very low and mean and I hope I shall alway carry a ready Inclination to do my Endeavour to support both the Honour and the true Interest of the Order But as all the Contempt that we seem to lie under is either with Men of profligate Principles and wicked Lives whose Reproaches can do us but little or no Harm or else with those who take Offence at our Carriage and Conduct So Nothing certainly will go farther to raise our Character and promote our Interest and engage Kings and States to entrust us with additional Honours and Powers than our Prudence and Piety and Modesty and great Humility which are none of them inconsistent with a due Regard to our just Authority And while these Virtues and Graces are sound to shine thro' all our Conduct we may vindicate our real Rights without any Scandal or great Offence But if we be vain and imprudent in our Behaviour troublesome and turbulent in our Conduct and grasp at Power and Authority in the Church only to support Factious Parties and to raise Tumults and Seditions against the STATE All this will really do us harm The Adversary will not fail to make all the Advantages that they can of it and we thus give them too just a handle thereto And this which is disagreable to the true Temper and Spirit of the Gospel will have yet a worse influence to our mighty Disadvantage It will make us cheap and mean in the Eyes of those Wise and Good Men by whose deserved Favour and Interest the Dignity and Character of our Holy Order should be supported LET any Man of common Understanding judge what the World will think or say of those Claims and Pretensions to Divine Power and Authority which apparently minister only to Ambition and Pride and Faction but are not at all serviceable to the Interest of true Religion Such are the Pretences that I have so often mentioned already of the Governors of the Church being Spiritual Kings Princes Lords Legates and supreme Monarchs in the Church Regent instead of the Church Militant and having a Share of CHRIST'S Kingly Power in his spiritual Kingdom as well as of his Priesthood In consequence of this to make all Christian Kings and Princes and States their spiritual Inferiors and Subjects from whom Submission and Obedience is to be expected in all Religious Matters under the Penalty of Excommunication and consigning them over to the Devil IN the Name of GOD what Advantage will all this be to Religion How naturally do such Pretensions put Mankind upon enquiring What Use the Clergy have made of this Authority in Times past when they had it in their Hands And when upon several Passages and Instances in History they can tell us that thro' this very Power Religion has been depraved and corrupted by the Clergy themselves who claim it What Advantage will this be to the Honour and Credit and Reputation of our Holy Order Will not every notorious Miscarriage committed under the Covert of a Divine Power from Christ in all Spiritual Causes occasion his whole Commission to be evil spoken of and turn the very Name of divine Right into Banter and Ridicule and a Name of Contempt and Derision and give too plausible a Ground for the scandalous Imputation of Priestcraft Who must bear the Blame of all this To whom is all this Contempt of the Clergy to be imputed In too great a Measure to the blameable Arrogance and boundless Ambition and spiritual Pride of some Clergymen Mankind often fall the lower by aspiring too high The Name of the Virgin Mary was always venerable and treated with great Respect among Christians until some began to adore her as a Goddess And Nothing has brought Her to be so disrespectfully treated as the Idolatry of Men in Worshipping her And so I in my Conscience believe That where there has been no scandalous Immorality of Life Nothing has made our Sacred Order meaner or lower in their Interest and Esteem than the claiming under GOD and CHRIST more Power than They ever intended to bestow upon us AND especially then are these Pretences scandalous and disadvantageous to our Character when the spiritual Authority of the Priesthood is set up in Opposition to the STATE and made use of as a Check upon the Secular Powers and a Means to weaken them in their Authority and to cramp them in the Administration of Civil Government I verily believe that the Christian CHURCH has lost more of Her true Interest by this than by any other Means whatsoever In that when the Lay Powers recover themselves out of such injurious Oppressions they never fail to make very large and ample Reprisals And here I must beg leave to remark That this Claim of an Independent Power in Ecclesiastical and Spiritual Affairs has not that I know of been set up by any of the Clergy of our Reformed CHURCH from Her first Reformation untill the late Happy Revolution And as it was then first set on foot by the Non-jurors