I am almost sorry to pursue this subject, for fear I shall argue downwards till I come to the Bishops. The top of the fabric of hierarchy over men's souls was Lucifer; from him it descended to our first parents; from them to their son Cain. Nimrod is said to have assumed it, and set up the worship of fire, and to have imposed the articles of his creed on all who were under his jurisdiction, on pain of burning. It came down to Nebuchadnezzar, who set up an idol in the plains of Dura, and obliged all to worship it, on pain of death. The Jews seem to have learned this principle at Babylon, and brought it home with them to their own land; then it fell into the hands of the High-Priests, Scribes, and Pharisees. Diotrephes catched it in the days of the Apostles; from him it was carried to Asia and Africa. It pro ceeded westward, and settled for a long time at Rome; but it came to England, where it yet remains in the office and temper of your Lordships, who bind heavy burdens upon men's shoul ders. Grievous is the cause of all hierarchies in matters of religion, and hard to be borne. Who would not think it hard to be under the jurisdiction of the "Prince of the power of the air, the spirit that rules in the hearts of the children of disobedience ?" This is a grievous burden, my Lords, that men must be obliged to submit to a power which has done so much injury to mankind. Compare the cause and the effect, and you will find them as like one another as children can possibly be like their father. Al hierarchies in the church enslave the consciences of men, who are such fools to submit to them. Satan could not establish his hierarchy among the human race till he made them slaves, and corrupted their feelings for liberty. He became first lord of their faith, and then became master of their passions. The devil was the first created being that imposed articles of belief upon men; he persuaded them that the Almighty's articles of faith which he imposed were not true, and foisted in his own falsehood in place of them; he did it by a sort of comment, as your Lordships compose articles. "God knows," says the Devil, 66 ye shall not surely die; but ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." This is something like your Thirty-nine Articles; it may be understood more ways than one; it has a double meaning. There is no doubt but God knew all things concerning life or death; but the Devil did not explain his terms, but played the sophist. In a word, he wanted his articles to pass, and did not hesitate to play a trick to have them received. If once he could obtain credit to his doctrine, he knew his main point was gained; it would be easy to enslave men, if once he had possession of the heart. It is with the heart men believe. The meaning of all human articles are the same; the intention of them is to bring men over to the dominion of the imposers, that they may be their masters in things religious. Those who gain their point in this particular perform but a devilish trick when they have done. It is only doing what Satan has done before them,-forming a scheme to to support an hierarchy. The Devil's system of articles was not all lies neither; there was far too much truth in his doctrine. He said that our first parents should know good and evil, if they tasted the forbidden fruit; and so they did with a vengeance; they knew themselves ruined by losing the favour of their Maker. It was not because Satan's articles were all false, that they deserved to have been rejected, but because they were substituted in the room of the word of God, in the same manner that Bishops impose human articles. Such a man as Bishop BURNET, who had a gift of explaining articles, might find a sense in which the words of Satan might be taken, that any good Churchman might subscribe them. I can assure you, my Lords, that there are a number of as lying-like things in the Thirty-nine Articles which his Grace has made a shift to make look tolerably decent. But all this is sensual and devilish, acting the part of Satan, who persuaded man that God's word was not sufficient, but needed some additaments. There is not the smallest difference between the practice of that old usurper and that of your Lordships, if you consider matters impartially. It was for the sake of having dominion over men's consciences that Lucifer imposed his creed; and for the same reason you impose your articles. Be not offended at the comparison. The author of hierarchy is of a high extract; he was once a principality and power in heaven, though, for usurping the place of God, he is now a fallen spirit, and "reserved in chains of darkness till the judgment of the great day." There is the end of usurping unjust dominion, my Lords; such as the cause is, so will the effect be. But if we shall argue a posteriori, from the effects to the cause, the hierarchy will appear "a burden grievous to be borne." As from the smallest pile of grass we may reason up to the Deity; so from the lowest branch of an earthly hierarchy in religion, we are led to the Devil. This is perhaps not delicate enough for the ears of your Lordships; but it is plain, and what is more, it is too true. Let us try if we can make this out. Have therefore a little patience, and you shall see how soon a person who comes into the hands of the church comes to his ne plus ultra. For example, he begins with a parish clerk, priests, or churchwardens, and refuses to pay for bread he never tasted, and wine he never drank. What is the consequence? He is next put into the hands of the apparitor; from thence into the proctors' in the Spiritual Court; he is judged by the Chancellor, without a jury of his peers, at last excommunicated and delivered to the devil; so that it is manifest that there is but one step between your Lordships and Satan. This is a short way of landing in the hands of the tormentor. Whatever part of the hierarchy we begin at, our last stage is at the Devil, unless we submit in all things to our ghostly guides. This is a "burden grievous to be borne." Whether we move upwards or downwards, downwards, we are oppressed, and troubles await us every where, while we are under the dominion of high-priests. It is a fearful thing to fall into their hands. CHAMBERLAYNE tells us, "That if a man refuses to answer, or otherwise to satisfy the court, he is excommunicated, or excluded from the church; or if not from the church, yet from the communion of the Lord's Supper; is disabled to be plaintiff in a suit at law," &c. If a man does not satisfy the court, which your Lordships know is not easily done, he is presently deprived of a right to live; and if he happens to die under the sentence of the clerical court, he is denied a Christian burial, and left in the hands of the Devil. Lord have mercy on us! What a burden is this, and grievous to be borne! The honestest man in the world may land in hell after this fashion, provided your sentences stand ratified. I have shewed, by reasoning from the cause to the effect, and from the effect to the cause, that a temporal hierarchy in spiritual things is "a burden grievous to be borne." I shall now conclude