Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Bishop. Ethelwolf, (A. D., 838,) King of England, is also reported to have received Episcopal Orders. Edbert, or Eadbert, (À. D., 740,) King of Northumbria, after a happy reign of 20 years, laid aside his crown, and lived 10 years longer in orders, under the discipline of his brother Egbert, Archbishop of York. Apollonius Sidonius, (A. D., 472,) a Prætorian Prefect of Rome, son-in-law of the Emperor, Patrician and Senaator of Rome, laid aside his dignities and became the Bishop of Clermont.

25. Evagrius, Bishop of Antioch, was consecrated by one Bishop alone.

26. Pelagius I., (A. D., 560,) Bishop of Rome, was consecrated by two Bishops, a Presbyter assisting in place of the absent third, required by the Canons.

27. Armentarius was deprived of his jurisdiction by the Council of Riez, because he had been consecrated by less than the Canonical number.

28. Dioscorus, of Alexandria, had two consecrators only; and Siderius, of Palæbisca, was consecrated by only one Bishop, and was afterwards promoted to the Metropolitical See of Ptolemais, as we are informed by Synesius.

29. It was not an uncommon thing for the Romish intruding' Vicars' to be consecrated by only one Bishop. Such consecrations among the Romanists in England and Ireland are so common, that they have in those countries no probable Episcopacy, except upon the supposition that they are valid, though uncanonical. Archbishop Carroll, the first Metropolitan of Baltimore, through whom most of the Prelates in this country trace their Episcopate, was consecrated by a single Bishop, who had himself been consecrated by a single Bishop.

30. In the American Church, seven instances are given, viz: those of Bishops Meade, Kemper, Williams, Whitehouse, Atkinson, H. Potter, and Odenheimer, of the union of as many as 7 Bishops as Consecrators, in each instance.

31. Three instances are given of the union of as many as 8 Consecrators, as in the elevation of Bishops Kip, Gregg, and Bedell; and in the English Church, in the consecrations of Bishops Gunning, in 1669, Mewes, in 1672, and Trelawney, in 1685.

32. Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, (A. D., 1070,) was raised to the Episcopate by 9 Bishops uniting.

33. Wilfrid, Archbishop of York, (A. D., 604,) was made a Bishop by the imposition of the hands of 12 Consecrators; and in the American Church, Drs. Wainwright and Whipple had 10 Consecrators.

34. St. Cyprian, (Ep. 59 ad Antoniam,) speaks of a Bishop, Cornelius, of Rome, who had been consecrated by 16 Bishops uniting.

35. In Carthage was a Bishop, Fortunatus, who asserted himself to have been consecrated by 23 Numidian Bishops, (A. D., 250.)

36. Bishops were sometimes made, per saltum, “at a leap,” as it were, without entering the lower ministries; though forbidden by the Canons, it was often done in extraordinary cases, on the principle, that the Episcopate involved and supplied the other Orders, as St. Jerome says, "In Episcopo et Presbyter continetur." The famous St. Ambrose, (A. D., 385,) of Milan, was thus consecrated, per saltum. Nectarius, of Constantinople, and Eucherius, of Lyons, were both consecrated without the intervention of the inferior Orders. So also, Pope Constantine, (A. D., 708,) being a Layman, received all Orders by the one ordination to the Pontificate.

37. Many others were taken from the Diaconate, and, without a formal Ordination to the Priesthood, received it in the Episcopate, as Popes Nicholas I., Valentine, Benedict V., Paul I., Adrian I., Cæcilian, of Carthage, and others. Bingham's Antiquities (Vel. I., Bk. II. ch. 10, gives sundry instances of such Ordinations, per saltum. See also, "Essays on Anglican Ordinations," second series, Vol. II., p. 244-6, (by Hugh Davey Evans, Esq., LL.D.)

[ocr errors]

38. Bishops John Spottiswood, of Glasgow, Gavin Hamilton, of Galloway, and Andrew Lamb, of Brechen, were consecrated per saltum, in 1610, by the English Bishops, Abbot, Andrewes, Neyle, and Parry. This was on the first restoration of the Episcopacy to Scotland. And, in 1661, on the second restoration of the Episcopacy, when Leighton and Sharp were elevated to that Order, it was proposed to dispense with

the inferior Orders, both having been Scotch Presbyterians; but it was overruled, and they were first ordained Deacon and Priest, lest the contrary course might imply the validity of the Presbyterian ministry.

39. The 10th Canon of the Council of Sardica forbids all such Ordinations, per saltum, originally allowed; the custom soon was so abused by Rome and its imitators, that it became prudent to limit it.

Pagi says, "Gregory VII. is the first Roman Pontiff, taken from the Order of Deacons, whom we know to have been ordained Presbyter before he could be ordained Pontiff, whilst many before him, the grade of Presbyter being omitted, were honored with the Pontifical consecration, per saltum.

40. Photius, (A. D., 858,) of Constantinople, to avoid the imputation of not coming to his Bishopric regularly, was, on the first day, made a Monk, on the second, a Reader, on the third, a Sub-Deacon, on the fourth, a Deacon, on the fifth, a Priest, and on the sixth, a Bishop.

41. Bishop Bull was made Deacon and Priest in one day, at the age of 21, by a Bishop Robert Skinner of Oxford, who was then deprived, and acting as Rector of a Parish,—the only Bishop who conferred Orders during the usurpation.

42. Bishop Jeremy Taylor and Archbishop Usher were both Ordered before the age of 21; and Archbishop Sharp was Ordered Priest under the canonical age.

43. As regards the titles and designations accorded to Bishops, it is curious and interesting to know, that nearest to the Apostles' day, no designation was more common to all the Bishops than "Apostles." Afterwards, the Bishops themselves thought it honorable enough to be called "Successors of the Apostles." Every See was called an "Apostolic See," which in those days was not a peculiar title of the See of Rome. Bishops were also called " Fathers," and "Pontiffs,” and “Vicars of Christ," and the like; titles of honor and reverence, in which all had as much interest as he who has since laid exclusive claim to such designations, and degrades his Bishops to the mere rank of "Vicars of the Holy See," holding their mission at his will and pleasure.

[blocks in formation]

44. Although Bishop Seabury was the first Canonical Bishop of the American Church, it is known that there were two Anglican Bishops in this country before his day, viz: Bishops Robert Welton, (consecrated 1723,) and John Talbot, (consecrated at the same time,) the former by one Bishop of the nonjurors, Ralph Taylor, and the latter by Bishops Taylor and Welton. Both these Bishops exercised Episcopal offices in America, though privately, for fear of the authorities; Bishop Welton residing in Philadelphia, and Bishop Talbot, at Burlington, N. J. They are known to have worn the mitre and Episcopal robes, even in their private Offices. All was considered uncanonical, inasmuch as these Bishops acted, not as Suffragans, but in contravention of the authority of our then Diocesan, the Bishop of London. Talbot died in 1727, and was buried in the churchyard of St. Mary's, Burlington, N. J., of which he was Rector, and Welton retired to Portugal, where he died, in 1726, having previously been Rector of Christ Church, Philadelphia.

45. Bishops Seabury and Claggett also wore the mitre in their public Offices; the mitre of Bishop Seabury is yet preserved in the Library of Trinity College, Conn.

46. The last of the non-juring Bishops was Charles Boothe, (1795-1805.) The crozier, which had been used by many of them in succession, is preserved in the family of Crossley, of Scaitcliffe, near Todmorden.

47. With regard to the "Nag's Head Consecration," from which, as some think, all our present Orders are, through Archbishop Parker, derived, it may be worth while to know another fact. There is not a Bishop, Priest or Deacon, of the English, Scottish, or American Churches, who cannot trace his Orders back to the Apostles through other lines than that of Archbishop Parker. This happens through the intervention of an Italian Archbishop, (De Dominis,) who in 1617 united with English Prelates in Consecrations; and also of an Irish Archbishop, (Hampton,) in 1616, and again of an Irish Bishop, (Fuller,) who in 1667 united in consecrations of English Bishops. It thus happened that a century ago and more, every Bishop in England was enabled to trace his Episcopate independently of the Parker line.

ART. III.-COOPER AND HIS NOVELS.

Darley's Illustrated edition of COOPER's Novels. In thirty-two Volumes. New York: W. H. Townsend & Co.

THE new and beautiful edition of Cooper's Novels, now nearly completed, by Messrs. Townsend & Co., gives us an occasion, which we have long desired, to lay our hearty tribute upon the altar of his memory. He has done so much for his country's Literature, he saw so distinctly the narrow prejudices of the times in which he lived, he described so clearly and fearlessly the dangers to which, in the practical workings of our Government, our Institutions are exposed, and in which, alas, they are now threatened with remediless ruin; nay, more, as a Christian Moralist, he was so loyal to those great principles which the Church holds and teaches, that he richly deserves, on the pages of our Review, to be named with honor, and to be commended to the attention of the American people. It is not, however, as a Moralist that we are now to regard Mr. Cooper, though, we are glad to say, that in all his writings we have not found a line that would cause a blush upon the cheek of the most pure and refined. Neither, as Church Reviewers, shall we dwell upon the heroism with which he dared to plant himself upon the Christian Faith, as the only true fountain of Social Reform. We have here, undoubtedly, one secret of that bitter opposition, from a certain portion of the press, with which, in his later years, he was obliged to contend. There is another respect, also, in which Cooper's works merit the regard of Churchmen. Himself a Churchman by birth and education, he never hesitated, from a time-serving policy, to express the unscriptural authority and the true character of religious pretensions, which, in his day, were far more bold and intolerant than they are now. Thus in "The Sea Lions," he uses the lancet in the following style.

"There are two great species of deacons-one species belongs to the priesthood, and become priests and bishops; passing away, as priests and bishops are apt to

« AnteriorContinuar »