in Defence of the Deprived Bishops and in Opposition to King WILLIAM and his Government So has it ever since been chiefly held up by those who have had little or no Affection for our National Establishment and Constitution from that Time And the Scandalous Part of all this Scuffle in Controversy and a Schismatical Separation from our CHURCH is not made on the Account of our Holy Religion and in Defence of the Powers by which that is to be Preserved but only in Behalf of a few particular Men and by those who are confessedly in the Interest of the Pretender and who have Nothing more at Heart then this groundless and unreasonable Schism in the CHURCH to dispose the Hearts of the English People to another Rebellion against the STATE Had it not been for the serviceableness of this Doctrine to breed such Confusions among us and to throw us into Factions and seditions it had never been set on Foot at first And if all other Methods of serving and supporting the Pretender's Cause had not been baffled and made ineffectual it had never been revived now For while they had Hope from other Means These were laid asleep And if Men were not blinded and infatuated above all Measure This is Demonstration clear enough that no such Ecclesiastical Power can be given by GOD and CHRIST The foremention'd Concession of our Adversaries being a most certain and indisputable Truth That Christ has given no Authority to his Church that can interfere with the Civil Powers To make an end I think I have plainly and clearly proved that altho' by CHRIST'S Commission the Divine Offices of all Christian Religious Ministrations are Appropriated to the Bishops and Clergy only Yet the General Governing Powers of this Divine Society are not That as these belong to it only of that Common Right which naturally belongs to all Societies and as they are necessary to the Attainment of that End for which it was Instituted of GOD so
Kings as well as 1 Pet. ii 9. Prop. 18. 21. Priests unto God That their Government in their several Dioceses or Districts is Monarchical and the Bishops are therein the supreme Representatives of CHRIST his Legates or Vicegerents in regard to whom Christian Emperors and Kings are their spiritual Subjects and Inferiors and ought to be obedient to them All these high Titles and big Words are evidently intended to possess the People with a Notion that Kings and Princes must have Nothing to do with Bishops unless it be when the CHURCH in Consideration of some valuable Advantages and temporal Endowments will modify Her Power and indulge them in a Share in Government on their good Behaviour In any other Case it is sacred favete linguis ite Profani say not a Word of Jurisdiction or Authority be gone it is the Ark of GOD touch it not lest you die Now in answer to all these high Strains for the Satisfaction of modest sober christian Minds let us enquire 1. WHAT St. Peter means when he tells us of all Christians for he does not speak of the Governors of the Church alone but of the whole Community of Christian Believers when he says Ye are a Royal Priesthood 1 Pet. ii 9. In the fourth Verse of that Chapter he vindicates CHRIST himself from the Contempt that Unbelievers had poured out upon Him and he calls Him a living Stone disallowed indeed of Men but chosen of GOD and precious And then for their farther Consolation under the Reproaches that were thrown upon themselves for Believing in Him he adds Verse 6. Ye also as living Stones are built up a spiritual House an holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. And again ver 9. Ye are a chosen Generation a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD an holy Nation a PECULIAR PEOPLE that ye should shew forth the Praises of Him who hath called you out of Darkness into his marvellous Light Whatever therefore might be intended by that Expression under the Jewish Dispensation when it was first used it is plain that St. Peter intended no more by it than to set forth how honourable and favourable a State all Christian People are in with GOD whom He loves and esteems and counts dear to Him even as the Priests of His Congregation And what is all this to the making Bishops Kings and Princes and Lords of the Flock of CHRIST with a Supremacy of Power Not but that I readily allow that the Authority which CHRIST first committed to his Apostles was by them put into the Hands of Bishops and by them is convey'd down to us and that they are under CHRIST the supreme Governours of this spiritual Community whenever the secular Potentates refuse to concern themselves therein And very great Deference Regard Honour and Submission ought to be paid to them all on that Account AND yet methinks this high Style and lofty Language does not mighty well suit the meek modest Temper of the Gospel in that there is not much of this grand Strain in the New Testament The Royal Priesthood we have seen will do them but little Service in that it respects every private Christian as well as the spiritual Governors of the CHURCH And altho' we are call'd Ambassadours of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God yet this 2 Cor. i. 24. our Christian Embassy must be managed with all imaginable Meekness and Humility St. Paul after a very small degree of Authority in threat'ning the Corinthians corrects himself thus Not that we have Dominion over your Faith And St. Peter very affectionately exhorts 1 Pet. v. 3. the Clergy not to carry themselves as being Lords over Gods Heritage but Examples to the Flock But Dr. Hickes and his Non-juring Friends are for lording it over Emperors and Kings their spiritual Inferiors and Subjects who ought to be obedient to the Bishops and Clergy in what concerns Religion Not so the Meek the Blessed and Humble JESUS who teaches his Apostles thus The Kings of Luke xxii 26. the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them but it shall not be so with you But he that is greatest among you let him be as the younger and he that is chief as he that doth serve We may see in the Style we use what Manner of Spirit we are of and how far we are degenerated from the Original Meekness of our Holy Religion And yet at last after all this great Talk if it does not infect the Minds of the ignorant common People it is nothing to the Purpose For when all is said that can be said this Way the main Question still remains to be argu'd which is 2. WHETHER all the Fullness of the Power which the Clergy can be supposed to have in the spiritual Affairs of the CHURCH does amount to an Exclusion of the supreme Jurisdiction and Authority of the STATE Whether CHRIST ever intended that the Government of the Church should be so managed by spiritual Men alone the Bishops and Pastors of it as that the supreme secular Powers should have no Right or Title to any Judicial Authority therein but be excluded from that as well as from the Divine Offices of the Priesthood And the Determination of this Matter must not be made by any high Strains of Rhetoric or lofty metaphorical Titles that may be used but from the Jurisdiction and Authority that are really given and appropriated to them in Holy Scriptures So that unless it could be proved from thence that the general Powers of governing the Church are by CHRIST'S Commission appropriated to the Priesthood as the Ministration in Holy Offices is all the rest that can be said will be to no Purpose For it must be unreasonable and unjust to exclude the Authority of secular Powers where GOD and CHRIST have not excluded them To this Argument let me add II. THAT such an exempt independent exclusive Authority in the CHURCH where it is not highly necessary to the Support of Religion is indeed very absurd It has Something worse in it than erecting Imperium in Imperio it is actually setting up the Kingdom of God the SON in Opposition to that of the FATHER and in Derogation of His supreme Authority and Power DR Hickes and his Friends tell us That the Christian CHURCH is the spiritual Kingdom and Body of Christ I grant this to be very true and so is the Government of the whole World by the temporal Powers of it the Temporal Kingdom of God the FATHER Who is Lord of all the Earth the only Potentate Josh iii. 11 13. the King Eternal whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and ruleth over all In this Kingdom the Civil Powers are the Ordinance of God for the Good of Mankind they are the Ministers of God for Good to whom all 1 Tim. vi 15 i. 17. Psal cxlv 13. ciii 19. Rom. xiii 2 c. must needs be subject for Conscience Sake And therefore for the Ministers of
Church seems wholly Inconsistent with that Interest and Care and Concern for Religion which Christian Kings and Princes are alway supposed to have and the Regulation and Defence of which is one great End and Purpose of all their Authority Till I see farther Reason against it than what has yet been shewn I cannot but believe that the Civil Government in their Way and by a due Exercise of their Power is concerned for the Good of Mens Souls to promote Virtue and true Religion as well as the Bishops and Pastors of Christ's Flock And if they are then to exclude their Jurisdiction in all Ecclesiastical Causes and Matters is to rob them of one great Part of their Sovereignty It is in effect to confine all the Authority of Princes only to the Preservation of Peace and Order and Justice in Human Societies without any Regard to GOD and Religion And I know of no good Reason that can be given for this For altho ' GOD the FATHER for the Honour of our Blessed Redeemer and the more effectual Accomplishing our Redemption has given him a Church and a Kingdom within his own Dominions and