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THE LIBRARY
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THE
CHURCH OF ENGLAND
AND THE
CHURCH OF SWEDEN
REPORT OF THE COMMISSION
APPOINTED BY THE
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
IN PURSUANCE OF RESOLUTION 74 OF THE LAMBETH CONFERENCE
OF 1908 ON THE RELATION OF THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION
TO THE CHURCH OF SWEDEN
WITH THREE APPENDICES
A. R. MOWBRAY & CO. Ltd. London : 28 Margaret Street, Oxford Circus, W
Oxford : g High Street Milwaukee, U.S.A. : The Young Churchman Co.
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THE
CHURCH OF ENGLAND
AND THK
CHURCH OF SWEDEN
THE
CHURCH OF ENGLAND
AND THE
CHURCH OF SWEDEN
REPORT OF THE COMMISSION
APPOINTED BV THE
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
IN PURSUANCE OF RESOLUTION 74 OF THE LAMBETH CONFERENCE
OF 1908 ON THE RELATION OF THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION
TO THE CHURCH OF SWEDEN
WITH THREE APPENDICES
A. R. MOWBRAY & CO. Ltd. London: 28 Margaret Street, Oxford Circus, W
Oxford : 9 High Street Milwaukee, U.S.A. : The Young Churchman Co.
19 J I
CONTENTS OF THE REPORT
Including an acccunt of the Conference held at Upsala on 21—23 September, 1909
PAGE
Introduction 5
First Day's Proceedings, Tuesday, 21st September
I. — Episcopal succession in Sweden and England 7
Second Day's Proceedings, Wednesday, 22nd Sep- tember : —
I. — Episcopal succession (continued) 8
2. — The Diaconate 10
3. — Confirmation 11
4. — Doctrinal force and authority of the " Con-
fessio Augustana invariata " 15
5. — The doctrine of the " Confessio " with regard
to Holy Communion 16
6. — The relation of the Church of Sweden to
Lutheran bodies in other countries 17
7. — Doctrine of the Church of Sweden as to the
holy ministry and the constitution of the
Church 17
Third Day's Proceedings, Thursday, 23rd Septem- ber 20
8. — Forms of ordination in the Church of Sweden 20
9. — Swedish Churches in U.S. A 20
10. — Appointment of Committee 21
Conclusion 21
i:jS5
4 REPORT OF THE COMMISSION.
PAGE
Appendix I.— Sketch of the history of the Swedish
Church by Chancellor E. R. Bernard 25
Appendix II. — Questions which have been raised in regard to the continuity of episcopal succes- sion in Sweden by Arthur James Mason, D.D., with the aid of notes supplied by Domprost Lundstrom 35
Appendix III. — Forms of ordination of priests and consecration of bishops by the Bishop of Salis- bury and the Bishop of Marquette, with the aid of Professor Quensel 42
REPORT OF THE COMMISSION appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in pursuance of resolution 74 of the Lambeth Conference, igo8, to correspond with the Swedish Church throuf^h the Archbishop of Upsala on the possibihties and con- ditions of an alHance between the Swedish and Anglican Churches.
Introduction.
The Commission, which now has the honour to report, was appointed by your Grace in March, 1909, in pur- suance of the following resolution of the Lambeth Con- ference of 1908 : —
" 74. This Conference heartily thanks the Archbishop of Upsala for his letter of friendly greeting, and for sending his honoured colleague, the Bishop of Kalmar, to confer with its members on the question of the establishment of an alliance of some sort between the Swedish and Anglican Churches. The Conference respectfully desires the Archbishop of Canterbury to appoint a Commission to correspond further with the Swedish Church through the Archbishop of Upsala on the possibility and conditions of such an alliance."
All the members of the Commission, with the exception of the Bishop of London,^ proceeded to Sweden in Sep- tember, 1909, on the invitation of the Archbishop of Upsala (Dr. Johan August Ekman) for the purpose of holding a Conference with representatives of the Church of Sweden. Those members who first arrived w^ere received on September i8th by his Majesty the King of Sweden, who expressed a gracious interest in the object of their visit.
^The Bishop of Winchester (Dr. Herbert Ryle), Chairman; the Bishop of Salisbury (Dr. John Wordsworth); the Bishop of Marquette, U.S.A. (I'^r. G. IMott Williams); Dr. A. J. Mason, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, l\Iaster of Pembroke College and Canon of Canterbury; and Rev. Edward Russell Bernard, Canon and Chancellor of Salisbury Cathedral.
6 RErORT OK THE COMMISSION.
The Commissioners then proceeded to Upsala, where thev were warmly and hospitably welcomed. The church of the Holv Trinity was put at the disposal of the Bishop of Winchester for celebration of Holy Communion on St. Matthew's Day.
