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difficulty was got over. Nevertheless, the existence of it has given rise to a Popish lie, which, forty or fifty years after the ordination of Archbishop Parker, (alas!) an Irish Jesuit, of the name of Christopher Holywood, or Christopher from Holywood, ventured to put in print; and this was the lie-He says that no Bishop could be found to ordain Archbishop Parker; but that there was a Roman Catholic Bishop of Landaffe, a simple old man, whom they hoped to entice to perform the ceremony of laying on of hands; that, in order to tempt him to this, they prevailed on him to go to the Nag's Head Tavern, and there, when he was warm with drink, they expected to induce him to go through a ceremony of consecration, although he, Christopher, gives it out, that they did not even succeed in this, for that the old man would not be taken in; and that afterwards a mock ordination took place. To this fable, so inconsistent, so improbable, they have persuaded their deluded followers to give credence. It is repeated again and again in their Magazines, and perhaps I may say universally

*

*I give the story as found in the book of the narrator.— "Principio regni Elizabethæ creandi erant Episcopi sectarii: Candidati convenerunt Londini in quodam Hospitio plateæ Anglicè dictæ Cheapside, ad insigne capitis Manni, et una ordines collaturus Landauensis Episcopus, homo senex et simplex; quod ut intellexit Bonerus tunc decanus Episcoporûm in Anglia, misit è turri Londinensi (ubi religionis causa detinebatur) capellanum suum, qui Landauensi proposita excommunicationis pæna prohiberet novos candidatos ordinare: ea autem denuntiatione territus Landauensis, pedem retulit, multiplicique tergiversatione usus, sacrilegam vitavit ordinationem. Hic furere Candidati; Landauensem contemnere, nova quærere consilia; quid plura ? Scoreus Monachus (post Herefordensis Pseudo-Episcopus) cæteris; ex cæteris quidam Scoreo manus imponunt, fiuntque sine Patre Filii, et Pater a Filiis procreatur, res sæculis omnibus inaudita. Quod D. Thomas Neale Hebraicus Oxoniæ lector qui interfuit antiquis confessoribus, illi mihi narrarunt, et fidem astruit quod in comitiis postea sancitum fuit, ut pro legitimis Episcopis haberentur Parlamentarii isti." From Holywood de invest. Christ. Eccles., cap. 4, quoted in Mason on the Consecration of the Bishops, p. 268.

believed among the lower orders of Papists. In fact, you can scarcely begin to converse with a Roman Catholic of that grade, who will not at once cast up against you, that the first of our Bishops received a mock consecration at the Nag's Head Tavern.

Now it will be well, in answer to these calumnies, to give a plain narrative of the circumstances connected with the ordination of Archbishop Parker.

ORDINATION OF ARCHBISHOP PARKER.

Queen Mary died on the 17th of November, 1558. The same day died Cardinal Pole, Archbishop of Canterbury; and the very same day Queen Elizabeth was proclaimed. The Queen, through the grace of God, was disposed to assent to the godly feelings of the wise part of the nation, with respect to Popery. The earliest acts of her reign sufficiently indicated this intention. Accordingly the Popish Bishops all, with one exception, set themselves against her, and were deposed from their dignities.

The See of Canterbury continued void for some time, until the Dean and Chapter having received the conge d'elire (the usual mandate) from the Queen, elected Dr. Parker for their Archbishop, proceeding in the usual way. After the election was duly performed, and signified according to law, the Queen sent her letters patent for his confirmation and consecration to seven Bishops, whose names we shall here set down, and so much of the Royal instrument as is necessary:—

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Anthony Llandaff.

William Barlow, formerly of Bath, now Bishop elect of Chichester. John Scorey, formerly of Chichester, now elect of Hereford.

Miles Coverdale, formerly of Exeter.
John, the Suffragan Bishop of Thet-
ford.

John, Suffragan of Bedford.
John Bale, Bishop of Ossory.

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"That you, or at least four of you, do effectually confirm the "said Matthew Parker, elected to be Archbishop and Pastor "of the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ, at "Canterbury aforesaid, as is before mentioned. And that you do effectually confirm the said election, and consecrate "the said Master Matthew Parker, Archbishop and Pastor "of the said Church, and perform all and every thing which "belongs to your pastoral office in this respect, according to "the form of the statutes set out and provided."*

All these Bishops except one (Llandaff) had been in exile. We may conceive with how much satisfaction they heard themselves summoned by the Queen of England to set their hands to that good work, on account of which they would willingly have suffered the loss of all things. Accordingly Archbishop Parker was consecrated by four of them, at the Chapel in Lambeth; and the following is a copy of the registry that was made of the transaction:

+Anno 1559, Matthew Parker consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury, Dec. 17th, by

William Barlow,
John Scorey,
Miles Coverdale,
John Hodgeskin.

But it may be asked, were these consecrating Bishops themselves regularly ordained Bishops? Yes, two of them were ordained in the reign of King Henry VIII., and two in the days of King Edward VI.

Those in King Edward's time were John Scorey and Miles Coverdale. They were ordained both in one day. Here follows a copy of the record made of their consecration :

John Scorey and Consecrated the 10th
Miles Coverdale, S Aug. 1551, by......

They were both very learned men

Thos. Canterbury,
Nicholas London,
John Bedford.

Circumstances

* Royal letters patent from the registry of the Archbishop of Canterbury (Parker), folio 3, and the same record is to be found in the Chancery.

+ Ex registro Matt. Park, tom. 1, folio 2 & 10.

have made the character of Coverdale, distinguished as a translator of the Bible, known to all my readers. His fame and renown caused the King of Denmark to write earnestly unto Queen Mary that she would send him unto him, which she did. Does it not appear a wonderful thing, that he, to whom, under God, this kingdom is most indebted for the Bible as we have it at the present day, should be also spiritual father to the Clergy of the Church of England?

Bishop Scorey was distinguished for his learning. When the disputation was appointed, in Queen's Elizabeth's reign, with the Popish Bishops, he was the first and principal man named on the Protestant side.

John Hodgeskin, suffragan of Bedford, was consecrated in King Henry's time. He was one of the consecrators who ordained Bishop Thurlby, who was engaged in the consecration of Cardinal Pole. (Mark this!) The following is a copy of the record of his consecration:

John Hodgeskin, suffragan of Bedford, con- John Lond. secrated the 9th December, in the 29th of John Roff. Henry VIII., by.......... Robert Asaph Perhaps my readers may desire to know what suffragan Bishops were. They were, in fact, assistant Bishopstrue Bishops in every sense of the word, differing alone in this from ordinary Bishops, that the places to which they were assigned as suffragans, were cut off from the Dioceses of other Bishops, and were legally considered as still belonging to them. The following passage on the subject of such Bishops is taken from Bellarmine, a great Roman Catholic authority: *"Suffragans are true Bishops, because they have both ordination and jurisdiction, although they are not possessed of a Church of their own."

The other consecrating Bishop was Barlow. He was

* Respondeo suffraganeos esse veros Episcopos, quia et ordinationem habent et jurisdictionem, licet careant possessione propriæ ecclesiæ. De sacr. conf. Lib. 2. c. 12.

consecrated in the reign of Henry VIII. The registry of his consecration appears to have been lost-a circumstance by no means surprising, when we consider the character of those times. There cannot, however, be the least question made of his true Episcopal character. He was a man of distinguished note, famed, as Bale* writes, for his learning, in consideration of which he was advanced to be Prior of Bishamt, in Henry's time, and thence elected to the Bishopric of St. Asaph‡, which election was confirmed the 23rd of February, 1535, and soon after was preferred to the Bishopric of St. David's,§ where he continued all the days of King Henry, duly discharging all things belonging to the order of a Bishop, Episcopal ordination as well as the rest. He was translated by King Edward to the Bishopric of Bath and Wells, and by Queen Elizabeth promoted to Chichester.

Thus, then, we see that Archbishop Parker was consecrated in a manner perfectly satisfactory, and against which none but one determined to close his eyes against the light can make the least objection.

CANONICAL DESCENT OF ARCHBISHOP PARKER.

In order to make the matter quite plain, I shall here give the Episcopal line and succession of the abovenamed Archbishop, shewing that he was canonically descended from such Bishops as were consecrated in the days of Henry VIII., which our adversaries acknowledge to be canonical:

William Barlow,

John Hodgeskin, in the time of Henry VIII.
consecrated

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