good. Now, should your office for confirmation be found thus plainly and directly tending to cherish these false hopes, you must excuse me if I believe, that so far from its conducing to holiness of life, it greatly tends to promote that selfdeception which is so fatal to the souls of men.

Let me farther ask you, Sir, on this head, is it any breach of charity to suppose, that, amongst the vast crowds which present themselves on such occasions, there are often many whom God, who knows their hearts, knows to be persons of a corrupt and wicked mind, and to be still under the power and tyranny of sin? Can the good bishop himself, in any judgment of charity, suppose there are not some such among the thousands he confirms? Candidly tell me then, Sir, upon what grounds he absolutely, and without reserve, declares to the eternal God concerning them all, that he hath fully forgiven these hi servants, when God at the same time knows many of them not to be his servants, and that he hath not at all forgiven them? Upon what grounds does he lay his hand on each individual person to assure him of God's favour and of his regeneration by the Holy Ghost, when, in truth, some of those, whom he thus assures, are absolute and entire strangers to the renewing influences of God's Spirit, and fast bound in their sins? To me it appears, I do not say a very shocking, but, I must say, a very unaccountable solemnity; and I should be glad to know how to reconcile it to the reverence you owe to God, or to the faithfulness and charity due to the souls of men.

Near a kin to this, but of a still more obnoxious nature, is another office of your common prayer:-The absolution of the sick. To this you know Dissenters have always strongly objected, as too much resembling the solemn tricks of the church of Rome, by which they pretend to send men to heaven without real amendment and ho

finess of life. But this you very prudently pass over in perfect silence; for, what indeed could even so ingenious an advocate offer on so extremely absurd and indefensible a point?

Being come to the sick person, (no matter what or how wicked his former life hath been,) the priest is directed, after some pious exhortations, to examine whether he believe the articles of the Apostle's creed, and truly repent him of his sins, and be in charity with all the world and to move him to make a special confession of his sins, if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty matter. After which confession, the priest is ordered to absolve him (if he humbly and heartily desire it) after this sort :

Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power to his church to absolve all sinners who truly repent and believe in him, of his great mercy forgive thee thine offences: and, by his authority committed to me, I absolve thee from all thy sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

The form is extremely solemn, and the matter of the last importance. You had need, therefore, be sure you go upon good grounds, lest you be found to trifle with the name of God, even in things of everlasting moment, and to acquit those whom he abhors. Permit me, Sir, in this great name, and before the world to demand of you:

1. What church is it, and where is the church found, to which Christ has left this high autho rity and power? Is it the church of England, the church of Scotland, the church of France, or the church of Rome? Do you here mean, by the church, what your XIXth article hath defined it, viz. The congregation of the faithful :-Or, do you understand it as in your XXth article, where it is said to have power to decree rites, and authority in matters of faith? If so, I have shewn, in my former letter, that the church is no other than

the king and parliament of these realms. The king indeed, has power to absolve all manner of sinners, penitent or not penitent; and, by a single act of grace, to vacate and set aside the censures and excommunications of all the bishops, archbishops, and clergy of the land, and to restore the offender to the church's bosom again; to absolve, not in foro civili only, but in foro ecclesiæ; not in the state only, but also in the church. But, whether the Kings or Queens of England, do this by authority derived to them from Christ; whether that church of which they are declared the supreme heads, be the church to whom this high power is given; and whether they, as heads of it, have this power dwelling supremely and principally in them, so that what they loose on earth, is as certainly loosed in heaven, as any thing that is loosed by any inferior members who officiate in the church under them :-these are high points, which, without your assistance, I shall not presume to settle. Be so good, Sir, as to let us know what church upon earth it is to whom Christ has delegated this important authority, and where the charter, or grant is found, by which he gave it the commission. But,

2. That Christ has given, can give, no such authority to fallible, uninspired men, I should think absolutely out of doubt. Because, if he hath given power to any authoritatively to absolve those who are truly penitent, he must also have given them power to know who are truly penitent; else it is a power to do nothing; fór, till they know them to be truly penitent, (i. e. till they can search their hearts,) they cannot authoritatively absolve them: but, if they cannot do it till then, they cannot do it at all. Besides,

3. If the priest has really this authority and power from Christ, the manner in which he is here ordered to apply it, is most certainly wrong: for, upon the sinner's confessing his faults, and

professing his faith and sincere repentance, the priest is ordered most solemnly and authoritatively to absolve him. But, are any promises or professions, which a sinner makes in that distress, a proper ground for such an absolute authoritative absolution? Are not the most profligate when death is thought to approach, wout to feel their consciences troubled with many weighty matters ready to confess their sins, to express the deepest remorse, and to avow amendment if spared? But, when the danger is past, is there one of a thousand that remembers his vows, and that returns not to his sins with as keen an appetite as ever? Do not you gentlemen of the clergy loudly complain of this, when you press on your hearers the necessity of immediate reforination, and warn them not to trust to a deathbed repentance? But, notwithstanding all this, when a person of a profligate character sends for you in the time of sickness, and acknowledges his sins, and professes a repentance, of which he gave no signs till he believed himself to be arrested by death, if he desire absolution, you are directed and required, with all possible solemnity, even in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, authoritatively to absolve him from all his crimes, how many or great soever they have been, and to declare him fully forgiven. Strange! that you can presume in the name of Almighty God, to assure a man that he is absolved from all his sins, when, at the same time, you know yourselves NOT SURE that he is absolved! yea, when the only grounds of your doing it are only the same signs of repentance which a thousand sinners have given, who are, nevertheless, held fast under the power and guilt of sin! What would you call that man, who, in any temporal, or civil concern, should call heaven to witness to the certainty of that which he is not at all certain of? But is it less reproachful thus to trifle

with things sacred and eternal? or is it less dangerous to practise the arts of collusion and deceit in that presence which is infinitely more awful than any tribunal upon earth.

I cannot say, Sir, in what light you view this order of your church, nor what obedience you pay it; but am humbly of opinion, that it is this straining the sacerdotal character which has sunk it into some contempt; and that, if it continue thus strained, lower, much lower it will continue to sink. For, when men see you claiming from God awful and high powers, which they are sure God has never given you, and hear you with great solemnity, authoritatively absolving a profligate sinner in his name, when, at the same time, they know he never gave you any authority so to do, how natural is it for them to deride the priestly character, on which these impious claims are founded, and to treat your other offices with ridicule and disrespect!

Having thus presented you with some of the true grounds of our dissent, many of which you have not at all, and the rest but slightly touched, in your three long letters, I shall now make some remarks on your attempts to reflect back our own pleas and objections upon ourselves, and to prove us self-condemned.

Here you complain, " that you walk almost "without light,-that our churches are so secret "in all their ways, that there is scarce any know"ing what they are, that you must grope and "feel for them as in the dark, and that you are "something like one fighting with a ghost."* This seems, indeed, a very just description of your case, for you greatly misrepresent both our principles and our practice. But the blame of this darkness, Sir, be wholly to yourself. Are not our churches open? Are not our prayers, our

Letter II. p. 4.