Deacons of a Church, as when he wrote to the Philippians, he gave no Directions concerning Ordination, nor told them who or what Perfons were proper to be chofen and admitted into the Miniftry, which he, that is fo particular in other Matters, would not have omitted, if it had belonged either to the People in general, or to the Bihops, or Presbyters, and Deacons in particular to have appointed or ordained fuch Minifters. But when he wrote to Timothy and Titus (who, as I have fhewed, were of the Apoftolica! Order) then he gives full Directions concerning Perfons to be ordained, and lets them know whom they ought to admit into the Miniftry, directing (n) Timothy to lay Hands fudd.nly on no Man, and telling Titus (0) that he left him in Crete to ordain Elders in every City. Now it cannot be thought that St. Paul would have been fo particular upon this Subject in his Epiffles to thefe Two Perfons, who were, as I have fhewed, of the Apoftolical Order, and fhould fay nothing of it in any other of his Epiftles, if it had not belonged to Men of the Apoftolical Order particularly, and to no others, to ordain Bihops, or Presbyters, and Deacons. For had any fuch Authority belonged to the whole Body of Chriftians in any Church, as fome have pretended it does, can we think that amongft fo many Epiftles as we have in the New Teftament fent to feveral Churches, we fhould not have one Word concerning Ordination in any of them, but only in the Two Epiftles to Timothy, and in that to Titus? This, I think, is a very reafonable Argument. However, it is plain, even to Demonftration, that the Apoftles, and Men of the Apoftolical Order, had this Authority to ordain

(n) 1 Tim. v. 22. (0) Tit. i. 5.

and

and fend others: And there is not the least Intimation in Scripture that any others, whether Deacons or Presbyters, had any fuch Authority, fince we find no others to have exercifed it, nor any Direction given to others about it. It is alfo manifeft, that whilft our Saviour was on Earth, only he could fend Labourers into his Harveft, and that the Apoftles alone (being fent by him as he was fent by the Father) had that Authority after his Afcenfion, and there is not the Shadow of any Proof that they committed this Authority to Presbyters; for Authority to minifter the Word and Sacraments, was no Authority to commiffion others to perform thofe Offices, fince, as I have fhewed, the Apoftles had Authority to minifter the Word and Sacraments whilft Chrift was with them, but not to fend others for that Purpose. There being therefore demonftrative Proof that the Apoftles, and thofe whom they had ordained to the fame Order with themfelves, were authorized to ordain or fend Minifters, and nothing like a Proof that any others could do it, we may very fairly affirm, that it does not appear from the Scriptures,that any inferior Order could ordain. And for as much as the Apoftles were called and fent by Chrift, and appointed by him to be a perpetual ftanding Order of Minifters in his Church, whom he has promifed to be with alway, even unto the End of the World, which has been alfo fully proved, it is certain that their Office, which we now call by the Name of Epifcopacy, is of Divine Right, being an Office inftituted by Chrift himself, who is very God as well as very Man, to be the ordinary, ftanding, permanent Miniftry in his Church, to which the chief Government of the Church was by him committed.

§ XII. But

§ XII. But for as much as there were fome Things peculiar to the Twelve Apoftles, which were not communicable to their Succeffors, fuch (p) as to have been from the beginning Eye Witeffes and Minifters of the Word, (q) to have heard from the beginning, to have feen with their Eyes, to bave looked upon, and with their Hands to have handled the Word of Life: (r) And also to have been Witneffes of his Refurrection: To which we may add that particular Div ne Infpiration which they received by the Holy Ghoft, (s) whom the Father fent in Chrift's Name to teach them all things, and to bring all things to their remembrance whatfoever he faid unto them, whereby they were rendred infallible in the Account which they gave of the Life and Acts of Jefus Christ, and in the Doctrines which they delivered to the World by Preaching or Writing, and therefore their Books contained in the New Teftament are received by the Church as the Word of God, being written by the infallible Directions of his Spirit. For this Reason, and upon Account of thefe incommunicable Privileges of the firft. Apoftles, thofe who fucceeded them in their Office of governing the Church, humbly abftained from the Name Apoftles, and contented themselves with the Name of Bishops, which (as I have before obferved) was in the Scripture Language given to the Second Order, who were then promifcuously called either Bishops or Presbyters. For immediately after the Death of St. John (the laft Survivor of the 12 Apoftles) we find the Three Orders diftinguished by the Names of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, as

(p) Luke i. 2. () John xiv, 26.