The Conference sat on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thurs- day, September 21st, 22nd and 23rd, in the Chapter House, under the presidency of the Archbishop of Upsala. The vSwedish members of the Conference were the following : —
The Archbishop of Upsala (Dr. Johan August
Ekman). The Bishop of Kalmar (Dr. Henry William Tottie). The Provost of Upsala Cathedral and Professor of Church History (Dr. Anders Herman Lundstrom). The Professor of Exegetics (Dr. Erik Eriksson Stave). The Professor of Practical Theology (Dr. Johan
Oscar Quensel). The Professor of Comparative Religion (Dr. Nathan
Soderblom). The Professor of Exegetical Theology (Dr. Johan
Adolf Kolmodin). The Professor of Dogmatic and Moral Theology (Rev. Einar Magnus Billing). All the above are members of the Chapter. Dr. Waldemar Rudin (Member of ^
the Swedish Academy), Dr. Johan Erik Berggren (ex-Dom
Prost), Dr. Carl R. Martin, Harald Hjarne, D.Litt., LL.D., Professor of History in the University of Upsala, Member of the Swedish Academy.
Formerly Professors >• and Members of the Chapter.
I.— EPISCOPAL SUCCESSION IN BOTH COUNTRIES.
First Day's Proceedings, Tuesday, 2ist September.
Prayers were said by the archbishop, who welcomed our presence, and explained that he had invited all the bishops of the Swedish Church ^ to attend, and also all the present and former members of the Chapter of Upsala, and Pro- fessor Harald Hjiirne, the well-known historian, a layman and member of the Swedish Academy.
Your Grace's letter to the Archbishop of Upsala was read and cordially welcomed. The following were the subjects discussed : —
I. — Episcopal Succession in both countries.
The Bishop of Winchester opened the proceedings on our part by suggesting that the subject for the day's dis- cussion should be the episcopal succession in both coun- tries and the validity of the orders of the two Churches.
The Bishop of Kalmar wished at this stage to ask what was the ultimate aim of the conference. He presumed that it might be held to be full and permanent inter-com- munion necessitate premente. He held that there was no difficulty as to the first three articles of the Lambeth "quadrilateral" (Resolution XI. of 1888). The fourth (" the Historic Episcopate ") would be a question for dis- cussion. He desired that inter-communion should eventually be regarded not merely as a matter of comity, but as a right that might be claimed.
The Bishop of Winchester gave a general assent on our part as to the ultimate aim of the conference, and we then proceeded to discuss the question of episcopal succession.
Dr. Lundstrom presented a report on the Swedish episcopate, in which he dealt with its nature and character as shown in historical documents, and called attention to some debateable points. We have endeavoured to sum- marize in Appendix H. the information given by him
'^Six of the bishops unable to attend sent telegrams of greet- ing, to which our Chairman made suitable replies.
8 REPORT OF THE COMMISSION.
under both these heads, together with material which we have ourselves collected.
Dr. Lundstrom is evidently in full possession of all the available historical information as to the links in the suc- cession of bishops in Sweden, and we were much impressed both by his knowledge and by his candour. He evidently wished to state all the objections that might be raised. His attitude and that of the other members of the con- ference showed unmistakably that the Swedish theologians regard the matter as one of great historical importance.
A statement of the doctrine of the Swedish Church as to Church organization generally will be found in our account of the proceedings of the second day of the Conference (Section 7, pp. 17-19).
The rest of the session of the first day was occupied in the discussion of objections raised to the validity of Anglican Orders. The questions raised concerned the consecration of Bishop Barlow and Archbishop Parker, and the intention of the Anglican Church as judged by its forms of ordination. The Bishop of Salisbury stated our position as simply as possible in the terms of the reply of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to the Bull of Leo Xni. (1896— 1897).
Finally, we were asked to explain : (i) The Royal Declaration prefixed to the Thirty-nine Articles; (2) Bishop Barlow's opinion as to the power of the King in making bishops ; and the form used in his own consecration ; (3) how far canonical election of bishops is a reality among us ; (4) what is the history of the title Supreme Head or Governor of the Church?
The answer on our part to these questions was reserved till the following day, when it was given in writing.
Second Day, Wednesday, 22ND September.
The following answers were given to the questions asked on the previ(nis day : —
As to (i) we replied that the assent to the Thirty-nine
I.— EPISCOPAL SUCCESSION IN BOTH COUNTRIES. 9
Articles required of those who subscribe to them does not extend to the declaration prefixed to them, which has only the authority of the Sovereign in whose name it was issued.
As to (2) we replied (a) that Barlow's personal opinion was not a matter of importance ; (b) that the words attri- buted to him imply that he considered himself to be a true bishop; (c) that he is known to have signed a document at a later date which described the effects of the " sacra- ment of order" in a perfectly orthodox manner as being "to make a man a fit minister " ; (d) as regards Barlow's consecration, it was undoubtedly with the old rite, being in 1536, in the reign of Henry VIII., when no change had been made in the pontifical.
