters were alfo Ordain'd, by mere Pref byters in thofe fad Times of Confufion.

I was once at one of their pretended Ordinations, which I fince found, was much after the French Form. Thus, and this, Sir, was the Original of the Presbyte rian Miffion in England, and it is against the Authority of the pretended Minifters of this Miffion, who were never duly authoriz'd and therefore cannot Adminifter truly Valid Baptifm, that you have written your excellent Book with great Strength and Perfpicuity, as well as Modefty, and confirmed your Doctrine with your Practice.

Indeed, you have written it throughout with fo much Modefty and Caution, that in fome Places, it hath an "Air almost of Diffidence and Miftruft, altho' you have faid nothing as to the Invalidity of their Adminiftrations, but what our beft Divines have written before you. I beg Leave to prefent you with what I find to this Purpose, in the firft Volume of the Pofthumous Sermons of one of the greatest of them, Bishop Beveridge] Entituled, The Dignity and Authority, and Office of the

* Stephen Marshal, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomb, William Spurflow,

Priesthood.

c.

Priesthood. In the third Sermon on this Text, Therefore, feeing we have this Miniftry as we have received Mercy, we faint not, at the 103. Page you'll find thefe Words, "In the next Place we must observe, "that although the Priests, if any be pre"fent, lay on their Hands alfo, yet it is exprefly ordered, that the Bishop fhall Say "the Words, Receive ye the Holy Ghoft, "&c. For if a mere Priest should fay them, " or any one but a Bishop, the Ordination te was reckoned NULL AND VOID, with ❝ more to that Purpose. So in his Sermon " on Acts xiii. 3. And when they had fa «fted, and prayed, and laid their Hands on "them, they fent them away, you have "thefe Words at p. 309. As the right Ordination of thofe who adminifter the "Means of Grace must needs be acknow ledged to be (neceffary) for feeing we can have no Grace, nor Power to do good, "but what is delivered tous from God thro "our Lord and Saviour Jefus Chrift, in the "Ufe of the Means which he hath establish "ed for that, Purpose, unless thofe Means "be rightly and duly Adminiftred, they "lose their Force and Energy, and fo can "never attain the End wherefore they "were established. Neither is there any "thing more neceffary to eftablish the "Means of Grace, than that they who adb 4 "minifter

C

« minifter them be rightly Ordained and "Authorized to do it according to the In"ftitution and Command of him that did "eftablish them. For feeing they do not "work naturally, but only by virtue of the "Inftitution, and Promise annexed to it,

unlefs that be duly obferved, we have no "Ground to expect, that the Promise should "be performed, nor by Confequence that they "fhould be effectual to the Purposes for "which they were used. So in his Sermon "on this Text. Now then we are Ambaffa

dors for Chrift, &c. p. 386. For that can "be done only by the Power of God, accom"panying, and affifting his own Inftitution "and Commiffion. Infomuch that if I did "not think, or rather was not fully affured, that I had fuch a Commiffion to be an "Ambaffador for Chrift, and to act in his "Name, I should never think it worth the "while to preach, or execute my Minifterial

“

Office. For I am fure all that I did would "be null and void of it felf, according to "God's ordinary Way of working, and we "have no Ground to expect Miracles." So "in another Place of that Sermon ; "Any "Man may read a Sermon, or make an Ora"tion to the People; but it is not that

which the Scripture calls preaching the "Word of God, unless he be SENT by "God to do it. For how can they preach,

T

except they be fent? Rom. x. 16. A Butcher might kill an Ox, or a Lamb, as "well as the High-Prieft, but it was no Sa"crifice to God, unless a Prieft did it; And "no Man taketh this Honour to himself, but "be that is called of God, as was Aaron, &c. All thefe Paffages Sir, exactly agree with the Subject of your Book; and I might fhew you much more to the fame Purpose out of the Writings of the Clergy, befides those which you have cited. As out of the fecond Edition of a Letter to a Noncon. Minifter of the Kirk, fhewing the Nullity of the Presbyterian Miffion; and Dr.Wells's Thefes against the Validity of Presbyterian Ordina

tion.

But what I have cited from the Bishop, which was publish'd fince the first Edition of your Book, is enough to fecond the Defign of it, and give you Courage boldly to maintain your Doctrine and Practice, and the Caufe not only of the Church of England, but of the Catholick Church, against the British Sects and Schifms, Indeed you have done God and his Church good Service in a Time of Need; as two worthy Citizens, now with God, Mr. Allen and Mr. Lamb, did by their Writings about forty Years ago; who having gone from the Church to the Anabaptifts, by God's Grace faw their Error, and returned both toge

ther