principals may inquire and determine, if they judge it proper so to do. But if those suffragans have any power at all, I am sure it must be exercised in due subordination to their principals. Otherwise 'tis notoriously schismatical, even within the bounds of the several dioceses they were intended to officiate in."[1]
Bennet had written with much force against the Dissenters, proving them to be guilty of schism in separating from a pure branch of the Catholic Church; and upon the appearance of the preceding publication, Peirce, who had been long employed in controversy, wrote some strictures on the work. He attempts to show, that such principles, as were admitted by Bennet, were sufficient to justify any separation. However it is clear that Peirce only rejoiced in the divisions among Churchmen. One fact is incidentally mentioned by him, which is somewhat curious and not without interest, namely, that Hickes's consecration was not generally known till seventeen years after it had taken place.[2]
Hoadley also appeared against the Nonjurors in a work of a different description from that of Bennet.[3] He was one of those latitudinarian Churchmen, by
- ↑ Bennet, pp. 61. 62.
- ↑ A Letter to Dr. Bennet, occasioned by his late Treatise concerning the Nonjurors' Separation, &c.: by James Peirce, 8vo. 1717, p. 52. The first public intimation of Hickes's consecration appears to have been given in the collection of papers published in 1716. Kennet's Life, p. 160. The fact, however, was known to many.
- ↑ A Preservative against the Principles and Practices of the Nonjurors both in Church and State. Or an Appeal to the Consciences and Common Sense of the Christian Laity: by the Right Reverend Father in God, Benjamin, Lord Bishop of Bangor, 8vo. 1716.
