66 and the same; and that the power of ordination, and excommunication, belongs equally to them both." The same declaration is made in the book entitled, Necessary Erudition for any Christian Man," which was published by act of Parliament in the year 1543, and prefaced with an epistle written by Henry VIII. In the office for the ordination of presbyters in the days of Edward VI., the following text is used: "Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock of God over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers," literally "bishops." But, afterwards, when the bishops got it into their heads that they are an order of ecclesiastics distinct from, and superior to, presbyters, this text was left out of the service. The statute of 13 Elizabeth, cap. 12, admitted the validity of the ordinations of the Scotch and other reformed churches, and allowed their divines to officiate in the church of England. Whittingham, dean of Durham, had no other ordination than the suffrages of the whole congregation at Geneva. Sandys, archbishop of York, obtained a commission, directed to himself and some others, to visit the church of Durham, with a view to deprive the dean as a mere layman. The dean having produced his testimonials, "The Lord President rose up and said, that he could not in conscience agree to deprive him for that cause only; for, says he, it will be ill taken by all the godly, and learned, both at home and abroad, that we should allow of the popish massing priests in our ministry, and disallow of ministers made in a reformed church; whereupon the commission was adjourned sine die." Archbishop Grindal granted a licence to Mr. John Morrison, a Scotch divine, who had only presbyterian ordination, in the following words: "Since you, the foresaid John Morrison, about five years past, in the town of Garret, in the county of Lothian, in the kingdom of Scotland, were admitted and ordained to *Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. i., chap. vi. F sacred orders and the holy ministry, by the imposition of hands, according to the laudable form and rite of the reformed church of Scotland; and since the congregation of that county of Lothian is conformable to the orthodox faith, and sincere religion, now received in this realm of England, and established by public authority; We, therefore, as much as lies in us, and, as by right we may, approving and ratifying the form of your ordination and preferment done in such manner aforesaid, grant you a licence and faculty, with the consent and express command of the most reverend father in Christ, the Lord Edmund, by divine providence, archbishop of Canterbury, to be signified, that in such orders by you taken, you may, and have power in any convenient places in and throughout the whole province of Canterbury, to celebrate divine offices, to minister the sacraments," etc.* Bishop Carleton says, "The power of order by all writers that I can see, even of the church of Rome, is understood to be immediately from Christ, given to all bishops and priests alike in their consecration."t Dr. Field_argues against Bellarmine on the same ground. To cite all the authorities to the same purpose would be endless. Bancroft, in a sermon preached at Paul's Cross, January 12th, 1588, maintained, that the bishops of England were a distinct order from priests, and had superiority over them jure divino, and directly from God. This doctrine had never before been publicly broached in England: it was new and strange to both puritans and churchmen. Till this time it had always been supposed, that the order of bishops, as distinct from and superior to presbyters, was a merely human institution. Statesmen took the alarm at the power of bishops being derived from God, and not from the magistrate, as this struck at the queen's supremacy.‡ But the new doctrine soon became fashionable among *Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. i., chap. vi. Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. i., chap. vii. the clergy; and the nonsense which we have since heard about the episcopal succession, sprung out of it. Most of the English reformers were Erastians. They held, that princes are empowered by the Almighty, to manufacture a religion and priesthood for their subjects; and our ecclesiastical constitution is founded upon this principle. They were so far from contending that there must be an uninterrupted succession of episcopally ordained ministers in the church, that they maintained, that the sole power of appointing to all sacred offices is vested in the sovereign, and that his appointment is sufficient, without any ordination or consecration at all. Cranmer has declared that, “All christian princes have committed unto them, immediately of God, the holle cure of all their subjects, as well concerning the administration of Goddes word for the cure of soul, as concerning the ministration of things political and civil governaunce. And in both theis ministrations, thei must have sondry ministers under them, to supply that which is appointed to their several office. The ministers of God's wourde under his Majesty be the bishops, parsons, vicars, and such other priests as be appointed by his Highness to that ministration. All the said officers and ministers be appointed, assigned, and elected in every place, by the laws and orders of kings and princes. In the New Testament, he that is appointed to be a bishop, or a priest, needeth no consecration by the Scripture; for election or appointing thereto is sufficient."