This brings us down within twenty years of the great Council of Nice, and is sufficient to demonstrate, that both the succession and the record of it were carefully preserved, and that both were undoubted at the time of the Council of Nice, A. D. 325. The lists of these Bishops are also given by several other early writers, of different countries, so as to render the facts indisputable. We shall consider, in the next chapter, the nature of the Apostolic Succession, and the fact of its continuance to the present day. CHAPTER XXIV. SUCCESSION OF THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND. We propose in this chapter, to consider two points connected with the succession of Bishops in the English Church, which are often confounded. Bishops are said to succeed each other, when they follow in the same See, or Diocese. Consequently, the succession of Bishops in a particular Diocese, is the list of Bishops who have governed that Diocese, and may be called a succession of Episcopal jurisdiction, or government. But it is a very different thing from the Apostolic succession, on which all Episcopal power depends. The difference may be briefly explained thus: When one Bishop ordains another Bishop, he commits to the person ordained, the same Episcopal powers which he himself possesses. Every Bishop, therefore, receives his authority to minister as a Bishop in the Church of CHRIST, at the time of his ordination, or consecration; and he receives it through him who ordained, or consecrated. Hence, if we wish to trace back the authority of the present Bishops, we must go, not in the line of Bishops occupying a particular See, but in the line of their consecrators. The one we shall call the Succession of Episcopal Governors; the other, the Apostolic Succession. Our meaning may be explained by an example. All the colonies were originally attached to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London, and hence each of the Dioceses in this country, where there was an Episcopal Church before the Revolution, would trace the succession of Episcopal Governors back to the Bishops of London. But the Apostolic succession is traced back through the Archbishops of Canterbury, the first Bishops of this country having been consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Or we may trace it through the Archbishops of York, as the Archbishop of York assisted at the consecration of our first Bishops. But we may also trace our Apostolic succession back to the Church of Scotland; for one lawful Bishop is sufficient to confer the Apostolic succession ;* and as there are at least * Doubts have been raised by some Theologians, whether ordinations by one Bishop are valid; but, as seems to us, without sufficient reason. They would be uncanonical, and therefore irregular, but still valid. So held Beveridge, Mason, Hallier, Paludanus, Sylvester, and others. (Pal. Church, P. vi. c. 5.) Others have held the contrary opinion; but this has been practised by the Romish Bishops in Ireland, Scotland, and America. Even Archbishop Caroll, the fountain of Romish Orders in this country, was ordained by only one Bishop, and that one a mere titular Bishop. (Pal. Church, P. vi. c. 11.) And Bishop Chevereux was ordained by Archbishop Caroll alone. AND THE APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION. 287 three Bishops ordinarily engaged in the consecration of a Bishop, we may trace the Apostolic succession through any of the ordaining Bishops. Now Bishop Seabury was consecrated by Robert Kilgour, Arthur Petrie, and John Skinner, Scottish Bishops, November 14, 1784. From him we have received the Apostolic succession, thus: Samuel Seabury assisted in the consecration of Thomas John Claggett, September 17, 1792. Thomas John Claggett assisted in the consecration of Edward Bass, May 7, 1797. Edward Bass assisted in the consecration of Abraham Jarvis, October 18, 1797. Abraham Jarvis assisted in the consecration of John Henry Hobart and Alexander Viets Griswold, May 29, 1811. John Henry Hobart and Alexander Viets Griswold assisted in the consecration of Thomas Church Brownell, October 27, 1819. The Succession of Episcopal Governors in Connecticut, is, During a part of the six and a half years' vacancy, this Diocese was under the provisional supervision of Bishop Hobart, of New York. The Apostolic Succession is, 1. Samuel Seabury. 2. Thomas John Claggett. 3. Edward Bass. 4. Abraham Jarvis. 5. John Henry Hobart. 6. Thomas Church Brownell. There are now living in the United States, twenty Bishops of the Episcopal Church. They trace their succession to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, as follows: To BISHOP WHITE, Who was consecrated by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Feb. 4, 1787 29, Rt. Rev. Alexander Viets Griswold, of Massachusetts, May 1811. Rt. Rev. Philander Chase, Illinois, Feb. 11, 1819. Rt. Rev. Thomas Church Brownell, Connecticut, Oct. 29, 1819. Rt. Rev. Henry Ustick Onderdonk, Pennsylvania, Oct. 25, 1827. Rt. Rev. William Meade, Virginia, Aug. 19, 1829. Rt. Rev. Benjamin Tredwell Onderdonk, New York, Nov. 26, 1830. Rt. Rev. Levi Silliman Ives, North Carolina, Sept. 22, 1831. Rt. Rev. Charles Petit McIlvaine, Ohio, Oct. 31, 1832. 1832. Rt. Rev. James Henry Otey, Tennessee, Jan. 14, 1834. Rt. Rev. Jackson Kemper, Missouri, Sept. 25, 1835. To BISHOP GRISWOLD, Who stands in the preceding list Rt. Rev. William Heathcote Delancy, Western New York, May 9, 1839. Rt. Rev. Christopher Edwards Gadsden, South Carolina, June 21, 1840. Rt. Rev. William Rollinson Whittingham, Maryland, Sept. 17, 1840. Rt. Rev. Alfred Lee, Delaware, Oct. 12, 1841. |