St. John wrote; and that that angel was one Gaius, who, as he proves out of Clemens, immediately succeeded Antipas in the episcopal chair. Since therefore it is apparent that at the writing these epistles to these seven churches there was a bishop actually presiding in one of them, and that about the same time there were bishops presiding also in all the rest, there can be no colour of reason to doubt, but that all those churches had bishops in them when St. John wrote to them; and if so, to be sure those bishops being the governors of those churches, and having the charge of them committed to them, were those very angels whom St. John wrote to, because he all along writes to them as to those who were the overseers and governors of their respective churches; and if those angels were bishops, then in them our Saviour expressly allows and approves of the episcopal order, since he not only dignifies them with the name of angels, but calls them stars in his own right hand.

The sum of all therefore is this: If our Saviour's own institution, seconded by the practice of his apostles upon it, and succeeded by the conformity of all the primitive churches to it, and this conformity of theirs authorized by the express approbation of our Saviour, be a sufficient argument of the divine right of any form of church-government, then must the episcopal form, which hath all these things, you see, to plead for itself, be of divine right and ordination. Having thus shewn at large what that ecclesiastical or spiritual government is, which Christ hath established in his church, I proceed,

Thirdly and lastly, to shew what are the proper ministries of this government in the kingdom of

Christ. And these are of two sorts: first, such as are common to the bishops or governors of the church with the inferior officers; and secondly, such as are peculiar to the bishops or governors. First, Such as are common to the bishops, together with the inferior officers of the church: and these are, 1. To teach the gospel: 2. To administer the evangelical sacraments: 3. To offer up the public prayers and intercessions of Christian assemblies.

1. To teach the gospel, which is the first ministerial act mentioned by our Saviour in the commission which he gave his apostles, Go teach all nations, Matth. xxviii. 19. and accordingly the apostles declare, Acts vi. 2, 4. that preaching the word was one of the principal employments appertaining to their office; but yet it is evident that it never was restrained to their office; for not only the apostles, but the seventy disciples also were commissioned to preach the gospel by our Saviour, Luke x. 9, 10, 11. and even in the apostles' days, not only they, but Philip also, and Stephen, and Lucius of Cyrene, who were no apostles, did yet preach the gospel to the world; and besides the apostles there were prophets, teachers, and evangelists, that preached the gospel as well as they. But yet as for the office of preaching, it is plain that none were ever admitted to it, but either by immediate commission from our Saviour, or by apostolic ordination, or by an immediate miraculous unction of the Holy Ghost, by which they were inspired with the gifts of preaching, and enabled freely and readily, and without any study of their own, to explain, and prove, and apply the doctrines of the gospel to their hearers; and that either in their own or other languages, as occasion re

quired; which gift was the same with that which is called in scripture the gift of utterance; and it being bestowed upon them for the public benefit and edification of the church, the very bestowing it (without any other ordination) was an immediate mission from the Holy Ghost; only they who pretended to it were to be tried by such as had the gift of discerning of spirits, (vide 1 Cor. xii. 10. compared with 1 Cor. xiv. 29.) and if upon that trial their pretence was found real, they were, owned and received without any more ado, as authorized preachers sent by the Holy Ghost; and it was upon this extraordinary mission, as it seems very probable, that those extraordinary offices of prophets and evangelists were founded, both which included authority to preach the gospel; and therefore, upon the cessation of this extraordinary mission, those offices ceased immediately with it, as depending wholly upon it; and from thenceforth none were ever admitted to the office of preaching, but by ordinary mission and ordination from the apostolate derived to the bishops and governors of the church. For though there are some very early instances of learned laymen, that were admitted to preach upon some emergent occasions, and upon special licence from the bishop, yet can there no one instance be produced of any that were admitted to the office of preaching, without episcopal ordination.

2. Another of the ministries common to the bishops with the inferior clergy is the administration of the evangelical sacraments; for it was to his apostles, and in them to their successors, that our Saviour gave the commission of baptizing all nations, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost:

and of doing this (i. e. of consecrating and administering the holy eucharist) in remembrance of me: but yet it is evident, that this ministry was not so confined to the apostolic order, as that none but they were allowed to exercise it; for even in the apostles' days Philip and Ananias, who were no apostles, baptized, and St. Peter commanded the brethren with him (who were no apostles neither) to baptize those gentile converts upon which the Holy Ghost descended, Acts x. 48. and there is no doubt, but when those three thousand souls, Acts ii. were all baptized at one time, there were a great many other baptizers besides the apostles: and that passage of St. Paul, 1 Cor. i. 13-17. where he tells us, that he baptized none in the church of Corinth, though it were of his own planting, except Crispus, Gaius, and the household of Stephanus, is a plain argument, that when the apostles had converted men to the Christian faith, they generally ordered them to be baptized by the inferior ministers of the church that attended them. And then as for the consecration of the holy eucharist, though when any of the apostles were present it was doubtless ordinarily performed by them; yet considering how fast Christianity increased, and how frequently Christians did then partake of this sacrament, it is not to be supposed that the apostles could be present in all places where it was administered, nor consequently that they could consecrate it in every particular congregation. For though it was a very early custom for the bishop to consecrate the elements in one congregation, and then send them abroad to be administered in several others; yet this was only upon special occasions: but ordinarily they were conse

crated in the same places where they were administered; in all which places, it was impossible either for the apostles at first, or after them for their successors the bishops, to be present at the same time: and therefore there can be no doubt but the consecration, as well as the administration, was ordinarily performed by the inferior presbyters, in the absence of the apostles and bishops. But it is most certain that none were ever allowed in the primitive church to consecrate the eucharist, but either a bishop or a presbyter. And as for baptism, because it is in some degree more necessary than the eucharist, as being the sign of admission into the new covenant, by which we are first entitled to it, not only bishops and presbyters, but in their absence, or by their allowance, deacons also were authorized to administer it for so even in the apostles' days Philip the deacon baptized at Samaria, Acts viii. 12. and afterwards not only deacons but laymen too were allowed to administer it in case of necessity, when neither a deacon, nor presbyter, nor bishop could be procured; that so none might be debarred of admission into the new covenant that were disposed and qualified to receive it. But the church's allowing this to laymen only in cases of necessity, is a plain argument that none had a standing authority to administer it, but only persons in holy orders. For that authority which a present necessity creates is only present, and ceases with the necessity that created it.

3. And lastly, another of the ministries common to the bishops with the inferior clergy, is to offer up the public prayers and intercessions of Christian assemblies for to be sure none can be authorized to