The delivery of the vessels, and the accompanying form, are ORDINAmore novel than even the anointing.

Morinus proves that there is no trace of such a ceremony in any ritual for a thousand years after Christ. What is still more conclusive is the fact, that this novelty is admitted by the Maynooth text-book. And yet it appears that this is the ordaining act, for the Council of Florence declares that the matter or visible sign of priesthood is the delivery of a chalice with wine in it, and that the form is the above!

TION OF
PRIESTS.

The third form, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost," is also novel The third in its use. form. There is, however, nothing objectionable in these words, as used in the English ordinal, when properly received. It consists of a prayer, an address, and a charge. "Receive ye the Holy Ghost, for the office of a priest in the Church of God now committed unto thee by the imposition of our hands," is a Whitgift prayer. Such was the description given of it by Whitgift, who on "Remust have known well the views of Archbishop Parker and the other Bishops. He says:

"To use these words, Receive the Holy Ghost,' in ordering of ministers, which Christ himself used in appointing his Apostles, is no more ridiculous and blasphemous, than that it is to use the words that he used in the supper; but it is blasphemy thus outrageously to speak of the words of Christ. The Bishop, by speaking these words, doth not take upon him to give the Holy Ghost, no more than he doth to remit sins, when he pronounceth the remission of sins; but by speaking these words of Christ, 'Receive the Holy Ghost; whose sins soever ye remit, they are remitted,' &c., he doth show the principal duty of a minister, and assureth him of the assistance of God's holy Spirit, if he labour in the same accordingly."

When we consider that Whitgift, in the answer from which the above passage is quoted, was regarded as the champion of the Church against Cartwright and her assailants, and that he was subsequently promoted to the primacy; we must admit the high authority which belongs to that disclaimer, made as it was in the very age of the Reformation.

The address consists of the words of Christ to his Apostles, to which, of course, no churchman can properly object. The Reformers understood that the Apostles, and all ministers to the end of time, absolve by the word.

ceive ye,"

&c.

The charge was composed in 1550, and no objection can be The charge. urged against it. Our Church thus rejected the notion that Priests offer sacrifice, and regards them as dispensers of the word and sacraments.

But a special form was provided in 1550, by which the Bible was to be delivered to the priest with the address "Take thou authority, &c." The succeeding prayer was composed in

• Works of Whitgift, p. 489, vol. i. P. S.

CHAPTER 1550. How favourably it contrasts with the Romish benedicXIV. tion, which is as follows:

SECT. IV.

"The blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the S+on, and the Holy+ Ghost descend upon you; that you may be blessed in the priestly order, and offer propitiatory sacrifices for the sins and offences of the people to Almighty God, to whom be honour and glory for ever and ever. R. Amen."

The Pasto

SECT. IV.-CONSECRATION OF BISHOPS.

The collect in the communion service was composed in 1661. The first epistle is found in the Sacramentary of Leofric, Bishop of Exeter. Palmer observes that he has not found the Gospels in any very ancient lectionaries, but there is no need of apology for the use of the word of God.

The address of the Bishops to the Archbishop, is contrasted with the Romish, as follows:

The English.

"Most Reverend Father in God, we present unto you this godly and well learned man, to be ordained and consecrated Bishop."

our

The Romish. Most Reverend Father, holy mother the Catholic Church, demands+that you elevate this present Presbyter to the burden of the Episcopate.

The introduction of the pastoral staff into the ordination serral staff. vice is a novelty. Bishop Burnet says:

"For these rites of the ring and staff, the first I find that mentions them is Isidore."

The book of 1549 retained the pastoral staff in the following rubrics:

:

"(1.) After the Gospel and Credo ended, first the elected Bishop, having upon him a surplice and a cope, shall be presented by two Bishops (being also in surplices and copes, and having their pastoral staves in their hands) unto the Archbishop of the Province, or to some other Bishop appointed by his commission: the Bishops that present, saying:"-Rubric in the consecration service.

"(2.) Then shall the Archbishop put into his hand the pastoral staff, saying: Be to the flock of Christ a shepherd."-Ut supra.

66

(3.) And whensoever the Bishop shall celebrate the holy communion in the church, or execute any other public ministration, he shall have upon him, besides his rochette, a surplice or albe, and a cope or vestment, and also his pastoral staff in his hand, or else borne or holden by his chaplain."-Notice at the end.

