to a similar honor; and that this successive transfer of apostolic office has been continued in one unbroken chain of illustrious clergy from the first bishop of Rome to the present archbishop of Canterbury, and that it shall continue to the end of the world.a

Apostolic succession likewise means that all the bishops of the church of England can, without the slightest difficulty, trace up their spiritual genealogy to Peter, the first bishop of Rome; and that on this account they have the exclusive right of ordaining either the inferior or superior clergy, and by the transmission of apostolic virtue, of qualifying them to discharge all the duties, and to bear all the responsibilities, of the sacred office.

Of such importance is this apostolic descent that the sinner can have no justification, and the sacraments no power, and the church no existence without it.* According to them a sinner comes not to Christ, but by coming to his vicars in that line of descent; and Christ comes not to the soul of a sinner with grace

a Tract No. 1.

*"I am sure that is not a safe communion where there is not a succession of apostolic doctrine; but whether the want of a succession of bishops will, in all cases, unchurch, will admit of a greater dispute. I am sure a true faith in Christ, with a true gospel conversation, will save men."-Dr. Sherlock.

Many other distinguished divines of the church of England have given utterance to sentiments equally liberal and equally opposed to Tractarianism, on the subject. Mr. Jones, of Tredegar, says " That the figment of an uninterrupted succession from the apostles, is as foolish and ridiculous as that of an uninterrupted succession of constables.

to pardon and sanctify, but through that succession; and that the keys of that succession must unlock the gates of life, and that the hands of that succession must unloose the bonds of sin.a

Thus they claim to be not only the true ministers of Christ, but the only ministers of Christ, within these realms; a kind of Levitical priesthood, with whose functions it is a presumptuous sin, and an unpardonable sin, to interfere; and that consequently all methodist* preachers, and all dissenting ministers, and all ministers not episcopally ordained, are the self-called, self-sent, and self-appointed teachers, who must, with all that hear them, be consigned over to the uncovenanted mercies of God!b

Thus a minister is to be known not by his own character, but by the character of another who ordained him-not by his ability to preach or to promote the education of his flock, but by his ability to prove that he has been in formal contact with the apostolic chain. If he can do this he is a true minister, let the character of his life, or the character of his doctrine, be what it may.c But if he cannot do this, then whatever may be his piety, his

a Vide Sermon by Dr. M'Ilvaine, Bishop of Ohio.

*Methodism they call one of the foster mothers of abandoned

children.

b Tracts Nos. 1, 35 and 36. c No. 5.

eloquence, or moral fitness for the office, he is nothing but an intruder, in whose hands the ordinances are unmeaning ceremonies, and whose very entrance into the ministry is disreputable and profane; for he that cometh not in by the door of apostolic succession, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

This is that trumpery* for the times,-that ecclesiastical dogma called apostolic succession, which it is now designed to expose, to rebuke, and to condemn, as being utterly inconsistent with the truth of the bible, with the history of the church, and with the maintenance of religion and morality in the world,

* With regard to their claim, truth obliges us to say that it is an insult to common sense, a fraud upon history, and an audacious trampling on the word of God. The message of Christianity does not require to circulate it; a special set of men succeeding one another by a train whose principle, according to its own showing, is a kind of magic, flowing through fingers and heads, in a way which cannot be thought of without exciting the smile of mingled contempt and pity for its unhappy dupes or more unhappy teachers.—Dr. Pye Smith.

E

CHAPTER III.

APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION UNSCRIPTURAL.

Scripture the only rule, its testimony all important-Silent as to this doctrine-Solemn appeal to a Tractarian-Christ's words wrested from their obvious meaning-Cases of Epaphroditus, Timothy and Titus examined-A return to real Christianity would be deplored-Dissimilarity in ancient and modern Bishops.

"Nevertheless what saith the Scripture?"-Paul.

No question concerning the doctrine, is more important or more worthy of our solemn consideration than this: and until it is clearly and satisfactorily disposed of, any kind of eulogium on its propriety or its antiquity, must be quite impertinent and out of place: for the Scriptures without alteration, and without addition, are able to make us wise unto salvation. Men may idly talk of the light of tradition; but we must ever contend that without the Bible we should be out at sea, tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, ever learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. Now if none are ministers of Christ but those episcopally ordained-if without such ministers-you never can hear the gospel

APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION UNSCRIPTURAL 35

or participate in baptism, or the Lord's supper, if without them, you must be lost, or left to uncovenanted mercies; then we contend that not more clearly should you read in the sacred volume, the existence of God, or the immortality of the soul, than that you should read there the doctrine of the Apostolic Succession.

Never mind what the fathers say, or what the state may say, or what expediency may say, our great question is,—our only question is,-"Nevertheless what saith the Scripture?" This is the lamp unto our feet, and the light unto our path, and of all the books in the world, the only one out of which we shall be judged at the last day. About the qualifications of a Bishop, that book is not silent: they are enumerated and described, and amply described, and minutely described. Every element entering into the composition of his character as a good man, a minister, a teacher, a husband, a father, or a friend, is clearly and fully developed.a Nevertheless what saith the Scripture as to his succession or prelatical ordination? Not a word, not a promise, not a precept, not a miraculous operation, not a sentence refers to it, but with regard to this qualification, all is silent as the grave.

But why is this? If it be the sine qua non of the very existence of a Bishop and of the

a Vide 1, Tim. III. 1.-7.