allowed Him his Proper Ministers and Governors of this CHURCH under his own Divine Authority Yet I hope these Gentlemen will not say that this carries along with it a Devolution of all Power and Authority in religious Affairs from Princes to Bishops from the Governors of the State to those of the Church And if it does not then the Secular Powers ought not in any such Affairs to have their Authority and Jurisdiction excluded That would be to subvert one of the main Ends of their Institution which was That under them we might live peaceable and quiet Lives in Godliness as 1 Tim. ii 2. well as in common Honesty These Gentlemen I know will allow Kings and Princes to exercise all their Authority in the Defence of the Church and for the Protection of its Powers and the Support of it in the Execution of its Laws altho' nothing to its Disadvantage And is it so then at last that by virtue of Christ's Commission Kings and Princes have no more to do with Religious Matters than only under the Directions of the Church to minister to the Support of the Spiritual Jurisdiction when ever they think sit so to Modify their Power I hope that all Christian Emperors and Kings will be sensible what Honours and Favours such Churchmen intend them in admitting them to so great a Privilege And must they in all other Cases be discharg'd of all Regard and Concern for GOD and RELIGION in the Government of their People Sure I am that it was not so under the Jewish Dispensation when this Separation of the Priesthood from the Secular Powers first began Kings did then intermeddle in Ecclesiastical Causes and regulate the Affairs of Religion and had Jurisdiction in the Government of the Church The Ark of the Covenant which none might look into or so much as touch it but the Priests alone Was yet so far under the 2 Sam. vi Government and Authority of King David 2 Sam. xv that he commanded it to be removed first to this Place and then to that He also distributed the several Courses both of the Priests 2 Chron. xxiii xxiv xxiv and Levites and gave the Levites a new Law for their Offices that they who before began not their Attendance till the Thirtieth Year of their Age should now begin it at the Twentieth He took the Ark from the Tabernacle 2 Chron. i. 3 5. of the Congregation and leaving that behind at Gibeon he built a new Tent for it at Jerusalem How came he to meddle so much with that which was in the Peculiar Custody of the Priests The like was afterwards 2 Chron. xxiv xxiii 4. done by Hezekiah who also by his Royal Decree appointed the Passover to be kept and called all the Ten Tribes of Israel to Jerusalem to the Celebration of it who had been hindred from it for a long time before Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being 1 Kings ii 27 35. Priest unto the Lord. Which let the Adversaries say what they will to evade it was as much a Deprivation as any one of those they now complain of and when he had done this he put Zadock the Priest in the Room of Abiathar The Altar of Bethel was destroy'd by King Josiah Idolatry was frequently punished and suppressed by their Kings and the suffering Religion to be corrupted by introducing Evil and Idolatrous Novelties into the Worship of GOD is often charged as a Crime and a Blemish in the Administration of their Government Now as the Instances mentioned in which they did exert their Power were undeniable Acts of Church Government and Ecclesiastical Authority So the Charge and Imputation of Guilt upon them in their Neglects of this kind plainly shew that they had a just Authority and a rightful Jurisdiction therein And if the Jewish Kings were allowed to have Power and Authority in Ecclesiastical Matters and the Priesthood claimed no Independent Power in Church Government under that Dispensation in which the Administration of Divine Offices was as much separated from the Secular Magistrates as it is now under the Gospel Some very good Reason some strong Proof some very bright and clear Evidence should be produced to convince one that the Jurisdiction which Kings exercised under one Dispensation is quite taken away by the other ESPECIALLY too when this claimed Authority is not to be limitted to Articles of Faith and Matters of Divine Revelation only but is extended to a Judicial Cognizance in all our moral Actions as well as in those that are purely religious And for the Kings and Potentates of the World not to submit to the Sanctions and Determinations of such Men in all Cases of Morality is arrogantly called Disobedience to their spiritual Superiors Vindic. Prop. 21. and Rehellion against the Legates and Vicegerents of Christ And to restrain ecclesiastical Persons in any extravagant Proceedings of this Kind is represented by some Men as downright Persecution WHAT an Original Piece of spiritual Pride is this I would desire any Reader seriously to consider that if such Doctrines as these had been preached by the Apostles and Primitive Christians Whether it would not have been the greatest Disadvantage imaginable to the Propagation of the Gospel And whether it would not have given all the Secular Potentates of the World a great and invincible Prejudice against it What Heathen Emperor or King would have embraced this Religion or given any Countenance at all to the Profession of it who should have been told That in the very Minute that this Religion was professed by him and became established in his Dominions he was to lose one half of his Authority over his People That he was no longer to have that Fullness of Jurisdiction and Power which he had before and which other Kings and Emperors enjoy'd round about him but was
now to give up his Sovereignty and Supremacy in all Spiritual Ecclesiastical Causes and in all Moral Actions into the Hands of his spiritual Governors of that Church of which he was now becoming a Member He is now no longer to claim an universal Supremacy in his Dominions but himself becomes a Subject to his Subjects and their spiritual Inferior the Bishops in his Kingdom being as so many Kings and spiritual Monarchs who have a Divine Right to tye up his Hands from having any thing to do in the Government of the Church or in Matters of Religion Would not all the Secular Potentates in the World have spurn'd at and despised the Preachers of so senseless a Religion as an Imposture and a Cheat that under a Pretence of Godliness was contrived to wrest one great Part of their Authority out of their Hands And would not such an Attempt as this too deservedly have caused the Word of Truth to be evil spoken of Most assuredly it would And yet this is the very Thing that an Independent Authority in Church Government naturally and universally tends to DR Hickes is pleased to say Constit p. 76. That the Governors of the Church lose Nothing of their Power Authority or Jurisdiction by admitting Sovereign Princes into the Church I beg leave to ask then Whether it is not altogether as reasonable both for the Honour and Interest of Christianity that Christian Princes should lose Nothing of their Temporal Authority by embracing this our Holy Religion And if it be I am sure that the Schemes which are now laid out for Kings and Princes to rule by under the Church's independent Power cannot be of GOD because they make Spoil and Havock of the secular Powers and rob them of one entire Branch of their Sovereignty and Dominion And yet this is not the worst Evil that attends this Claim For V. IT not only robs Kings of all Sovereignty in religious and spiritual Affairs but is extended also to their Administration of the Temporal I have already observed That these Gentlemen bring all the moral Actions of humane Life under the peculiar Cognizance of the spiritual Government of the CHURCH Every Thing in which the Consciences of Men are concern'd they claim as falling wholly within this spiritual Jurisdiction so much as a Judge between two private Luke xii 14. Men in the Division of a small Estate But our Modern Independents in Church Government make themselves Judges of Kings and of their Titles to their Thrones They in effect divide the Kingdoms of the Earth according to their Decisions and Determinations By a pretended Supremacy from CHRIST they put a Check upon the Legislature in the Laws that they provide for the Security of the Nation and labour to controul the States of the Realm in the Administration of their secular Affairs They sanctify even Sedition and Rebellion by their spiritual Authority and take upon them to absolve the Subjects from all the strictest Oaths whereby they have sworn Allegiance to their King They endeavour to bind it upon the Consciences of Men to set up one King and to dethrone another according to their personal Sentiments and Opinions Now I would willingly be informed by them what Part of CHRIST'S Commission it is that gives them this Authority or that in any disputable Titles to the Throne makes them the Judges of it And yet the Modern Independents in Church Goverment do not only assume all this to themselves but they also lay as much Stress on their own Notions and Assertions of this Kind as tho' they had a Spirit of Infallibility or an immediate Revelation from Heaven What less than this could induce them to charge all the Great Men of our Church however learned and equally pious with themselves as Teaching and Acting and Praying contrary to the essential Righteousness of GOD only because they teach and act and pray contrary to their particular Sentiments and Schemes in Civil Government What is this but to arrogate to themselves a Spirit of Infallibility in the Interpretation of those Scriptures on which they build their Notions and