Veneer on Article XXXVI: Of Consecration of Bishops and Ministers

[…]

The Exposition.

I F any-thing be wanting in the Ordi- nations of the Church of England^ the Form of which is preicribed in the Book which this Article men- . tionsa it must be on the Part of the Ordainers , but these are Bifliops : Or in the Manner of X X Ordaining j

6go An Exposition on the

Art. XXXVI. Ordaining , but this is the Imposition of Hands yY\J with proper Prayers. Thus the Apostles or- dained the seven Deacons, A6is vi. 6. When they had prayed they laid their Hands on them. Or finally on the Part of such as are to be ordained , but these are examin’d as to their Faith, Manners, and Knowledge. There is therefore nothing wanting which is necelTary to make these Ordinations just and complete.*

The Forms which were made Uie of in Con-* fecrating the Clergy in the Primitive Church are not now extant. But if the Reader consult the most antient that are now to be met with, he will find nothing omitted by our Church which was formerly required to make an Ordi- nation complete.

But to difcourfe a little more fully upon this Article, I ihall endeavour to obviate and answer what Objections it is either liable to, or may have met with, either from the Se(5taries or those of the Church of Kome, And^

First, I think it proper to observe. That by Archbifliops we do not mean Perfbns of a di^ ftind: Order from BilTiops j for when a Bishop Is made an Archbifliop^ he is only translated as any other Bishop is from one ordinary or com- mon Bifhoprick to another, and without any other Ordination or Confecration than he had before. Archbifhops, indeed, were not fb foon

[…]

known

Thirty-Wine Anidt^. ^pi

known by that Name as Bishops were, but thelf Art. xxxvl Eminency seems to be admitted fooii after the V-/*V Days of the Apostles ; for when a Bishop was io lucceisf il in his own and his Presbyters Mi- niftry, as to convert, at too gret a Distance for his own Infpedlion, a numerous People, he divided his Charge into more Hands, and con- fecrated other Bishops, to take a more imme- diate Care of the Flock ; retaining to himself and his SuccefTors, the Cognizance of Cauies of Appeal ; and by reafbn of his Eminency over those that were delegated from him, he was Called Archbiihop or Chief Bishop, under v/hose Infpe6lion the other Bishops ruled the Flock : When Sovereign Princes became Christian, they changed the Bounds of Archbifhops and Bishops JDiocefes, as stood most with the Conyeniency of their Dominions, the Bishops enjoying the fame Power they derived from Christ without Moleftation.

Secondly, I must observe, that feme have looked upon these Words in the Ordinatiorf Service, mentioned in this Article, Receive ye the Holy Ghost^ as too bold and affuming, and to intimate that it is in our Power to convey the Holy Ghoil. And to this it is to bd answered. That fmce the several Fundions and Administrations that are in the Church, are by the Apostle, said to flow from one and the fame Spirit^ all of them, from the Apoflles down ’ to the Pastors and Teachers, we may then reckon, that the Holy Ghost is given, though in a much lower Degree, to those who are inwardly moved by God, to undertake that Holy Office ^ fo that though that extraordinary Effufion that was poured out upon the Apostles, was in them In a much higher Degree, and was accompanied

6<)z Jn Expofitioii on the

Art. xxxvl.. with moit amazing Charaders yet still lueh -OTN* as do fmcerely offer themselves up, on a Divine MotioHj to this Service, receive a lower Portion of this Spirit. This being laid down, the Words Receive ye the Holy Ghuft may be con- fidered as a Wish or Prayer and fo it will better agree with what follows. And he thou a faithful Difpenfer of the IVord and Sacraments. Or it may be oblerved, that in those Sacred Miffions the Church and Church-men consider themielves as ading in the Name and Person of Chriil. In Baptism it is exprefly said, / Bap- tize in the Name of the Father c. In the £ucharifl we repeat the Words of Chrifl as well as in Ordination, and apply them to the Elements, as said by him , fo we consider such as deserve to be admitted to those Holy Func- tions, as Persons called and fent of God ; and therefore the Church, in the Name of Christ, fends them ; and because he gives a Portion of his Spirit to those whom he fends, therefore the Church, in his Name, says, Receive ye the Holy Ghofl. And in this Sense, and with this Refped, the Ufe of these Words may well be justify’d. But,

