English Orders : Whence Obtained. By the Rev. John Bambridge
Smith, M.A. (Skeffington and Son.)—Mr. J. B. Smith sets himself to prove that "the present Archbishops and Bishops of the English Church undoubtedly, and all but exclusively, trace their orders to a Roman source." This subject he examines in great detail. But the conclusion at which he arrives does not hinder him from also holding that they are "independent of all juris- diction." In due course he comes to discuss the vexata guaestio of the consecration of Matthew Parker in 1559. The "Nag's Head" fiction being dismissed, he deals with the objection that the Consecrators had not the intention of making him a Bishop. The formula does not express this intention, but the preceding prayer runs :—" Mercifully behold this, Thy servant, now called to the work and ministry of a Bishop." Then had the Consecrators been themselves consecrated ? Barlow, the chief, is spoken of as a Bishop by Gardiner and by Mary's Commissioners, and the other three have a spiritual pedigree of undoubted authenticity.
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