ON

APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION;

BEING

A DEFENCE OF A GENUINE PROTESTANT MINISTRY,

AGAINST THE EXCLUSIVE AND INTOLERANT SCHEMES

OF PAPISTS AND HIGH CHURCHMEN;

AND SUPPLYING

A GENERAL ANTIDOTE TO POPERY:

ALSO,

A CRITIQUE

ON

THE APOLOGY FOR APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION,
BY THE HON. AND REV. A. P. PERCEVAL, B. C. L.,

Chaplain in ordinary to the Queen:

AND A REVIEW OF DR. W. F. HOOK'S SERMON

ON “HEAR THE CHURCH,"
PREACHED BEFORE THE QUEEN, JUNE 17, 1838:

BY THOMAS POWELL,

WESLEYAN MINISTER.

New-York:

PUBLISHED BY LANE & SCOTT,

“ THEY ARE EQUALLY MAD WHO MAINTAIN THAT BISHOPS ARE SO JURE DIVINO THAT THEY MUST BE CONTINUED: AND THEY WHO SAY THEY ARE SO UNCHRISTIAN, THAT THEY MUST BE PUT

AWAY."--SELDEN.

“ MEN CANNOT CARRY ON A RESOLUTE STRUGGLE AGAINST

SOPHISTRY WITH THE SAME SMOOTHNESS AND SIMPLICITY WITH WHICH THEY ENUNCIATE TRUISMS."-QUARTERLY REVIEW, JAN., 1840.

CONTENTS.

Preface to the first edition

Preface to the second edition.

Introduction....

Page

5

7

SECTION I.

Statements of this doctrine of apostolical succession by its

advocates ..

13

SECTION II.

The state of the general question

21

SECTION III.

No positive proof from the Scriptures of these high Church claims

-The commission of Jesus Christ to the apostles The

claim of apostleship for bishops—High priesthood of bishops

- The case of Timothy and Titus—The angels of the seven

churches....

25

SECTION IV.

The general spirit and scope of the gospel opposed to this high

Church scheme

64

SECTION V.

Scriptural evidence against these claims, continued-Bishops and

presbyters the same, proved from the New Testament

80

SECTION VI.

The same argument continued—Presbyters and bishops the same,

proved from the purest Christian antiquity

Appendix to section vi ..

89

141

SECTION VII.

The Church of England at the Reformation against these claims 144

SECTION VIII.

Bisnops and presbyters the same order, shown by the testimony

of all the Christian churches in the world...

169