ordinances and laws of every Christian realm do permit and suffer.

"And because it is not meet that this so chargeable a cure should be committed to every man that peradventure ambitiously would desire it; therefore St. Paul doth diligently set out to his disciples, Timothy and Titus, the conversation, learning, conditions, and qualities of them that should be admitted to the ministry of priesthood, writing in this manner: A Bishop or a Priest ought to be blameless, as a steward of God, not angry, no drunkard, no fighter, not greedy of filthy lucre, but given to hospitality, liberal, discreet, sober, righteous, devout, temperate, and continent, and such one as holdeth the true word of doctrine, that he may be able to exhort with wholesome learning, and to reprove them that say against it. Thus we have shortly touched, first the ordering of Priests and Bishops; secondly, their ministry, office, and duty, with the charge and cure belonging thereunto; and finally, the qualities and conditions required in the same.

"And forasmuch as it is an old heresy of the Donatists, condemned in the general councils, to think that the Word of God and his Sacraments should be of no efficacy, strength, or virtue, when they be ministered by evil men, it is to be remembered, that according to the saying of St. Gregory Nazianzene, Like as there is no difference between the self-same image or figure of anything imprinted with a signet of gold and a signet made of iron, or of wood, or any other viler matter, even so the Word of God and the Sacraments of God, ministered by an evil and naughty man, be of the self-same vigour, strength, and efficacy, as when they be ministered by a man of excellent virtue and goodness. The cause and reason whereof is, for that the Priests and Bishops, although in the execution of their office and administration, they do use and exercise the power and authority of God committed unto them, yet they be not the principal causers, nor the sufficient, or of themselves the efficient causers or givers of grace, or of any other spiritual gift which proceedeth and is given of God by His Word and His Sacraments; but God is the only principal, sufficient, and perfect cause of all the efficacy of His Word and His Sacraments; and by His only power, grace, and benefits it is that we receive the Holy Ghost and His graces, by the office and administration of the said Priests and Bishops, and the said Priests and Bishops be but only as

officers to execute and minister with their hands and tongues the outward and corporal things wherein God worketh and giveth grace inward, according to His pact and covenant made with and to His espouse the Church. And this also Chrysostom affirmeth, the eighty-fifth Homily upon St. John, where he saith in this manner: What speak I of Priests? I say that neither angel nor archangel can give us any of these things which be given unto us of God; but, it is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, which is the effectual cause of all these things; the Priest doth only put to his hands and his tongue. And in this point St. Ambrose also agreeth with the said sayings of Chrysostom, writing thus: The Priest layeth his hands upon us, but it is God that giveth the grace; the Priest layeth upon us his beseeching hands, but God blesseth us with his Mighty Hand; the Bishop consecrateth another Bishop, but it is God that giveth the worthiness. Wherefore we must always think and believe that the virtue and efficacy of the Word of God and His Sacraments consisteth and dependeth in and upon the commandment, ordinance, power, and authority of God only, and that neither the merits or worthiness of the ministers, be they never of such excellency, do give them their authority, strength, and efficacy; neither yet the malice nor corrupt living of them, be it never so evil, can frustrate or take away from the said Word or Sacraments their said power, authority, strength, or virtue.

"Moreover, as touching the order of deacons, we read in the Acts of the Apostles, that they were ordered and instituted by the same Apostles by prayer and imposition of their hands upon-them. And as for the qualities and virtuous conversation which is required in them, St. Paul setteth them out, in his Epistle to Timothy, in these words: Deacons ought to be chaste, not double-tongued, no drunkards, not greedy of filthy lucre, having the mystery of faith in a pure conscience. And their office in the Primitive Church was partly in ministering meat and drink and other necessaries to poor people found of the Church, partly also in ministering to the Bishops and Priests, and in doing their duty in the Church. And of these two orders only, that is to say, Priests and Deacons, Scripture maketh express mention, and how they were conferred of the Apostles by prayer and imposition of their hands. And to these two the Primitive Church did add and conjoin certain

other inferior and lower degrees, as sub-deacons, acolytes, exorcists, with divers others, of the which mention is made of, both of the most ancient writers that we have in the Church of Christ, after the Apostles, and also divers old councils, and namely, in the Fourth Council of Africa, in which St. Augustine was present, whereas all the kinds of orders which were then in the Church be rehearsed, and also with what rites and ceremonies they were conferred and given at that time. And thus by succession from the Apostles order continued in the church, and hath ever been called and counted for a Sacrament, as it may appear by divers other ancient writers, and specially by St. Augustine, where he writeth thus, speaking both of the sacrament of baptism and of order: Either of them (saith he) is a sacrament, and either of them is given to men by a certain consecration, the one when a man is baptized, and the other when he is ordered; and, therefore, neither of them both may be iterate or repeated in the Catholic Church of Christ."

