disciples of JESUS CHRIST, and undertaking to observe all that He has commanded. He here likewise declares the form or the method by which persons were to be admitted into this Church, and that was by being baptized in the name of the FATHER, and of the Son, and of the HOLY GHOST. And, lastly, He here promises the perpetual presence of His HOLY SPIRIT, both to assist the apostles and their successors in the building and governing this Church, and to actuate and enliven all the members of it. . ... Thus, I am sure, I have given the true notion of the Church, which the Scripture always intends, when it speaks of the Church as the Body of CHRIST, when it speaks of the Church which CHRIST purchased with His blood, when it speaks of the Church into which we are baptized, when it speaks of the Church to which all those glorious promises are made of the forgiveness of sins, of the perpetual presence and assistance of the HOLY SPIRIT, of the gates of hell never prevailing against it, and of everlasting salvation in the world to come; I say, that Church is always meant of the whole company of Christians dispersed over all the world, that profess the common faith, (though perhaps none of them without mixture of error,) and enjoy the administration of the word and sacrament, under their lawful pastors and governors: all these people, wherever they live, or by what name soever they call themselves, make up together that one Body of CHRIST which we call the Catholic Church.

SCOTT, PRESBYTER.-Christian Life, Part ii. ch. 7.

Another thing wherein those particular Churches, into which the Catholic Church is distributed, do communicate with each other, is, in the essentials of Christian regiment and discipline: for though the particular modes and circumstances of Christian government and discipline are not determined by divine institution, but left for the most part free to the prudent ordering and disposal of the governors of particular Churches, yet there is a standing form of government and discipline in the Church, instituted by our SAVIOUR Himself, which, as I shall show hereafter, is this; that there should be an episcopacy, or order of men, authorized in a continual succession from the Apostles, (who were

authorized by Himself) to oversee and govern all those particular Churches into which the Church Catholic should be hereafter distributed; to ordain, &c. &c. And this being the standing government and discipline of the Catholic Church, no particular Church or community of Christians can refuse to communicate in it, without dividing itself from the communion of the Church Catholic; I say, "refuse to communicate in it," because it is possible for a Church to be without this government and discipline, which yet doth neither refuse it, nor the communion of any other Church for the sake of it. A Church may be debarred of it by unavoidable necessities, in despite of its power and against its consent. .. Though this instituted government is necessary to the perfection of a Church, yet it doth not therefore follow, that it is necessary to the being of it. . . . . But though a community of Christians may be a true part of the Catholic Church, and in communion with it, though it hath no episcopacy; yet it is a plain case, that if it rejects the episcopacy, and separates from the communion of it, it thereby wholly divides itself from the communion of the Catholic Church.

....

WAKE, ARCHBISHOP.-Exposition of the Doctrine of the English Church. Art. 15.

The imposition of hands in Holy Orders, being accompanied with a blessing of the HOLY SPIRIT, may, perhaps, upon that account, be called a kind of particular sacrament. Yet since that grace, which is thereby conferred, whatever it be, is not common to all Christians, nor by consequence any part of that federal blessing which our blessed SAVIOUR has purchased for us, but only a separation of him who receives it to a special employ, we think it ought not to be esteemed a common sacrament of the whole Church, as Baptism and the LORD's Supper are..... We confess that no man ought to exercise the ministerial office till he be first consecrated to it. We believe that it is the Bishop's part only to ordain. We maintain the distinction of the several orders in the Church; and though we have none of them below a deacon, because we do not read that the Apostles had any, yet

we acknowledge the rest to have been anciently received in the Church, and shall not therefore raise any controversy about them.

WAKE.-Art. 25.

Professing in our Creed a Holy Catholic Church, we profess to believe not only that there was a Church planted by our SAVIOUR at the beginning, that has hitherto been preserved by Him, and ever shall be to the end of the world; but do in consequence undoubtedly believe too, that this universal Church is so secured by the promises of CHRIST, that there shall always be retained so much truth in it, the want of which would argue that there could be no such Church.

POTTER, ARCHBISHOP.-On Church Government. Chap. v.

