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them, and who receiv'd their Ordination from the "bands of the First Reformers, their Call was without "doubt Ordinary, and conformable to the Practice of the Ancient Church: And all that it can have of "Extraordinary, confifts in this, that they have not followed the Papifts in the Distinction of Bishops and Presbyters. And it is, fays he, the Presbytery, not "the Bishop, that gives the Ordination. And feeing you argue on this Head, against me at the fame rate as that Popish Author of the Prejudices did against Monfieur Claude, I fhall refer you to his Anfwers, and fave the labour of tranfcribing him any farther:

And fince you demand the fame thing of Page 63. us, as the Chief Priests once did of our Saviour, Matt. 21. 23. By what Authority dost thou these things? and who gave thee this Authority? I fhall answer you as our Lord then answered them, by another Question, The Foreign Proteftant Refor mation, whence was it? From Heaven, or of Men? If they may be believ'd, when they tell you what their own Sense of it hath always been, you have heard what that is; and that the Patent you require a fight of, is no other than what is the indifputable and indifpenfible Duty of every Christian, according to his Place and Station in the Church, viz. To endeavour the Reformation of the Corruptions of the Church to which they particularly belong, or fo far to depart from it, which is according to the Doctrine of Chrift and his Apostles, who have bid us beware of the Leaven of the Pharifees and of the Sadduces, Matt. 16. 6. When he putteth "forth his own Sheep, he goeth before them, and the Sheep follow bim; for they know his Voice. And a Stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him; for they know not the voice of Strangers, John 10.4, 5. Take beed nhat you bear, Mark 4. 24. Prove all things, bold faft that which is good, I Theff. 5. 21. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Chrift hath made us free, and be

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not intangPd again with the yoke of bondage, Gal. §. 1. Little Children keep your felves from Idols, 1 Joh. 5. 21. "Believe not every Spirit, but try the Spirits whether they be of God, becaufe falfe Prophets are gone out into the World, Ch. 4. 1. Tea, and why even of your felves judge ye not what is right, Luk. 12. 57. From fuch Scriptures as thefe we take our Commiffion and Authority, not to dethrone Kings,or to new model the Civil Governments of the World, no, nor to depofe Bishops or overthrow their Chairs, or to abrogate their Office, which you pretend to fear, but to pull down, at least as far as concerns our own Practice, the High Places and the Strong holds of Antichrift, and not to be partakers of other Mens Sins, but to keep our felves pure, and to avoid thole Corruptions of Worship which fome Men would impofe upon us. And this is not only agreeable to the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures, but to the Doctrine of the Church of England too, as, were it needful, I could fufficiently prove by all the Arguments that have been us'd to juftify their Reformation, and Departure from the Church of Rome. And by this time I hope you have reafon to fee that that piece of Railery, as you juft call it, and with which you fill'a one half of your 71ft Page, endeavouring to faften it on me, is but your Invention, and might better have been omitted. And thus I fhall for the prefent take leave of my Foreign Proteftant Brethren, that I may the more clofely attend to what you are pleas'd to charge us with, who are nearer at home with you.

2. The Next thing that we are to confider, is, What concerns but fome, and that a very few of us, viz. Only fuch of us as have bad Epifcopal Ordination Of which number perhaps you will hardly find Three in a County now alive. And your great quarrel at thefe is, That fince they must have folemnly promis'd that they would obey their Ordinary, you

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were, and are fill defirous it should be confider'd, bow the Bleffing of Heaven can be expected on their Work, as now it is manag'd, when it is a continual breach of that Engagement. To which I reply'd in my Letter, as you have rightly enough quoted it, That our Charity obliges us to believe, that they took the Oath of Canonical Obedience in no larger Senfe, than is confiftent with the Rules of the Gofpel; and I further added, that we are fure it is no otherwife binding to 'em. And of this Opinion I am ftill, and fo I think are all the Proteftant Cafuifts that ever wrote of the Obligation of an Oath. Yet this is what you are pleas'd to call Perjury; I fuppofe, not because you would quarrel at my general Solution of the Cafe, wherein you would be very fingular; but either because you would perfwade us, that to Swear a Blind and Unlimited Obedience to a Bishop, is the Duty of all that expect a License to preach the Gospel under him; Or to believe, that whatsoever the Bishop is pleas'd to Command, is both Lawful and Honeft, and agreeable to the Rules of the Gofpel, which is your continued way of Begging the Queftion, taking that for granted, which we utterly deny. So that all your Rhetorick on this your unprov'd Suppofition, doth but expofe your felf.