Thirdly, The chief thing intended in this Article is to oppoie the grand Objedion of the Komanifts^ againfl the Orders of the Church of England^ founded upon the Alteration which was made in our Ordinal, Anno 1662. as if that were a tacit Consent on our Side, that before this Alteration Vv^as made our Ordinal was not sufficient, and therefore no Orders could be conferred thereby, and consequently that neither they which were ordained by it, or we that have derived our Orders from them, have received any legal and sufficient Ordination thereby. To

whicb

ThWty-Nme Articles. ^93

which I answer i. That the putting in of Ex- Art.xxxvi. planatory Words, to make things clearer, and render them more free from Cavil and Objedbion, cannot well be termed Alteration. 2. That fuppofing really there had been any such Alte- ration made as to the whole Substance of the Form, yet this is no more than what the Church of Kome hath often done, there being scarce an Age in which fhe hath not considerably varied from herself herein, as may be fecn by compar- ing those many different Forms of Ordination used in the Church of Rome which are col- lected together by Morinus a leirned Priest of that Church, in his Book concerning Ordina- tions. 3. The Alterations, or rather Explana- tory Additions, made in our Ordinal in the Year 1662. were not inserted out of any refpecSt to the Controversy v/hich we have with the Church ojf Kome but only to silence a Cavil of the Presbyterians, who from the old Ordinal drew an Argument to prove, that there was no Difference between a Bishop and a Priest, be- cause, (as they fay) their Offices were not at all diftinguifhed in the Words whereby they were conferred on them when ordained, or any new Power given a Bifliop, which he had not before as a Priest. For the Words of Ordination in King Edward’s Ordinal, are, for a Priest, as followeth *•’ Receive the Holy Ghost ; Whose ” Sins thou doft forgive they are forgiven, and ” whose Sins thou doft retain they are retained, ” and be thou a faithful Difpenfer of the Word ” of God, and of his Sacraments, in the Name ” of the Father, and of the Son, and of the ” Holy Ghost. ” And for a Bifnop, ” Take ” the Holy Ghost, and remember that thou *’ ftir up the Grace of God which is in thee by ’ Imposition of Hands. For God hath not Xx 3 ” givca

[…]

RT.xxxvi. ” given thee the Spirit of Fear, but of Power k/’Y ’ and I.ove, and Sobernefs. ” And they fo continued ‘till the Review of our Liturgy, ynna 1662. And then to obviate the above-mention’d Cavil of the Presbyterians, those Explanatory Words were inserted, whereby the Diftindion between a Biihop and a Priest is more clearly and unexceptionably express’d : So that now the Words of Ordination for a Priest are, ” Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office and * Work of a Priest in the Church of God, ’ now committed to thee by Imposition of our Hands. Whose Sins thou doft forgive, ” &c/’ And for a Biihop ” Receive the ” Holy Ghost for the Office and Work of a ’ Biihop, now committed to thee by the Im- position of our Hands, in the Name of the ’ Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy ’ Ghost 5 and remember that thou, &e” But 4. Having thus stated the Cafe, and laid before you the Differences between the new Ordinal and the old j now, to come to the main of the Objedion, I after t, that had the old Ordinal been continued without any such Addition-, although it might not clearly have obviated the Cavils of the Adversaries, yet the Orders con- ferred by it would have been altogether as valid. And as to the Objedion made by the Gentle- men of the Church of Rome that the Words of our old Ordinal do not liifficiently exprefl the Office conferred thereby, this must be un- •derftood either in reference to the Prieftly Ordi- nation, or the Epilcopal, or both. And, i. As to the Prieftly Ordination there leems not to be the least Ground for it, because the Form ih the old Ordinal doth as fully express the Office, Power, and Authority of a Priest as need be rcouireda in these Words, * Whose Sm thou