(3) With regard to the third question as to the method of appointment of bishops in the Anglican Communion, we drew a distinction between the method existing in the Church of England (proper) and in other parts of the Com- munion. We pointed out that although the method of election outside England was theoretically better, it had distinct practical disadvantages; that the method prevail- ing in England was very ancient, having practically come down to us from the time of Henry I.; that the appoint- ment by letters patent in the case of newly-founded sees, where no chapter exists, is less satisfactory. In all cases, however, there are two safeguards: First, the willingness of the archbishop to conduct the consecration ; and, secondly, the necessity of finding at least two other bishops to join him in the act. No instance of consecra- tion by one bishop alone is known in English history, unless, perhaps, in the first consecrations performed by S. Augustine. The appointment is not of that of the Prime Minister, but of the Sovereign, who is finally responsible.
(4) The claim of Henry VIII. to use the title " Supreme Head in Earth of the Church of England " was an usur- pation on his part which gave great offence. As accepted by our Convocation it was tempered by the addition of the words "quantum per legem Christi licet." The
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Church is not responsible for the action of Parliament in leaving out this limitation in the Supremacy Act of 1534. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth the title "Supreme Head" was dropped, and that of "Supreme Governor" took its place, but only by royal authority. Since that time the dangerous prerogatives of the Crown have been (as in 16S8) partly curtailed, and have partly become obsolete. What binds us is the definition of the royal supremacy in Article XXXVII. of our " Articles of Religion,"
Other questions as to the consecration of Barlow and Parker were raised and answered.
2. — The Diacoxate.
The next subject taken up was that of the Diaconate and its disuse in Sweden.
On the Swedish side it was stated that, according to the Confessio Augustana, Art. VII., it was not necessary that all Churches should have the same organization. There is, however, a kind of diaconate, which is in process of development. The matter has been before the Kyrko- mote, which applied to the Crown in 1908 for official rules for deacons and deaconesses. Such deacons have been admitted by laying on of hands, but have not been licensed to preach or baptize.
The " candidati " for the ministry also, to some extent, take the place of deacons. They can be licensed to preach.
It was mentioned by Dr. Lundstrom that it appears from the Chapter Registers of Vesteras in the seventeenth cen- tury that Bishop Johannes Rudbeckius (1619 — 1646) was in the habit of ordaining men deacons first and priests afterwards.
We have since found a passage in Whitelocke's Swedish Ambassy, describing a conversation between himself and Archbishop Len^eus on 7th February, 1653, in which the archbishop asserted that this practice was usual in Sweden at about the time above mentioned. " When one is presented for that calling (of minister) if he
2.— THE DIACONATE. 3.— CONFIRMATION. 11
is found in learninj:^ and abilities fit for it, the bishop doth first ordain him to be a deacon, and in that ollTice he makes trial of his gifts for preaching, and so continues until he be admitted to a benefice, and upon such admission he is made a priest " (Swedish Ambassy, Vol. i., p. 415, ed. 1772).
With regard to the restoration of the Diaconate as a " gradus " of ascent to the priesthood, an opinion was ex- pressed that it might not be in strict accord with Art. V. of the Confessio Aiigustana, which appears to contem- plate only one ministry of "teaching the Gospel and ministering the Sacraments." The diaconate is rather re- garded as a separate office, occupied with the care of the sick and the poor. We may, however, observe that Art. VII. of the Apologia Confessionis, which is accepted by the Swedish Church as an explanation of the Confessio Augustana, contains the following passage : " Saspe testati sumus nos summa voluntate cupere con- servare politiam ecclesiasticam et gradus in ecclesia, facto s etiam humana auctoritate. Scimus enim bono et utili consilio a patribus ecclesiasticam disciplinam hoc modo, ut veteres canones describunt, constitutam esse." This applies in the first instance to the episcopate, but obviously it is equally applicable to the diaconate.
3 . — Confirmation .
We were informed that a form of service for the admis- sion of the young to first communion was introduced into the Handbook in 1811. This service is known popularly and officially by the name of confirmation, though that title only appears in a footnote in the present book. Such a service had previously been in use by episcopal authority in many dioceses.
The present service begins with an examination in the three parts of the Apostles Creed, followed by the Ques- tion : " W^ill you through God's grace show forth this faith in your lives, and so walk worthily of Christ's Gospel in love to God and to your neighbours?" Ansivcr : " Yes."