(4) John i. 1. (r) Acts i. 22.

they

they are to this Day; and the fame Power in the Government of the Church which our Saviour exercised, and did not communicate to his Apoftles till after his Refurrection, is exprefly declared to have been in the Bishop, and the Presbyters are faid to poffefs the Place which the Apoftles held under Chrift whilft he was here converfant with them: And the Bishops are afferted to be the Apostles Succeffors in that Power which they had vefted in them by Chrift, when he was going to leave them after his Refurrection, and the Presbyters are declared to be under them. This I fhall briefly prove by fome few Inftances from the Fathers which lived before the Council of Nice. I fay, fome few Inftances, because if I fhould go about to collect all the numerous Inftances which may be produced to this Purpose from the Fathers of the three firft Centuries only, I might write a Volume upon this one Head: But this has been already done by fo many excellent Pens, that I may well content my felf with a few plain Instances, referring those that require more to the many larger Volumes which have been written on this Subject of the Divine Right of Epifcopacy.

§ XIII. I fhall begin with the Teftimony of St. Ignatius Bishop of Antioch, who was Contemporary with St. John the Apoftle. For St. John (t) died at Ephefus about the Year of our Lord 104, and St. Ignatius (u) fuffered Martyrdom about Three Years after, in the Year of our Lord 107, having been Bishop Forty Years, fo that he was alfo Contemporary with many other of the

(t) Cave Hift. Lit: Vol. 1. p. 10, (u) Cave Hift. Lit.

Vol. 1. P. 26.

Apoftles

Apoftles alfo. In his Paffage from Antioch to Rome (whither he was carried to be thrown to the wild Beafts in the Amphitheatre, for his bold Confeffion of the Chriftian Faith before the Emperor Trajan) he wrote Seven fhort Epiftles to feveral Churches, diverfe of whofe Bishops came to vifit him, and fupply his Wants upon the Road. In which Epiftles he aflerts the Divine Right of Epifcopacy as fully as may be. (w) In his Epiftle to the Magneftans he fays, I admonish that you study to do all things in the Unity of God, the Bishop prefiding in the Place of God, and the Presbyters in the Seat of the Apoftles, and the Deccons most dear to me having the Miniftry of Jefus Chrift committed to them. And to the Trallians he fays, (x) And for as much as you are subject to your Billops as to Jefus Chrift, you feem to me not to live according unto Men, but according to Jesus Christ, who died for you, that believing in bis Death you may avoid Death. It is therefore neceffary that as you do already, To you hould do nothing without your Bihop : But be fubject alfo to the Presbytery, as to the Apostles of Jefus Christ our Hope, in whom may we be found converfant. It behoves alfo the Deacons, being the

(το) Παραινῶ ἐν ὁμονοία Θεῖ σπεδάζεις πάντα πρέπειν, προκαθημών τὸ ἐπισκόπε εἰς τύπου Θεῖ κ τ πρεσβυτέων εἰς τόπον σωμδεία το Σποσόλων, και 7 διακόνων, ἢ ἐμοὶ γλυκυ Πάτων, πεπιςωμθύων διακονίαν Ἰησε Xeis, Ad Magne). 5 6.

(* Οτ ̓ ἂν 28 τω επισκόπω ὑποτάστε ως Ιησε Χειςῷ, φαίνεθέ μοι νὰ καλὰ ἀνθρώπινον ζῶνες ἀλλὰ καλὰ Ἰησῖν Χριςόν, * δὶ ἡμᾶς ἀποθανόντα, ἵνα, τις όσα τες εἰς + θάνατον αυτό, τὸ ἀποθανεῖν ἐμούγητε. Αναγκαίον δν ἔσιν, ὥστες ποιᾶτε, ἀνὰ τὰ ἐπισκόπε μηδὲν προσειν ὑμᾶς. Αλλ' ὑποτάσεως και την πρεσβυτερίῳ, ὡς τοῖς Σποςόλοις Ιησε Χρισῒ † ἐλπίδο ἡμῶν, ἐν ᾧ διάγοντες εὑρεθησώμεθα. Δὲν ἢ καὶ του διακόνος, ὄντας μυςηρίων Ιησᾶ Χeις, κατὰ πάντα τρόπον πᾶσιν ἀρέ σκειν. Ου η βρωμάτων καὶ ποτῶν εἰσιν διάκονοι, ἀλλ' ἐκκλη σίας θεῖ ὑπηρέθ. ι . 5 2.