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their principles, they must stand acquitted of the charge of being "fanatics, going. a note higher than the Presbyterians, and less capable of being restrained within any bounds of temper and moderation*.

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Take away, however, the disloyalty and wildness of fanaticism imputed to them, and in doctrine, government, and worship, the Independents of the present day will be found not widely different from their predecessors. Some of them are said to be Arminians, but the mass is Calvinistic; and their grand principles of isolated congregations, ordination by choice of the flock, power of admission and exclusion in each religious society, and disregard of ancient usage as an interpreter of Scripture, still remain untouched.

In the Treatise prefixed to the present volume of our History, a refutation of the sentiments of both Presbyterians and Independents, relative to church-government, has been attempted. We have shown, in opposition to the former, that the primitive government was episcopal; and to the latter, that it contained the principle and practice of authority vested in individual persons and -churches over more congregations than one. It will be remembered, that even if this ground were untenable, episcopacy could still make a stand on the ground of expedience: for the 23d and 36th . Articles are exceedingly modest in their preten* Hume,

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sions, merely asserting the legality of episcopal ordination, and not maintaining it by divine or exclusive right. They speak not the language of attack or condemnation with reference to other forms, and seem as though the church were resting on its defence against the extravagant and exclusive pretensions of the sects. It might be argéd, then, that under a monarchical government episcopacy is, by analogy, the proper ecclesiastical establishment. It might be urged, that in presbyteries and synods there is danger lest human passions and politics enter into questions purely moral; lest friendship defend the culpable, and rivalship bear hard upon the guiltless. It might be urged, that Independent societies are in extreme danger of that unsuspected influence which warps the judgment in other popular assemblies that the rich, the overbearing, the loquacious, the assiduous, the turbulent, will sometimes bear down the meek and modest cause of truth: that the narrow-minded cannot rẻgard the interests of any society on a large and --liberal scale; that their horizon is bounded by present advantage; that their opinion is formed from the crust of appearances; and that their decision is the voice of the passions. The minister is, necessarily, either a parasite and a mendicant, who must touch lightly the string of those faults and foibles which adhere to his patrons and supporters; or if he scorn to speak smooth things, and to pro

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phesy deceits, he is an honest man, but an imprudent one. He speaks the truth, and his family suffers for it. It is a painful and perilous trial, to place the most conscientious minister continually in a situation, where he must either seem ungrateful to his most liberal friend on earth, or unfaithful to his Father in heaven. Again, when any matter of dispute arises in the society, if one wealthy Diotrephes, who loveth to have the pre-eminence, shall carry his point in triumph over another, the congregation is either rent by open discord, or secret jealousies disturb the pure spirit of Christian charity: or lastly a swarm flies off from the contentious hive, and endless divisions and subdivisions are the consequence...

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In the Church of England the bishop is the apex of a pyramid. Aided by learned and wise advisers around him, and removed from the contagion of those insensible biases, which the mind receives from neighbourhood and competition, he is an adequate, he is the best judge of all diocesan matters exclusively submitted to his cognizance. In affairs where legal knowledge and open investigation are required, the law takes its course in ecclesiastical courts. The bishops are supports of the throne: no Bishop, no King. By admission to the court, they are guarantees for the decorum of its manners. By mingling in the supreme assembly of the nation, they watch, with ealous eyes, all laws that might be inimical to

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right faith or to pure morality. By being num-bered with the highest ranks in society, and by *partaking of their honours and titles of respect, they add dignity to the national religion. The mitre reflects the lustre of the coronet.

With reference to the two inferior orders of the church, gradations in this profession, as in all ⚫others, are expedient. A deacon is usually a very young man. He cannot pronounce the absolution, or consecrate the bread and wine in the eucharist; and some experience, some tried gravity, might seem, in reason, requisite to the performance of these extra-solemn offices. Persons are admitted to deacons' orders at the age of twentythree; to priests' orders, one year later; and this, • after a new and stricter examination, relative to their talents and morals; an ordinance which provides, that the minister, during the first year of his ecclesiastical life, shall establish the salutary habits of weaning his mind from secular pursuits; of retaining his academical information; and of establishing a character for gravity, piety, morality, application, and knowledge, which shall be a pledge for his behaviour throughout the whole of life*.

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It has been objected by the Independents to the Church of England, that the people do not choose their own pastors; which has been called their

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unalienable right. The pretended instances are

My own Sermon in the Reasonableness of the Church.

those of Matthias and the seven deacons; but Matthias was chosen by God: and only one hun dred and twenty of the congregation, who must at least have consisted of five hundred (1 Cor. xv. 6), were present: and as the Seventy, and the. eleven Apostles, must have made eighty-one of these, no power can be inferred as residing in the laity to elect without the help of church officers.

! In the choice of the seven deacons (who were not properly intrusted with cure of souls), the people were guided and limited by the Apostles; the number was confined to seven; and the company out of which they were to be chosen, as well as their qualifications, were moreover distinctly pointed out.

The Apostles, the foundation of the church, were chosen by Christ, previous to the forming of a congregation: neither did the Apostles consult the people in regard to whom they should ordain : they created early converts to be bishops and ministers of those who should hereafter believe *.. Did St. Paul commit the choice of bishops and dea cons, in Ephesus and Crete, to the people? No; but to Timothy and Titus. St. Paul even cau tioned Timothy against popular election: election by persons having itching ears. It is probable that Titus received a similar caution: since election would not be incautiously placed in the hands of Cre tans, described by St. Paul as liars and.evil beasts...

* Sleater's Ans. to Sir P. King, p. 90; Clem. ad Corinth:

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