in particular was ordain'd Vide Registrum Cantuar ad calcem operum Bramhalli Ep. Armach ex Autographo publicatum were these Take the Holy Ghost and remember that Thou stir up the Grace of God which is in thee by Imposition of hands for God hath not given us the Spirit of Fear but of Power and Love and Soberness If now an Imitation of the Apostles be valid nothing can come nearer to what Scripture tell us of them than those words in the Consecration of a Bishop Nor any thing more agreeable to the Pattern of our Lord in the Commission he gave his Disciples than those us'd in the Consecration of a Priest And where so publick an Advertisement is given to the Congregation of what Office those Consecrated are appointed to tho words to the same purpose may be repeated again as in our later Books of Ordination tho they may serve to illustrate the matter in hand more fully yet there can be no such necessity of them as that the want of them should invalidate the whole Ordinance And as we have no Account in Antiquity of any particular form of words appointed by our Saviour for the conferring of Orders so we are assur'd that according to the most Antient Methods and Ordinals of the Church of Rome it self it 's not the Words but the Imposition of hands that 's essential to Ordination Besides If the Church of Rome in the Collation of Orders according to their latest Pontificals do no more than we do it must seem very unreasonable to condemn us as Defective What they do then in the Ordination of Priests which I shall only Instance in at present is this The Arch-deacon presents those to be Ordain'd to the Bishop with these words Most Reverend Father our Holy Mother the Catholick Church requires that You ordain these Deacons here present to the Burthen of Priesthood Archdiaconus praesentat Ordinandos Pontifici dicens Reverendissime Pater postulat sancta mater Ecclesia Catholica ut hos praesentes Diaconos ad onus Presbyterii ordinetis Quorum meritis Archdiacono testimonium exhibento Pontifex annunciat Clero populo dicens Quoniam fratres Charissimi c. postea Horum siquidem Diaconorum in Presbyteros ordinandorum auxiliante Domino c. Post haec surgunt omnes ordinandis coram Pontifice binis binis successive genu flectionibus Pontifex stans ante Faldistorium suum cum Mitra nullâ oratione nulloque cantu premissis imponit simul utramque manum super caput cujuslibet ordinandi successivè nihil dicens idemque faciunt post eum omnes Sacerdotes qui adsunt Quo facto tam Pontifex quà m Sacerdotes tenent manus dexteras extensas super illos Pontifex stans dicit Oremus fratres Charissimi c. postea precatur Exaudi nos quaesumus Domine Deus noster c. Ut super hos famulos suos quos ad Presbyterii manus elegit coelestia dona multiplicet c. Tum Pontifex claudit inungit manus cuilibet successive quas sic consecratas aliquis Ministrorum Pontificis albo panniculo lineo simul viz. dextram super sinistram alligat Omnium manibus unctis consecratis Pontifex tradit cuilibet successive calicem cum vino aquá Patenam superpositam cum Hostiá ipsi illam accipiunt inter indices medios Digitos Cappam Calicis patenam simul tangunt Pontifice singulis dicente Accipe Potestatem c. Quo finito Pontifex cum Mitrâ sedens super Faldistorium ante medium altaris imponit ambas manus super capita singulorum coram eo genu flectentium dicens cuilibet Accipe Spiritum Sanctum quorum remiseris peccata remittuntur quorum retinueris retenta sunt Pontif. Rom. in Ordin Presb. after the Arch-deacons attestation to their Merits the Bishop at large declares to the People his design to promote those Deacons so presented to the Office of Priesthood requiring their testimony to their Conversation c. Then having given an Exhortation to the Persons to be Ordain'd when it 's done all stand up and those design'd for Ordination kneel down successively by two and two before the Bishop The Bishop standing before his Faldstool with his Mitre on without any Prayer or Anthem premised puts both his hands successively upon the head of every one not speaking a word After him all the Priests who are present do the same which being done the Bishop and Priests together lay hands on them and the Bishop standing exhorts the people to pray to God to send his manifold gifts upon those whom he has now call'd to the Priestly Office which very expression intimates the Sacerdotal Character already imprinted and the Prayer to that purpose follows After several other Ceremonies and Prayers the Bishop having anointed their hands and one of his Attendants having ty'd them together with a Linnen Fillet he reaches out to them the Chalice with some Wine and Water in it and the Patten with an Hoast upon it which they take between their fore and middle fingers touching the Bolle of the Chalice and Patten at the same time when the Bishop uses those words Receive thou power c. And here Mass being celebrated the Ordain'd Communicate but only in one kind and standing before the Altar make a Confession of their Faith in the words of the Apostles Creed which when they have done the Bishop sitting upon his Faldstool with his Mitre on before the middle of the Altar and they kneeling down before him he puts his hands upon every one of their heads saying to every one distinctly Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins c. These are the most considerable Circumstances in ordaining a Priest of the Church of Rome in all which if Imposition of Hands only Impress the Sacerdotal Character and the touching of the Vessels be only Novel and Adventitious then it plainly follows That the Bishops of that Church in giving Holy Orders do no more declare what particular Office that Imposition of hands relates to than the Church of England in her eldest Rituals since the Reformation But if we examine things farther we shall find them much more defective for whereas by the Roman Rubrick the Bishop lays hands on the Ordain'd three several times and the first time uses no words at all it 's the conclusion of the formerly-cited Merbesius and he pretends to good company in it that That first Imposition of Hands that 's in silence confers the Priestly Character which he proves by 1 Tim. 4.14 Stir up the Gift which is in thee and which was given thee by Prophesie and by the Laying on of the hands of the Presbytery where the Apostle resolves Orders into that particular Action Then telling us how general his Opinion is he concludes Therefore it 's the first Imposition of Hands by which they are made Priests Ista igitur prima Manuum Impositio ea est per
