First, The bishops who rule the churches of these realms were validly ordained by others, who by means of an unbroken spiritual descent of ordinations derived their mission from the apostles, and from our Lord. This continual descent is evident to any one who chooses to investigate it. Let him read the catalogues of our bishops ascending up to the most remote period. Our ordinations descend in a direct unbroken line from Peter and Paul, the apostles of the circumcision and the Gentiles. These great apostles successively ordained Linus, Cletus, and Clement bishops of Rome; and the apostolical line of succession was regularly continued from them to Celestine, Gregory, and Vitalianus, who ordained Patrick bishop for the Irish, and Augustine and Theodore for the English. And from those times an uninterrupted series of valid ordinations have carried down the apostolical succession in our churches, even to the present day. There is not a bishop, priest, or deacon amongst us, who cannot, if he pleases, trace his own spiritual descent from Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Secondly, These bishops are the rightful successors of those who ruled the church in the beginning. The pastors who originally preached the gospel, and converted the inhabitants of these realms to Christianity, were legitimately ordained, and therefore had divine mission for their work. The ancient British bishops, who sat in the councils of Arles and Nice, in the fourth century, were followed by a long line of successors, who governed dioceses in Britain; so were those prelates from Ireland, who, in the seventh century, converted a great portion of the pagan invaders of Britainf; and so also was Augustine, archbishop of Canterbury, who was sent by Gregory of Rome about the same time, and who preached to another portion of the Anglo-Saxons. The churches, deriving their origin from these three sources, were governed by prelates, who all filled distinct dioceses; and those dioceses have been oc e See Stillingfleet's Origines Britannicæ, ch. 2 and 3. This work contains a learned history of the antiquity of our church, which was in existence in the second century, and was probably founded by S. Paul, according to bishops Stillingfleet and Burgess, and other divines. f The kingdom of Mercia, containing the counties of Chester, Nottingham, Derby, Stafford, Salop, Northampton, Leicester, Lincoln, Huntingdon, Rutland, Warwick, Worcester, Oxford, Glocester, Buckingham, Bedford, Hereford, and part of Hertford, was converted to Christianity by Finanus, Diuma, Ceollach, and Trumhere, all Irish bishops. Beda, Historia, lib. iii. c. 21. The kingdom of Northumberland, which contained York, Lancaster, and the northern parts of England, and extended a considerable way into Scotland, was chiefly converted by Aidan, another Irish bishop. Paulinus had been sent on this mission by Justus of Canterbury, successor of Augustine, but was soon obliged to retire, and paganism resumed its sway, until Aidan arrived under happier auspices, and converted the nation. Ibid. lib. iii. c. 3, 5, and 6. Essex, Middlesex, and Hertford were converted by Cedd, another Irish bishop, after they had relapsed into paganism. Ibid. lib. iii. c. 22. The Picts and Scots of Scotland were converted by Columba, an Irishman, first abbot of Iona, in the sixth century. Ibid. lib. iii. c. 4. cupied by a regular series of bishops, canonically ordained, from the beginning down to the present day. We can therefore not only prove that we are descended by valid ordinations from the apostles Peter and Paul, but can point out the dioceses which our predecessors have rightly possessed even from the beginning. We stand on the ground of prescriptive and immemorial possession, not merely from the times of Patrick and Augustine, but from those more remote ages, when the bishops and priests that were our predecessors attended the councils of Arles and of Nice, when Tertullian and Origen bore witness that the fame of our Christianity had extended to Africa and the east. It is true, that there are some schismatical Romish bishops in these realms, but they are of a recent origin, and cannot shew the prescription and possession which we can. Some of these teachers do not profess to be bishops of our churches, but are titular bishops of places which we know not. Others usurp the titles of various churches in these islands, but neither are in possession themselves, nor can prove that their predecessors have ever occupied them. This sect arose in the reign of queen Elizabeth, when certain persons, unhappily and blindly devoted to the see of Rome, refused to obey and communicate with their lawful pastors, who, in accordance with the law of God and the canons, asserted the ancient independence of the British and Irish church and the Roman patriarch then ordained a few bishops to sees in Ireland, which were already occupied by legitimate pastors. In Eng g The Irish bishops almost unanimously consented, in the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, to remove the jurisdiction of land this ministry is of a later origin; for the first bishop of that communion was a titular bishop of Chalcedon in the seventeenth century. I must observe further, that the orthodox and undoubted bishops of Great Britain and Ireland are the only persons who in any manner, whether by ordination or possession, can prove their descent from the ancient saints and bishops of these isles. It is a positive fact, that they, and they alone, can trace their ordinations from Peter and Paul, through Patrick, Augustine, Theodore, Colman, Columba, David, Cuthbert, Chad, Anselm, Osmund, and all the other worthies of our church. No popish bishops can by any possibility trace their spiritual descent by ordination from the original pastors of our churches; for their line of succession began at Rome, scarcely more than two centuries ago; and none of them have ever received ordination from any British or the Roman pontiff. See Leland's History of Ireland, b. iv. ch. I. The consequence was, that for a length of time there were scarcely any popish bishops in Ireland. Macgavran, titular archbishop of Armagh, was sent over from Spain, and slain in the act of rebellion against his sovereign. In 1621, we are informed by O'Sullivan, Hist. Cath. Iberniæ, that there were two popish bishops in Ireland, and two others who resided in Spain. These persons were ordained in foreign countries, and could not trace their ordinations to the ancient Irish church. h The Romish sect in England at first was governed by Jesuits and missionary priests, under the superintendance of Allen, a Roman cardinal, who lived in Flanders, and founded the colleges at Douay and Rheims. In 1598, Mr. George Blackwall was appointed Archpriest of the English Romanists; and this form of ecclesiastical government prevailed amongst them till 1623, when Dr. Bishop was ordained titular bishop of Chalcedon, and sent from Rome to govern that society in England. Dr. Smith, the next bishop of Chalcedon, was banished in 1629, and the Romanists were without bishops till the reign of James the Second. See the history of this sect by Dodd. Irish bishops, descended from the ancient line of prelates, who for so many ages have represented the apostles in these realms. These facts are sufficient to prove that the orthodox bishops in possession are really the true, the apostolical ministers of God. And hence we are justified in demanding of schismatical bishops, "Wherefore do you presume to invade the offices of those whose predecessors have possessed these churches from the beginning? What can your claims avail against the representatives of those primitive British and Irish bishops, with whom you cannot trace a single link of connection? Cease then to trouble an inheritance which God has entrusted to others, and, before it is too late, implore his pardon for the schism of which you have been guilty." Thirdly, The true and orthodox bishops and pastors teach those doctrines which the catholic church has taught in all ages from the beginning. We are ready to give a reason for the faith that is in us, and to prove irresistibly, that the faith we hold is the same which the apostles delivered, and which has descended by a continual succession in the catholic church even to the present day. Those points in which Romanists differ from us have never at any time been the doctrine of the church. The doctrines of transubstantiation, purgatory, the papal supremacy, &c. as erroneously taught by schismatical bishops, were never more than the opinions of individuals in the western churches, till the council of Trent: they were believed by some, and disbelieved by others. All the great eastern and aposto i See Stillingfleet's most excellent book, entitled, a "Ra tional Account, |