him but whether these were foisted in or not I cannot judge Now these Rites were afterwards a ball of Contention for the Emperours and Kings did give the Investiture by them which had they been given with our such words they might have more easily kept up their pretension but the words joyned with them relating wholly to Spiritual things were no doubt made a great Argument for taking them out of their hands Since it seemed very incongruous for a Secular and Lay person to pronounce them or perform a Rite to which such words were added The Fifth Ritual has only the Collects Adesto and Propitiare and the Prayer of Consecration without the Rubrick for giving the Chrism and the Collects Super Oblata leaving out in the Prayer of Consecration what is left out in the two former Rituals The Sixth Ritual has the Collects Adesto and Propitiare with the Prayer of Consecration as in the first in which the Rubrick about putting the Chrism on the head is also then follows a new Prayer that is in no other Ritual for the Bishop thus Ordained after which there is a Blessing called De septiformi Spiritu For the sevenfold Grace of the Holy Ghost then are the hands of the Bishop Consecrated with holy Oyl and the Chrism with these words Consecratio manuum Episcopi ab Archiepiscopo Oleo sancto Chrismate UNgantur manus istae sanctificentur in te Deo Deorum ordinentur Ungo has manus oleo sanctificato Chrismate unctionis purificato sicut unxit Moyses verbo oris sui Manus S. Aaron Germani sui sicut unxit Spiritus Sanctus per suos flatus manus suorum Apostolorum ita ungantur manus istae sanctificentur consecrentur ut in omnibus sint perfectae in nomine tuo Pater Filiique tui atque aeterni Spiritus S. qui es unus ac summus Dominus omnium vivorum mortuorum manens in Saecula Saeculorum LET these hands be annointed and Sanctified and Ordained for the God of Gods I annoint these hands with Sanctified Oyl and the purified Chrism of annointing as Moses by the word of his mouth annointed holy Aaron his brother and as the Holy Ghost by his breathings did annoint the hands of his Apostles so let these hands be Annointed Sanctified and Consecrated that they may be perfect in all things in thy name O Father and in thy Sons and thy Holy Spirit 's who art the only and great God of the quick and of the dead for ever and ever Amen Then his head is annointed with the following words Hic mittatur oleum super ejus UNgatur Consecretur caput tuum coelesti benedictione in Ordinem Pontificalem in nomine Patris Filii Spiritus Sancti LET thy head be annointed and Consecrated with a heavenly Blessing for the Pontifical Order in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Then the Staff is Blessed in these words in Verse Tu Baculus nostrae Rector per saecula vitae Istum sanctifica pietatis jure Bacillum Quo mala sternantur quo semper recta regantur Thou who art the Staff of our Life and our guide for ever sanctify this Staff by which ill things may be beaten down and right things always guided Then the Staff is given and after that the Ring almost with the same words that are in the Fourth Ritual then follows a Prayer that he may ascend the Episcopal Chair then he is put in the Chair and a Prayer is made for him that he may resemble the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and Saints and in the end he is Blessed in these words Benedictio ejusdem Sacerdotis POpulus te Honoret adjuvet te Dominus quidquid petieris praestet tibi Deus cum honore cum castitate cum scientia cum largitate cum Charitate cum Nobilitate Dignus sis Iustus sis Humilis sis Sincerus sis Apostolus Christi sis Accipe Benedictionem Apostolatum qui permaneat in die ista in die sutura Angeli sint ad dexteram tuam Apostoli Coronati ad sinistram Ecclesia sit mater tua altare sit Deus Pater tuus sint Angeli amici tui sint Apostoli sratres tui Apostolatus tui gradum custodiant Confirmet te Deus in Iustitia in Sanctitate in Ecclesia Sancta Angeli recipiant te pax tecum indiscrepabilis per Redemptorem Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum qui cum Patre Spiritu Sancto vivit regnat in saecula saeculorum Amen MAY the people Honour thee may God assist thee and grant thee whatsoever thou shalt ask of Him with Honour Chastity Knowledg Bounty Charity and Nobility Be thou Worthy Just Humble Sincere and an Apostle of Christ. Receive a Blessing and an Apostleship which shall continue for this time and that which is to come Let Angels be at thy right hand and crowned Apostles at thy left Let the Church and the Altar be thy Mother and God thy Father Let the Angels be thy Friends and the Apostles thy Brethren and guard the degree of thy Apostleship May God strengthen thee in Justice in Holiness and in the Holy Church and may Angels receive thee and inseparable Peace be with thee Through our Lord Iesus