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Then follows : " Will you, therefore, with God's help, with watchfulness and prayer, apply yourselves to God's Word and seek your Saviour in His Holy Supper?" Answer: " Yes." Then follows a short address, and then the Blessing: " May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ give you, according to the riches of His glory, that ye may be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, and be filled with all the fulness of God! Amen." After this follows the Lord's Prayer, the priest kneeling towards the children. Then the priest stands up and says a striking and appropriate prayer, with the congregation, for the children, that God may perfect the good work He has begun in them. "They are weak: strengthen them with Thy power. They must walk through a dangerous world: protect them with Thy might. Temptations must meet them ; strengthen them to fight and to conquer. Give them the grace of Thy Holy Spirit for a blessed partaking of Thy Holy Supper. Help them in word and life to confess Thy name bravely before the world, at all times to watch and pray, and, together with all Thy faithful, trustfully to await the coming of Thy dear Son, and, finally, with Him, enjoy eternal life. Amen." Then follows a final blessing.
We explained our attitude on this matter first as one of regret that the Apostolic usage of laying on of hands was not at the present day prescribed in Sweden (although it is retained in Denmark), and that the bishops were not brought, as ordinary ministers of the rite, into contact with successive generations of young people as they are amongst ourselves.
The Bishop of Marquette stated that the Augustana Churches in U.S.A. had sometimes used our English form of blessing in Confirmation, and also the act of laying on of hands.^ This English form and act of blessing is known
3 In the Kyrko-Handhok for Augustana-Synoden, Aiitagen 1895, Rock Island, Illinois, the service is very like the Swedish. It has an extra question : — " Will you also avoid all false teachers, and truly hold you fast to God's Word, according to our Evangelical Lutheran confession of faith ? " Laying on of hands is not pre-
3.— CONFIRMATION. 13
to have been used in Sweden itself by Johannes Matthiae, Bishop of Strengnas (1643 — 1664).'' The Bishop of Marquette added that Swedes sometimes come to him and say that they have been confirmed by a bishop with laying on of hands.
It appeared from further statements and replies that there had been and still is some disposition in the Swedish Church to revise the existing form, and to bring it into closer accordance with that which was adopted by the Swedish Church in 1575, and with that which is in use in Denmark. The Bishop of Kalmar, who spoke with con- siderable sympathy, thought that it was possible that the benedictory aspect of the present form would be made more explicit both by word and gesture. It was evident, how- ever, that any attempt on our part to press the imposition of hands as a condition of inter-communion would be inop- portune. Our opinion is that, if there is no movement as yet in favour of the imposition of hands among the Swedes,
scribed but permitted, after the congregational prayer above quoted, to be accompanied with a suitable Bible sentence, e.g., the Apostolic blessing. But there is an English appendix to the Kyrko-Handhok fur Sw. Ev.-Luth. Kyrkan i America (Chicago, The Engberg-Hohnberg Publishing Co., 1893), which contains a somewhat different form, which seems also to have been freely used at least up till 1894. It may be found on pages 260-3. The questions are somewhat different and simpler, laying on of hands on the head of each one severally is prescribed, and the two following blessings are given as alternatives : " Defend, O Lord, this Thy servant," etc., as in our Prayer Book, or "The Father of mercies, ever multiply unto you His grace and peace, enable you truly and faithfully to keep your vows, defend you in every time of danger, preserve you faithful unto the end, and bring you to rest with all His saints in glory everlasting"; or, as in the preceding order for the baptism of adults, where several blessings are given, pp. 256 foil.
< See F. N. Ekdahl Om Con/irmattonen, p. 103: "After that the bishop or his deputy shall let the children kneel down, lay hands upon each and every child, and thereupon say : ' That they may for ever continue and daily increase in Thy Holy Spirit until they come to Thine Everlasting Kingdom. Amen.' "
2
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it might be awakened by diflfusion of information on the history of the subject in their own Church.
We were also informed that it is a common practice for the priest to lay hands on the heads of children when they come to their first communion. The authority to confirm is also (frequently or generally) explicitly given to priests in their letters of orders (prestbref) handed to them at their ordination as part of the ceremony.^
It is important for our present purpose to observe that in 1837 Bishop Wing^rd of Goteborg, at the request of Bishop Blomfield, obtained permission from King Karl XIV. to confirm with the Swedish ritual the children of members of the Church of England resident in Sweden. And the royal letter gave the bishop express permission to use in the service " the laying on of hands considered essential in England." We are indebted for this fact to an article by Rev. G. C. Richards in the Church Quarterly Revieiv, Vol. 70, pp. 270-1, for July, 1910, where the letter is given in full, as it is also in H. M. Mason's translation of Anjou's Reformation in Sweden, pp. 641 foil.
