this subject further than to add, that the concession of the Popish Claims is not a narrow question of local interest, or of mere political expediency: it is A Religious question, A British question, A Constitutional question; 2. Chillingworth's Religion of Protestants. 3. Barrow on the Pope's supremacy. 4. Stillingfleet on the Idolatry, Fanaticism, and Schismə of the Church of Rome. 5. Leslie's Case stated between the Churches of Rome and England. At the end of Leslie's Treatise is the following note: Books decisive and not answered. 1. Dr. Barrow of the Pope's Supremacy, and the Unity of the Church. 1680. 2. Dr. Cosin, (since Bishop of Durham) his Scholastical History of the Canon of the Holy Scripture. 1657. concerning the Apocryphal books. 3. His History of Transubstantiation. Latin 1657. English 1676. 4. The Devotions of the Roman Church. 1674, concerning the Invocation of Saints, of Reliques, and Legends. 5. The incurable Scepticism of the Church of Rome. 1688. concerning the rule of Faith. and that in every one of these views the Papists are already in possession of more than is warranted by the principles of a Protestant government; and therefore that their further claims ought not to be conceded. 66 Of the original materials of Church History. WE are further informed that St. Paul appointed the first Bishop or Bishops, and other Ministers of the Church in Britain. --The Bishop, whom St. Paul is recorded to have appointed, was Aristobulus, who is mentioned in the epistle to the Romans." (Letter p. 42, 43.) Though the appointment of Aristobulus, as the first Bishop in Britain, is not so amply attested as the preaching of St. Paul, yet there is nothing in it contradictory to any recorded circumstances of Aristobulus's life. Such an appointment was a necessary consequence of the establishment of a Church in Britain, as is evident from what we know of the steps, which were always taken to perpetuate the Apostolical institutions. The accounts, which we have of the foundation of Christian Churches, and the suc cessions of their chief Ministers, were derived from the most authentick sources, the records of facts carefully preserved and transmitted. To the accuracy of these records an appeal was made, as early as the second Century by Irenæus, the disciple of Polycarp, who was the disciple of St. John. Habemus annumerare eos, qui ab Apostolis instituti sunt in Ecclesiis, et Successores eorum usque ad nos* The regular succession of Bishops 'from their first appointment by the Apostles, attested by Irenæus, and other Fathers of the Church, is an irrefragable evidence of the truth of Christianity, as well as of the αρχαίον της εκκλησίας συστημα. 66 During Christ's ministry on earth the inspection and government of the Church rested on our Lord himself. The great Bishop of our souls" was and is the only universal Bishop of his Church; a title which no human being can arrogate without impiety. Before the ascension of Christ he committed this inspection and government to the Apostles. On them devolved, at first, jointly the care of all the Churches, which were planted in different parts of the world, except the Church of Jerusalem, the mother *Contra Hæres. Lib. iii. C. 2. of all Christian Churches, which was committed to the special charge of St. James. As the number of Churches increased they appointed others to the exо or charge of particular Churches. Successiones Episcoporum, says Irenæus, quibus illi (Apostoli) eam, quæ in unoquoque loco est, ecclesiam tradiderunt, quæ pervenit usque ed nos *." So in another passage the same Father: omnes ii (hæretici) posteriores sunt quam Episcopi, quibus Apostoli tradiderunt Ecclessiast. Augustin says that the Christian Church was extended through the world by means of the Apostolical Churches and the regular succession of their Bishops: Radix societatis Christianæ per sedes Apostolorum et successiones Episcoporum certa per orbem propagatione diffunditur +. To this succession of the Bishops in the Apostolical Churches, the ancient Fathers of the Church appealed against the innovators of their days, as in the passage before quoted from Irenæus. Thus also Tertullian: Edant (hæretici) origines ecclesiarum suarum : evolvant ordinem Episcoporum suorum, ita per successiones [ab initio] decurrentem, ut pri *Contra Hæres. L. iv. C. 63 + L. v. C. 20. |