AUGUST 6
As to my own judgment, I still believe the episcopal form of Church government to be both scriptural and apostolical [sic], I mean, well agreeing with the practice and writings of the Apostles. But that it is prescribed in Scripture, I do not believe. This opinion, which I once zealously espoused, I have been heartily ashamed of, ever since I read Bishop Stillingfleet’s Irenicon. I think he has unanswerably proved that neither Christ nor His Apostles prescribe any particular form of Church government, and that the plea of divine right for diocesan episcopacy was never heard of in the Primitive Church.
to the Reverend James Clarke, 1756
If those who “gain all they can,” and “save all they can,” will likewise “give all they can”; then, the more they gain, the more they will grow in grace, and the more treasure they will lay up in heaven.
Works, xiii. 261