with some improvement of the subject. It will appear manifest, from what has been said, that your Lordships ought to be servants in the church, and not lords over God's heritage; that you ought to lay aside the Articles, those badges of Popery, and all the fopperies of that Antichristian hierarchy which you still retain. When you know that many of your clergy want to be eased of these burdens, you ought to grant them relief. You are holding a power which is not founded in right, and which, at best, is tyranny, and disgraceful to human nature. There can be no real glory in shackling the consciences of your fellow men and brethren. It is the glory of the saints of the other world to cast down their crowns before the throne of the Lamb. Throw away your mitres, my Lords, and become plain ministers; your livings will be then better bestowed upon you, and you yourselves will be more useful. It is not long before they shall drop from your brows, and your honour shall be laid in the dust. You now claim honours like gods; but "ge shall die like men, and fall like one of the people." Suffer the word of exhortation, and listen to it. There is more truth in what has been said than you are aware of. Allow your consciences to speak, and listen to their admonitions. The King of kings comes to reward every one according to their works. It will be a solemn day, my Lords; you never saw the like of it at court. Before his face the heavens and the earth shall flee away; He shall sit on the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations: Kings and Bishops shall be there; your justum et tenacem propositi virum, which hath endured the civium ardor prava jubentium. Your obstinacy in refusing the just demands of your brethren will not support you when the heavens are on fire. I think I hear you say, "Si fractus illabatur orbis, It will not do, my Lords. You never saw any thing like this solemnity. The Apostle John says, " The books shall be opened:" the books of your spiritual courts, the books of conscience, and the books of divine revelation. Not a secret shall be hidden. You stare! but you shall find it true. What has long been hid shall be made manifest, clear as a sun-beam. You have had your good things in this life. It would hardly be reasonable to give any more. Remember the rich man, my Lords. Ah! he had his good things, as you have now, in this life, and little thought of another world; but he died, and so must you: after death there is a judgment. This your Lordships will perhaps think too grave discourse for men in high life, who are accustomed to courtly phraseology, There is nothing mean in this, my Lords; it is even worthy of a Bishop's consideration; and whether you think so or not, you will find it true. We may see, from what has been said, that there is not a clergyman in Great Britain can vindicate your hierarchy without perverting the Scriptures. All your advocates shew evident marks of distress, when they attempt to plead your cause. Their arguments are forced and unnatural, and carry no evidence along with them; they may confuse weak minds, but wili have small influence upon men of understanding. All their criticism on Greek words, and their quotations from the fathers, shew how they are pinched to make out their arguments. They would do better to follow nature, and speak plainly. Your cause is tolerably well understood at this day; few believe in their consciences that the hierarchy is a divine institution: but it has, my Lords, what is more engaging to flesh and blood to support it, large yearly incomes, and acts of parliament. These will serve for a seasou to support you against all rational conviction, and you will take all the rest to a longer day. My Lords, I do not envy you your good things; but it is hard you should glory in holding men under your lash. Let us have a toleration to serve God according to the dictates of our own consciences without molestation, and we shall ask no more. You might, my Lords, suffer the bill for the relief of Dissenters to pass without opposition, for it can do you no good to oppose it; but whether you do or not, it will give them small concern, provided you let them alone. Before we part, my Lords, let us pray: May all church hierarchy soon be laid in the dust, and all human articles demolished;-may we have the word of God for the sole articles of our faith, and honest teachers to put us in mind of our duty; may our faith be free, and our love unfeigued ;-may we serve the one Lord, and obey him from the heart;-may your Lordships obtain repentance and remission of sins;-and may we all rejoice in one another's happiness. Amen. SERMON SERMON IV. 1 TIMOTHY, iii. 2, 3. A Bishop must be blameless, apt to teach, not given to filthy lucre, not covetous, &c. MY Y Lords, these are qualifications rarely to be found among Bishops. It is an high character to be blameless, and is seldom to be found upon the sacerdotal bench. Your Lordships will, before we proceed, please to consider the scripture idea of a Bishop; and I must direct your attention to the opinion of one who knew well the meaning of the word Bishop. Titus, by your church, is said to have been ordained the first Bishop of the Cretians; and Paul says to him, "For this cause have I left thee at Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain Elders in every church, as I had appointed thee: if any man be blameless; for a Bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God." The Apostle Paul affirms, that a Bishop and an Elder are the same office. There is not one word of a Bishopric or a Diocese here. At this time clerical jurisdiction and large temporalities were unknown in the Christian church.. But to proceed to consider the sentiments which are manifestly contained in the text and its connexion, it must be observed, in the first place, that a bishop who is blameless must have the characters recommended by the Apostle: "He must be the husband of one wife;" which intimates that young, vain, light men are not fit to be Elders or Bishops in a New Testament church; and that they ought to be persons who neither live in polygamy, nor devote themselves to celibacy, contrary to nature. It is not to be supposed, my Lords, that men who live as you, in luxury and voluptuousness, can remain chaste, without the use of that appointment which the Lord of the church has instituted to keep her members holy. Before a man is preferred to so many thousands of yearly income, it is but reasonable he should do some service to the state, and maintain a family like other Christians. The Apostle recommends a wife to every Bishop; and it appears to be a task that will greatly pinch the critics to prove that any man has a right to the office of a Bishop while he remains unmarried. The words of the Apostle are both explicit and express: " a Bishop MUST be the husband of one wife." It is a fair inference from the text, that such Bishops as are unmarried are not blameless. It is manifestly contrary to the express words of the Apostle, to prefer men to offices in the church, who behave expressly contrary to the express letter of the Scripture. There |