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But as for thofe that have been Epifcopally Ordain'd, and yet now act in a State of Non-confor mity to the Church of England; How will you be able to prove that these Men did not take that Oath, or Subfcribe their Obedience, with fome Overt Proteftation, that none of thefe their Oaths, or Subfcriptions,fhould Oblige them to do any thing contrary to the Word of God, that is, what in their own Confciences they were perfwaded to be the Word and Will of God, as feveral did, and were permitted to do in Queen Elizabeth's time; and if fo, how uncharitably have you cenfun'd them for Perjury?

Perjury? But whether it were fo, or no; Let me ask you Seriously, Are you a Proteftant, and dare you affirm that an Oath of Canonical Obedience," impos'd by a Bishop on any Prieft, or Presbyter, is in the full latitude of the Words of the Oath, and of the Senfe and Intent of the Impofer, Obligatory on the Conscience of him that Swears, fo that he may not at any time, nor in any cafe, without Sin, do or forbear any thing befides, or contrary to the common and obvious Senfe of his Oath? Or doth an Oath of this kind always certainly deliver a Perfon from the danger of Sinning against God in keep ing it? Doth the Authority of a Bishop fo fanctify' the matter, as if he were a God? Pray confider whither it is that fuch a Pofition as this is leading you; Or of what Proteftant did you ever learn this Doctrine? 'Tis true, Oaths are. Sacred things, and not to be prevaricated or mock'd with, but must be Sworn in Truth, in Judgment, and in Rigbteousness. Therefore whoever meddles with an Oath had need to be firft well advis'd both of the Matter of the Oath, and of the Intent of the Impofer, that his Oath do not afterward give him juft cause of Repentance, or prove a Vinculum Iniquitatis. But you will tell us, that the Things here Sworn to, were in themfelves Lawful and Honeft, and by vertue of the Epifcopal Command, much more by the Oath, are made Neceffary. Ay, Sir, this is but what you have all along told us; and Í have told you too, for what Reafons we believe the contrary, and muft fo believe, till you can better convince us that we are in an Error; For what Church is there in the World, that will not, in their own cafe, tell us juft as you do? 'I fhall difmifs this your little Cavil with the words of Monfieur Claude. "I acknowledge (fays he, fpeaking of their First Reformers)

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Hift. Def.
Ref. Part. 4.
Ch. 4. p. 86.

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"ftration they went beyond the Intention of thofe "who had conferr'd the Offices on them, but they "did no more in that than they ought; For the Mini"stry which they had receiv'd being God's, and the "Churches, and not those private Mens who commuແ nicated it, they were bound to refer theirs to the greateft Glory of God, and the Edification of his Church, " and not to the Wills and Interests of the Court of Rome, and its Prelates, altho' it was thro' their "Channel that they receiv'd it. They did well therefore to make use of that which they had of Good in their Call, and to purify that which was Bad in it: "And they alfo did well to make use of it against the ill "Intention of those who bad given it them for an ill "End. Even as thofe who have receiv'd Baptifm from "a Heretical or Schifmatical Society, are bound by "that fame Baptifm which they have received from them, to oppose themselves, as much as poffible they can, to that Herefy or Schifm, and to make use of "that very Baptifm for it, altho' it should be against

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the Intention of those who gave it to them. And thus to deal with what is Evil in an Impofition, tho' bound on by an Oath, is not meerly matter of Liberty, but matter of Duty. And if to pluck the Foot out of the Snare, be to put a Trick upon a Bishop, as you fuggeft, 'tis but an honeft Trick for a Trick; and how ever you may hope to Cozen Children with thefe your Toys of Argument, we will beware that you cozen not us Men with your Oaths of Canonical Obedience.

But before I pafs on to the Next Head, I will propofe this one Query; Whence it came to pafs that on the Proteftant Reformation, fome of the Churches, as the Lutheran and English, retain'd the Epifcopal Government, as it had been practiced in the Church of Rome, and by the abuse of which the Bishop of that See had mounted himself to his Antichriftian height; But the other Churches,as thofe

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