Three letters to the bishop of Bangor

...own authority, can be received as His ambassadors, unless those pass for His ministers who have no authority from Him.

Once more, all things are either shared in common in the Church of Christ, or they are not. If they are, then everyone may preach, baptize, ordain, and so on. If all things are not thus shared, but the administration of the Sacrament and ordination are offices reserved for specific people, then I want to know how Christians in this present age—or any other since the Apostles—can know their respective duties. How can they know what they may or may not do regarding the various acts of church communion if there is no uninterrupted succession of authorized persons descending from Christ? For until an authority from Christ appears to distinguish between people, we are all equal, and anyone may officiate as well as another. To make a joke, therefore, of uninterrupted succession is to make a joke of ordination. It destroys the sacred character of the office and makes all pretenders to it just as valid as those who are truly sent by Christ.

If there is no uninterrupted succession, then there are no authorized ministers from Christ. If there are no such ministers, then there are no Christian sacraments. If there are no Christian sacraments, then there is no Christian covenant, because the sacraments are the established original: "Stated" and visible seals of that covenant.

My Lord, this is all your own doing. I am not forcing original: "palm'd upon you" these consequences upon you; they are simply the first, plain, and obvious meaning of your Lordship’s words. And yet, after all this, your Lordship asks Dr. Snape Andrew Snape (1675–1742) was one of the primary challengers to Bishop Hoadly during the Bangorian Controversy., "Why all these outcries?"