quam Sacerdotes efficiuntur cum neque per secundam Manuum Impositionem fiant Presbyteri ut vidimus nec per tertiam cum illa in fine ordinationis factitari solet Merb. de Sacr. Ord. D. 6. g. 52. since it 's certain they are neither made so by the second laying on of Hands the Exhortation annex'd to which as I observ'd before supposes the Priestly power already given nor yet by the third which is only us'd in the Conclusion of Ordination From all which it seems very probable That let our Ordination be never so Imperfect since we really use some Words at the instant of Imposition of hands and those very pertinent and authentick that Ordinance is at least more compleat in our Church than in theirs who lay on hands indeed but declare nothing at all either of their Reason for it or their Meaning in it 4. The greatest Bigots of the Roman Communion never charge the Greeks tho they account them Schismaticks for the most part with want of a lawful Priesthood yet their Rituals are certainly by Roman rules as defective as ours can be imagin'd In that Church He who was a Deacon before and now to be ordained Priest being brought according to prescription before the Bishop or Patriarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Pontific Gr. de Consecr Presbyt the Patriarch makes the sign of the Cross three times upon his Head when he fixing his eyes upon the Holy Table and kneeling on both knees on the step the Chancellor calls aloud Silence Then the Patriarch holding his right hand upon his Head speaks aloud so that all may hear The Divine Grace which always makes sound those things that are weak and compleats what 's imperfect promotes N. N. the most reverend Deacon to be a Priest Let us therefore pray for him that the grace of the All-Holy Spirit may descend upon him Then again signing him three times and laying his hand upon his head when the Deacon has said Let us pray the Patriarch repeats that Prayer softly O God who art without beginning and without end c. After this follow the general Intercessions which when they are ended or while they are repeating the Patriarch laying his hand again upon his head as before Prays to God to fill him with the gifts of his Holy Spirit that He may be capable of doing all things belonging to his Function I need not insist upon other Ceremonies the Person ordain'd having receiv'd his Character before Where it 's observable that as the Greek Church assigns the Office no otherwise but as the Church of England does viz. by giving notice to the People what Order the Person is Consecrated to so the Greek Church differs much from that of Râ—me in the form of the Words used which argues their opinion of the no necessity of such a set Form and consequently that Orders are no Sacrament as that word Sacrament is understood in the strictest Sense by Ecclesiastical Writers Yet Habertus is so far from supposing any deficiency in the Greek Church that in Effect He charges the Church of Rome with Innovation for he tells us Traditionis potius quam Scriptorum Authoritate constat Pont. Gr. obs Hab. 1. That the words us'd upon touching the Vessels are rather built upon Oral Tradition than upon the Authority of any good Writers He refers us to several Testimonies of the Greek Fathers of greatest Reputation given to this Form Originally us'd in their Church He observes that the Church of Rome objected nothing to the Greek Rituals in the Florentine Council He shews that Ordination and Laying on of hands when apply'd to Men set apart for the Service of the Church are the same thing That therefore in their Ecclesiastical Writers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all signifying Laying on of hands are all indifferently us'd for Ordination He alledges that of the Writer De Ecclesiastica Hierarchia That the Imposition of the Bishops hands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 5. gives both the Character and Authority of a Priest and gives us withal such an Instance of the Indulgence of the Roman See to those of the Greek Communion in Italy as must either prove their full satisfaction with the Grecian Priesthood or else that the Roman Bishops have very little care of their good It 's the Decree of Vrban the Eighth Let the Protector of the Greek Nation provide that some Eastern Bishop consecrated after the Greek manner reside at Rome to perform Divine Offices Caret Protector ut Graecus aliquis ex Oriente ritu Graeco consecratus Episcopus Romae sit ad Divina Officia atque Ordinationes ritu Graeco peragendas qui quae ad Caeremonias ritus Orientalis Ecclesiae faciunt docere alumnos possit ipse per omnia fervet Jurent queque Italo Graeci statum Ecclesiasticum ac sacros Ordines usque ad Presbyteratum ritu Graeco suscepturos quandoque ubi Superioribus visum fuerit Ibid. and to Ordain according to the Graecian Rites who may be able to teach Novices those things which belong to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Eastern Church and may observe them exactly himself and let the Greeks living in Italy give Oath to take the Ecclesiastical Life and Holy as Orders upon them according to the manner of the Greeks as far as the Order of Priesthood when and where their Superiours shall think fit Which is not only a fair attestation to the validity of the Grecian Orders but seems to imply the Greeks dissatisfaction with the Roman Hierarchy and a strange kind of Condescension in the Universal Bishop to recede from his own Rights and to give leave to a suppos'd Schismatical Clergy to increase and thrive within his Jurisdiction And Romanists have sufficient reason to acquiesce in this Liberty of theirs if what Father Goar in his Notes upon the Euchology informs us be true That Imposition of Hands is not only an Adjunct of Holy Orders Neque enim Comes est solùm adventitia non Integrans tantum ex decentia requisita sed intrinseca omnino necessaria essentialis Materia quâ adhibitâ sicut olim Apostoli prout in eorum Actis Scriptis legimus Diaconos Presbyteros Episcopos creârunt absque illâ pariter nullum in sublimiores Hierarchiae Ecclesiasticae gradus successores Episcopi possunt evehere Goar in Euch. p. 256. or meerly adventitious not only an Integral part or a thing requir'd for Decencies sake but that it 's wholly the Intrinsical necessary and Essential Matter of them by which as the Apostles of old created Deacons Presbyters and Bishops as appears by their Writings and the History of their Acts so without that the Bishops who succeed them can raise no Man to Superior Orders in the Sacred Hierarchy And as he tells us afterwards If we examine the Euchology never so strictly we shall find no other matter of Orders so much
