fhops, Priests and Deacons were commonly chosen by the Clergy and People, which Right upon the Building and Endowment of Churches was transferred to the Patrons, who obtain'd this Right by Grant from the Church in feveral Councils over those Churches which they Built and Endowed. But ftill tho' they nominated, the Bishops only appointed the Perfons fhould execute thofe Functions, and fo it continues to this Day. And as Princes were the Endowers of Epifcopal Churches, all the Temporalties of Bishops being held in Capite of them; fo they nominated Bishops to fupply Vacancies as they should happen, but the Metropolitan and his Comprovincial Bishops allways appointed them to their Office, and Confecrated them. And fo it is at this Day in this Realm. Wherefore tho' the nomination be in the Prince, the Appointment to the Duty or Charge is in the Metropolitan and the Comprovincial Bishops, and their Spiritual Authority is as much derived from them as ever it was.

I have already fhewed in the beginning of this Book, that all Spiritual Authority must be derived only from Chrift, who is the Sole Supreme Head of the whole Church; That he delegated no Authority to the Magistrate in Spiritual Matters, but to his Apostles, who exercised it not only without a License from, but fometimes even in oppofition to the Civil Powers; That the Apostles committed the fame Authority to their Succeffors, the Bifhops and Paftors of the Church, with whom it continues to this Day: And with whom, ** Mat. 28. 20: according to our Saviour's Promife, it shall continue to the end of the World. And their

ap

appointing a Perfon to the Epifcopal Office nominated to them by the Prince, is no more an Argument that that Perfon does not receive his Spiritual Power from them, than it is an Argument that the Deacons did not receive their Power from the Apostles, because the People chofe them. It is one thing to Choofe or Nominate, and another to confer the Power: The Patron of a Church may give a Friend leave to Nomináte a Clerk to him, nay fome body may have fuch a Tie upon the Patron, that he fhall not dare to refufe to prefent the Clerk that Perfon Nominates, yet 'tis not the Nomination, but the Prefentation that empowers that Clerk to go to the Bishop for Inftitution. Now fuch a Tie our Princes have on the Chapters which Elect, and on the Metropolitan and Bishops that Confecrate a Bishop, they dare not refufe to Elect and Confecrate the Perfon Nominated under the Penalty of a Pramunire, yet it does not therefore follow he receives his Spiritual Authority from the Prince: For if the Prince could give that, why fhould he fend him to the Bishops for Confecration? If this Author could fhew that our Princes might make Bifhops by their Letters-Patents only, without any Confecration at all, he would speak indeed to the Purpose. If he could prove that a Royal Commiffion would make a Bishop or that it ever did fo, as fully and compleatly as it can make a Civil Officer, then indeed it would be a Proof that the Epifcopal Power is wholly derived from the Regal. But to fay that the Prince can compel the Bishops by his Temporal Authority to confecrate whomfoever he fall Nominate, is no more than to

fay

fay that all Bishops are fubject to the Temporal Power, and that the Civil Magistrate has Authority to punish them if they disobey the Temporal Laws. There being therefore an Act of Parliament which obliges the Bishops to Confecrate the Perfon Nominated to a Bishoprick by our Soveraign Prince, under a fevere Penalty, it is not to be wondered that our Bishops have always complied to do so. And yet if any Prince fhould nominate a Perfon wholly unfit and unqualified to Exercise the Epifcopal Function, the Metropolitans and the other Bishops ought rather to incur the Penalty than to Confecrate fucha Perfon. And the most that can be faid, is, that this is a Right of Patronage vested in the Supreme Magiftrate extended fomething beyond the Bounds of what was allowed in former Ages: Because the Clerks presented by all Patrons ought to be Tried and Examined, which is not allowed here. However, this shakes not the Fundamentals of Church-Government, and how foever the Perfon is nominated by the Prince, yet the Archbishop and Bishops must lay their Hands on him, and invest him with the Spiritual Power: It is they that actually give him his Commiffion for the Work of this Ministry, faying, Receive the Holy Ghost for + Office for the the Office and Work of a Bishop in the Church of Confecration of God, now committed to Thee by the Impofition of our Hands, &c. By which it is evident that he receives his Authority from their Commiffion, and not from any Commiffion from the Prince, for they tell him at his Confecration, that it is Now committed to him by the Impofition of their Hands: A fure Testimony that our Law conceives him to have no fuch Authority before,

notwith

Bishops.

notwithstanding his Nomination by the Prince: For this Form by which the Bishops Confecrate is Confirmed by an Act of Parliament as well as the Princes Right of Nomination. And if the Bishops should refufe to Confecrate him, the Parliament neither has declared, or indeed can declare that he shall be a Bishop without it. They have appointed a fevere Penalty in cafe of Refufal, but they are fenfible it is no more in their Power to make a Bishop than 'tis to make a Christian.

As to what he fays, that the Bishops cannot Act in their own Right, or by a Power inherent in themfelves difpofe of the Power of the deceased Bifhop, as upon his Death devolving to them: Because the Power of the deceased Bishop devolves to the People, to be difpofed of by them, or by an Autho rity derived from them. (For this Gentleman places all Authority in the People, and makes the Magiftrate no more than their Trustee) In this cafe he is plainly out as to Matter of Fact: For according to the Conftitution of this Realm, as the Temporalties of a deceased Bishop devolve to the Crown, fo the Spiritualty's devolve to the Metropolitan, or, in cafe the Metropolitical See be vacant, to the Dean and Chapter of the Metropolitical Church, and they are the Guardians of the Spiritualties of every Church in this Realm fo long as it continues vacant. So that even according to this Gentleman's own Argument, if they to whom the Power devolves have the Right to transfer it on another, then fince the Spiritual Right of the deceased Bishop is in Fact devolved on the Metropolitan, it is he that must have theRight to transfer it tothe Succeffor:And tho' the Prince nominate that Succeffor, yet

he

he fends him to the Metropolitan to be Confirmed and Confecrated. And tho' the King or Queen may in default of the Archbishop, or if the Archiepifcopal See be vacant, appoint other Bishops three or four (not any fingle Bishop, as this Gentleman fays, for the Statute exprefly fays, an Archbishop and two. other Bishops, or elfe four Bishops) this makes no material difference in the Cafe: For all Bishops, befides the Care of their own particular Churches have a general Right to fee that the Catholick Church be duly provided with its proper Officers: And where the Presbytery of a Church, which we now call the Dean and Chapter, have fignified to their Neighbouring Bishops, that they wanted a Paftor, thofe Neighbouring Bishops have Confecrated one for them. All the difference therefore between what the Bishops did Originally and what they do now is, that now they are liable to Temporal Penalties if they have not a Royal Commission for that which in the Primitive Church they might do without one. The Prince's Commiffion plainly gives them no Spiritual Authority, but only Authorizes them to execute that Authority within his Dominions, in fuch manner as may exempt them from the Penalty of the Temporal Laws. But if the Civil Magiftrate fhall abufe his Temporal Authority by preferring unqualified Perfons when he nominates to a Bishoprick, the Bishops whom he orders to Confecrate fuch a Perfon ought to fuffer any Penalties rather than to obey him. And if no Bishops will Confecrate fuch a Perfon, no Temporal Authority whatsoever can make him a Bishop. And therefore notwithstanding this Right Ff which