First, then, it must be shown, that the office and character of all persons, who are admitted into holy orders, extends over the whole world, and it is manifest, in the first place, that the Apostles had a general commission to "teach and baptize," and to execute all other parts of their office in all nations. As the bishops of the Church have been shown to succeed the Apostles in all the parts of their office which are of standing and constant use in the Church; so we might reasonably conclude, though we have no farther proof of it, that the office and character of bishop, and consequently of inferior ministers, extends over all the world, because those of the Apostles, their predecessors, did so; since there is scarce any reason why the Apostles' authority should be universal, which will not hold, at least in some degree, for the same extent of authority in the bishops, as will appear from some of the following considerations :—

There is but one Catholic Church, whereof all particular Churches are members, and therefore, when any spiritual privilege or character is conferred on any particular Church, it must be understood to extend over the whole Catholic Church: thus by Baptism, men are not only made members of the particular Church where they happen to be baptized, but of the Catholic Church over the world; and therefore whoever has been lawfully

baptized in one Church, has a right to partake of the LORD's Supper, and other Church privileges, in all other Churches, where he happens to come; whereas if baptism only admitted men into some particular Church, they must be re-baptized, before they can lawfully be received to communion in any diocese, where they have not been baptized already.

If it was not thus in holy orders, that they who have received them in one place, retain them in others; no minister could have authority to preach the Gospel or to administer the sacraments, or to exercise any other part of his functions beyond the particular district in which he was ordained; the consequence whereas is manifestly this, that the gospel of CHRIST must not be propagated, nor any churches erected, in countries where they had not stood even since the Apostles' times. For since there can be no ministers without ordination, as was before proved, so then they, who have been ordained in one country, may lawfully exercise their respective functions in others, where there are no ordained ministers already settled, or else those countries must remain for ever without ministers, and consequently without sacraments and other public offices of religion.

NELSON, CONFESSOR.-Festivals and Fasts.

...

The Church being a regular society founded by CHRIST, distinct from and independent of all other worldly societies, must naturally make us suppose that He instituted some Officers for the government of it. [The] Powers peculiar to the superior Order being necessary for the good government of the Church, it is plain in fact they did not expire with the Apostles. But, as our SAVIOUR "glorified not Himself to be made an High Priest," but had His commission from GOD the FATHER, So after His resurrection, He invested the Apostles with the same commission His FATHER had given unto Him: "As My FATHER hath sent Me, even so send I you and He breathed on them, and said unto them, Receive ye the HOLY GHOST." In which commission is plainly contained the authority of ordaining others, and a power to transfer that commission upon others, and those upon others to the end of the world. And to show that it was not

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merely personal to the Apostles, our SAVIOUR promises to be with them and their successors in the execution of this commission, even unto the end of the world.". . . . This commission the Apostles and their successors exercised in all places, and even in opposition to the Rulers that then were; so that the Church subsisted as a distinct society from the state, for above three hundred years, when the civil government was only concerned to suppress and destroy it. Indeed when the Church received the benefit of incorporation and protection from the state, she was content to suffer some limitation as to the exercise of these powers, and thought herself sufficiently recompensed by the advantages that accrued to her by the incorporation.

KETTLEWELL, PRESBYTER AND CONFESSOR.-Practical
Believer, ii. 6.

Question. There remains yet one instance of the Communion of the Primitive Christians, mentioned by St. Luke, viz. their "continuing in the Apostles' fellowship." (Acts ii. 42.) I pray you what is meant by that?

Answer. Owning their authority and continuing under their government. They were appointed by CHRIST, as His deputies, to govern His Church; and, therefore, to adhere to them, as the delegates of CHRIST, is called living "in their fellowship."

Q. But how can we live in their fellowship, and adhere to their government, now they are dead?

A. By adhering to and owning the authority of our own Bishops, who are their successors, and rule the Church in their stead.

HICKS, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR.-Treatise on the Episcopal

Order, § 2.

Can you, Sir, when you consider that Bishops are appointed to succeed the Apostles, and, like them, to stand in CHRIST's place, and exercise their kingly, priestly, and prophetical office over their flocks; can you, when you consider this, think it novel, or improper, or uncouth, to call them spiritual princes, and their dioceses principalities?-when they have every thing in their VOL. III.-74.

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