In any future discussion of this matter we should call at- tention to the passage in the Kyrko-ordning of 1571 (fol. 77 b = Kyrko-ordningar fore 1686, I., p. 150, 1872), which has apparently been generally overlooked. In it, Arch- bishop Laurentius Petri rejects the use of oil in confirma- tion as superstitious, but says that " when a visitation takes place, bishops may have preaching and public prayers in the churches, especially for the young, that God will strengthen them in the articles which were promised in their baptism, and afterwards do what is aforesaid." These last words imply some further action on the part of the bishops. In his little book On Ordinances and Ceremonies, published in the year 1567, fol. 19, Laurentius Petri mentions the practice of laying on of hands upon the baptized as one of those rightly received by the Church,
5 Cp. the Bishop of Marquette's The Church of Sweden and the Anr^lican ('ommiinion, pp. So-i. Milwaukee and London (Mowbray and Co.), 1910.
3.— CONFIRMATION. 4.— " CONFESSIO AUGUSTANA." 13
like the canon of Scripture, baptism of infants, and the distinction of orders. In the Kyrko-ordning of 1571, fol. 28 = pp. 66, 67, he also describes the absolution of children with laying on of hands after their first confes- sion. It is clear, therefore, that the authority of the first groat archbishop of the Reformed Church of Sweden is in favour of this practice.
The form introduced by the Nova Ordinantia of 1575 had in it nothing whatever that could be called super- stitious, and it continued to be used for a long time after- wards, though it ceased to be compulsory in 1593. It was used word for word by Olof Laurelius, Bishop of VesterJls (1647 — 1670). Similar forms were used by Johannes Matthiai of Strengnas (1643 — 1664), Jesper Svedberg of vSkara (1702 — 1735), Kngelbert Halenius, in the same diocese (1753 — 1767), Jacob Serenius of Strengnas (1763 — 1777), Henric Benzelius of Lund (1740 — 1747) and Upsala (1747 — 1758). In all these cases we believe that laying on of hands was prescribed, and in most of them that the minister was to be the bishop at his visitation or his deputy. It was clearl}', as in England, considered to be part of the work of visitation.
4. — DOCTRIN'AL FORCE AND AUTHORITY OF THE " CONFESSIO AUGUSTANA " IN THE ChURCH OF SWEDEN.
The Church law of 1686, which is at present in force, opens with the following sentence: ** In our kingdom and the lands which are subject to it, all shall individually and collectively confess the Christian doctrine and faith which are founded (grundad) in God's Holy Word, the prophetic and Apostolic Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, and set out (forfattad) in the three chief creeds, the Apostolic, the Nicene, and the Athanasian, and likewise in the unaltered Augsburg Confession of the year 1530, accepted in the Council of Upsala (Upsala Concilio) in 1593, and explained (forklarad) in the whole so-called Book of Concord; and all who in the teaching profession enter
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any office in churches, academies, or schools, must, at their appointment, bind themselves to mat doctrine and confession of faith."
We inquired on whom these standards are binding, and whether any latitude was allowed in the interpretation of them. We were informed that they are generally con- sidered to be formally binding on the clergy only. The question in the ordination of priests now is: " Will you, according to your best understanding and conscience, purely and clearly preach God's Word as it is given to us in Holy Scripture and as our Church's confessional books witness concerning the same?" It was explained that the words "according to your best understanding and con- science " w^ere introduced in 1904 by way of expressing more clearly the evangelical conception of adherence to the Symbola of the Church.
We were also informed that the primary standard was the '* Confessio Invariata," and that the other parts of the Book of Concord were considered as having only a secondary and explanatory force. Emphasis w'as laid on the distinction between " grundad," " forfattad " and " forklarad " in the section of the Church law just quoted.
5. — The doctrixe of the Coxfessio with regard to THE Holy Communion.
The question was asked whether, in view of Art. X., Dc Ccena Domini, of the "Confessio Invariata,"* any objection would be felt to the words of distribution in our English liturgy, which, though in harmony with the terms of Art. X., are held by some to admit of more than one interpretation? It was replied that this comprehen- siveness of the English liturgy might be regarded in many
e The article is as follows : " De Coena Domini docent, quod Corpus et Sanguis Christi vcre adsint et distribuantur vescenti- bus in Ca-na Domini, et improbant secus docentes."
6.— LUTHERAN RELATIONS. 7.-THE HOLY MINISTRY. 17
quarters, though not universally, as an advantage rather than otherwise.
On being asked what in their opinion constituted the consecration of the elements, the Bishop of Kalmar re- plied : " The words of institution. The priest at that point of the service turns to the altar, implying that the words are not to be regarded as a lection to the people, but as addressed to God." He said that the Lutheran doctrine was that the presence of Christ with the sacrament takes effect in the distribution and sumption of the sacrament.
6.— The relation of the Church in Sweden to Lutheran bodies in other countries.