^ doft

TJjirty-Nme Articles. 695

” doft forgive they are forgiven, and whose Art. xxxvl. ” Sins thou doft retain they are retained. And L/’Y ” be thou a faithful Difpenfer of the Word of ” God, and of his Sacraments ,” wherein the Whole of the Prieftly Office is exprefled. But, 2. As to the Episcopal Ordination, the whole Pinch of the Argument seems to lie there, because in the old Form of the Words, Ipoken at the Imposition of Hands, the Office and Authority of a Bishop (they fay) is not o particularly specify’d. To this I anfvver, i. That I think this sufficiently done in the Words of the Form, ” Remember that thou ftir up the ’ Grace of God which is in thee by Imposition ’ of Hands, for God hath not given us the ’ Spirit of Fear, but of Power, and Love, and ’ Soberneis ; ” for they are the very Words of St. Paul to “timothy Bishop oi Ephefus, (2 Epift, cb. I. “ver. 6, 7.) whereby he exhorts and ftirs him up to the Execution of his Episcopal Of- 1

fice, and they have always been understood to refer thereto, and therefore, I think, they may be alfb allowed sufficient to express the fame Episcopal Office, when spoken to any other, and fully determine to what Office the Holy Ghost is given by Imposition of Hands in the Form mentioned, and properer for this Purpose than any other, because of the greater Autho-* rity which they must have, in that they are taken out of the Holy Scripture. But if Men will cavil on, and still object that the Name of Bishop is not expreifed in the Form, or the Du- ties and Power of that Office with sufficient Clearnefs specify’d in the Words mentioned, the Objection lies much more againfl the Ro??mn Ordinal than against ours, as being much more defedive herein. For the whole Form used therein at the Confecration of a Bishop is no X s 4 more

6()(i An Exposition on the

Art.xxxvi. more than this, _Receive the Holy Gboft’] that 00 being all that is said at the Imposition of Hands, and aflerted by them to be the whole Form of Eptfcopal Ordination. And therefore Vafques a learned Jemit and most eminent School-man, makes the fame Objedlion against the Roman Ordinal, that the Komanifts do against ours. For in Terthmi I’homce Difp. 240. c. 5. n, $”], his Words are, ’ These Words, Receive the ” Holy Ghost which are spoken by three Bishops ” together, with Imposition of Hands, over ’” the Person to be ordained, seem to be fb ’ general, that they do not expreis the proper ’ Office and Degree of a Biihop, which yet ” did seem necelTary for the Form of his Ordi- ” nation.” But to this he himself gives a So- lution (A 60. of the fame Chapter’) in these fol- lowing Words : ” Neither doth that hinder which I have said before, that these Vvords ” [Receive the Holy Ghof] were too general ; ” For although by these Words considered in ’ themselves, the Office or peculiar Degree of ’ a Biihop cannot be denoted, and they may ” be also said for any other Order • but as they ’ are pronounced (the Imposition of Hands of • ’ three Bishops joined together being alfb had ” therewith for the Matter of Ordination) they ” do truly denote the Degree, of a Bishop, to which the Person eleded is ordained. ’ For they, after this manner, laying on their ’ Hands all together, by those Words do de- note that they receive him into their Fel- ” lov/ship, and to this end do give the Holy ” Ghofl, and therefore do place him in the ’” fame Episcopal Order with themselves, ’ whereas the Imposition of Hands made ufe ’ of by one Bishop only, and the fame Words [Receive the Holy Qboff] with a few. others