as once mention'd Cum in Universâ Ecclesiâ unam Sacramentorum administrandorum rationem essentialem materiam nimirum formam statuere necesse est nec in Graeca illius portione alia quam manus Impositio queat assignari Indubie sequitur in Latinâ eandem quoque essentialem esse reputandam ibid. but Imposition of Hands and his Inference from all is very remarkable and much against the now prevailing Tenet of the Roman Church That since it 's necessary there should be some one Essential Rule or Method of dispensing Holy Orders in the Vniversal Church and that there can be no other Matter of Orders assign'd in the Eastern parts of that Church but only Imposition of Hands it must follow without Dispute that even in the Latine Church the same exclusive of all other Ceremonies is Essential to them And to this Opinion of his methinks that of St. Chrysostome agrees very well who tells us in plain terms This is Ordination The Hand is laid upon the Man but God Operates the whole 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in Act. Ap. Hom 14. and it 's Gods Hand which touches the Head of the Person Ordained if he be Ordained Regularly If then all this be true if we have indeed the concurrence of so large a part of the Catholick Church as the Greek is and that the Form of words us'd by them is no more Demonstrative of the Order to be conferr'd than ours in the Church of England was at the beginning of the Reformation we can be no more deny'd to have a Regular Succession of Church Officers than they And we may suppose such Considerations mov'd St. Clara P. Walsh and others of the Roman Communion to allow our Orders as full and valid to all intents and purposes But that we want a Power to offer other Sacrifices than those of Praise and Thanksgiving is a Want no more intolerable in our Priests or Presbyters than it was in the Apostles themselves And I have not yet heard of any Catholick Tradition that either our Saviour us'd those words Receive thou Power to offer Sacrifices c. to any Apostle or that the Apostles us'd it to any of those whom they afterwards Commission'd to Preach the Gospel 5. Our Orders then being valid as to to their Essentials notwithstanding that great Pretended defect it will follow that all that Charge laid upon our Church of Heresy and Schism can no way render them imperfect or ineffectual And if the Roman Doctrine of the Indelible Character be true those who assert that must for their own sake defend our Church especially since it 's apprehended by some as we observ'd before that a denial of the Indelible Character would irrecoverably ruine the Sacrament And such indeed was the Doctrine of the Ancient Church in which the Hereticks and Schismaticks are with all Severity prohibited to ordain any or to Administer Sacraments yet if they would still without fear of Ecclesiastical Censure presume to do such things their Actions were good and in full force Antiquity so concurring with that Common Law Maxime Quod fieri non debet factum valet That which of it self or so and so circumstatiated ought not to be done yet when it is once done stands good and irreversible I wonder not indeed that Baptism tho given by Hereticks should be approv'd in the Church of Rome since they allow Lay-men Women Persons unbaptiz'd nay Jews or Turks to baptize in cases of necessity But in so doing they seem much to forget a standing Rule of their own That none can give that to another which he never had himself For as I remember they tell us That Baptism is one of those Sacraments which imprint an indelible Character Yet such is the Doctrine of their great Aquinas They deny indeed that any can give Holy Orders except Bishops but He who is once made a Bishop must continue so to his lifes end nor can the Irregularity of his Conversation nor any Schism created by him in the Church nor any Heresy invested or propagated by him take away that Episcopal Power personally invested in him howsoever the Exercise of that Power may be restrain'd by Civil or Ecclesiastical Constitutions and consequently those capable of Orders who are consecrated by such Bishops are really Deacons Priests or Bishops according to the particular Character impress'd on them So we may find Arrian Bishops Ordaining others of equally Heretical Sentiments with themselves which Persons so Ordain'd if at any time they abjur'd their Heretical Pravity were receiv'd into the Orthodox Church and admitted to exercise the same Offices they were formerly assign'd to without Re-ordination To this purpose we read in the Answers to the Orthodox publish'd among the works of Justin Martyr That the Crime of an Heretick returning to the true Faith if it had been only some false Opinion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Resp ad Orthod 14. was to be rectified by a change of Judgment if it were an Error in Baptism by Confirmation if in Orders by laying on of Hands which laying on of Hands was no Reordination but only a particular Ceremony whereby the laps'd in time of Persecution as well as those who had fallen into Heresie Laymen as well as Clergy Men were readmitted into Catholick Communion So Dionysius of Alexandria in Eusebius tells us That it was an Ancient Custom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Hist Eccl. l. 7. c. 2. that such should be receiv'd into the Church by Prayer with laying on of hands and Aurelius Bishop of Carthage determining concerning the Schismatical Dotanists orders That seeing it was not lawful to iterate that which was to be given but once 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conc. gen T. 2. p. 1083. if they heartily renounced that Error they may be receiv'd into that one Church the Mother of all Christians by laying on of hands And the same care is taken in the Eighth Canon of the first Council of Nice which is plain it self and so interpreted by Balsamon Zonaras and Aristenus and farther illustrated by our Learned Beverege The same is attested on the part of the Latin Church August cont Epist Par. l. 2. c. 13. Anastasii 2. Epistola ad Anast Imp. de Acacio Acacianis Conc. gen T. 4. c. 7. 8. by St. Austin in his answer to the Epistle of Parmenian the Donatist and by Anastasius the Second of that Name Bishop of Rome in an Epistle to Anastasius Emperour of Constantinople The care taken was only this That the persons should be qualified according to the Canons of the Church in that case provided and that the Persons ordaining should be really Bishops which things being secured the Ordain'd upon Readmission to Catholick Communion retain'd their Offices and Powers still To conclude this then If Orders be no Sacrament in a strict sense if the Essence of them consist only in Imposition of the hands of Bishops if the Greek and Antient Latin Church and the most
s 4. much more ought the Form of words in Sacraments to be determin'd And that of Suarez If there be any change of the Matter or of the Essential and Substantial Form there is really no Sacrament Which Passages how they 'll agree to those things hereafter to be mentioned may be left to every ordinary Considerer 2. It cannot be imagin'd reasonable that those Persons who dispute so much among themselves concerning the Essence of Orders should Cavil against our Church as wanting any thing Essential in them for common Sense teaches those who will engage in Controversie with others first to agree among themselves what the Subject of the Controversie shall be Now it 's to be consider'd That whereas the Ancient Ordinals of the Church of Rome requir'd only Imposition of the hands of Bishops and Presbyters in Ordination later years have added the Ceremony of exposing the Chalice with Wine and the Patten with an Host upon is to the touch of him who is consecrated Priest with these words Receive thou Power to offer Sacrifices to God and to celebrate Masses both for the living and the dead Accipe Potestatem offerre Sacrificium Deo Missas celebrare tam pro vivis quám pro mortuis in nomine Domini Amen in the name of God Amen And this last has almost justled the more ancient Ceremony out of doors being grown into so great a Reputation that Aquinas plainly concludes That since the principal Action of the Priest is to Consecrate the Body and Blood of Christ Cum Principalis Actus Sacerdotis sit Corpus Sanguinem Christi consecrare rectè in ipsâ Calicis datione sub certa verborum Formâ imprimitur Sacerdotalis character Aq. Suppl q. 37. a. 5. the Sacerdotal Character is truly imprinted in the delivery of the Chalice with a particular form of words Which Conclusion of his he proves by this Argument Ejusdem est Formam aliquam inducere Materiam de proximo praeparare ad Formam unde Episcopus in Collatione Ordinum duo facit Praeparat enim Ordinandos ad Ordinis susceptionem Ordinis potestatem tradit Praeparat quidem in instruendo eos de proprio officio aliquid circa eos operando ut idonei sint ad potestatem accipiendam quae quidem praeparatio in tribus consistit scilicet Benedictione manus Impositione Unctione per Benedictionem Divinis obsequiis mancipantur ideo benedictio omnibus datur sed per manus Impositionem datur plenitudo gratiae per quam ad magna officia sunt idonei ideo solis Diaconibus Sacerdotibus fit manus Impositio quia eis competit Dispensatio Sacramentorum quamvis uni sicut principali alteri sicut Ministro sed Unctione ad aliquod Sacramentum tractandum consecrantur ideo Unctio solis Sacerdotibus fit qui propriis manibus Corpus Christi tangunt sicut etiam calix inungitur qui continet Sanguinem Patena quae continet Corpus sed potestatis collatio fit per hoc quod datur eis aliquid quod ad proprium actum pertinet Ibid. That it belongs to the same Person to induce the Form and to prepare the Matter immediately for that Form. Whence in conferring Orders the Bishop does two things for he first prepares those to be ordain'd for the susception of Orders and in the next place gives the Power belonging to the Order He prepares them both by instructing them concerning their proper offices and by doing somewhat about them whereby they may be fitted for the Reception of Power which Preparation consists in three things viz. In the Benediction in Imposition of hands and in Vnction By the Benediction they are obliged to Divine Obedience and therefore that is given to those of all Orders by Imposition of hands is given the fulness of Grace by which they are fitted for great Offices and therefore only Deacons and Priests have hands impos'd upon them He might have added Bishops but here our Dissenters agree with the Parasites of Rome that Bishops are neither a distinct Order nor of Divine Right because to them belongs the Dispensation of Sacraments tho to Priests as Principal to the other but as Ministers but by Vnction they are Consecrated to handling the Sacrament and therefore it 's given only to Priests who touch the Body of Christ with their own hands and both the Chalice which contains the Blood and the Patten which holds the Body are Anointed but the Collation of their Power and Authority consists in delivering something to them which belongs to their proper work And whereas it 's his second Argument or Objection against this Conclusion That our Lord gave his Disciples the Sacerdotal Power when he said Dominus dedit Discipulis Potestatem Sacerdotalem quando dixit Accipite Spiritum Sanctum quorum remiseritis peccata c. Joan. 20. Sed Spiritus Sanctus datur per Manûs Impositionem ergo in ipsâ Manus Impositione imprimitur Character Ordinis Respondit Dominus Discipulis dedit Sacerdotalem potestatem quantum ad Principalem actum ante passionem in Coenâ quando dixit Accipite Manducate unde subjunxit Hoc facite in meam Commemorationem sed post Resurrectionem dedit eis Potestatem Sacerdotalem quantum ad actum secundarium qui est ligare solvere Ibid. Receive ye the Holy Ghost whose Sins ye remit they are remitted c. John 20. and the Holy Ghost is given by laying on of hands that therefore the Character of Orders is impress'd by that Imposition of hands He endeavours to answer it but with absurdity enough That our Lord gave his Disciples Sacerdotal Power as to its Principal Act before his Passion in his Supper when he said Take and Eat and therefore he subjoin'd Do this in Remembrance of me But after his Resurrection he bestow'd upon them Priestly power only as to its Secondary or inferiour Act i. e. as to the Power of binding and loosing which was given as alledg'd in the Objection by Imposition of hands In which answer he perverts the sense of our Saviours words Take and Eat by restraining them to the Apostles alone whereas they were intended to all Believers And he mistakes the Evangelical story For tho St. John tells us of that Power of binding and loosing as given after the Resurrection in the Chapter by him cited v. 22 23. Yet he might have found the same Commission given to all the Apostles even before the Institution of that Supper Matth. 18.18 But to pass by such ordinary mistakes The Determination of Pope Eugenius the Fourth in that famous Council of Florence is very positive in the case for enumerating the Sacraments receiv'd by the Roman Church and giving some account of their Nature for the Instruction of Armenians he tells them That the sixth Sacrament is that of Orders whose Matter that is by the touching of which the Order is conferr'd Sextum Sacramentum est Ordinis cujus
Materia est illud per cujus traditionem confertur Ordo sicut Presbyteratus traditur per Calicis cum vino patenae cum pane porrectionem Forma Sacerdotii talis est accipe potestatem offerendi c. Concil g. T. 13. p. 538. as the Order of Priesthood is given by offering the Chalice with Wine and the Patten with Bread to be touch'd by the person ordain'd and the Form of Priesthood is that Receive thou Power to offer Sacrifice c. To which Passage the formerly-cited Merbesius gives a very trifling Answer That the Council of Florence forsooth did not determine this Conciliariter or as a Matter of Faith and Dogmatically but only at the rate of Common discourse without telling whether the Patten or Chalice were the Essential or only the Accidental matter of Orders which is wholly Impertinent and no way reconcileable to what follows in the Conclusion of that Decree viz. These things being thus explicated the Armenian Orators in their own name His omnibus explicatis Armenorum Oratores nomine suo sui Patriarchae omnium Armenorum hoc saluberrimum Synodale Decretum cum omnibus suis Capitulis declarationibus definitionibus traditionibus praeceptis statutis omnem que Doctrinam in ipsâ descriptam nec non quicquid tenet docet Sancta sedes Apostolica Romana Ecclesi cum omnia devotione obedientiâ acceptant suscipiunt amplectuntur P. 540. and in the name of their Patriarch and of all the Armenians do with all Devotion and Obedience submit to and embrace this most wholesome Synodical Decree with all its Canons Declarations Definitions Traditions Precepts and Appointments with all that Doctrine laid down in it and whatsoever else that holy Apostolick See and the Roman Church maintains and teaches And to the same purpose and almost in the same words speaks Cardinal Pool Concil T. 14. p. 1740. our Country-man in his Decree concerning the Reduction of England to the Roman Communion But notwithstanding the Expressiveness of three such very considerable Authorities others of the same Communion have presum'd to think otherwise and to fix the Essence of Ordination only in Laying on of hands without regard to any Form of Words whatsoever declaring Laying on of hands and Prayer to be the only Antient and Catholick Ceremonies in the conferring of Holy Orders So Durandus giving an account of what constitutes a Priest assures us That according to Canonical Tradition when a Priest is ordain'd the Bishop giving him his Blessing Secundúm Canonicam traditionem Presbyter cum Ordinatur Episcopo cum benedicente manum benedictoriam supra caput ejus tenente omnes Presbyteri qui adsunt manus suas juxta manus Episcopi teneant supra Caput illius Spiritum Sanctum invocantes quae Manus impositio operum Sancti Spiritus exercitationem significat Durand Rational l. 2. c. 10. and holding that hand with which he gave the Blessing upon his head all those Priests who are present lay their hands upon his head too by the hands of the Bishop invoking the influences of the Holy Ghost upon him which Imposition of hands signifies the power of exercising the gifts of the Holy Ghost In which words since he agrees so exactly with as to transcribe the third Canon of the fourth Council of Carthage I need not repeat that again It 's true he mentions afterwards the Ceremony of touching the Chalice and Patten but of that only as additional or accidental not Essential And Casalius in his Book concerning Ancient Christian Rites tho he plainly determine Orders to be one of the seven Sacraments of the new Law yet never mentions the touching the Vessels but only Imposition of hands which Ordo est Signaculum quoddam Ecclesiae quo Spiritualis potestas traditur Ordinato Impositio autem manuum confert gratiam cum effectu consistit Casal de vet Christ Rit c. 26. as he proves from Scripture confers Grace and has its due effects and yet he gives us Aquinas his Definition of that pretended Sacrament The first Council held at Cologne in the year 1536. asserts the same Doctrine That the Episcopal Office consists chiefly in two things the first of which is the laying on of hands Episcopi munus in ducibus poâ—â—ssimum consistit 1. In Imposiâ—iâ—ne manuum quae est Ordinum Ecclesiasti corum collatio Institutio Ministrorum Postea vero Impositio manuum est Ostâ—um per quod Intrant qui Ecclesiarum gubernaculis admoventur Conc. T. 14. p. â— 3. which is the Collation of Ecclesiastical Orders and the Institution of Ministers And afterwards Imposition of hands is that Door by which those are admitted who are rais'd to the Government of the Church So the Council at Mentz Anno 1549. Let the Parish Priests teach their People In collatione Ordinum quae cum Impositione manuum velut visibili signo traditur doceant Parochi ritè ordinatis gratiam divinitùs conferri quâ ad Ecclesiastica munera ritè utiliter exercenda apti idonei efficiantur quà rata sint efficacia quae à ritè ordinatis in Ecclesiâ juxta Christi Ecclesiae Institutionem geruntur Hanc vero gratiam esse Ordinis Muneris non Hominum aut personarum nec ad cujusquam privatam sed ad Communem totius Ecclesiae utilitatem accomodari Ideoque in ritè ordinatis sive boni sive mali sint efficacem esse atque ita inter dispares Ministros Domini nostri dona semper aequalia semper bona sacra permanere Concil T. 14. p. 679. That in the Collation of Orders which are given by the Imposition of hands as the visible sign That Grace is conferr'd by Heaven upon those who are regularly ordain'd by which they are made apt and fit to exercise Offices in the Church duly and profitably and by virtue of which those Church Matters which are managed by Men ordain'd according to the Institution of Christ and his Church are rarified and made efficacious That this Grace belongs not to the Person but to the Office and is accommodated not to any Mans private but to the publique benefit of the Church and therefore is effectual in those rightly ordain'd be they good or bad and therefore the gifts of our Lord tho given to Ministers very differently qualified are still the same always good and always holy Which Doctrine perhaps even in some other particulars is not very agreeable to those opinions espous'd by divers of the Roman Communion I need not add here the Sentiments of Habertus and Goar the learned Editors of the Greek Pontifical and Euchology intending to take notice of them afterwards But I cannot well pass by the Judgment of Bonus Merbesius in the Case who tho he take a great deal of pains to appear Neuter in it yet apparently enough inclines to this That the Essence of Orders consists in this Imposition of hands for which he refers
us to several Texts of Scripture several determinations of Councils and sayings of the Greek Fathers but there 's nothing more remarkable than what he alledges out of that learned Jesuite Maldonate who plainly and without any hesitancy determines That in conferring Orders Imposition of hands is not to be look'd on as an unnecessary Ceremony Impositio manuum non est habenda tanquam Caeremonia non necessaria sed tanquam pars essentialis Sacramenti idque tenendum videtur fide Catholica 1. Quia in Scripturâ ubicunque fit mentio de ordinatione declaratur per manuum Impositionem videtur mihi esse temerarium Scripturam deserere consectari Chimaeias i. e. rationes naturales 2. Quia veterem Ecclesiam nunquam ordinasse sine Impositione manuum ex omnibus Authoribus antiquis perspicuum est de Traditione autem Calicis Hostiae nulla est apud eos mentio 3. Quia videtur nimis durum esse Caeremoniam quam nobis perspicuè tradent Apostoli excludere à naturâ Sacramenti inducere illam de quâ nulla mentio fit in Scripturâ 4. Quia hoc est labefacere totum Sacramentum victoriam concedere Haereticis nam si Impositio manuum non est essentialis Caeremonia per quam hoc Sacramentum exhiberi debeat non potest probari ex Scripturis Ordinem esse Sacramentum Merb. Sum. Christ de Sacram Ord. Disp 6. but as an Essential part of that Sacrament and that to him this seems a necessary point of the Catholick Faith for which he gives these Reasons 1. Because whereever Scripture mentions Ordination it expresses it by Laying on of Hands and it seem'd to him a Rash thing to Desert Scripture and pursue Chimera's i. e. meer Natural Reasons 2. Because it 's evident by all Ancient Writers that the Primitive Church Ordained none but by Imposition of Hands but there is no mention at all made by any of them of touching the Chalice and Patten 3. Because it seems very absurd to exclude that Ceremony which was unquestionably deliver'd down to us by the Apostles from the Essence of the Sacrament and to introduce another never so much as mention'd in Scripture 4. Because this were to ruine the whole Sacrament and to give up the Victory to Hereticks for if Imposition of Hands be not the Essential Ceremony whereby this Sacrament is to be exhibited Orders can never be prov'd a Sacrament by Scripture For whereas he seems to take it for granted That the matter of every Sacrament ought to be determin'd in Scripture He urges it well enough That the Chalice and Patten not being taken notice of there that Ordinance to which such unscriptural Circumstances are Essential can be no Sacrament And this Merbesius takes to be more Ancient and Catholick though he acknowledges the other at present to be the more Common and Prevailing Opinion Habertus makes Dominicus a Soto a Spaniard Confessor to Charles the 5th and present at the Council of Trent to be the first Inventer of it but without Reason since as I have proved before both Aquinas and the Florentine Council espous'd the same Absurdity long before Against it Merbesius urges this Argument If the Sacerdotal Grace be given by Imposition of Hands Si per manuum Impositionem datur gratia Sacerdotalis illa ipsa Manuum Impositio Presbyteratus essentiam proculdubio constituit Atqui per manuum Impositionem datur Ergo. then certainly that Imposition of Hands must constitute the Essence of the Sacerdotal Order but the first is true therefore the last This he proves from that of the Apostle to Timothy Ep. 2. c. 1. v. 6. and from the discourses of Moring to that purpose from the general silence of all Ancient Ritualists and from the particular silence of some of latter date who indeed mention that Adjectitious Ceremony but yet only as Accidental and not Essential to Ordination Nay he draws in the Council of Trent it self as an Abettour of his Opinion by that passage concerning Extreme Vnction where they tell us That Bishops or Priests Regularly Ordain'd by them with the Imposition of the Hands of the Presbytery Legitimi istius Sacramenti Ministri sunt aut Episcopi aut Sacerdotes ab ipsis rite ordinati per Impositionem Manuum Presbyterii Sess 14. c. 3. are the only lawful Ministers of that Sacrament Thus we see the Division of those of the Roman Church among themselves concerning this Matter by which according to their own Writers they reduce themselves to this Dilemma Either to determine the touch of the Vessels to be the Essence of Orders and consequently Orders no Sacrament or else to allow it's Essence to be Imposition of Hands which Imposition of Hands the Church of England according to the Custom of the Ancient Vniversal Church has ever us'd since the Reformation though not believing Holy Orders so conferr'd to be a Sacrament I might here take notice of that Conceipt of some of their Parasitical Canonists That the Bishop of Rome has that Plerophory of Power in himself that his bare word can make a compleat Priest or Bishop without any Ceremony at all which is fairly expos'd by the learned Arch-Bishop of Spalato as which Spalat de Republ Eccles l. 2. c. 4. s 19. among other things sufficiently proves Orders no Sacrament unless we can have a Sacrament without either Matter or Form. To proceed then 3. Seeing our Ordination is thus far Regular we are to consider Whether those words made use of in our eldest Reform'd Rituals are not significant enough Or Whether that Form of conferring Orders was not sufficient to impart Sacerdotal Power to the Persons Ordain'd Now that it may not be left undetermin'd by the Ordainers what particular Offices any Persons are Ordain'd to the Arch-Deacon as in the case of Deacons so in that of Priests speaks thus openly to the Bishop Reverend Father in God I present to You these Persons to be admitted to the Order of Priesthood After several Intercurrent Questions the Bishop declares to the People Good People these be they whom we purpose God willing to receive this day to the Holy Office of Priesthood c. After which words methinks there needs no plainer a designation to any Ecclesiastical Employ Publick notice is given likewise in the Ordination of a Bishop that all there present may know what Character he is to bear After these things and some particular Questions propos'd to the Parties and some Prayers put up to God For a Priest the Bishop with the Priests then present lay their hands upon every particular Mans Head The Bishop using these words Receive thou the Holy Ghost whose sins thou dost remit they are remitted and whose sins thou dost retain they are retained be thou a Faithful Dispencer of the word of God and of his holy Sacraments in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost As for a Bishop the words whereby Matthew Parker
learned persons of the Latin Communion now agree in that Doctrine if the Church of England in her first reform'd Rituals gave as clear an Assignation to his particular Office to the Person ordain'd as either the Greek or Roman Church do at present and finally if real Heresy or Schism cannot annihilate Episcopal Sacerdotal power The consequence of all must be That our Orders are still good and valid and the Establish'd Church of England so far at least a true and sound Member of the Catholick Church of Christ And now it were no difficult Matter to retort the Objection against our Adversaries and prove the invalidity of their Orders upon the Principles and Practices of their own Church For 1. They tell us That it 's the Intention of the Priest not the Form or Matter of Institution that makes the Sacrament So that tho a Man be ordain'd a Priest or a Bishop with all the Ceremonies of the Pontifical and by a Bishop with those very words now made use of in the Exhibition of the Vessels yet if the Bishop minds not what he 's about or intend not to do what the Church intends the Ordain'd remains still without either Character or Power by which means if one Bishop has but once fail'd in the Collation of Orders they run down for ought they know in infinitum without any due Consecration and since humane Frailties are so many and the Artifices of Hell so incessant and prevailing as we must needs have a great many Doubts naturally grow upon us concerning the Intentions of those whole lives we see Extravagant and Impious so from thence we necessarily deduce an Infinity of Uncertaintys If this Conceipt were only the Caprice of some wild Head it were the less considerable But it 's the determination of their oraculous Council of Trent Si quis dixerit in Ministris dum Sacramenta conficiunt conferunt non requiri intentionem saltem faciendi quod facit Ecclesia Anathema sit Sessio 7. Can. 11. that If any shall say there is not required in Ministers while they Consecrate and dispence the Sacraments an Intention at least of doing what the Church does Let that Person so saying be accurs'd And the Annotators upon the Plantin Edition of that Council refers us to the Decrees of Eugenius the 4th in the Florentine Council where we are taught That the Sacraments are perfected by three things By outward Signs Omnia Sacramenta tribus persiciuntur videlicet Rebus tanquam Materia Verbis tanquam Forma Persona Ministri conferentis Sacramentum cum intentione faciendi quod facit Ecclesia quorum si aliquod desit non perficit Sacramentum Instruct ad Armenos Conc. gen T. 13. p. 535. as the Matter by Words as the Form and by the Person of the Minister dispensing the Sacrament with an intention of doing that which the Church does of which three things if any one be wanting there can be no Sacrament It were an easie work to confute this Opinion as being both Unscriptural and Irrational Sacramenta ministrari possunt à bonis à malis à fidelibus infidelibus infra Ecclesiam extra quia si dispensari possint tantum à bonis nullus esset certus de susceptione Sacramenti cum nullus fit certus de bonitate Ministri sicut nec de propria ita oporteret semper iterari malitia unius praejudicaret alienae saluti Lindwood Constit prov l. 1. tit 7. gl pro quibus citat B. Thom. Edit Oxon. 1679. Intra Catholicam Ecclesiam in Mysterio Corporis Sanguinis Domini nihil à bono majus nihil à malo minus perficitur Sacerdote quia non in merito Consecratis sed in verbo perficitur Creatoris virtute Spiritus Sancti Decreti p. 2. c. 1. Qu. 1. citat ex Augustino contra Epist Parmen l. 2. and how it thwarts the Doctrine of some great Men of your own may be seen by those Passages in the Margin but as they assert it it is Argumentum ad Homines the consequence of which we know well enough the Truth we shall leave them to make good as well as they can But if we look upon Consecration to Church Offices only as an Holy Ordinance but no Sacrament We may then challenge the Church of Rome as introducing a Nullity in their Orders by so notorious a deviation from the Examples of Christ and his Apostles from the Methods of the Ancient Vniversal Church and from their own Authentick Constitutions to prove which Crime of theirs we may recur to those Authorities before insisted on From which we learn That Imposition of Hands was the only Essence of Orders that their modern Ceremonies are meer Innovations and as by them us'd shameful Corruptions of the first Institution For tho' we allow that Power to the Governors of every true Christian Church to add some significant Ceremonies to a Divine Ordinance provided they are neither Indecent Superstitious nor Troublesome and therefore might pass by that addition of touching the Consecrated Vessels among other little Fooleries of that Church Yet since they have fixt the Essence of that Ordinance in that touching of those Vessels and have made Imposition of Hands rather an impertinent Formality than a matter of Necessity as may appear from that of Gregory the Ninth In fragmentis Decretalium we cannot but conclude that they have gone beyond all bounds of Just Ecclesiastical Authority For in that Decree as it 's plain that Imposition of Hands is made a meer non-essential Circumstance so it infers a Power in persons Ordain'd to execute their Functions in all parts Presbyter Diaconus cum ordinantur Manus impositionem tactu corporali â—itu ab Apostolis introducto recipiunt Quod si omissum fuerit non est aliquatenus iterandum sed statuto tempore ad hujusmodi Ordines conferendos cautè supplendum quod per errorem extitit praetermissum Concil general T. 11. p. 384. c. 52. Epist ad Archiepiesc Lond. In margine vero decretalium melius legitur Lugdunensem as occasion requires without it for it lays no prohibition on them and yet orders the supplying of all defects only at Canonical times the Interstices of which are long enough to admit various exertions of Diaconal or Sacerdotal Power Nor does the Gloss upon this part of the Canon Law help the matter at all though it be clog'd with a Superfaetation of Notes For tho' the first be That a Deacon and Presbyter ought to be Ordain'd by Imposition of Hands the second that that manner of Ordination is deduc'd from Apostolical example Nota 1. Quòd Presbyter Diaconus per manus Impositionem debet Ordinari Item Nota. Quòd Ordinatio Sacerdotis Diaconi introducta est exemplo Apostolorum Item nota quòd idem est in parte quod in toto Item Quòd duo imperfecta faciunt unum perfectum Decretal Greg. l. 1. Tit. 16. c. 3. gl p. 282.
Edit Lugd. 1671. yet sure it 's concluded that there 's the same virtue in a Semi-Ordination as in our Compleated and that two Imperfects makes one Perfect We cannot deduce any thing from the whole but That an Ordinance unquestionably sacred and of Divine Original is so far perverted by those of the Roman Church as to have lost its Nature which conclusion we may be the more confirm'd in if we observe that Assertion of some Modern Casuists That where by any Mistake it has so happen'd that the Person to be Ordain'd did not touch both the Patten and Chalice with that exactness requir'd by the Roman Rubrick Bonacina D. 8. q. 2. puncto 3. or where it is rationally doubted whether they did touch them or not there they ought to be Ordain'd again the former Ceremonies being wholly Insignificant Which strange Sleight of Apostolical Practice and weight laid upon this new Invention I can no way reconcile to that Position of Alexander Alensis Those things which are order'd by Men may be alter'd by Men but those which are instituted by God Quae ab homine Ordinata sunt ab homine possunt mutari quae autem à Deo instituta sunt non nisi dictante Deo debent mutari Alonsis Sum. p. 4. q. 9. Memb. 1. 2. art 2. may not be changed but by the Command of the same God. Besides as to Sacraments they tell us They must be administred In Forma Ecclesiae Decret p. 2. c. 1. q. 1. c. 51. Hi qui c. 52. Si quis or that otherwise they are ineffectual What Church then must that be according to whose Form Orders must be conferr'd Must it be the Ancient or Modern Church of Rome The Question is Reasonable since they have varied from themselves so much for we can find no Western Ritual mentioning the Touch of the Vessels for the first Nine hundred years after Christ If at last the Ordination of Pastors in the Church of God be instituted by Christ and his Apostles and if the manner how those first Church-Governors collated Holy Orders be express'd on Sacred Writ Then those who have varied so much from their Prescriptions and yet pretend to confer the same Divine Grace still have to the utmost of their Power evacuated both the Diaconal and Sacerdotal Offices within their own Church and if urged severely with their own Principles must appear at best but an Embryo an unshaped and incompleat Church their Priesthood Sacraments and Government falling at once to the ground 2. It 's obvious to any to object to them That Laying on of hands without using any Words at all whereby the meaning of that action should be guest at is a Ceremony of no Consequence at all Yet the very Essence of Orders according to their Schoolmen before cited consists in such a mute Imposition of hands by which it appears That the Sacrament of Orders as they call it is of a very different Nature from all the rest For should the Priest Anoint a Man with Oyl tho in a Dying State and say nothing who would call it Extreme Vnction Who would dream that the Priest Baptiz'd every Man whom he should Sprinkle Water on unless he us'd the words of Institution And we conclude That those of the Roman Communion would scarce believe the Bread and Wine Transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Christ by the bare Contact of the Priests Hand without those powerful Words Hoc enim est Corpus meum the words being as Essential to the Sacrament as the Elements or the particular action of the Priest Now if a Bishop lay his hand upon my Head and say nothing who knows whether it be to give me his Blessing to confirm me after Baptism to Consecrate me to some sacred Employ or whether it were not an action purely accidental or a mark of some personal kindness to me For a Bishop as a Bishop may intend by such an action any one of these things as well as Ordination It 's true they have some circumstantials and appendages in their present Rituals demonstrative enough but those may be omitted and a perfectly mute Imposition of hands be made use of alone as being only Essential to the thing design'd for if the Essentials of an Ordinance be us'd the Circumstances can add nothing to its Perfection or Imperfection So the Roman Church allows Baptism of Infants a compleat Sacrament when administred by such persons who have no Authority to Consecrate the Elements or by Priests in such streights of time as render their Consecration impracticable If we should grant what some would fain perswade us That Imposition of hands and touching the Vessels are both Essential to Ordination Notwithstanding this As when they allow Bread and Wine both as Essentials to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper yet they esteem it enough to administer that Sacrament in one kind to all Communicants so it may upon the same grounds be determin'd sufficient to give Orders only by one Mean the virtue of the other Essential being suppos'd to be in that one by Concomitancy But a Ceremony wholly silent is so very unintelligible to the vulgar that though they could be brought to apprehend its general meaning yet unless there were so many different Modes of laying on of Hands it were impossible for them to distinguish between Bishops Priests and Deacons to the great trouble and dissatisfaction of those who among a thousand Doubts and Uncertainties must partake of the Ordinances of God by their hands And this defect themselves are so sensible of that though Imposition of hands be only a dumb Circumstance yet when the Vessels are exhibited in which Action they now generally fix the Essence of Orders the Bishop ordaining uses a particular Form expressive of the Office then conferr'd But it is 3. Such a Form as if well examin'd would leave us more at a loss for the validity of their Priesthood than all their precedent silence Take thou Power c. where it would give us very great satisfaction if they would inform us what kind of Sacrifices their Priests offer Whether Typical and so Carnal and Sensible Or else Spiritual If Spiritual we know of none such relating to their publick Duties but Prayers and Praises in their largest extent Spiritual Sacrifices indeed acceptable to God through Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 2.5 We know of none concerning them in private but such as all Christians may offer as well as Priests Presenting their Bodies a living Sacrifice holy and acceptable to God Rom. 12.1 which is their reasonable Service If their Sacrifices are Typical by whom were they Instituted Or what are they Types of If of the Messiah to come their Priesthood must be either Judaic or Pagan whose various Sacrifices either more expresly as commanded by God or more darkly as taken up from Arguments of Gratitude or from Imitation were their great expressions of their Hope of a Messiah to come or of some extraordinary