in all things, that their children should be well educated, &c. And that which I say in general, I apply also to thee, Timothy, to the end thou mayest live unblameable in the house of God, in the Church of the living God. Add, according to the interpretation of these gentlemen, "which Church is infallible and cannot err;" and there is nothing of any natural connexion in it. On the contrary, that conceit of the infallibility of the Church, according to the principle that our adversaries make use of in the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, would harden them in security; for let them do as they will, all would go well, and after whatsoever manner the pastors govern, the Church could never be corrupted, nor its truth be lost. Which would seem far more proper to inspire negligence into the bishops, than to animate them to their duty. In effect, if they cannot tell how to exhort men by motives of that nature, they ought then to confess the truth, to wit, that these words, the pillar and ground of the truth, note the end and natural design of the Church, that for which she is made, and to which she is called, which is to sustain and bear the truth, and to make it subsist in the world, and so the discourse of the Apostle appears very just, and well connected: behold, says he, after what manner the bishops ought to frame their course, and after what sort thou oughtest to live in the Church of God, in behaving thyself in it so, as remembering that God has appointed it to be the pillar and ground of his truth; live therefore in that manner that may answer that end, or that natural appointment of the Church. Just as if the King, exhorting one of the officers of his Parliament to do his duty, should tell him, That he lived in a body that was the pillar and ground of justice, and the rights of the crown; that is to say, which is naturally ordained for the maintaining justice in the state, and to defend the rights of the crown. But as that speech of the Prince would not establish any privilege of infallibility in the Parliament, so neither can that of the Apostle do it for the Church for societies do not always follow their natural appointments; we see that they often enough depart from them. I confess that the Church does not always wander from its end, nor in

all things; yet it cannot also be imagined that she never departs : for the wicked are mingled with the good in the same society ; the dignities of the Church are sometimes to be found more possessed by the men of the world than by the truly faithful; the very best men themselves are subject to weaknesses, and they sometimes commit faults of that importance, that may consequently be dilated by continuance, and all that cannot but produce errors and corruptions, which it will be most necessary to reform.

"Behold all those passages of Scripture upon which, they seem to me, to found that pretension of the infallibility of the Latin Church!"-Claude's Defence of the Reformation. Vol. I, p. 68-73.

NOTE E. (Page 22.)

"THE dignity and authority of the Church of Jerusalem, indeed, was, for some time, great, as is plain from the Acts of the Apostles. The brethren of Antioch submitted their controversy about the obligations of the Mosaic Law to the judgment of this Church, Acts xv. That other Churches acted in the same way is highly probable. PAUL, though called of God to discharge the office of Apostle, was nevertheless especially careful, to approve and commend himself and his doctrine to the Apostles and Church at Jerusalem, Gal. i. 18. ii. 7, 8, 9. But the foundation of this authority was not so much in the Church of Jerusalem, which never desired pre-eminence above the rest, as in the Apostles of Jesus Christ, who presided over the Church of Jerusalem, and were by Jesus Christ appointed judges of things of a religious nature. It was the Apostles properly, not the Church of Jerusalem, whom the other Churches consulted. Although, to confess the truth, that Church itself, even when the Apostles were absent, might in doubtful cases, have been consulted, in preference to other Christian societies. For at Jerusalem many more, than in

the other Churches, were endowed with Divine illumination, and other heavenly gifts: since the Holy Spirit fell miraculously not only on the Apostles, but on all the people, who then professed the faith of Christ in that city, Acts ii. 1, &c. I have no doubt that equal authority belonged to the Church of Ephesus among the Asiatic Churches, while ST. JOHN lived in it; nay, I suppose that all Churches over which any of the Apostles presided for a time, abtained this honour, that from them neighbouring Churches sometimes took example both in teaching and acting, I will even go further, if any one choose, for I would not be captious: I will grant then, that to all Apostolic Churches, that is, such as the Apostles themselves had reared and instructed, this was for some time given, that, when new opinions concerning religion happened to be started, and disputes raised, they were consulted. Of this custom, many proofs may be collected from the writers of the second century. For the teachers of that age, were of opinion, and not wholly without reason, as times then were, that none should know better to think and speak of religious subjects, than those who had received instruction from the very ambassadors of Jesus Christ. Besides, since those who disseminated new opinions among the people, defended themselves by the authority of the Apostles, it seemed necessary to check their boldness, by the testimonies also of Churches which Apostles had founded. On this subject it will be sufficient to read TERTULLIAN'S Prescriptions against Heretics. Those, however, who from this fact presume, that the inequality of the ancient Churches, and the judicial power of the Apostolic ones may be proved, are very much deceived. For, not to mention, that the judicial power was ascribed, not to their Churches, but to their founders the Apostles, whose voice and discipline was thought still to live in assemblies, which they had formed; nor to remark, that as the authority and power of councils increased, the old custom of appealing to Apostolic Churches was laid aside this whole affair was equally voluntary, as it is now-a-days, whether or not a man shall present for solution, doubts with which he is distressed, to a college of divines in some university. Never