’^ added

Thirty-Nine Articles. 6^7

’ added to them, spoken by the lame Bishop Apt. xxxvi. * in the Ordination of a Deacon, do not either yy\J ’ as considered in themselves, or as spoken by ” the Bishop and apply’d to this Matter, denote the peculiar Office or Degree of a Deacon ; ” neither can they, as spoken by one Bishop, ’ with such a Matter, denote the Ordained to ’ be admitted into the Fellowship with the ” Bishop rather in this Order than in another, ’* feeing one Bishop is as well the Miniller of ’ Conferring the Orders of the Prieflhood, and ” of the Sub-Deacon as of the Deacon. But on the contrary, three Bishops are only the ’ Miniflers of Conferring Episcopal Ordina- ’ tion. And I do therefore think it to be the ’ Will of Chrifl, that his Church should in this ’ Ordination, ule such Words as, consider’d in ” themselves, are only general, that it might ’ denote thereby that abundant Grace of the ’ Holy Spirit which is conferred on Bishops in * their Ordination. For it seems to be much ’ more that the Holy G host be given abiolutely, ” than that it be given for this or that peculiar ” Eifea.” Thus far the learned Jesuit ; and if this may be allowed to be a Solution of the Objedion againfl the Ordinal of the Church of Rome, it mufl also be a fulHcient Solution of\ the fame Obje(5lion againfl: our Ordinal. For with us, as well as in the Church of Rome, there are always three Bishops present at the Ordination of a Bishop, which all together lay their Hands on the Bishop eled when or- dained, and not only this Circumflance, but many others in the Admin iflration of this Of fice, according to our Ordinal, do as fully fhew what Order the Perfbn on whom they thus lay their Hands, and pronounce the above-mcn- tion’d Form of Confecration over, is to be

admitted

698 Jn Expoiition on the

Art. XXXVI. admitted to. The Complex of the whole 0& ‘VV fice (hews it. For the Person to be ordained or consecrated is prcfented to the Metropolitan, as one to be made a Bilhop , is prayed for as one to be made a Bishop 5 is examined or inter- rogated as one to be made a Bilhop ; is vested in the Episcopal Robes, and is ordained by a Form never used but in the Ordination of a Bishop ; and all these together, with many other such like Circumstances in that Office, too long all to be put down, are certainly fuffi- cient to determine the Words of the Form to the Episcopal Office only, were there nothing in the Words themselves to do it, as it is cer- tain there is not in the Form used by the Church of Kome to this Purpose. To this let me add, I. That though such of the Clergy as had been ordained by King Edward’s Ordinal, and re- fused to comply with Popery at its Reftauration in Queen Marys Reign, were declared by the Papifts, in the Heat of their Fury and Re- venge, to be only in pretended Orders, yet such of them as did comply, which were not a few, kept both their Livings and their Orders without any new Ordination, all being falved by a Difpenlation, which could not have been done, had their Orders by that Ordinal been conferred contrary to Christ’s Institution, against which there can be no Difpenfation by any Power on Earth whatfbever. 2. That Bonner himself, in the Heighth of his Zeal and Rage against us, hath nothing to alledge against this Ordinal, in his Book that he wrote against our Orders, except this, that in the Ordinal for the Ordaining of Priests we have not this Form, ” Receive thou Power to offer Sacrifices to ” God, and to celebrate Mass both for the Living and the Dead and if this be a De*

Thirty-Wine Articles. 6^^

fed in our Ordinal, and on this Account an Art.xxxvl efTential Part is wanting in our Orders, (as the i/V!¥ Gentlemen of Kome contend , for this is indeed the whole of what they have to fay, when they come close to the Poiilt) it hath Ifo been a Defetft in the Church of Kmie itself, which for a thousand Years together never used any such Form in their Ordination, and it is not now used to this Day, either in the Greek Church, or in the Churches of the Maronites upon Mount Lihanus although the Church of Kome allows the Orders of the former to be good, and the latter are Members of their own Communion. Nay, it is further to be observed, that thoie Greeks which live in Rome not only under the Pope’s Jurifdidion, to which they have submitted, but alfb under his very Nose, and have Churches there riiaintain’d for them at his Cost and Charges, are still allowed to be ordained by their owti Ordinal, in which this Form is wanting, as Mmntis a learned Priest pi the Komijh Communion, and one that lived fome Time at Kome doth attest j and there- fore, if for this Defed, (as they call it) our Orders be null and invalid, (as now they Would have) why do they allow them to be good and Valid in others, which have received thetti with the fame Defed also ? or rather, how can they be good and valid in themfdves, who have received them from such, as for near a thousand iTears (as 1 have before observed) nevr ufe4 tills Form?

j^RtlCXE

700 Jn Exposition on the