vens; whilft others, of the fame Community, affure us, if we conform to the Church fo far as to fupport her Minifters, we may use our Difcretion as to paying them any farther Regard, and affirm that the abovementioned unfortunate Prince was no better than he fhould be. Thus are People inflamed with Heat and Prejudice about Trifles, from a Belief of the Neceffity they are under of obeying their fuppofed Inftructors: And, as Texts of Scripture are brought in Defence of all this, many unthinking Men are induced to leave Real Religion unheeded, and fit down with the greatest Satisfaction at having obtained the Name of a Stout Churchman, or Honeft Whig: And on their Leader's founding the Alarm of Danger being apprehended to the Party, are too ready fo far to fall beneath the Temper of a Chriftian, as to use their Brethren with that Cruelty which is scarce known among the Nations we call Barbarous; imagining that they do Service to the Chriftian Caufe, by afferting their Opinion at all Events; though, very often, there is not in the whole. Scriptures the leaft Foundation for the Tenet for which they are so zealous.

SUCH are the unavoidable and flagrant Effects of trufting to OTHER Men the Explanation of ou R Duty; which yet must be the Cafe where-ever the Scriptures are confidered as the fole Guide of Christians; many being unable to come at the Senfe, or even to know a Word of them without the Affistance of another. These, and the like Confiderations, make it evident to me, that the ALMIGHTY Could never defign for our Guide to Happiness, a Rule fubject to fuch various Conftructions; and which, fhould we fuppofe it to have been full and clear at firft, was liable, on

the very next Tranfcript, (for I never heard the Tranfcribers were infpired) to be, by Design or Accident, interpolated or abridged, to the Addition or Lofs of a Precept of the utmost Moment: Befide this, was it not all along in Danger of being. fnatched from us by Fire and Defolation; and is not much of the Senfe and Meaning of it inevitably loft by every Tranflation; which yet it must undergo to be intelligible to the greatest Part of Mankind? In a Rule defigned for all Men to walk by, it is hard to imagine a Poffibility of two Meanings, one unneceffary Word, or any of these Difficulties in a Man's coming at the Knowledge of what fo nearly concerns him! So generous and beneficent a Being, as we must believe the DEITY to be, I cannot perfuade myself to think would give us a Primary Rule of Conduct to ALL Mankind, which many who have it cannot understand, and which Great Part of the World never hear of. The Holy Spirit is the only Guide therefore, which, as Obedience to it is required of ALL, ALL are poffeffed of, in a Degree fufficient to anfwer the Will of their CREATOR, in every thing conducive to their Peace Here, and Happiness Hereafter.

I AM forry you mentioned the Sentence of the Apostle where he fays, If any Man fhall add unto thefe Things, &c. for I blufh to answer that Objection; fince the Occafion of its being urged by fome Men of great Reputation as a Seal to the Divine Writings, feems to me to arife from nothing more than that Book's happening to be placed last in our Collection of the Holy Records; nor do L think that Senfe would ever have been drawn from it, had it chanced to have been placed in the Middle of the New Teftament.

IN

In fine, to conclude what I have to say on this Head; That the Holy Spirit was defigned for our Superior Guide, is eafily proved from the Scriptures themselves, which abound with Declarations of its Office; particularly where Jeremiah declares that in the Gospel Day People fhould not want to be taught of their Neighbours, for that God would place his Law in their Hearts, &c. where CHRIST promises his Followers that he would fend them the Spirit of Truth to LEAD and GUIDE them, &i. where St. Paul declares that the Grace of GOD HAS appeared unto all Men, TEACHING them, &c. These are plain Texts, that need no Comment to clear them, and contain a Doctrine equally obvious and beneficial; a Doctrine which through the whole New Teftament appears the Peculiar Benefit of the Gofpel Difpenfation; however, from various Interested Views, it has been fince despised!

My Friend having fpoke a pretty while on the laft Article, defired I would open the next, which we thought was, moft naturally, that of the MI

NISTRY.

I began with observing, THAT the Neceffity of Ministers, or Teachers in the Church, being denied by no Society of Chriftians that I had ever heard of, what lay upon me was to prove the Conformity of our Divines to the Models laid down by the first Chriftian Teachers, who were Men fet apart by the Bleffed Author of our Faith, for the only Purpose of inftructing his People; and who, by vir tue of the Power committed to them, appointed others to affift them in the important Office of the Ministry, and endowed them with Power to tranfmit the fame Gift and Charge to as many as they

found

14

found worthy fo great a Truft; who had alfo a Power of Conftituting others, that the Church might never be deftitute of Men divinely inspired with Grace and Ability to convince the Unbeliever, fix the Wavering, refolve the Doubtful, ftir up the Negligent, inftruct the Ignorant, reform the Evil Doer, and comfort those who are of found Faith. This was evidently the Office of the firft Ministers; who being felected from their Brethren for that Purpose, always found it a Charge requiring the utmost Exertion of their Abilities, and the entire Refignation of all other Employments and Temporal Purfuits; which were immediately found incompatible with that Attention to the Divine Will, which was neceffary to execute the Truft committed to their Care. Thus came the first Distinction of Chriftian Teachers: And when the Church fo miraculously increased, as to require a large Augmentation of fpiritual Guides, it was found expedient, for the Benefit of every Member thereof, that the most eminently enlightened of them should each take upon him the Care and Infpection of a certain Number of his Brethren in the Ministry, who were to be under his Direction in whatever he judged neceffary to the Advancement of the Chriftian Caufe; and alfo to have a ftrict Eye that no Pretender to the Divine Function of the Ministry, perverted the Weak and Unwary. These Superior Servants of the Church were the Predeceffors of the prefent Bishops, and of every true Chriftian Bishop to our Time; who had all along the Power of Ordaining and Appointing fuch Perfons to the Holy Office as they found properly qualified for it; and on whom they had the Power to bestow a Portion of that Ministerial Gift which was derived to them from the Apostles, for that End. This being the primi

tive

tive and constant Method of the Church, no Perfon, without such Appointment from a Bishop, can be a Gospel Minister, or any other than a vain Pretender to that Name, which must always carry with it a Degree of that Holy Unction which firft diftinguished the Priest from the People; and which can only be had from the Hands of fuch as have received it in a regular Defcent from those who were firft favoured with it.

To this my Friend anfwered: THE Office and Duty of the Miniftry I allow to be what you defined it; but that Perfons were at first fet apart folely for the Discharge of it, and fecreted from all Temporal Concerns on that Account, is what I cannot apprehend from Scripture, whatever the Ufage of the First Ages of the Church might be: it being pretty plain that the great St. Paul, and feveral other of the Original Minifters, laboured with their Hands, in order to avoid becoming chargeable to their Profelytes, which, while they could, appears their Duty from the Words of their Commiffion: FREELY you have received, FREELY give, &c. And, if their Doctrine and Labour in the Gospel was to be given FREELY, it is a natu ral Inference that their Bodily Support must come from fome other Quarter, either Perfonal Subftance, or, where that was wanting, from their Lawful Business; which looks very little like being fet apart for Religious Service only. When a Man has nothing but his Hands to fupply his Neceffities, and the Discharge of his Minifterial Duty prevents his fupporting himself, THEN, doubtlefs, we ought to maintain him; but not when he can maintain himself: For, you cannot but obferve that, fhould he take any other Earthly Reward for Preaching, he would act contrary to the Nature

of