* What blessed work the reformers would have made of it, had they preached up, as many do now-a-days, the inspiration of the Romish bishops and clergy, and insisted that none could be true ministers of Christ who were not derived from them, nor any people obtain salvation, who were not under the guidance of pastors included in this succession. Had they admitted such absurdities as these, how could they have justified their own separation? Or have persuaded a single soul to join with them in it? Instead of this, they * Quoted from Stillingfleet's Irenicum, chap. vii., p. 391, 392. Rome as anti-christian, being full of the devil The following extract boldly attacked the church of and charged her bishops with instead of the Holy Ghost. from the homilies, shows the sense of the reformers upon these points, and is as valuable for the strength of its argument, as for the weight of its authority. "As the lion is known by his claws, so let us learn to know these men, (the popes,) by their deeds. What shall we say of him that made the noble king Dandalus to be tied by the neck with a chain, and to lie flat down before his table, there to gnaw bones like a dog? Shall we think that he had God's Holy Spirit within him, and not rather the spirit of the devil? Such a tyrant was pope Clement VI. What shall we say of him that proudly and contemptuously trod Frederic, the emperor, under his feet, applying the verse of the psalm unto himself, Thou shalt go upon the lion and the adder; the young lion and the dragon thou shalt tread under thy foot?' Shall we say that he had God's Holy Spirit within him, and not rather the spirit of the devil? Such a tyrant was pope Alexander III. What shall we say of him that armed and animated the son against the father, causing him to be taken, and to be cruelly famished to death, contrary to the laws both of God and also of nature? Shall we say that he had God's Holy Spirit within him, and not rather the spirit of the devil? Such a tyrant was pope Paschal II. What shall we say of him that came into the popedom like a fox, that reigned like a lion, and died like a dog? Shall we say that he had God's Holy Spirit within him, and not rather the spirit of the devil? Such a tyrant was pope Boniface VIII. What shall we say of him that made Henry, the emperor, with his wife and his young child, to stand at the gates of the city, in the rough winter, bare-footed and barelegged, only clothed in linsey-woolsey, eating nothing from morning to night, and that for the space of three days? Shall we say that he had God's Holy Spirit within him, and not rather the spirit of the devil? Such a tyrant was pope Hildebrand, most worthy to be called a firebrand, if we shall term him as he hath deserved. Many other examples might here be alleged; as of pope Joan, the harlot,* that was delivered of a child in the high-street, going solemnly in procession; of pope Julius II., that wilfully cast St. Peter's keys into the river Tyber; † of pope Urban VI., that caused five cardinals to be put into sacks and cruelly drowned; of pope Sergius III., that persecuted the dead body of Formosus, his predecessor, when it had been buried eight years; of pope John, the fourteenth of that name, who, having his enemy delivered into his hands, caused him to be stripped stark naked, his beard to be shaven, and to be hanged up a whole day by the hair, then to be set upon an ass, with his face backward towards the tail, to be carried round about the city in despite, to be miserably beaten with rods, last of all, to be thrust out of his country, and to be banished for ever. But to conclude and make an end, ye shall briefly take this short lesson; wheresoever ye find the spirit of arrogance and pride, the spirit of envy, hatred, contention, cruelty, murder, extortion, etc., assure yourselves that there is the spirit of the Devil, and not of God, albeit they pretend outwardly to the world never so much holiness."‡ On a review of this essay, we may observe, I. That the doctrine of the succession is absurd, as, in its consequences, it would deprive the laity of the privilege of family worship, of writing, and even of conversing on the subject of religion; it would unchristian the supreme head of the English church, and all churches which have not set up episcopacy, and borrowed the Holy Ghost from popish prelates; and it It is now generally believed, that her ladyship never had the honour of sitting in St. Peter's chair. Some may think our author too precipitate in making this con. cession, seeing this piece of history has been ably defended, and could not be of protestant origin, it having existed three hundred years, at least, before the reformation.- WALCH's His. of the Popes, p. 116. EDIT. Query-Were they ever found again? |