I. ARTHUR JAMES MASON, D.D., D.Th. 'JOSEPH ARMITAGE ROBINSON, D.D., 3. Apostolic Succession: A. The original con- CUTHBERT HAMILTON TURNER, M.A., D.Litt. (Durham), F.B.A., Dean Ireland's 93 JOHN HENRY BERNARD, D.D., D.C.L. (Durham), D.D. (Aberdeen), Provost of Trinity 215 263 Superior of the Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield; sometime Scholar of Trinity College, Terms of Communion, and the Ministration of the Sacraments, in early times . FRANK EDWARD BRIGHTMAN, M. A., PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION THE genesis of this volume must first be briefly told. In a sermon preached before the University of Cambridge on January 30, 1910, Dr J. M. Wilson, Canon of Worcester, made a strong appeal for a fresh examination of the questions which gather round the origin and early developement of episcopacy, and the nature and degree of the sanction which it possesses.' "The real point' (Canon Wilson said) 'seems to some of us to be to ascertain whether history shows that the Episcopal Churches, Greek, Roman, Anglican, and others, are so exclusively the branches of the Catholic Church that we are debarred by fundamental principles from recognising the non-Episcopal bodies as true branches of the one Catholic Church; whether men are right in saying, what is sometimes stated, that we alone have a divinely commissioned fellowship, and that others have their ministry and their sacraments from below, that is, from human appointment. Are we justified in claiming exclusive privileges ?—that sacramental grace is only given through Episcopal orders? Closely connected with this is the history of the prophetic order in the Church of the first two centuries; a charismatic ministry, performing all the offices of the ministry, including the celebration of the Eucharist, yet apparently without the sanction of ordination... The time, too, would seem to have come for a re-examination of the subject of the Apostolical Succession; for a statement of the historical evidence for or against the probability of the fact, and the history of the developement of the dogmas connected with it, in their bearing on the grace and powers conferred in ordination and consecration. Some review seems also to be needed as to the early conceptions of ordination and consecration in the Church; to show whether they did not lay more stress on the pastoral and teaching work of the ministry, and on the continuity of doctrine, and less on its sacramental functions and powers, than we now do. Further historical research is believed to have shown that the investigations promoted by the great Oxford Movement of last century, with its appeal to the historic continuity of the Catholic Church, may now be rightly carried back to a still earlier age, and to a still more Apostolic conception of a Christian ministry... Few of us know on what grounds and when the separation grew up between the conditions for what is called a valid Baptism and those for a valid Eucharist, and the limitation of the latter to men episcopally ordained.' Canon Wilson's sermon, which was printed in the Guardian, and afterwards appended to his book on the Origin and aim of the Acts1, attracted the notice of the Primate, who wrote to suggest that a response should be made to the appeal. His Grace expressed the opinion that it would be opportune to collect and state in as precise a form as possible the latest results of scholarly research bearing on the subject. Such a desire, coming from the Archbishop, had the force of a command. It could best be fulfilled, as I thought, in a series of Essays written by representative scholars, whose names would be a guarantee for breadth of knowledge and accuracy in detail; and an effort was made-successfully, so I rejoice to say-to secure the services of well-known theologians from each of our older Universities. This distribution of the Essays has entailed a long delay in the publication of the book, which I much regret, but which will be pardoned by 1 PP. 107-141. |