Christ who with the Father and the Holy Spirit reigns and lives for ever and ever Amen The Seventh Ritual has first the second Canon of the Fourth Council of Carthage then the Exhortation to the people then the Collects Oremus Adesto and Propitiare then the Prayer of Consecration and then the annointing of the hands then follows the Communion Service The Eighth Ritual begins the Office of Consecrating a Bishop with the Collect Adesto Then follows a new Rite of giving the Gospel with these words ACcipe hoc Evangelium ito doce omnes Gentes REceive this Gospel and go and teach all Nations Then follows the Propitiare and the Prayer of Consecration and the Giving the Staff and Ring without any more This Rite of delivering the Gospels it seems was never generally received for it is in none of the other Rituals published by Morinus but is now in the Roman Pontifical The Ninth Ritual begins this Office with the Form in which the Kings of France did then choose their Bishops then follows an Oath of Obedience to the Patriarchal See no mention being made of the Pope or See of Rome then the Ring is Blessed with a particular Benediction and it is given with the words in the Fourth Ritual The Staff is next Blessed as in the Sixth Ritual and given as in the Fourth Ritual Then follow the Collects Oremus Adesto and Propitiare then the Prayer of Consecration as in the First Ritual then follows another long Prayer after which follows the Annointing of the hands and head and the Blessing for the sevenfold Grace of the Holy Ghost Then follows the Communion Service The Tenth Ritual has only the
Pastors For the foreign Churches they are able to speak for themselves nor is it needful for me here to shew what grounds there are for our Churches holding Communion with them But it must be acknowledged to be a high pitch of boldness and injustice to charge us as if we did not ascribe all due honour to holy Orders and the Succession of Pastors We know and assert That no man can take this honor of Priesthood to himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron so also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high Priest but he that said unto him Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee We reject the extravagant and bold pretences of hot-headed or factious Enthusiasts and have learned out of the Gospel that a publick calling was necessary even to those who had the most extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost Our Savionr sent his Disciples as his Father had sent Him and laid his hands on them and gave them the Power of binding and loosing And tho God had by his Spirit called Saul and Barnabas to the Apostleship of the Gentiles yet they did not enter upon the discharge of that Function till by the direction of the Holy Ghost whether by a voice formed in the Air or by a secret Inspiration it matters not they were separated for the work of the Ministry by Prayer and Imposition of hands And tho Timothy was by some Prophesies marked out as a Sacred Person yet he was received into that Function by the Imposition of S. Pauls hands From these sacred Authorities backed with the constant Doctrine and practice of the Churches of God in all Ages we do hold a visible Vocation and Ordination of Pastors necessary in the Church But whether the Roman Pontifical or our Ordinal comes nearer the Rules and Instances in Scripture and the forms of the Primitive times for at least Eight hundred years any that will compare them will easily discern and it is the chief subject of the following Work fully to evince the advantage of our forms beyond theirs It is true we do not extol the Office of Priesthood to that height as to say the Priest can by a few words work the greatest miracle that ever was and can make God present as they love to Phrase it this we think is the honouring the Creature more than the Creator Nor do we exalt the Priest above Gods Vicegerent on Earth our Lawful Soveraign whom according to the Doctrine of the Primitive Church even when Persecuted by their Emperours we honour as next to God and one who is inferiour to God only And therefore we reject the Seditious comparing of the Dignity of the Priestly Office with the Kingly which has not satisfied the Ambition of the Romish Clergy since Hildebrands days but the one must be preferred to the other Nor do we pretend that our Character gives us an Immunity to commit Crimes and an Exemption from the Civil Courts when they are Committed This were to make the Altar a Sanctuary for the most Criminal and the house of Prayer a Den of Thieves and Robbers It is true Christian Princes granted these Immunities at first that Church-men might not be disturbed in their Callings nor vexed with troublesome suteâ—… But afterwards that would not suffice but the Doctrine of Ecclestastical