I rtt 1 ( //../i/oi^;.>» Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1833, by Thomas S. BRiTTArf,'in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New -York. TO THE RIGHT REVEREND BENJAMIN T. ONDERDONK, D. D. BISHOP OF THE DIOCESE OF NEW-YORK, THIS VOLUME, CONSISTING OF LETTERS, FIRST ADDRESSED TO IIIM, IS NOW, BY HIS PERMISSION DEDICATED vmi{ EVERY SENTIMENT OP ESTEEM AND RESPECT, BY HIS OBLIGED, OBBDIENT, HUMBLE SERVANT, THE AUTHOR, PREFACE. The author of the following pages having been informed by his publishers, that all the former copies have been disposed of, and that the still continued demand for more renders a reprint of the work necessary, is un- willing to send forth the second edition without some prefatory remarks. He does not, however, design this advertisement to partake of the nature of an excuse for what he has done, but of an explanation. If the book be good, any pleas in favour of it are unnecessary. If it be bad, they would not only be unmerited but decep- tive. Every writer who sends forth a work into the world, does so, because, in his production, he sees some- thing which he considers to be of value and importance to his fellow-men ; so that whatever professions of hu- mility he may make in words, his act in the publication evinces some complacency in his performance, some consciousness in his own ability to communicate infor- mation to others. The very production of the book sets at nought all his professions of inability and avowals of incapacity, and induces the reader to adopt the sarcasm of Dr. Johnson — " If the book were not written to be printed, I presume it was printed to be read." It ought not to be dissembled, that the author has been sedulous to ascertain what particular objections have been raised to his work, that, if possible, he might VI PREFACE. obviate them, and thus give confirmation where doubts were entertained. He has found that some persons who have honoured this little performance with their perusal, have suggested that the work might be somewhat detri- mental to the interests of piety, inasmuch as it might arouse a spirit of discord and division, which it ought rather to be the aim of a Christian to allay — that it was altogether uncalled for, as works so much larger, and containing so much more information, were extant upon the subject; and some have intimated that it did not tend to the honour of the author, that he so long delayed before he concluded on becoming an Episcopalian. To these observations the writer begs leave to reply, that however much he may feel averse to enter upon the barren field of controversy; and although he con- siders a holy and consistent life to be of infinitely more value than the most ingenious but vain disputations ; nay — although he considers the exercise of Christian charity to be of far greater value to the Church, as well as more acceptable to God, than all the ponderous and musty folios which the groaning shelves of polemick divinity ever bore ; yet he never can regard truth as of but little moment. The wisest of men enjoins it upon us, to " huy the truth, and sell it not^ It is only lati- tudinarianism, and not charity, which will sacrifice it. " Christianity is," as Dr. Doddridge entitled it, " a re- ligion of argument." The duty of every Christian is to uphold the truth and to suppress error ; hence the Scriptures abound with injunctions to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. A. firm, manly, and benevolent defence of sacred truth, instead of being opposed to Christian charity, is always associated with it. St. John was of all the apostles the most remarkable for the amiable grace of charity ; none evinced greater gentleness of disposition, yet none was more firm and PREFACE. VU intrepid, as his epistles show, in opposition of heresies. If it do not argue treason to his Master, it evinces at least disgraceful pusillanimity, when a professed disciple can be indifferent to any portion of revealed truth. His duty is to have an impartial respect to the divine will. If he do not regard it universally^ he has no reason to conclude that he regards any portion of it sincerely. It is readily admitted, that a plain and honest exhibi- tion of truth may awaken hostility — that it may lay open an arena, upon which furious and unhallowed spirits may come forth to strujijyle. But are we to abstain from our duty because evil persons may make that duty the occasion for indulging in sin'? As well might we wish to prevent the sun from shining, because, whilst he diffuses light and fertility, health and joy, upon other parts of creation, his beams serve to invigorate the noxious plant, the poisonous serpent, or the loathsome toad ; or as well might we wish to suppress the faithful exhibitions of the divine clemency, because, whilst some are thereby led to re- pentance, others