But as a man’s parents and forefathers may have been members of a communion, a continuance in which would be manifestly contrary to the word of God (as, for instance, if a man were born of Popish or Socinian parents;) I therefore say, that “I maintain communion with the Church of England, not MERELY because my parents and forefathers were members of her community.” REASON II. _I maintain communion with the Church of England_, _not_ MERELY_ because she is ancient and venerable_. HER antiquity is a sufficient reason to justify my continuance in her communion, if it can be shown that nothing materially differing from the primitive and apostolic Church, in doctrine or discipline, has, in the long course of her existence, been introduced into her constitution. For the more ancient any Church can prove to be, the nearer is the approach to the source of Divine authority and sanction. Now the Church of England existed long before her corruption by popery; and the labours and sufferings of her Martyrs in the sixteenth century were employed, not in planting a new Church, but in correcting gross abuses in one which had been long established. They are therefore called _Reformers_. The Church of England, as is highly probable, was planted by St. Paul; and we know from credible history, that there was a church in Britain during the apostolic age, and that there were bishops who presided in it soon after that period. But as that which is ancient may have been corrupted, antiquity alone would not fully justify my continuance in any visible Church, though it strongly enforces the necessity of earnestness and diligence in inquiring about the reality and nature of the supposed corruption, before I venture to quit the Church of which I have been made by baptism a member. REASON III. _I maintain communion with the Church of England_, _not_ MERELY_ because she is established by law_. THIS, like the two former reasons, is a sufficient one to enforce my continuance in communion with the Church of England, unless she be found, after _due_ inquiry, to be contrary, in her constitution or doctrines, to the word of God. For I am required to “submit myself to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake.” Nothing can justify my departure from a church so established, but the well-known decision in cases where the law of God and the law of man are in opposition to each other. In any such case the duty is clear to “obey God rather than man.” Such an opposition may exist between human laws and the law of God; and therefore “I maintain communion with the Church of England, not MERELY because she is established by law.” REASON IV. _But I maintain communion with the Church of England_, _because her government is episcopal_, _i.e. by Bishops_; _this being the mode of Church government which existed in the primitive Church_, _and was founded by the Apostles of our Lord_.