Iurisdiction and Immunity was set up as a thing most sacred and no wonder was it that men durst not presume to lay hands on him who could bring down not only Legions of Angels but God himself with a word And in the beginning of this Century Italy had almost been imbroiled in a War of the Popes making for which he pretended this for one cause that the State of Venice had apprehended two notoriously lâ—…ud and flagitious Priests and were proceeding against them according to Law But he saw other Princes were not very ready to second him and yet he did not lay down the quarrel till the Frocess of the Priests was discharged and they were set at liberty Such Exemptions are very profitable for a corrupt Clergy but if any such be among us we claim no such Protection being willing to leave them to the Law We know as little ground for thinking the Priest by his saying Mass can bring Souls out of Purgatory the Scriptures have made no discoveries either of Purgatory or the ways to escape from it or get out of it The Primitive Church continued still as Ignorant as the Holy Pen-men had been but in the darkest Ages the night being a fit time for Dreams this other world was discovered which has brought greater returns of Power and Riches to that Prince under whose Protection the discovery was made than the world Columbus discovered has sent to the Crown of Castile And tho the trade is not of that advantage that it was yet in gratitude for past services it must never be neglected or as when the vein of a Mine fails they dig on through the hardest Rocks till they find it again for the works must still go on But we poor souls have nothing to do with that gainful Traffick and therefore the Glory of the discovery and the Monapoly of the Trade we freely resign up to them and acknowledg the profits of new Inventions by the Rules of all Government are only due to the Inventors so that they have no reason to quarrel with us for leaving this entirely to them For the power of binding and loosing we do assert that as our Saviour vested his Disciples with it so it is still in the Church but if the vigor and exercise of it be much weakened we have none to blame for it but the Church of Rome who have now in a course of many ages laid down all open and publick penance So that the world being once delivered from that which to licentious men seemed a heavy Bondage it is not to be wondred at if the Primitive strictness could not be easily retrieved 'T is true this is a defect in our Church it is confessed by her in the Office of Commination and she wishes it may be restored but the decay and disuse of it begun in the Church of Rome and every body knows that what is severe and uneasy to Flesh and Blood is not soon submitted to when the practice of it is for any considerable time intermitted But the Clergy of that Communion thought they had made a good bargain when the necessity of Auricular Confessors and private Absolution was received to which the Laity did more easily submit that they might be freed from the shame of open penance and they knew how to deal with their Priests when the penance was secret none knew either the heinousness of their sins or the nature of the penance so it was more safe for the Priest to enjoyn what he listed and give Absolution on what terms he pleased And then because it was painful to have the Absolution delayed till the penance was
to him I cannot make sense of the rest for this Collect is in no other Ritual and the Copy out of which it is printed as it is very Ancient so it has been most uncorrectly written CONSECRATIO DEus honorum omnium Deus omnium dignitatum quae gloriae tuae sacris samulantur honoribus Deus qui Moysen samulum tuum secreti samiliaris affectu inter caetera coelestis documenta culturae de habitu quoque indumenti Sacerdotalis instituens Electum Aaron Mystico amictu vestire inter Sacra jussisti ut intelligentiae sensum de exemplis priorum caperet secutura Posteritas ne eruditio Doctrinae tuae ulli deesset aetati cum apud veteres reverentiam ipsam significationum species obtineret apud nos certiora essent experimenta rerum quam aenigmata figurarum Illius namque Sacerdotii anterioris habitus nostrae mentis ornatus est Pontificalis Gloriae non jam nobis honorem commendat vestrum sed splendorem animarum Quia illa quae tunc carnalibus blandiebantur obtutibus ea potius quae ipsis erant intelligenda poscebant Et idcirco famulis tuis quaesumus quos ad summi Sacerdotii sacerdotium elegisti hanc quaesumus Domine gratiam largiaris ut quidquid illa velamina in fulgore auri in nitore gemmarum multimodi operis varitate signabant hoc in horum moribus claresoat *** Comple Domine in Sacerdotibus tuis mysterii tui summam ornamentis totius glorificationis instructum coelestis unguenti flore Sanctifica *** Hoc Domine copiosè in eorum caput influat