The 2nd and 3rd rubrics were removed in 1552, and never restored, while the first was so altered as to exclude the staff. It is as follows::

"After the Gospel, and the Nicene Creed, and the Sermon are ended, the Elected Bishop (vested with his Rochet) shall be presented by two Bishops unto the Archbishop of that province (or to some other

* Gibson's Preservative, p. 211, vol. ii. Lond. 1848.

Bishop appointed by lawful commission), the Archbishop sitting in his THE CONchair near the holy Table, and the Bishops that present him saying." SECRA

TION OF

The pastoral staff is not now recognised by the Church as BISHOPS. belonging to her ceremonial. It is true that the rubric of 1559 refers, with a limitation, to the ornaments of 1549, but “the other order" taken by the Queen in 1565, in accordance with the act of uniformity, prescribes differently the ornaments of the minister. The record of the consecration of Parker states that no pastoral staff was delivered to him,* and Robertson observes that "no Bishop since the days of Queen Mary has used a pastoral staff," with the exception perhaps of Laud.t In the English service the oath is then administered, but the Romish proceeds :

Consecrator. Have you the Apostolic mandate? Senior Assistant. We have. Con. Let it be read-Which being read by a notary, the consecrator says, Thanks be to God. Then the elect kneeling before the consecrator reads the oath as follows :-‡

The interrogations were composed by the Reformers, and contrast favourably with some of the Romish forms, of which the following are the first six

:

Dearest brother, we ask thee with unfeigned charity, if thou wilt Romish accommodate all thy skill to the utmost of thy natural abilities, to the Service. sense of the Divine Scriptures? The elect answers. So I will with all my heart consent thereto in all things, and obey the same. Question. Wilt thou both by word and example teach the people for whom thou art to be ordained those things which thou dost understand out of the Divine Scriptures? Answer. I will. Question. Wilt thou receive with veneration the traditions of the orthodox Fathers and the decretal Constitutions of the holy and apostolic see, and teach and keep the same? Answer. I will. Question. Wilt thou in all things render faith, subjection, and obedience, according to canonical authority, to the blessed Peter, to whom God has given the power of binding and loosing, and to our Lord, his Vicar Lord, N. Pope N. and the Roman Pontiff, and his successors ? Answer. I will.

The first two interrogations are excellent, but the latter two are subversive of them, and can not be traced higher than the 11th century. Burnet observes, in reference to the first:-"This "alone, were there no more, may serve to justify those Bishops "who got orders in the Church of Rome, and afterwards re"ceived the Reformation, since by the very sponsions given in "their ordination, they had engaged themselves to instruct their "flocks according to the Scriptures."§

The prayer which follows the hymn "Come, Holy Ghost," was composed in 1550. Palmer compares it with a prayer in

*Robertson's "How shall we conform, &c.," p. 14. Lond. 1844.

† Ibid. p. 294.

See the Romish oath in full, in Foye's Romish Rites. Miller, 17, Berners St. Lond.

Gibson's Preservative, p. 207, vol. i.

CHAPTER the Pontifical of Egbert. The comparison proves a similarity, but not an identity.

XIV.

SECT. IV.

The consecrating act in the Church of England is very simple. The Bishops lay their hands upon the head of the elect, and say :-"Receive the Holy Ghost," &c.

The exhortation at the delivery of the Bible, was composed in 1550, as was also the prayer "Most Merciful Father," &c.

SUMMARY.

The Church, while requiring Episcopal ordination for her own Ministers, does not hold that there is no Church where there is no Bishop. This is evident from the 55th canon which refers to the Church of Scotland as a part of the Catholic Church, but the Church of Scotland, when the canon was composed, was not governed by Bishops. Cranmer, Parker, and the English Reformers held fraternal communication with the foreign Reformed Churches though non-Episcopal. Parker and the Bishops, in their address to the Queen, referred to the Reformed Churches as an example. Whitgift, in his controversy with Cartwright, took the moderate ground, and it was not until the time of Laud that Episcopal ordination was regarded as essential. The Church of England now in the Jerusalem Episcopate acts consistently with the 55th canon. There is no canonical recognition by the Church of Romish

orders.

The Ordinal was composed in 1549, when unctions, exorcisms, and crossings were rejected, with the address, in the ordination of Priests, "Receive thou power to offer sacrifice to God," &c.

In 1552 further improvements were made, when the rubrics were altered so as to ignore the vestment, cope, albe, and pastoral staff. Considerable portions of the Ordinal were com posed by the Reformers, and such prayers as were retained were remodeled.

GLOSSARY VESTMENTAL, WITH EXPLANATIONS.