No. II.

"AN ACT RESTRAINING THE PAYMENT OF ANNATES, OR FIRST-FRUITS TO THE BISHOP OF ROME, AND OF THE ELECTING AND CONSECRATING OF ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS WITHIN THIS REALM," MADE THE TWENTY-FIFTH OF HEN. VIII. CAP. XX., SECT. 5.*

"BE it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that whensoever any such presentment or nomination shall be made by the King's Highness, his heirs or successors, by virtue and authority of this Act, and according to the tenor of the same: That then every Archbishop and Bishop, into whose hands any such presentment and nomination shall be directed, shall with all speed and celerity, invest and consecrate the person nominate and presented by the King's Highness, his heirs and successors, to the office and dignity that such person shall be so presented unto, and give and use to him pall, and all other benedictions, ceremonies, and things requisite for the same, without suing, procuring, or obtaining hereafter any bulls, or other things at the See of Rome, for any such office or dignity in that behalf. And then after he hath made such oath and fealty duly to the King's Majesty, his heirs and successors, as shall be limited for the same, the King's Highness, by his Letters Patent under his great seal, shall signify the said election to one Archbishop, and two other Bishops, or else to four Bishops within this realm, or within any other the King's dominions, to be assigned by the King's Highness, his heirs or successors, requiring and commanding the said Archbishops and Bishops with all speed and celerity, to confirm the said election, and to invest and consecrate the said person so elected to the office and dignity

* The Second Volume Conteinyng those Statutes whiche haue ben made in the tyme of the most victoriouse reigne of Kyng Henrie the Eight. London : 1551. The old mode of spelling has not been followed in this transcript. [These and the following Acts are taken from the contemporary blackletter copies in the British Museum.]

that he is elected unto, and to give and use to him such pall, benedictions, ceremonies, and all other things requisite for the same, without suing, procuring, or obtaining any bulls, briefs, or other things at the said See of Rome, or by the authority thereof in any behalf.

"And be it farther enacted by authority aforesaid, That every person and persons being hereafter chosen, elected, nominate, presented, invested, and consecrated to the dignity or office of any Archbishop or Bishop within this realm, or within any other the King's dominions, according to the form, tenor, and effect of this present Act, and suing their temporalities, out of the King's hands, his heirs or successors, as hath been accustomed, and making a corporal oath to the King's Highness, and to none other, in form as is afore rehearsed, shall and may from henceforth be thrononised or installed, as the case shall require, and shall have and take their only restitution out of the King's hands, of all the possessions and profits spiritual and temporal belonging to the said Archbishoprick or Bishoprick whereunto they shall be so elected or presented, and shall be obeyed in all manner of things, according to the name, title, degree, and dignity that they shall be so chosen or presented unto, and do and execute in every thing and things touching the same, as any Archbishop or Bishop of this realm without offending of the prerogative royal of the Crown and the laws and customs of this realm might at any time heretofore do.

"And be it farther enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if the Prior and Convent of any Monastery, or Dean and Chapter of any Cathedral Church where the See of an Archbishop or Bishop is within any the King's dominions, after such licence, as is afore rehearsed, shall be delivered to them, proceed not to election, and signifie the same according to the tenor of this Act within the space of twenty days next after such licence shall come to their hands: Or else if any Archbishop or Bishop within the King's dominions, after any such election, nomination, or presentation shall be signified unto them by the King's Letters Patents, shall refuse, and do not confirm, invest and consecrate with all due circumstance, as is aforesaid, every such person as shall be so elected, nominated, or presented, and to them signified, as is above mentioned, within twenty days next after the King's Letters Patents of such signification or pre