hoc in oris subjecta decurrat hoc in totius corporis extrema descendat ut tui Spiritus virtus interiorum ora repleat exteriora circumtegat Abundet in his constantia fidei puritas Dilectionis sinceritas pacis Sint speciosi munere tuo pedes horum ad Evangelizandum pacem ad Evangelizandum bona tua Da eis Domine mysterium reconciliationis in verbo in virtute signorum prodigiorum Sit sermo eorum praedicatio non in persuasibilibus humanae sapientiae verbis sed in ostensione Spiritus virtutis Da eis Domine claves Regni coelorum Utantur neâ—… glorientur Potestate quam tribuis in aedificationem non in destructionem Quodcunque legaverint super terram sit legatum in coelis Et quodqunque solverint super terram sit solutum in coelis Quorum detinuerint peccata detenta sint quorum demiserint tu demittas Quibenedixerit eis sit benedictus qui maledixerit eis maledictionibus repleatur Sint servi fideles prudentes quos constituas tu Domine super samiliam tuam ut dent illis cibum in tempore necessario ut exhibeant omnem hominem perfectum Sint solicitudine impigri sint spiritu serventes oderint superbiam diligant veritatem nec eam unquam deserant aut lassitudine aut timore superati Non ponant lucem ad tenebras nec tenebris lucem non dicant malum bonum nec bonum malum Sint sapientibus insipientibus debitores sructum de prosectu omnium consequantur Tribuas eis Domine Cathedram Episcopalem ad regendam Ecclesiam tuam plebem universam Sis eis autoritas sis eis Potestas sis eis firmitas Multiplices super eos benedictionem gratiam tuam ut ad exorandam semper misericordiam tuam munere idonei tua gratia possint esse devoti per Dominum nostrum c. The CONSECRATION O God of all the Honours O God of all the Dignities that serve in the Holy offices to thy glory O God who when thou instructedst Moses thy servant with a secret and familiar affection among other Instructions of the heavenly Ornaments didst teach him the Priestly Garments and commandedst him to cloath Aaron thy Chosen when he did officiate that the following ages might be instructed by those who went before them that the knowledge of thy Doctrine might be wanting in no age the appearance of the things signified being Reverenced among the Ancients but among us the real Experiments are more certain than the riddles of figures For the habit of the former Priesthood in us is the Ornament of our minds and it is not the shining of our Cloaths but of our Souls that commends in us the honour of the Priestly Glory because they did more desire those things that pleased their carnal eyes than the things they should have understood by them And therefore we beseech thee O Lord grant this grace to those thy Servants whom thou hast chosen to the Ministry of the High Priesthood that whatever those garments signified in the shining of the Gold in the brightness of the Gems and in the curiousness of the Workmanship all that may appear in their Manners ** Accomplish O Lord in thy Priests the fullness of thy Mystery and having adorned him with all the Ornaments of Glory Sanctifie him with the flower of the heavenly Oyntment ** Let that O Lord fall plentifully on their head and run down the rest of their face and descend to the extremities of their body that the vertue of thy Spirit may fill them inwardly and compass them about outwardly Let the Constancy of Faith the Purity of Love and the sincerity of peace abound in them Let their feet through thy favour be beautiful to preach peace and to preach thy good things Give them O Lord the ministry of Reconciliation in word and in power in signs and wonders Let their Discoursâ—… and Preaching be not in the perswading words of human Wisdom but in the Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power Give them O Lord the Keys of the Kingdom of heaven Let them use but not glory in their Power which thou givest them to Edification and not to Destruction Whatsoever they shall bind on earth let it be bound in heaven and what they shall loose on earth let it be loosed in heaven whose sins they retain let them be retained and whose they remit do thou remit Who blesses them let him be blessed and who curses them let him be filled with Curses and let them be faithful and wise Servants whom thou shalt appoint over thy houshold to give them meat in due season that they may present every man perfect Make them diligent in business and fervent in Spirit Make them hate pride and love truth and let them never forsake it either through weariness or fear Let them not put light for darkness nor darkness for light nor call evil good nor good evil Let them be debtors both to the wise and unwise that they may gather fruit from the profiting of all men Give them O Lord an Episcopal Chair for the Governing of thy Church and whole people Be thou to them Authority Power and Strength Multiply upon