Opinions Will not the Reader stand still here and Pause a little and Question the Truth of what I say Will he not think it incredible that spiritual Men should approach so near to Blasphemy as to set up their own political Principles as the infallible Tests of Truth and Righteousness Certain it is that CHRIST'S Commission is of another Nature and never was intended to authorize the Governors of the Church to frame the Government of Nations too according to their disputable Models and controverted Schemes and to damn all Mankind as Hereticks and Schismaticks and Rebels who will not come in to them and desert the legal Constitutions of their Country This is foreign to the Business of the Gospel the Propagation of the Christian Faith by Preaching and Baptizing and Administring Sacraments and Training up Christians in Holiness and Devotion is a Sphere at so great a Distance from all this of Secular Government and Political Controversies that GOD certainly never gave the Governors of the Church any Divine Authority therein And therefore an Independent Authority in Church Governors which is industriously set up to this End must be an Imposture and a Cheat and contrary to the Will of CHRIST and of GOD. And Bishops and Clergymen by Virtue of CHRIST'S Commission may as well claim a Right to go into Westminster-Hall and turn out the Judges as giving Judgment contrary to the essential Righteousness of God as to teach the People that it is a Sin to be subject to the Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom where they live This brings me to my VI. LAST Argument which is That this Independent Authority in the Government of the CHURCH is utterly inconsistent with the Supremacy and Sovereignty of all Secular Potentates Two such Independent Authorities in the Government of the same Body of Men appear utterly incompatible They so frequently interfere and thereby bring such Mischiefs and Distractions into the World that they cannot possibly be both of them from GOD. He who is a God of Peace and Order and not of Confusion must not be supposed to have intended any two such Powers without a Subordination of the one to the other THE Supporters of that Claim being aware of this Argument would evade it by saying That the Mischiefs complained of proceed not from the Inconsistency of two such Powers but from the Encroachments of the two contending Parties And that all this would be prevented effectually if each would keep within their proper Limits and neither of 'em put their Sickle into the other's Harvest This is Regale Pontiff p. 15. smoothly and finely said indeed but Nothing to the Purpose because it is Arguing against plain Matter of Fact For they both of them claim a Right to the same Harvest and who then shall judge between them to preserve the Peace and Quiet of the Christian World Are
to that Government were such that it was become impossible for them to execute their Spiritual Offices in the CHURCH with any Security to the Peace and Safety of the STATE They could not perform Divine-Service in Publick because they would not own the Authority of the King who was to be prayed for therein The Bishops could not ordain other Clergymen for the same Reason They could not do it without obliging them by the Laws of the Land to own those Secular Powers whom they themselves did not own They could not govern the Clergy as Bishops by the Laws of the Land are bound to govern them without Teaching them and Instructing them to teach their People the Duty of Obedience to that King whom they themselves looked on as an unlawful King Neither could they answer the Ends or do the Business of the Government by sitting in Parliament as the Law expects and requires that all the Bishops of the Kingdom should do Nay in all their Exercise of Divine Offices they must undeniably lie under a strong Byass and Temptation of instilling dangerous Doctrines and Principles inconsistent with the Peace and Security of the Kingdom Can it be supposed then that any National Government wants a sufficient and competent Authority of removing such Bishops from their Sees and of putting other Orthodox Bishops in their Room And must They ask the Clergy's Leave to do this Or must they borrow a competent Authority from the CHURCH to do this effectually Miserable are the Princes who are in such a Case Wretched is the Kingdom that wants a competent Authority to do any Thing which appears necessary to be done with any of its Subjects of what Order soever to support it self and preserve its own Authority Who then can believe that Almighty GOD ever intended this Those who object against the Validity of such a Deprivation should consider two Things 1. THAT there is no Persecution of Christianity in it Had those Bishops been deprived for any Doctrines or Articles of the Christian Faith it would