It was ascertained that there is full inter-communion between the Church of Sweden and other Churches which accept the Confessio Augustana, including admission to Holy Communion and interchange of pulpits. There is how- ever, no actual case of a clergyman ordained elsewhere holding a benefice in Sweden. The Church Law, Chapter XIX., § I, is as follows: "No one may enter upon the priesthood who is not regularly and lawfully called and chosen, and, by his bishop, found suitable, approved, and ordained." The practice seems to be to allow a man ordained by royal permission, or in the Augustana Synod in U.S.A., to be a com-minister or a chaplain, but not a kyrko-herde or incumbent.
At this point the following statement was put forward by the Swedish members of the Conference as representing the teaching of the Church of Sweden with regard to ecclesiastical organization.
7.— Doctrine of the Church of Sweden as to the holy
MINISTRY AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE ChURCH.
" We w^ould try to concentrate the doctrine of our Church, as to the holy ministry and the constitution of the Church of Christ, in the following six paragraphs : —
"(i) The seventh article of the Confessio Augustana,
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after having indicated as the two attributes constitutive of a Christian Church ' evangelium recte docetur et recte administrantur sacramenta,' expressly adds: 'Nee necesse est ubique esse similes traditiones humanas, seu ritus aut ceremonias ab hominibus institutes' (Cp. Articles of Religion XXXIV.: It is not necessary that traditions and ceremonies be in all places one or utterly like, etc.). It is necessarily required that there should be an organization. The quod is necessary, but not the quomodo.
" (2) Differences in the liturgical arrangements, in the constitution of the Church, episcopal or presbyterian, etc., and in the organization of the holy ministry, need not ruin * veram unitatem ecclesiae ' ;
" (3) No particular organization of the Church and of its ministry is instituted jure divino, not even the order and discipline and state of things recorded in the New Testament, because the Holy vScriptures, the norma nor- mans of the faith of the Church, are no law, but vin- dicate for the New Covenant the great principle of Christian freedom, unweariedly asserted by St. Paul against every form of legal religion, and applied with fresh strength and clearness by Luther, but instituted by our Saviour Himself, as for instance when, in taking farewell of His disciples. He did not regulate their future work by a priori rules and institutions, but directed them to the guidance of the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost.
" (4) The object of any organization and of the whole ministry being included in the preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the sacraments — according to the fifth article of the Augustana, God has instituted ' ministerium docendi evangelii et porrigendi sacramenta * — our Church cannot recognize any essential difference, de jure divino, of aim and authority between the two or three orders into which the ministry of grace may have been divided, jure humano, for the benefit and convenience of the Church.
" (5) The value of every organization of the * ministerium
7-— THE HOLY MINISTRY AND CONSTITUTION. 19
ecclesiasticum,' and of the Church in general, is only to be judged by its fitness and ability to become a pure vessel for the supernatural contents, and a perfect channel for the way of Divine Revelation unto mankind.
•• (6) That doctrine in no wise makes our Church indif- ferent to the organization and the forms of ministry which the cravings and experiences of the Christian community have produced under the guidance of the Spirit in the course of history. We do not only regard the peculiar forms and traditions of our Church with the reverence due to a venerable legacy from the past, but we realize in them a blessing from the God of history accorded to us."
In illustration of the preceding statement we may quote a passage from the Kyrko-handbok of Archbishop Laurentius Petri Nericius, published in 1571, and officially adopted in 1572, and again by the Upsala Mote of 1593, on the office of a bishop :—" Since this ordinance was very useful and without doubt proceeded from God the Holy Ghost (who gives all good gifts), so it was generally approved and accepted over the whole of Christendom, and has since so remained, and must remain in the future, so long as this world lasts, although the abuse, which has been very great in this as in all other useful and necessary things, must be set aside." ..." So now must a bishop have oversight over all that are under his government, especially the clergy, that they may rightly and duly set forth God's Word among the common men, rightly administer the Sacraments, preach and hear the catechism at the proper season, hear confession when it is proper, exhort and bring the people to common prayers, visit and console the sick, bury the dead, and faithfully and diligently perform all else that the ministry of the Church and the priestly office justly demands." ..." It belongs also to the bishop's office that he, in his diocese, shall ordain and govern with priests, and whatsoever else is required, as S. Paul writes to his disciple Titus, whom he had sent as such an overseer to Crete : * For this cause (says he) left I thee in Crete, that thou mightest provide for what is
ao REPORT OF THE COMMISSION.
lacking, and occupy the cities there with priests, etc' And for these reasons a bishop was called ordinarius or ordinator, which means in Swedish a sender or ordainer. Regarding this matter of taking order with priests, S. Paul writes to Timothy: ' Lay hands suddenly on no man ' " (/v. O. of 1 57 1, fols. 75 and 76).
