mission to the Bishops in possession. The "Parænesis" contained a Summary of the views, which he had advanced and defended in his previous publications. It was intended for foreigners, and on that account was composed in Latin. He argues in this work that the deprived Bishops were not the cause of the breach: and that the civil power could not deprive them of their authority in the Church. He asserts, as he continues to do in his subsequent works, the independency of the Church on the civil magistrate, recommending both Protestants and Romanists abroad to do the same. One of the positions in the "Parænesis" is so generally applicable to all times and circumstances, that it can never be too repeatedly put forward. It is this: that we have as great a certainty, if not a greater, of the settlement of Bishops to govern Churches, as of the Canon of Scripture itself—namely, the universal tradition of the Church, even in the second century.[1] It would be well, if those persons who pretend, that episcopacy is not of primitive institution, would examine the evidence for the authenticity of Scripture, and then judge whether it is in any way superior to that, which may be adduced in favour of Bishops as governors of the Church.
No one was more strenuous in defending the rights of the deprived Bishops: yet no one was more anxious to heal the breach than Dodwell. He was consistent with himself throughout the entire controversy: and had all the Nonjurors been men of a similar spirit, the schism would have been closed, when Dodwell and Nelson entered into communion with the Bishops
- ↑ Dodwell's Life, 277, 300.
