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purity of fpirit. How fweet are the gospels of peace that bringeth good tidings, O Sion!

Mof. You talk much, but prove nothing: what proofs do you produce to authenticate Luther's miffion and power to excommunicate diffenters and others?

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Luth. The fcriptures and creeds granted full and ample authority. Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell fhall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of beaven; and whatsoever you shall loofe on earth fhall be loofed in heaven, and whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound alfo in beaven. This is the plenitude of power pofitive without restriction. This, you obferve, was given fingly to Peter, that unity might be preferved, without which all muft terminate in anarchy and confufion; and that the other apoftles and affociates might be partners under due fubordination in the great work of falvation, they have the like spiritual arm's imparted to them with obedience to their head. After our Lord's refurrection he grants the forgiveness of fins to them and to the priesthood. Whofe fins you forgive, they are forgiven; and whofe fins you will not forgive, fhall not be forgiven. The fcripture above quoted clears two points quoted, denied by the Calvinift. The primacy of Luther and full power to excommunicate all diffenters, and power to the priesthood to forgive fins; both which the Lutherans hold as an article of faith, and the Calvinists deny, plain feripture, and that there

may

may be no deficiency in the perpetuity of thefe promifes, both your's and our fcriptures confirm. Daniel I faw in the night vifions, and behold one, like the Son of Man, came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him, and there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all people, nations and languages fhould ferve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom which fhall not be deftroyed. I will afk the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever. And Jefus coming, fpoke to them, saying, all power is given to me in beaven, and on earth. Go you therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghoft, teaching them to obferve all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and behold I am with you all days, even to the end of the world. Many other fcriptures prove the unity and perpetuity of the new covenant or church of Chrift. The creeds are equally full and explicit. I believe in the holy catholic church, the forgiveness of fins, and the communion of faints.

I believe one, holy, catholic, and apoftolic church.

Whofoever will be faved, it is neceffary that he hold the catholic faith, which faith, unlefs he keep whole and undefiled, without doubt, he fhall perish everlastingly.

And all that believed were together, and the Lord added daily to their fociety fuch as should be faved, Acts ii.

Calv.

Calv. And the Lord thy God fhall raise you up a prophet like one of your brethren, him fhall you. bear and obey, and it fhall come to pass, that every foul that will not hear that prophet to do whatfoever be commandeth them, fhall be cut off from the people; and many other texts. But what has Luther to do with thefe fcriptures? they are the promises to Jefus Chrift and his church; fo that it is clear, when a man would fit in the chair of state, which he is not intitled to, how does he perplex and bewilder himself in a maze and labyrinth of abfurdities, and the most laughable conceits and contradictions? This is the cafe before us. Luther has no other means to confirm him in his arrogance and affumed authority of excommunicating and branding all who find it adviseable to separate from his communion, with the odious names of fchifmatics and heretics, but by taking to himself the fcriptures, which intereft is promised to Chrift and his church. Chrift inftituted Peter his vicar, and established him chief of the new covenant. Luther, like Cæfar, could not content himself with an equal, turns out Peter and feats himself in Peter's chair, in order to fhew his power and arrogance, and deal out excommunications as to him feems meet, against men far more fpiritual in the work of the ministry, and better calculated for the chief feat or chair of Peter. For, as the old chriftianity forfeited their recognizances, it was proper that their vacant feats fhould have been bequeathed by the general voice of the congregation to men endowed with the fpirit. Such voice would

have placed Calvin in Peter's chair, to the general edification of the church.

Mof. Hah, hah, hah, hah, hah.

Luth. Your folly appears even in the contracted face of old Mofes.

Caly. It is your fhuffling, Luther, into Peter's chair and claiming the power which is promised the Meffiah.

Mof. Your Pandemonium rivals, if poffible, your original; and you two, Punch and Harlequin, are the most laughable figures, both in fhape and strange conceits and contradictonss that the earth ever produced. I am perfuaded neither believes, the leaft of all the incoherent ftory you have been labouring at but to fatten and fill your carcafes, who are like a couple of fat fwine, at the cost of your blind and deluded parifhoners.

Luth. & Calu. You confider us as mal-contents, restless hypocrites, and without good morals, and found principles, crafty, biaffing the ignorant, and plunging them into every vice and diabolical impiety.

Mof. Your protesting against almighty God and his divine fcriptures marks your condemnation and reprobation.

Luth. & Calv. We have taken both fcriptures into our poffeffion, bequeathed us by our ancestors, and are refolved to be valiant against all who dare gainfay us.

Mof. Your refolution is the reverse to your original ancestors, who quitted the religion of their ancestors, being Roman Catholics.

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Calv. They were idolaters and image-wor shippers.

Mof. What fay you, Luther? Your fociety and the church of England are not fo fqueamish. You are from London

Luth. Similitudes originate either from love or hatred, and produce the like effects. This we know both by public and private occurrences. A man that has rendered his country great fervices is immortalized by the justice he demands, and esteem of his country, to perpetuate which his image is fet up to be refpected and transferred to future generations. England holds forth, in the Tower, her kings in armour on horfeback; alfo, her kings in the Royal Exchange; on St. Paul's, the Evangelift and many other holy images, with the Crofs on the top; by this teftifying her obedience, gratitude, and esteem for her fovereigns and religion. Near the door or portico are the memorials of queen Anne (whofe glorious wars are the boast of every British fubject) furrounded with many other emblematical figures; the glorious queen Elizabeth, near Temple-Bar, reminding her country of her great feats and conquering powers. On St. Dunstan's church, juft by this great queen, are placed the image of that great faint, from whom the church bears the

name.

Mof. Who was this St. Dunstan? I never knew that the Reformation canonized. I am curious to know.

Luth. According to his life, he was a Roman Catholic, bishop of Canterbury, who died in

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