This will explain what the Swedish theologians mean by jure humano, i.e., something which is not directly ordered by our Lord, but prescribed by the Church, in accordance with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It will show also what is the intention of their Church not only as to the ofBce of bishop, but also as to that of priest.
Third Day's Proceedings, Thursday, 23RD September.
8.— Forms of consecration and ordination in the Church of Sweden.
The Bishop of Salisbury drew the attention of the Con- ference to the subject of the forms of ordination of priests and consecration of bishops used by the Church of Sweden as one on which it was necessary to have more exact information. It was agreed that he and Professor Quen- sel should sit together after the conference was over and go into the subject. It has also been treated at some length by one of our number, the Bishop of Marquette, in his Church of Sweden and the Anglican Communion, 1910. Their joint conclusions will be found below in Appendix III., pp. 42-50.
9.— Swedish Churches in U.S.A.
Information was given on both sides as to the condition of the very large number of Swedes in the U.S.A., esti- mated at about 1,500,000. These are divided into many different religious organizations, of which the most important, by far, is the Augustana Synod, which is looked upon as the daughter Church of the Church of
8— lo. THIRD DAYS' PROCEEDINGS. CONCLUSION. 21
Sweden. The first meeting of this body took place in Chicago, June 5th, i860. It numbers now more than a quarter of a million adherents. The organization com- prises eight districts, superintended by presidents ap- pointed for a term of years. Though closely connected by feeling and history with the Mother Church, which commends emigrants to it, the Augustana Synod is wholly independent, and its future must lie in its own hands. It is obvious that the relations between this body and the Anglican Communion must be worked out chiefly in the U.S., and we make no suggestions with regard to it.
lo. — Appointment of Committee.
At our request the Archbishop of Upsala consented to appoint a small committee to act with him for the purpose of continuing, if necessary, the discussions initiated at the Conference. The names of the representatives, as supplied by the Archbishop, in December, 1909, were as follows : —
Archbishop of Upsala (Dr J. A. Ekman).
Bishop of Linkoping (Dr. Otto Ahnfelt).
Bishop of Kalmar (Dr. H. W. Tottie).
Dean of Upsala (Dr. A. H. Lundstrom).
Professor Dr. N. Soderblom. The lamented death of Bishop Ahnfelt having left a vacancy, his place has been filled by the appointment of the Bishop of Lund (Dr. Gottfrid Billing).
Conclusion.
Your Grace will perceive that the matters which we have considered are of great importance, and some complexity, inasmuch as they involve not only our relations with the National Church of Sweden, but may, through them, bring us into relations with other bodies holding the same confession.
In approaching the main question committed to our con- sideration, it seems to us right to put forward the para- mount duty of holding communion with all other Christians
2a RETORT OF THE COMMISSION.
wherever it is possible and not clearly wrong to do so. Here we have an opportunity for such communion wdth a Church which is the most like our own in history and organization of any in Europe. It is also a Church which has been connected with our own by a number of instances of intimate fellowship in the past. This fellowship was particularly manifested in the relations between the Churches in the time of Bishop Henry Compton, of Lon- don (1675 — 17 13), and Bishop Jesper Svedberg, of Skara (1702 — 1735). The latter had the oversight both of the Swedish congregation in London and of those on the Delaware River in U.S.A. Interchange of ministries in the latter region were frequent, and the two Churches treated one another as sister Churches, We have already referred to the action of Bishop Blomfield, of London, in 1837 (p. 14). Even closer relations were established between Bishop H. J. Whitehouse, of Illinois (1851 — 1875) and Archbishop Reuterdahl, of Upsala (1856 — 1870), which included the acceptance of a clergyman in Swedish orders (Mr. Jakob Bredberg) to a Rectory at Chicago. This step was taken by Bishop Whitehouse after consulta- tion with his brother bishops, and it was ratified by his successor, Bishop W. E. McLaren. Permission to preach has also been given from time to* time to other Swedish clergy in U.S.A., e.g., to Professor Mellin, of the General Seminary, New York.
A general idea of the great interest attaching to the his- tory of the Church of Sweden, and of its likeness to our own, and of the valuable services which it has rendered and may render to Christendom, may be gathered from Chancellor Bernard's sketch contained in Appendix L,
PP- 25-34-
\\'ith regard to the matters more specially treated in Appendices II. and III., we are convinced by the evidence which has been before us:
(i) That the succession of bishops has been maintained unbroken by the Church of Sweden, and that it has a true conception of the episcopal office, though it does not as a
CONCLUSION. 21
whole consider the office to be so important as most Hnglish Churchmen do;
(2) That the office of priest is also rightly conceived as a divinely instituted instrument for the ministry of the Word and Sacraments, and that it has been in intention handed on throughout the whole history of the Church of Sweden. The change in language introduced in 181 1, which con- tinued in use until 1894, does not appear to us to have vitiated the intention, when regard is paid to other docu- ments which remained in authority and throughout testi- fied to that intention. For example, this intention is manifested in the Augustana Confessio, Articles V. and VII., and elsewhere, both in the Prayer Book itself and in the Church Law.