are hardened^ and have their hearts toholly set in them to do evil. Every real Ciiristian will remember, tliat whilst he is charitable he has also to be zealous; that whilst he ought not willingly to offend, he must be faithful: that duty is his, that events are God's. If then with some it be admitted that a certain mode of government is not absolutely necessary to the being of a Church, it must be maintained that it is essential to its well-being. If one mode of government be more conducive to its welfare, more apestolick, more scriptural than another, then it is our duty to enlist ourselves under the one which possesses these characteristick features; and it is evident that, amidst so many conflicting parties, all cannot be right. If one be consistent, the others must be wrong. Nor is this a subject of inferior moment. VUl PREFACE. since scriptural discipline and orthodox doctrine will ever march hand in hand ; and because one may be of more importance than the other, they ought not to be dissociated, since they mutually strengthen, support, and establish each other — attention to the one should not beget indifference to the other. A skilful engineer will defend the outworks of his fortification, as well as strengthen and maintain his citadel. Our Lord did not censure the Jews for their punctilious observance of minute ceremonies, but for their unconcern about the greater ; not for tithing their mint, and cummin, and anise, but for neglecting the weightier matters of the law ; these, said he, should you have done, and not have left the other undone. If, then, the mode of Church government be of moment to its icell-hcing, it becomes every Christian seriously to inquire, which, amongst all the professed Churches of our Redeemer, most closely corresponds with his institu- tion. Not to do so, is to act irrationally; it is not to employ aright the intellect which God has given for this very purpose ; it is to imitate those insensate animals from which we are distinguished by the faculty of reason. That man would be accounted as little better than an idiot, who would purchase without examination, as genuine diamonds, all or any stones which might be offered to him, merely because they should possess some brilliancy; and surely that individual cannot well be deemed as more wise, who should blindly, or without serious examination, adopt all the sentiments presented to him upon the point in question. - An inspired apostle admonishes us to prove all things, and to holdfast that which is good. And if (as the writer is fully convinced it is) the mode of Church government be a point of essential moment to the well- heing of the Christian Church, then can it never be PREFACE. 11 wrong to discuss the subject whilst it is done in a temper of meekness; rather so to do becomes our imperative duty. Nor should any man be deterred from carrying his torch into a darksome cavern to enlighten his fellow to escape from his confinement, because the exhibition of such light might arouse the bats and birds of night who had nestled there, and bring them forth to surround him with angry flappings of their wings, and noisy clamours at their being disturbed. He who loves light himself, will be ever impelled by benevolence and gratitude to communicate it to others. Nor does the existence of works, far more profound in literature and more extensive in information, render one of inferior mom'ent needless; for, besides that there are multitudes who cannot avail themselves of such works, and besides that all men are Athenians in dispo- sition, desiring to hear or to tell some new thing; besides these things, each man has his own peculiar taste, tone of mind, and habit of thinking; so that the style and method of one man, though inferior to that of another, may be much more suitable to one class of people. And it is not superiority of talent that alwa^^s succeeds — adap- tation is often more effective. All cannot be generals or captains in an army, but the efforts of the humblest soldier contribute, as well as those of the commander, to secure the victory. The light infantry are sometimes able to accomplish that which artillery of the weightiest caliber would have attempted in vain ; so works in them- selves of small value, contribute to the diffusion of know- ledge or excitement of inquiry, where those which are larger and more valuable would produce no effect. To this it may be added, that to cause lasting impression upon the mind, the same subject must be reiterated with frequency, the mind must be stirred up hy way of rememhrancc^ and sometimes only incidentally or in a I PREFACE. less degree. Seldom is any operation of considerable magnitude accomplished by a single effort, however mighty that effort may be ; but by the steady, patient, incessant repetition of the handy-work of the humble mechanick. It