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    some private conferences with Mr . O . his lordship ordered him to give his attendance at the public hall of Oswestree , and there produce his reasons , why he preached without episcopal ordination ? The warning was short , for he had but four or five days to prepare ; yet he had no reason to be ashamed of

    the consequence . His lordship having directed him to procure what ministers he pleased to assist at the conference , he fixed upon Mr . Philip Henry of Broad Oak , and Mr , Jonathan Roberts of Llanfair , both of them his particular friends , and pretty near neighbours , as well as every way worthy of his choice oa

    this occasion . Of their respective characters I have spoken already in the sketch of the lite of the latter . The Bishop had with him the very learned Henry Dodwell , of eccentric and paradoxical i » emory ; but it is probable he had not then imbibed all those high and wild notions by which he was so much distinguished at the Revolution , and afterwards * .

    The conference or dispute began at two in the afternoon , and ended between eight and nine , daring which time several points in debate between the church and dissenters were considered and argued . The grand question proposed and discussed was , ** Whether ordination , by such diocesans as have an uninter- ? € C rupted succession of canonical ordination down from the

    u apostles , be so necessary , that churches and ministry are €€ null without it ? " This succession was publicly affirmed and maintained in Oswestree Hall by the champions of the church , against which and some other things Mr . O . excepted to this effect ; 1 , That this opinion militated against the reformed churches which have no bishops j that they are without them , is not a case of necessity , as appears from their confessions *

    2 . Upon this principle ^ the church of England had no ininisters for want of this succession , which has been interrupted at Rome , the Pope being the Antichrist : besides , many of the Popes being incapable ; Liberius subscribed the Arian confession ; Honorius I , was condemned for heresy , in two general councils ; Marcel linns was an idolater ; Sylvester II , a conjurer ; Eugenius IV . was deposed by the oecumenical council of Basil , yet still retained the papal authority ; cardinals and

    . * < c If it can be said of any man , that much learning made him mad , ' it may certainl y be said of DodwelL His knowledge of ancient philosophy and of the opinions of the Christian fathers has seldom , if ever , been surpassed , while his ingenuity was equal to his erudition ; in judgment he was defective ; but , even amidshis wildest

    t paradoxes truths ajre scattered , and hints are thrown out , worthy of more attention than at present seems to be paid to them /'—Brit . Crjt . for Aug , 2805 , p . 154 , note - These critics have not condescended to specify those truths 5 * nd bints which they alluded to . It is , however , not difficult to guess what they would most approve or admire in the writings of DodwelL For an account of some of his wild and singular notions ^ ee the sketch of the life of Jonathan Roberts

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    StSS ^ Biographical Sketches *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1806, page 236, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1724/page/12/