surely will it be shown, that any law was made, for referring dif ficult questions to Apostolic Churches; never will it be proved, that the decisions of those Churches were regarded as oracles, and that he who might think proper to depart from them was esteemed impious. The Churches, therefore, in which Apostles had long continued, enjoyed, in early times, great respect: yet this will remain most certain, that they had no command, no power of governing the rest as they thought proper."—Mosheim "De rebus Christianorum," &c. Sœculum primum § 48. Cited by Mr. Ewing in his Lecture on Acts xv, Appendix. p. 98— 100. See also Vidal's Translation of Mosheim's Commentaries, Vol. 1. P. 264-265.

NOTE F. (Page 26.)

THIS "Exposition of the doctrines," &c. is an abridgment of Bossuet's well known work on the subject; a work singularly marked by the cautious and guarded nature of its statements, and the tone of moderation which pervades it. No one can for a moment doubt that it was the object of the writer to render Popery as like Protestantism as he possibly could, for the purpose of insinuating that the points of difference were not so great as had been generally imagined; and to induce a Protestant inquirer to concede those principles, which should involve in them the admission of the supreme and infallible authority of the Church of Rome. Hence he avails himself of the differences among the Protestants, and often attempts to refute the objections of the reformed Gallican Church against his own communion, by the arguments which Independents brought forward against the reformed Church. The reformed Church was on the model of the Genevese Church, and therefore Presbyterian in its discipline and government. Bossuet artfully reasons from the objection which an Independent would adduce against the synodical power of Presbyterianism, to invalidate the arguments of a Presbyterian

against the authority of general councils. The same mode of reasoning is frequently employed by him in his celebrated 'Conference with Claude;" and it is amusing to an Independent to observe the difficulty to which the Protestant advocate is sometimes reduced, by this artful method of attack. Robinson, in his Life of Claude, adverts with his characteristic freedom to this argument. He observes, in reference to Bossuet's Exposition, that he "endeavoured so to explain the doctrines of Popery, as to prove them perfectly agreeable to those of the reformed Churches. Even moderate Papists blushed for that shameful sacrifice of truth, which this audacious disputant made for the sake of gaining proselytes. Protestants have exposed his absurdity, and refuted his sophistry a thousand times over: but, after all, there is one argument, and that the capital one, which was urged home by the prelate, and which lies unanswered to this day. The following is a true translation of his words. "The supreme authority of the Church is so necessary to determine the sense of Scripture, that even our adversaries, after they have reprobated it as an intolerable tyranny among us, have been obliged to establish it among themselves. When Independents openly declared, that every believer ought to follow the dictates of his own conscience, without submitting to the authority of any bodies, or ecclesiastical assemblies of men, and on this principle refused to submit to the synods, that, which was held at Charenton in 1644, censured this doctrine for the same reasons, and on account of the same inconveniences, for which we reject it." He then goes on to shew that the synod entertained the same ideas of independency as the Church of Rome embraced. He proves from the votes of the synod, that they allowed no right of private judgment: but insisted under pain of excommunication, that every religious dispute should be referred to conference, from thence to consistory, thence to a provincial synod, and finally to a national synod, from which supreme court there lay no appeal. "Now, adds he, is not this as absolute a submission as we demand? The Independents agree to be determined by Scripture, so do you, and so do we.