is not the immensely heavy bank bill safely lodged in the chest of some opulent merchant that enriches society, but the smaller and less valuable notes which are in constant circulation. If, then, the author has condensed into a small compass the leading argu- ments upon the subject; if he has written in such a way as to attract the attention of persons to a matter upon which they had never seriously thought before; or if he be only the instrument thereby of leading them to search for themselves upon it — he will conclude that he has not written in vain; he will account himself happy to stand as a humble torch-bearer at the vestibule of the temple of knowledge, if by such means he can attract some to enter therein, and to see for themselves in its glorious and splendid illumination. In composing this little book, he was not inspired by the vanity of thinking that the Episcopal Church needed his little aid to defend its apostolicity, or that he could add any new buttress to the support of that which stood established upon the basis of demonstration. But he felt the pleasure of a man wlio has, in his peregrinations, met with truth, and who was delighted with finding her; and as out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak ^ so did he feel disposed to give vent to his plea- surable emotions ; he was anxious at once to show that, his alteration of views was the result, not of caprice, but deliberation; not of versatility, but of reason ; and at fhe same time to induce others to weigh and examine the subject as he himself had done. In fine, he would observe, that those who censured /certainly with injustice) one person for having rashlj- PREFACE. XI and precipitately made up his mind in a few weeks upon the subject, sliould never censure another for making a much longer and more patient investigation. But per- sons resolved to be displeased, will find fault with every thing. '"''John came neither eating nor drinhing, and theij said, He hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say. Behold, a man gluttonous, and a icine-hibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. Jiut Wisdom is justified of her children. The writer admits, that some years since he had doubts suggested to his mind upon the subject of the following sheets ; but that, considering it as a matter of minor importance, at the same time labouring under the pressure of numerous and arduous official engagements, he did not investiijate it so closelv as he is now convinced he ought to have done. Besides, he felt no inconsidera- ble difficulty in banishing early prejudices, in disrupting connexions long since established, and in bowing down his pride to acknowledge he had erred. At all events, it must be allowed that he has not suddenly and rashly jumped to a conclusion. And if (as some have done) any shall call him apostate, renegade, traitor, and by such other titles, he will consider them as employing such terras only for want of argument; he will try to act as did Bunyan's pilgrim, whom he represented as meeting similar treatment from Apollyon. He will not return railing for railing. Should any opponent arise and mix railing with argument, the author will allow him all the advantage of the former, and say, with one who was as gentle as judicious,* " My adversary's work consists of two parts, railing and reason. To tiie former I say nothing, to the latter what follows." Should it be objected, that much more might have • * Hookdr. Xll PREFACE. been said, and perhaps of more importance, upon the various topicks, the charge will be readily admitted; but the design was to render the book as brief as possi- ble. The letters were, in the first instance, much longer, but they have been purposely abridged, and this in order thai those who would not or could not read larger works, might have an epitome of the argument laid before them. The author finds no language in which he can conclude better than that of an old writer — " If I have done well, and as is fitting the story, it is that which I desired ; but if slenderly and meanly, it is that which I could attain unto." New- York, Feb, 22, 1833. LETTER I. INTRODUCTORY Right Rev. and dear Sir, The great English moralist, as he has been entitled, (Dr. Johnson,) lays down, in one of his essays, the following moral axioms : — " that as all error is meanness, it is incumbent on every man who consults his own dignity, to retract it as soon as he discovers it, without fearing any censure so much as that of his own mind. As justice requires that all injuries should be repaired, it is the duty of him who has seduced others by bad practices or false notions, to endeavour that such as have adopted his errors, should know his retractation; and that those who have learned vice by his example, should by his example also be taught amendment." These sentiments perfectly accord with the dictates of holy writ, which require genuine peni- tents to " bring forth fruits meet for repentance.'''' They seem to have been the principles by which the greatest exemplars of piety have always been influenced, when, after their wanderings, they were restored to their right minds. And especi- ally were they illustrated by the conduct of the great apostle of the Gentiles, who, after his con- version to the faith, manifested such zeal as to 2 14 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. call forth the admiring testimony of his fellow Christians. " He ichich persecuted us in times past ^ now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed r"* Repentance, then, is not only a generous, but a magnanimous grace ; it is a temper inferior only to innocency itself. Indeed it requires greater courage to acknowledge an error once indulged in, than altogether to have avoided it. It is virtue so placed, as sometimes to yield more glory to God than even unoffending excellency could have done — it aims at repairing the dishonours done to \\\Q divine will — it pays a voluntary homage to the obedience of the wise and the good — it acknowledges the malignity and evil of trans- gression, and incites, in spite of every obstacle and every difficulty which the pride of our own hearts, or. the misconduct of others, might pre- sent, to make an open and artless confession of our folly, and to aim at reclaiming those who may still be wandering. Under the influence of these views, I sit down to make a voluntary renunciation of the errors into which I have fallen, and to do homage to the sacred cause of Truth. Conscious that, after such an avowal, I have yet sullicient dignity remaining to support my character ; and feeling anxious that others mav be warned as^ainst tl^e mistaken notions by which I have been deceived ; I would imitate the very best and wisest of men, in frankly and ingenuously acknowledging that I have been misguided; and that the deception has regarded a subject of vital importance, being no less than the mode of government authoritatively enjoined upon " the holy Catholick Church," the kinofdom upon earth of our blessed Redeemer. It was my lot to have been educated amongst that class of Dissenters who entitle themselves INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 16 " Independents," or " Congregationalists." At a very early age my mind had imbibed the strongest and most obnoxious prejudices against Episco- pacy, which, as 1 advanced in years, became more deeply rooted. I had been accustomed to hear tales of the haughty temj)er — tlie bitter spirit — the persecuting disposition of the Anglican Church — to hear of the gross ignorance in spiritual things, and of the ungodly lives of her clergy; so that I could not, in my mind, dissociate the ideas of Episcopacy from those of heresy and sacrilegious ambition. I had learned to re2ard the Estab- lished Church as the beast in the Apocalypse, of which it is said, " it had horns like a lamb, hut it spake like a dragon.'^'' I regarded it as a system of spiritual tyranny only — an engine of state policy, by v.liich the tools of party were to be rewarded ; in fine, as an iron rod in the hands of bigotry, by wliich it attempted to crush and destroy all who had the honesty or the courage to think for themselves. This prejudice, by a natural consequence, (strange as to some it may appear,) extended itself to its ritual, its ceremonies, and even its sanctuaries ; these were ci'ten the objects of my ridicule and derision. The oilicial garments of its clergy, the formulary of its devotions, and even its most solemn observances, were regarded as worse than unmeaning ; as partaking of the nature of an impious mockery of the Almighty. J looked upon its sacred edifices with much of the same class of feelings with which 1 should have regarded a Pagan temple; and thoiigh, in my boyhood, curiosity led me sometimes to visit them, that 1 might gaze upon their Gothick archi- tecture, admire their painted wiiulows, and feel what was imposing in their structure, whose 16 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. " dim religious light" rendered them so suitable to aid devotion ; yet I always felt as if by so doing I had contracted a sort of guilt, that I had been treading upon forbidden ground. These sentiments continued till, in my twentieth year, I had become a student preparing for the office of the ministry. During the first year of this my novitiate, I went with several of my compeers to witness the ordination of a young friend over a Congregational church in London ; after the charge had been delivered by one minister to the pastor, a second minister (as is the custom,) addressed a charo-e to the people. In the course of his sermon he admonished them of the evils of division — lamented the numerous quarrels and separations constantly occurring in their churches — statin.2; that " such events o-ave too much appearance of reason for the observation of an old bishop, who had said of the Dissenters, that ' division is their sin, and division is their punishment.' " This expression struck me with peculiar force. I looked around me, and saw that these churches were every where split into parties and factions. Subsequent observation has brought further con- firmation on the point. Every where the ministers of that denomination lament the fact ; no where is there a congregation of them for any consider- able time in a state of peace. Turbulent spirits are every where struggling for the mastery, and throwing societies into a state of collision and confusion. The only exceptions are those in which the pastor, either by the weight of his property or the skilfulness of his policy, can exercise despotick power. Discipline cannot be maintained. Few of these churches persevere for any considerable period in the doctrines of INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 17 their founders. Multitudes have departed from the most rigid Calvinism, and gone over into Socinianism. Their own histories afford the strongest proof of this assertion, whilst the attempt, recorded in the newspapers, of a meeting of Con- gregational ministers in the month of May last, in London, to form what they called a Con^re- gational Union, or, in other words, a sort of Presbyterial government among themselves, af- fords an incontrovertible evidence of this truth to every reflecting mind. Among this class of Dissenters I was ordained. In the course, however, of my ministry, I was brought into contact with some clergymen of the Established Church. I found them to be men not only of decided but of exalted piety. By in- tercourse v.ith them, my antipathies were softened — my prejudices were gradually removed — my mind was rendered pervious to truth — and I be- came convinced that Episcopacy was not the horrid creature I had fancied it to be; nay, that a moderate Episcopacy carried with it all the marks of Apostolicity ; and I learned that a Church existed in America truly Episcopal, but whose Episcopacy was unfettered by any of those trammels which its union with the State had fastened upon the Church of England. I now find that it was not the true use, but the shameful abuse of Episcopacy, that formerly excited my disgust; that this excellent institution, like every other good thing, may be. perverted ; that, as the manna which was angels' food became, by employing it contrary to the divine direction, oflensively putrescent ; that as the brazen serpent, by whoso sight the Israelites were healed, had by superstition become converted into an object of idolatry ; that as even the Verv grace of God had 2* 18 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. been by bad men turned into licentiousness ; so Episcopacy, the ordinance of heaven, had been by some perverted from its legitimate use, to serve the purposes of avarice and ambition. But in this country I find it depurated from whatever of extraneous additions, or offensive appendage, it may have unhappily contracted in other lands. I think it to be the " simplicity that is in Christ Jesus, ^^ Having thus introduced the subject, and fearing it might savour somewhat of egotism to trace the whole process of mind by which my present con- victions have been evolved upon me, allow me to drop, as much as possible, tlie important pronoun /, and to lay before you, with as much succinct- ness as possible, the reasons which have enforced my decision. But before I do this, it may not be amiss to say, that since my residence in this land, I have care- fully examined the best writers of whom she can boast on the side of Fresbyterianism, and that I find them utterly unsatisfactory. " The review of the Essays on Ej)iscopacy," whilst discovering the hand of a master and the mind of a genius, has done nothing whatever toward shaking my conviction that prelacy was established by onr Lord himself. This work has in it too much of the " esprit de corps,^^ and in it the author lias often iiidulged in that '' badinage^^ which is unbefitting so solemn and important a subject. He seems, from the whole tenour of his composi- tion, to be saying to his readers, " Ilisum teneatis amici." He has evidently forgotten a maxim which he laid down in one of his sermons, when he spoke of the treatment with which St. Paul met from some of the Athenians; and of which he says, " some mocked;" " a short method of INTRODUCTORY LETTER. )Sf refuting the Gospel; and likely, from its conveni^ ence, to continue in favour and fashion." Ridicule is no test of truth; there is nothing we may not make ridiculous by allowing to fancy an unbridled license; it is the great