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should be absolved in another, without giving satisfaction to his own Church that censured him. And therefore, to put a stop to this practice, and check the exorbitant power which Roman Bishops assumed to themselves, they first made a Law in the Council of Milevis, That no African Clerk should appeal to any Church beyond sea, under pain of being excluded from communion in all the African Churches. And then, afterwards, meeting in a general Synod, they dispatched letters to the Bishop of Rome, to remind him how contrary this practice was to the Canons of Nice, which ordered, That all controversies should be ended in the places where they arose, before a Council and the Metropolitan[1]."
Thus I have shown, that our Bishops, at the time of the Reformation, did but vindicate their ancient rights; were but loyal, grateful, and therefore jealous champions of the honour of the old Fathers, and the sanctity of their institutions; were but acting in the magnanimous spirit of that Apostle, who bade us " stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free."—For true magnanimity consists in neither encroaching nor submitting to encroachment: in taking our rights as we find them, and using them; or rather in regarding them altogether as trusts, the responsibility of which we cannot avoid. As the same Apostle says, "Let every man abide in the same calling, wherein he is called." And, if England and Ireland had a right to assert their freedom under any circumstances, much more so, when the corruptions imposed on them by Rome even made it a duty to do so.
I shall answer briefly one or two objections, and so bring these remarks to an end.
1. First, it may be said, that Rome has withdrawn our orders, and excommunicated us; therefore we cannot plead any longer our Apostolical descent. Now I will not altogether deny, that a Ministerial Body might become so plainly apostate, as to lose its privilege of ordination. But, however this may be, it is a little too hard to assume, as such an objection does, the very point in dispute. When we are proved to be heretical in doctrine, then will be the time to begin to consider, whether our heresy is of so grievous a character as to invalidate our orders; but, till then, we may fairly and fearlessly maintain, that our Bishops are still invested with the power of ordination.
- ↑ Bingh. Antiq. xvi. 1. § 14.