have looked more plausibly on their Side and might with more Reason have been called Persecution Or if upon their Deprivation their Districts and Sees had been left destitute of Orthodox Bishops regularly consecrated to perform the Divine Offices as others had done before them This would have made a great Alteration in the Case But when it is for an avowed Disaffection to the established Civil Government and judged necessary for the Security of it that Necessity proves it lawful and answers all Objections that can possibly be brought against it And therefore to pretend that such a Deprivation is not valid as to the People living within their Districts of such deprived Bishops because it is not Canonical is in effect saying nothing at all For Deprivation signifies nothing to the Purpose if it does not in the Effects of it bind all the Consciences of the Subjects to disown the Authority of the Persons so deprived and discharge them from all Obligations of future Submission to and Communion with them This is a Power without which Civil Government cannot stand and therefore Secular Powers must be granted to have a competent Authority to all such Purposes or else they are not only Subjects and Inferiors but even Slaves to their spiritual Sovereigns and must depend precariously on the Good-will and Favour of their Clergy whether they shall sit easy and safe on their Thrones or no. And all the Laws and Canons and Constitutions of the CHURCH if they be wise and good and christian must be made with a due Regard and Subserviency to this End or else they lose all their Validity and are to be looked upon as Nothing For this is a sure Principle never to be disputed That all National Governments have as sufficient and competent an Authority to do every Thing which is necessary to preserve the STATE as the Bishops and Clergy can have for the Support of RELIGION and the CHURCH AND if this Authority will extend to the valid Deprivation of the disaffected and disloyal Governors of the Church the plain Consequence of it is That all the Subjects of the Kingdom are in Duty and Conscience discharged from any farther spiritual Relation to or Communion with the Persons so deprived What is it then that our Non-jurors mean by Exclaiming against this even as tho' it were a Sin against the Holy Ghost To tell the World That all other Bishops who will not adhere to the deprived ones can perform no valid Acts of Priesthood their Prayers Dr. Hickes Collect. p 32. are Sin and their Sacraments no Sacraments and their Absolution Null and of no Force That all other Christians who are not in the Communion of the deprived Bishops are cut off from the Church of Christ can have no Benefit by His Promises no Assistance of His Grace no Mercy thro' His Blood Nay that altho' they die Martyrs for Christ yet Martyrdom it self cannot make amends for this Sin If a Stranger to our Gospel were to hear this he would certainly conclude that Christianity aimed at Nothing more than the Exaltation of the CHURCH'S Power and that Nothing greater was required to Salvation than to own these deprived Bishops to be the Heads of it Whereas in Truth the Commission given is only to preach the Gospel to administer the Sacraments and to exercise such Offices and such Powers as shall be necessary to the Propagation of the Christian Religion Without any Check upon Secular Potentates in their Administration of Civil Government or any Exemption from their Jurisdiction They have no Authority that interferes with Civil Powers To confirm all which it must not be forgotten 2. THAT in this Deprivation the STATE took away no Power which the CHURCH truly and properly speaking gives Dr. Hickes indeed insinuates p. 24. That as only Bishops have from Christ a Right to ordain so they only have a Right to deprive one another But this Argument is formed with more Cunning than Ingenuity and the Opposition is not fairly put It should not have been between Ordaining and Depriving but Ordaining and Deposing from the Sacred Order of the Priesthood In the one the CHURCH gives in the other She takes away Her spiritual Authority But Depriving is of another Nature it leaves the Persons all the Catholick Authority which the CHURCH gave if they can find Places where they may lawfully Exercise it and only restrains them from doing so in such and such Dominions It is chiefly Removing them from the Districts and Sees which they held of the Secular Powers and thereby from all Right to the Exercise of their Spiritual Offices among any of the King's Subjects And if Kings and Princes have not a competent Authority to do this they are too weak to stand and consequently much weaker than GOD and CHRIST ever intended that Civil Government should be THE chief Objections to what is here delivered are these three I. IT is pleaded That there is