weapon of infidelity, and was recommended by that arch deceiver Voltaire, as the best means of opposing Christianity. " Render," says he, in his letters to D'Alembert, " these pedants (the clergy) as enormously ridiculous as you can. Ridicule is every thing ; it is the strongest of all weapons. A bon mot is as good a thing as a good book." In the same spirit, Shaftesbuiy advises, as the best means of opposing Christianity, to employ " Bart'lemy Fair* drollery against it." Still less was I pleased witl; the letters of a learned Presbyterian professor on the same side of the question. They appeared to me to be written so ungraciousl}- — to manifest such an overweening conceit of self — to be characterized with such an air of pedantry — to enforce the *' dicta" of their author with such an ex cathedra tone — to abound with so many subterfuges — to present such mutilated, garbled quotations from the Fathers — in a word, to be so replete with Jesuitical ^^ Jlnesse,^^ that 1 could not but feel dis- gust at the exhibition. Whatever may be the state of my head, I trust I have an honest heart; I was early taught to despise duplicity, and I hope I almost instinctively revolt from it; but when I found this author, because it would serve his turn against Episcopalians, denouncing the shorter Epistles of Ignatius as spurious produc- tions; and, at the same time, in another book which lay before me, found the same man, bc- * Bartlioloincw Fair. "20 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. cause it would serve his purpose against the Unitarians, vindicating the very same Epistles of Ignatius as genuine; I say, w^hen I saw this, I felt that he could hardly claim my confidence ; I could not repress the risings of honest indignation. If this be not verifying the old fable of blowing hot and cold with the same mouth, what is f I was convinced that, whatever powers of reasoning he might possess, he was deficient in that candour and consistency which would alone command my respect; that, however I might view him as a subtle and wily sophist, I ought not to regard him as a sound and honest reasoner. Suppose, I thought, that a witness in a court of judicature should thus act; suppose such an one, when his own interest was in some measure concerned, should give evidence that a certain document set up by the other party was unworthy of credit ; and suppose that at an after period, when he wished to set at nought a different anta- gonist, ao-ainst whom the aforesaid document bore, that in such case he should give evidence that the document ought to be accredited, what would be the feelings expressed by the court at the discovery of his contradictory testimony ? * * In my next I shall enter upon the reasons which convince me of the legitimacy and divine appoint- ment of Episcopacy. LETTER II. EPISCOPACY CONSIDERED ON THE GROUND OF EXPEDIENCY. Right Rev. and dear Sir, Among ihc numerous reasons which have enforced conviction upon my mind in this important sub- ject, the following may be adduced ; the least and lowest arguments being placed first, as is natural in the order of distribution. Expediency may be considered as affording presumptive evidence. Whilst many Dissenters* contend that the plat- form of their Church government is accurately laid down in the writins^s of the New Testament, a very lar that " men of corrupt minds" have entered in amongst them ; that they who professed at their ordination to embrace the standards of their faith, teach doctrines utterly opposed to these standards ; that these men are deluging the Church with a flood of novelties, which they have no power to repel or restrain ; in fine, they admit that there is no authority amongst them to exercise disci- pline, or to enforce their laws. Whatever the Presbyterian Church in this country may once have been, it now presents to the eye of a calm observer — 1 speak it not with exultation, but regret — nothing but a confused mass of discordant elements, in a state of dreadful collision, like the primitive chaos; (Tohu Bohu.) " Every man does that which is right in the sight of his own eyes.'"' Many are striving daily to advance some new doctrine, whilst the stranger and more absurd it is, the more popular is it likely to become. Its ceremonies, government, order, where are they? Alas! in Presbytery they are no where to be found ; as the record of the last General Assembly in this country mournfully evinces. Is the case better with the Congregationallsts ? Let their histories decide. From the days of Brown and Robinson, their first founders, down to the present hour, their churches have ever been the arena of discord. Like the winds seen by the ON THE GROUND OF EXPEDIENCY. 