and the Disciplss at Eobeus were filled with the Holy Ghoft, as foon is they believ'd, or were baptiz'd and confirm'd upon it: And by this Limitation the holy Apofties both fecured their Choice to be of God's Approbation, by the Power he endued them withall, and alfo provided Perfons fit for the greater Offices in the Church, which by their holy Orders they defign'd them for.

*

So that thefe Deacons, fo far as it was needful they should be faithful and trusty Stewards. of the Contributions and Treasure of the Church, were order'd to be chofen and recommended by the Members of it, whose Stock and Treasure they were to be entrusted withall; and for the like Reafon (no doubt of it) that another Apostle gives us on the like Occafion; namely, to avoid this, that no Man fhould blame us (fays S. Paul) in the Abundance which is admi, nifter'd by us: For fuch Sort of Cenfures might the Apostles have been liable to, had they affum'd the Nomination of the Perfons to themfelves; but by the Course they took, they pro vided for boneft Things, not only in the Sight of the Lord, but in the Sight of Men. And in the mean time, as to the Qualifications requir'd for thofe higher Offices of Evangelifts, or Preachers of the Gospel, to which the holy Apostles ordain'd thofe Deacons alfo, they had the Divine Teftimony (as I obferv'd but now) by the miraculous Gifts bestowed upon them; and where that Teftimony was, S. Cyprian has taught us before,

there

* 2 Cor. viii. 20, 21.

there needed not the Teftimony of Men; and accordingly we find them not fo much as propofed to the People under that Capacity, when it was referred to the Brethren to make Choice of them.

After these few Obfervations upon the Cafe, I leave it to the Reader to determine, how far this fingular and extraordinary Precedent can go towards establishing a standing Right and Authority in all Christian Congregations, to choose their own Bishops and Paftors for themfelves: Leaving only the learned Beza's Judgment with him too, who naming these two Inftances of || S. Matthias and the Deacons, (when he was treating of the People's Right of Suffrages in Ecclefiaftical Affairs) pronounces of them, That they are nothing to the Purpose; and that the French Churches had fufficiently prov'd that against Morell, and his Party, in their publick Sy

nods.

I have been long upon this Argument; but 'twas chiefly, I may fay, at the ingenious Enquirer's Requeft; who, in his Preface, defir'd another Senfe might be given of the Paffages he had cited in his Book. This I have endeavour'd to do with as much Sincerity (I think) as he folemnly profeffes he collected them at firft: And, upon Reflexion on the whole, I am forry. I muit

M

H Quod enim ex hiftoria electionis Matthiæ & Diaconorum profertur, nihil ad rem facit - Sicut adverfus Morellium & alios deinceps ejus fectatores in fynodis Gallicis eft abundè probatum. Beza Traft. Theol. Genev. 1582. Vol. 3. Ep. 83. p. 307.

*See Pref. p. 7.

I must repeat what I obferv'd at the Beginning; That his fingular Manner of mif-representing the Primitive Cuftom of electing and conftituting a Bishop in a vacant See, appears to me a greater Occafion of the unhappy Controverfies and Divisions about it, than the Primitive Cuftom (truly stated) could ever have given to the moft exceptious Adversaries of the Church.

I'll mark out the Particulars, (tho' you have heard the most of them already) that we may view and judge at once.

Firft, He makes that to be a stated Right of Election in the People, which, by the genuine Senfe of his own Quotations, as well as the apparent Practice of the Church, we have seen amounts to no more (within his Period of Time) than their publick Teftimony, Information, or chearful Approbation of the Candidates, which the Provincial Bishops fhould think fit to ordain.

Secondly, He has afferted that Right of the People under fuch general Terms of a Primitive Practice, as to lead the Reader into an easy Perfuafion, that it must have been of original Institution, either from Chrift or his Apostles: Whereas the Holy Scriptures declare no fuch Inftitution, nor fet forth any fuch Divine Charter for it; but affure us of the contrary, that the full Power of ordaining Elders in the Church, was a Personal Charge entrusted wholly with the firft Founders and Governors of the Apoftolical Churches, and convey'd down fo accordingly, without any fuch Condition in it.

Thirdly, He has pronounc'd the Ordaining, or Conftituting a Bishop, in a vacant See, to be ab

folutely

folutely invalid, without fuch a Popular Election in it; and by not defining wherein that Validity, he means, does confift, has led the vulgar Reader again into a ready Opinion, that at no Time, in no Place, or Province whatsoever, a Chriftian Bishop could be warrantably ordain'd, and fet over any Church, without fuch an Election of the People to authorize and qualify him for it: Whereas it may be feen, (I think) by what has been prov'd upon this Subject before, that the utmost Validity any fuch Sort of Ordinations in any Age of the Church has had, was grounded only on the prudential Confent, or Canons, of fuch Provincial Bishops as had agreed to exercife that ordaining Power they were entirely entrusted with from above,in that particular Manner, fo long as Times and Perfons fhould encourage them to let thofe Canons remain in Force; and all this obliging no farther, than within their own Districts or Jurifdictions, and repealable at Will, as having no Divine Command for it.

*

Fourthly and lastly, To finish all, he has advanc'd a fingular and unheard-of Notion (as I humbly conceive) of two noted Ecclefiaftical Terms in Ufe amongst us, Ordination and Inftalment, making them equivocal and convertible Terms, and offers it for current Truth, that Ordaining and Inftalling of a Bishop are one and the fame Thing, frankly tranflating the Word [Ordinare] in the ancient Writings of the Fathers by this English Word of [Installing ;] and, M 2 which

* See Eng. P. 49.

which is stranger ftill, makes this InftallingA&t to be perform'd by Impofition of Epifcopal Hands. Now if Ecclefiaftical Records, either ancient or modern, could warrant this Sort of Language, I wish he had (at least) pointed to them: And yet fuppofe it could be fo, (which I confess is un-imaginable to me) yet, to write to English Readers in their own Tongue, where Epifcopal Impofition of Hands, and Inftalment of a Bishop, are fo† apparently different Things, gives an unhappy Sufpicion of fome fecret Notion to be infinuated into Men, which was not to be spoken out. And fo, indeed, the prefent Cafe in hand did require; for if the facred A&t of Ordination by Impofition of Epifcopal Hands, imprinted any other Character upon the Perfon fo confecrated or ordain'd, than the meer Act of Instalment does; (in the English Notion and Practice of it) then these two unfortunate Confequences (as our learned Author thinks them) would enfue upon it: 1, That the Provincial Bishops Part in ancient Ordinations was fomething more than their bare Confent and Approbation of the Peoples Election, which is the chief Part he allows them in the Cafe. And, 2dly, That their Impofition of Hands at this Inftalling-Ordination might look like advancing of the Candidate to a new Order,

+ See Godolphin's Repert. Canon. p. 26, and 44. Edit. 3. Lond. 1687. Where he fhews us, that a Bishop is complete to all Intents and Purposes, both as to Temporalities and Spiritualities, after Confecration: But Instalment is perform'd afterwards, in a Manner different enough, by Officers and Ceremonies, very little a-kin to thofe of Confecration.