copacy univerfally prevailed. Yet as we are not told of any miraculous works performed by Timothy in confequence of the gift which was in him; and as it is exprefsly faid to have been placed there by the impofition of hands, and that it might be ftirred up in the work of the miniftry, to which he had been appointed, we have every reafon to conclude, that it referred entirely to his ordination, not as an "affignment to fome particular congregation," but as giving him authority to execute his office in any congregation, or any part of the flock of Chrift, which might be committed to his charge.

Such, we have ground to believe, was the apoftolic practice, founded on the nature of the commiffion which the apoftles themfelves received from Chrift, as extending to all nations, and all ages of the world. It was therefore a maxim univerfally received in the primitive church, that every bishop, as one of the fucceffors of thefe apostles, had a paftoral relation to the whole catholic church, and that the Epifcopal body was thus widely diffufed, for the mutual benefit of all its members, that if any one fell into herefy, others might be at hand to redress the mifchief. Writing to the bishop of Rome on this very fubject, Cyprian tells him-" Therefore is our body of bishops fo large, and yet fo joined together in the bond of unity, and cemented by "mutual agreement, that if any one of our college fhould attempt to introduce herefy, and fo "tear in pieces and lay wafte the flock of Chrift,

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others

"others fhould ftep in to its affiftance, and like ten"der and useful fhepherds, gather our Lord's fheep "into his fold.-For though we are many fhep"herds, yet we have but one flock to feed, and all "the fheep which Chrift has purchafed with his "blood and paffion, we ought to gather together "and cherish."* From thefe words of Cyprian, and many other paffages of his writings, it would appear, that he confidered the college or corporation of bifhops, as founded for the purpose of propagating the Chriftian faith throughout the world, and preferving it in its original purity. And though the divifion of the church into diocefes, and the placing local bifhops over them, became necessary for the fake of order, and for preventing any im proper interference with each others conduct, yet when the faith of the church was in danger of being loft, or corrupted by the prevalence of any pestilent herefy, every bifhop was to confider himfelf as an univerfal paftor, and to do every thing in his power for preferving the foundness, and promoting the welfare of the whole body. Such being evidently the opinion entertained by Cyprian, of what he calls the one Epifcopate, of which every bifhop

་་

"holds

"Idcirco copiofum eft corpus facerdotum, concordiæ mutuæ glutino atque unitatis vinculo copulatum, ut fi quis ex collegio noftro hærefin facere, et gregem Chrifti lacerare et vaftare tentaverit, fubveniant cæteri, et quafi paftores utiles et mifericordes oves Dominicas in gregem colligant Nam etfi paftores multi fumus, unum tamen gregem pafcimus, "et oves univerfas, quas Chriftus fanguine fuo et paffione quæfivit, collige"re et fovere debemus." Cypr. epift. 67. ad Steph.

"holds a fhare for the benefit of the whole," we are indeed furprised to find Dr. Campbell quoting this very paffage, in fupport of the oppofite notion, which he fo warmly espoused, that a bishop is to be confidered as nothing more than the " paftor of a "particular church or congregation," his " affign"ment" to which is all that is meant by ordination, and without which, it feems, he could have no fhare in the "one Epifcopate," which yet St. Cyprian fo zealously maintained to be held in common by the whole body of bishops, and therefore held by them, in virtue of their ordination or appointment to the Epifcopal office, and not of their "affignment" to any particular charge.

It was proper that we should take notice of all this preparation which our Profeffor had made for effecting what seems to have been the principal purpose of the Lecture now before us, the bringing forward his heavy charge against the orders of the Scotch Epifcopal church, which, after all that he had faid by way of introduction to it, he ftill thought might probably excite fome furptife, as well from the novelty of it, as by the confident and peremptory manner, in which he meant to fupport it. In both thefe refpects, we do think, it was fufficiently calculated to produce furprife in the minds of all who might efteem it worthy of their confideration, on account of the ftation and character of its author. Had the Principal of Marifchal College boldly afferted, that a civil establishment being effential to

the very being of Epifcopal government, it is impoffible that the order of bifhops can be continued in a church which is not fupported by the state: It would have been faying no more, than what had been faid before by men equally high in office, and well verfed in all forts of knowledge, except that of the nature and conftitution of the Chriftian church. Or had Dr. Campbell, who was early bred to the ftudy of the law, given it as his opinion, that the act of parliament which abolished Epifcopacy in Scotland, or some restricting statute afterwards enacted, had actually deprived the ejected bishops of their whole fpiritual power, and left them no authority even to ordain priests and deacons, far less to confecrate bishops as their fucceffors in these powers; This would have been only repeating the abfurdities of those Eraftian writers, who would make the civil power fuperior to apoftolic inftitution, and allow an authority merely human, to annihilate the divine commiffion granted by him who has all pow er in heaven and in earth. In all this there would have been nothing new or furprising, however inconfiftent with the character of a Chriftian divine; because such inconfiftencies have often appeared, and been fuffered to pass as liberal fentiments, flowing from a mind unfettered by any profeffional prejudice.

What method then has our Profeffor taken to fupport his ftrange attack on the depreffed but pure and primitive Epifcopacy, which ftill fubfifts in this

part

part of the united kingdom? Does he pretend to fay, that the bishops of Scotland, who were deprived of their legal power and privileges, in confequence of the Revolution in 1688, confidered themfelves as equally divefted of all fpiritual authority, and therefore took no measures for continuing a needlefs fucceffion of bifhops in a church fo fuddenly and completely cut off, as that of Scotland then was, from all its former connection with the flate? No: even Dr. Campbell admits, that the ejected. bishops, difperfed and perfecuted as they were, continued their care of the Epifcopal fucceffi n, and ordained several bifhops, in order to preferve it.But the misfortune, or rather the folly, as he thinks it, was thefe new bifhops" were ordained at

large;" and because they had not been previously appointed each to a certain diocefe, or had not received what he would call "affignment to a parti"cular charge," he maintains with dictatorial authority, that their ordinations were null and void, yea no other than farcical ceremonies, in which the actors played the fool, for the purpose of impofing

on others.

When thofe, from whom the prefent clergy of the Scotch Epifcopal church derive their orders, were known to be men of fuch unblemished integrity, and difinterested zeal, as to induce them to fuffer the lofs of all their worldly dignities and emoluments, for the fake of what they efteemed to be infinitely more valuable, truth and a good confcience, 3A2

it