25 prophet in vision, which strove upon the sea, and gave birth to hideous monsters; so the contend- ing elements of their passions have, from these troubled waters, called forth heresies the most gigantick and frightfid to desolate the globe. Witness the Socinianism of the western part of England, as recorded by Bogue and Bennet, the historians of Congregationalism; and of Massa- chusetts, as exhibited to our own eyes ; not to say any thing of the horrible and frantick excesses of the Independents and Anabaptists of Munster, as recorded in every ecclesiastical history of their times— it is " confusion worse confounded ;" their diurches resemble any thing rather than the Church of Christ. Abstract argument is how^ever rendered unne- cessary, by the existence of fact. There is one fact which, however anomalous it may appear, cannot be contravened, and which speaks upon this subject more than a thousand arguments. The London Missionary Society, which, whilst it professes a truly catholick spirit, and enlists all classes in tiie number of its contributors, is in truth the great Missionary Society of the Congre- gationalists, to which they all belong, and which they claim as " our Society.'''' This Society, which is governed by a committee in London, of whom by far the largest proportion is Congregationalists, who, to all intents and purposes, are its prime movers — this Society, after serious deliberation, sent out, about sixteen years ago, a minister of high standing and talent in their connexion, (whom they prevailed upon to resign his charge in Aber- deen for that purpose,) to take the superintendence of their missions in Africa, and invested him with power, as their representative, to overlook and RESBYTER1ANS, (fcc. Bishop Carleton, one of the British delegates to the Synod of Dort, gives the following state- ment : — " I openly protested in the synod, that it was a strange proposition which had been inserted in said Confession, namely, that Christ instituted an equality among the ministers of the Gospel. I pub- lickly declared that it could no where be shown that Christ had ordained such an equality : that he had chosen twelve apostles and seventy disci- ples, and that those apostles were invested with an authority and superintendency over all others, and that the Church had constantly and uninter- ruptedly maintained the same subordination. I appealed in this affair to all the ancients, and to all men of learnino- of the present age ; yea, I earnestly challenged any man in the synod to prove the contrary. The Lord Bishop of Salis- bury is my witness, and all the doctors that were with me, for I was the mouth of them all; and there was not one man in the assembly that pre- tended to contradict me, whence we justly con- cluded they were all of our opinion." — Brandfs Hist, of Refor. vol. iii. p. 288. Bishop Hall, also another of the delegates to the aforesaid synod, states as follows: — " When the Bishop of LlandafF had, in a speech of his, touched upon Episcopal government, and showed that the want thereof gave opportunities to those divisions which were then on foot in the Netherlands, Bogermannus, the president of the assembly, stood up, and in good allowance of what had been spoken, said, * Domine, nos ncm sumus adeo felices.^ (Alas, my lord, we are not so happy.) Neither did he speak this in a fa- shionable compliment, (neither the person, nor the IN FAVOUR OF EPISCOPACY. 39 hearers, nor the place were fit for that,) but in a sad gravity and conscionable profession of a known truth ; neither would he, being the mouth of that select assembly, have thought it safe to pass those words before the deputies of the States, and so many venerable divines of foreign parts, (besides their own,) if he had not supposed this so clear a truth as that synod would neither disrelish or contradict." — Bishop Hall's Div. Right of Epis, part. i. § 4. Peter de Moulin, an eminent theological pro- fessor of the French Presbyterian Church, writes as follows : — " Our adversaries unjustly accuse us to be enemies of the Episcopal order ; for we must be altogether ignorant in history, if we do not know that antiquity speaks honourably of that degree. Eusebius, in his Chronicle, witnesseth, that a year after our Lord's death, James, our Lord's brother, was established Bishop of Jerusalem ; and that, ten years after, Euodius was created Bishop of Antioch ; and that after James succeeded Simon in the bishoprick of Jerusalem ; from whence descended the succession of bishops in Jerusalem. St. Jerome, in his book of ecclesiastical writers, saith that Polycarp, St. John's disciple, was by that apostle made Bishop of Smyrna. In the same book he saith that St. Paul established Timothy Bishop of Ephesus, and Titus Bishop of Crete. And Tertullian, in the thirty-second chap- ter of the book of Prescriptions, callcth those churches * apostolical churches, and buds and sprigs of the apostles, whose bishops were estab- lished by the apostles,'