It is reasoned, on the one hand, that an assertion of the order of bishops being traceable in Scripture up to apostolic times amounts to an opinion of its origin from the apostles, and since from the apostles, therefore from Christ; and since from Christ, then so essential that apart from it no valid ministry and no true Church can exist.

The other view may be expressed in the words of Dr. Salmon, Regius Professor of Divinity at Dublin, in a consecration sermon at Edinburgh: "The Prayer Book does not say that episcopacy is so essential that without it the being of a Church is impossible; and I do not feel myself called on to go beyond what the Church has asserted" (The Historic Claims of Episcopacy. Dublin: 1886). Canon Ince, Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford, expresses himself to the same effect, and more at length (Two Sermons on the Restoration of the Outward Unity of the Church. Oxf. 1887).

§ 140. Episcopal Orders required in the Church of England.-It follows from the above statement of the Preface that ministers in presbyterian orders are obliged to be re-ordained according to the Prayer Book Service before they can be allowed to officiate in English churches. The condition is not required of those who have received episcopal orders. After this rule was made in 1662 (cf. § 138), the Nonjuring Episcopate came into existence, and others have arisen since the American Protestant Episcopal, American Episcopal Methodist, the Colonial, Indian, Missionary, and African Native episcopates.

§ 141. Literary Qualifications.-Learning in the Latin tongue and sufficient instruction in Holy Scripture are specified in the Preface. The Greek Testament was not considered a necessity in 1550, when Greek learning was still in its infancy, nor has it been specified ever since. The Greek Testament was first printed in 1516.

§ 142. Times of Ordination.-These, as the Preface states, are to be the four Sundays following the Ember Weeks, as directed by the 31st canon, or else some other Sunday or holyday (§§ 91, 92). This is expressly stated only in the case of a deacon.

§ 143. Ordinations to be Public.-" In the face of the church," the Preface says, but here again only in the case of a deacon explicitly. Secret or surrep

titious ordinations are thus forbidden.

§ 144. The Orders of Deacon and Priest necessary.— The first rubric for deacons, and again the first for priests, provides for a sermon or exhortation to declare "how necessary that order is in the Church of Christ." This rubric is substantially that of 1550 and of all subsequent books.

§ 145. Habits. In 1550 those about to be ordained deacons and priests were, by the rubric, to come in

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a plain albe,” and the deacon who read the Gospel put on for that purpose a tunicle. In 1552 both these directions dropped, and no others took their places until 1662, when the present "decently habited" was inserted. In the course of the service for deacon and

priest there is no investiture, no official dress recognised, no allusion to any article of attire. But with the bishop the case is otherwise. The elect is presented to the archbishop (1662) "vested with his rochet," and before the Veni Creator he is directed (1662) "to put on the rest of the episcopal habit." Here is recognised a distinct dress for bishops, one article of it being a rochet. He is not invested with the dress as a part of the ceremony, nor by the archbishop at all. The elect himself puts on both parts of it, and it is not said where. The custom is for him to retire to some convenient part of the church, there put on the second part, and then

reappear.

§ 146. The Functions of the Diaconate.-The order of deacons is the only one of which the origin is expressly narrated and the object described in the New Testament. The "presbyter" and the "bishop" make their appearance without explanation. The account in Acts vi. says the deacons were appointed to serve tables, and received office by the imposition of hands. The narrative further intimates that the deacons thus appointed, or at least some of them, became preachers; while one, Philip, is called an evangelist. The Church of England deacon, therefore, combines the office of evangelist and preacher with the ministry of a deacon, this ministry being in free and general accordance with that defined in the Acts.

The deacon receives imposition of hands between the Epistle and the Gospel. The imposition of hands bestows the actual diaconate, and this act is imme

diately succeeded by a second, which makes him an evangelist and a preacher. This second act consists of the New Testament being placed in his hands by the bishop, who then gives him authority to read the Gospel in the Church of God, and to preach the same if licensed by the bishop. The first act of the deacon's ministry is there and then to read the Gospel for the day, and in him all the other deacons ordained at the same time read it also. That he may thus be introduced to his functions is no doubt the reason why the imposition of hands in his case comes exactly where it does in the service.

Since in his character of evangelist the deacon has to read the Gospel, and to "preach the same," he might perhaps be considered as carrying out the spirit of the ordination rite in a practical way if during his diaconate he were to direct his studies more especially to the Gospels, and in preaching select his texts from that portion of Holy Scripture.

§ 147. The Functions of the Priesthood.-The leading ones are declared to be :

(1) To minister the doctrine, sacraments, and discipline of Christ;

(2) To banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God's word;

(3) To admonish and exhort the sick and whole, in public and private.

§ 148. The Functions of a Bishop.-Those recognised in this service are:

(1) The ordination of ministers;

(2) The instruction of the people according to Holy Scripture;

(3) The banishing of erroneous and strange doctrine. Confirming is not alluded to, this being more an administrative act, for the due efficiency of which moreover the lower orders of the ministry are responsible as well as the bishop.

§ 149.

Consecration of Archbishops.-When a bishop is advanced to the rank of an archbishop he is not consecrated to his office nor admitted by any liturgic form. As an order of the ministry the episcopate and archiepiscopate are the same, the difference being only one of rank and administration, like that originally between a deacon and an archdeacon, a presbyter and archpresbyter. The duties of an archbishop can be, and often are, discharged with the title of bishop only. An archbishop is consecrated as such only when elected from the ranks of the priesthood.

§ 150. Veni Creator Spiritus.-The writer of the Latin hymn thus entitled seems to be unknown. It occurs in the Ordination Service as far back as the eleventh century, and is as follows: