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.
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
IMPRIMATUR Liber cui Titulus A Short Defence of the Orders of the Church of England c. H. Maurice Rmo in X to P.D. Willielmo Archep Cant. a Sacris Oct. 24. 1687. A Short Defence OF THE ORDERS OF THE Church of England As by Law Establish'd Against some scatter'd Objections of Mr. Webster of Linne By a Presbyter of the Diocess of Norwich LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by Randal Taylor near Stationers-hall MDCLXXXVIII The Objection against our Ordination in the Church of England as establish'd by Law according to my best Apprehension is this THat whereas our first Liturgies after the Reformation in the Form prescrib'd for the Ordination of Bishops Priests and Deacons appointed not the Bishop ordaining to signifie in the words of Ordination for the sake of what Office the Persons ordained were to receive the Holy Ghost that Particular being since added as it seems to acknowledge a former Omission so it leaves a large Chasme between those Rightly and Canonically ordain'd and those who were not so to the utter Nullity of our Orders that Addition made to our late Rituals not being sufficient to repair the former defect For Instance Tho Arch-bishop Cranmer might be Canonically ordain'd himself and so might rightly ordain others yet those so ordain'd by him or his fellow Bishops ordaining Dr. Matthew Parker only by the defective Reform'd Service-Book Parker was really no Bishop and so those afterwards ordain'd by him were no true Bishops Priests or Deacons Because none can confer that power on another which he never had really in himself which if true the whole English Hierarchy falls to the ground Answer THis Objection looks somewhat plausibly at first and had it any thing of real Weight in it would be much more pertinent than the so often alledg'd and baffled Romance of the Nags-head Ordination but if duly considered has nothing of Solidity in it For 1. It takes for granted what we deny and what those of the Roman Church upon their own Principles can never prove viz. That Orders are a Sacrament Three things says Merbesius a late and well approv'd Writer of that Communion ought to concur to the Being of a true Sacrament Tria ad veri Sacramenti essentiam concurrere debent 1. Nempe Promissio Gratiae ex eo derivandae 2. Signum aliquod sensibile cum praescriptâ verborum formâ quod veluti Medium seu Organum ad applicandum Promissionem adhibeatur 3. Denique Divinum Mandatum quo Christus hujusmodi Sacramentum fidelibus vel omnibus vel aliquibus administrari jusserit Ben. Merhes Sum. Christ p. 3. q. 4. First a Promise of Grace to be deriv'd from it Secondly some sensible Sign with a prescrib'd form of Words which should be made use of as a Mean or Instrument whereby to apply the Promise and Thirdly some Divine Command by which Christ has enjoyn'd the administration of such a Sacrament either to the whole Body or some particular member of the Faithful Now it will be extream difficult to discover all these Circumstances in that which they call the Sacrament of Orders For should we grant that by them Grace is deriv'd to the Person Ordain'd or should we own a Command of Christ for the Collation of Orders yet where 's that set Form of words appointed by Christ himself for the Administration of this Sacrament In Baptism we have the words of Institution indeed and those retain'd throughout the Universal Church without any considerable Variation In the Eucharist we have the same general Agreement But here we have a vast unaccountable difference between the Greeks and those of the Roman Church and again between the Ancient and Modern Church of Rome Where yet we may reasonably suppose they could not have differ'd so much had our Saviour left any particular form of words for that Solemnity If there were no form of words prescrib'd then according to the Rule before-cited Orders can be no Sacrament and the Church of England is as much at liberty to depart from the present Example of the Roman Church as that was to quit its own Ancient Rituals or to vary from the Eastern or any other Christian Churches Besides That Indelible Character which is said to be given in Orders is a principal proof of their being a Sacrament but it would be a very hard task to reconcile that Decree of Gregory the Seventh Bishop of Rome of that name with this notion of an Indelible Character We following the steps of the holy Fathers Ordinationes iliorum qui ab Excommunicatis sunt ordinati Sanctorum Patrum sequentes vestigia irritas fieri censemus Conc. Rom. 4. A. 1078. Lab. Coss T. 10. p. 370. declare the Orders of those who are ordain'd by Excommunicate Persons to be void and of no effect For if the Character of Orders be indelible Excommunication cannot obliterate it nor make Orders conferr'd by the Excommunicate invalid Nor will that fore-mention'd Character agree very well with that Rule of Pope Coelestine the First given to the Bishops of Vienne and Narbonne Let no meer Lay-man no Man that has been twice Married Nullus ex Laicis nullus Bigamus nullus qui sit viduae maritus aut fuerit ordinetur siquae factae sint ordinationes illicitae removeantur quonium stare non possunt Concil gen T. 2. p. 1621. none who is or has been the Husband of a Widdow be put into holy Orders or if any such unlawful Ordinations have been made let them be taken away as such which cannot stand good Here again it 's plain enough That if the Character be as suppos'd Marrying twice or marrying a Widdow which can scarcely be proved Sins cannot possibly expunge it to which I might add the Answer of Leo the First to the Enquiries of Rusticus Bishop of Narbonne concerning such as only pretended to be Bishops and those ordain'd by them Only this I conclude That if the Judgment of a Bishop of Rome be so August and Sacred as some would perswade us Orders imprint no Indelible Character upon the Soul and consequently are no Sacrament Signa quum ad res divinas pertinent Sacramenta appellantur Aug. Ep. 138. ad Marcellinum 2. Edit Par. 1679. For should the Assertors of this Sacrament fly to that trite Saying of St. Augustine That Signs when they are apply'd to Sacred Rites are called Sacraments that would weaken not secure their Cause But if Orders must be a Sacrament in the strictest sense I desire that passage of Aquinas may be remembred That since the Matter of Sacraments in the sensible parts or outward signs of Sacraments are determined Cúm determinata sit Sacramentorum materia determinatae scilicet sensibiles res multó magis determinata esse debet verborum in Sacramentis forma Aquin. Sum. p. 3. q. 60. a. 7. Si mutatio materiae aut Formae Essentialis seu Substantialis sit nullum efficitur Sacramentum Suar. p. 3. T. 3. D. 2.
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
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