Wilson on Article XXXVI: Of Consecration of Bishops and Ministers

• It is evident unto all men diligently reading holy Scripture and ancient authors, that from the Apostles’ time there hath been these orders of ministers in Christ’s Church, bishops, priests, and deacons : which offices were evermore had in such reverend estimation, that no man by his own private authority might presume to execute any of them, except he were first called, tried, examined, and known to have such qualities as were requisite for the same, and also for public prayer, with im- position of hands, approved and admitted thereunto. And there- fore, to the intent these orders should be continued and reverently used and esteemed in the Church of England, it is requisite that no man (not being at this present bishop, priest, or deacon) shall execute any of them, except he be called, tried, examined, and admitted, according to the form hereafter following. And none shall be admitted a deacon, except he shall be twenty-one years of age at the least. And every man which is to be admitted a priest shall be full four and twenty years old. And every man which is to be consecrated a bishop shall be full thirty years of age. And the bishop knowing, either by himself or by sufficient testimony, any person to be a man of virtuous conversation, and without crime, and, after examination and trial, finding him learned in the Latin tongue, and sufficiently instructed in holy Scripture, may upon a Sunday or holy day, in the face of the Church, admit him a deacon in such manner and form as here- after followeth. Preface to the Offices.

t> Ye were as sheep going* astray, but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. 1 Pet. ii. 25. As nay Father hath sent me, even so send I you. John xx. 21. His bishopric let another take. Acts i. 20. Take heed unto yourselves, and to ail the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers {Ivla ko-tcvs), to feed the Church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. Acts xx. 28. For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are

wanting”, an c! ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee. Tit.

c Against an elder receive not an accusation but before two or three witnesses. 1 Tim. v. 19. Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. 1 Tim. v. 17.

d Likewise must the deacons be

grave holding- the mystery of

the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a

t C

the Sixth, and confirmed at the same time by au- thority of Parliament, doth contain all things necessary to such e Consecration and Ordering ; neither hath it any thing that of itself is super- stitious and ungodly. f And therefore whosoever are consecrated or ordered according to the rites

f There was a new form of ordinations agreed on by the bishops in the third year of King Edward ; and when the Book of Common Prayer, with the last corrections of it, was authorized by Act of Parliament in the fifth year of that reign, the new Book of Ordinations was also enacted, and was appointed to be a part of the Common Prayer Book. In Queen Mary’s time these acts were repealed, and those books were condemned by name. When Queen Elizabeth came to the crown, King Ed- ward’s Common Prayer Book was of new enacted, and Queen Mary’s Act was repealed. But the Book of Ordination was not expressly named, it being considered as a part of the Common Prayer Book, as it had been made in King Edward’s time, so it was thought no more necessary to mention that office by name than to mention all the other offices that are in the book. Bishop Bonner set on foot a nicety, that since the Book of Ordinations was by name condemned in Queen Mary’s time, and was not by name received in Queen Elizabeth’s time, that therefore it was still condemned by law, and that by consequence ordinations performed according to this book were not legal. But it is visible, that whatsoever might be made out of this, according to the niceties of our law, it has no relation to the validity of ordi- nations, as they are sacred performances, but only as they are

deacon, being found blameless. 1 Tim. Hi. 8—10.

e Take thee Joshua the sou of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay thine hand upon him ; and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation ; and give him a charge in their sight. Numb, xxvii. 18, 19. Thou shalt bring the Levites before the taber- nacle of the congregation: and thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the children of Israel together: and thou shalt bring the Levites before the Lord : and the children of Israel shall put their hands upon the Levites i and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord for an offering of the children of Israel,

that they may execute the service of the Lord. Numb. viii. 9, 10, 11. Whom they set before the Apo- stles : and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. Acts vi. 6. Lay hands suddenly on no man. 1 Tim. v. 22. As my Father hath sent me, so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. John xx. 21, 22. The Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. Acts xx. 28. The Holy Ghost said, Sepa- rate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them They being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed. Acts xiii. 2, 4.

of that book, since the second year of the fore- named King Edward, unto this time, or hereafter shall be consecrated or ordered according to the same rites, we decree all such to be rightly, or- derly, and lawfully consecrated and ordered.

legal actions, with relation to our constitution. Therefore a de- claration was made in a subsequent Parliament, that the Book of Ordination was considered as a part of the Book of Common Prayer : and to clear all scruples or doubts that might arise upon that matter, they by a retrospect declared them to be good : and from that retrospect in the Act of Parliament, the like clause was put in the Article. Burnet.