We are, therefore, agreed to recommend that a resolu- tion should be proposed, either to the next Lambeth Con- ference or to a meeting of the English bishops, similar to that which was adopted by the Lambeth Conference of 1888 in reference to the Old Catholics of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, under which members of the National Church of Sweden, otherwise qualified to receive the Sacrament in their own Church, might be admitted to Holy Communion in ours.
As regards facilities for the use of churches for mar- riages, burials and the like, where Swedish churches are not available, we believe that concession on this head is within the competence of any diocesan bishop, and we trust that such facilities may be generally granted. We also believe that permission might with advantage occa- sionally be given to Sw^edish ecclesiastics to give addresses in our churches. We believe that such permission would be valued.
Further, we suggest that notice should be sent to the Archbishop of Upsala of important events or appointments within the Church of England, and that we should welcome similar information on his part.
Your Grace will observe that our recommendation is limited in its scope. We do not think it part of our duty
24 REPORT OF THE COMMISSION.
to suggest what action the Swedish Church should be ex- pected to take in response to it. If what we propose is adopted by the authorities of the Church of England it will be sufficient practical expression at this moment of our own good wall. We trust, however, that the step which we propose may lead on to fuller and more constant inter- course between ourselves and our Swedish brethren. We trust that it may eventually, if God will, lead to inter- communion in that fuller sense defined by the Bishop of Kalmar at the opening of our conference.
HERBERT E. WINTON,
JOHN SARUM,
G. \lOTT WILLIAMS,
Bishop of Marquette,
A.J.MASON,
E. R. BERNARD.
Feast of the Conversion of S. Paul. 25th January, 191 1.
25
APPENDIX I.
SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE SWEDISH
CHURCH.
(By Chancellor E. R. Bernard).
For the purposes of this report the period of the Reformation and the subsequent development of the Swedish Church are the matters of real importance. It will, therefore, only be necessary to deal with the origin of Christianity in Sweden and the Roman period just so far as they have an evident hearing on the later history. Such importance may properly be attached to the share which English missionaries had in the conversion of West Gothland, an early home of the faith in Sweden, and the baptism of Olof Skotkonung at Husaby by the Englishman Sigfrid or Sigurd in icoS a.d. Just as in England the relative importance of the Roman and the Celtic missions has been a matter of debate, so it may fairly be urged that the Roman mis- sions begun by Anskar, and continued under the direction of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen, did little more than prepare the ground for the work of the English priests. To this day Sweden looks on England as a mother rather than as a sister Church. The result was a period of practical independence of Rome, which was not closed till the Synod of Linkoping, 1 152 A.D., which was summoned to meet the papal legate, the Englishman, Nicholas Breakspeare, afterwards pope under the title of Adrian IV. This, the first Swedish Synod, consented to the payment of Peter's-pence as an acknowledgment of the papal supremacy, a tribute which had already been submitted to in England for two hundred and fifty years. There can hardly be said to have been any real organization in the Swedish Church before this Synod. If it brought dependence on Rome, it was welcomed as also bringing independence in regard to Hamburg, and was undoubtedly a real step in advance, not unlike in its effects to the Synod of Whitby. The point to notice is that the period of submission to Rome and close relations with the pope was incomparably shorter in Sweden than in England. The date of Whitby, 664 a.d., has to be compared with that of Lin- koping, 1 1 52 A.D. Another important analogy between England and Sweden deserves notice. The part played by the English Church in bringing about national unity has of late been the
a6 APPEXDIX I.
theme of historians. Mr. Patterson, speaking of the work of Theodore, says : " It is unquestionable that the unifying of the Church prepared the way for the unifying of the State. Eng- lishmen were members of the one Church before they were members of the one State." So Holmquist writes of Sweden during this period, " Political institutions were only in germ, the most important organization of the land was the ecclesias- tical province. The judicial institutions and the fully developed organization of the Catholic Church were to become the types of the newlv developed State" (Holmquist: Schiveden in Hauck's P.r'.E., ed. 3, Vol. XVHI., p. 21).
From this time forward the history of the Swedish Church is so closely interwoven with the political history of the country that it is impossible to treat it without such an explanation of the political conditions as cannot be attempted here. It can only be said that between the years 1300 and 1520 a.d. the prelates possessed great wealth, power and influence, and allied them- selves with the nobility who were at that time obtaining privi- leges and accumulating strength. The union with Denmark went on through the fifteenth century, but with considerable interruptions, and the real power was in the hands of the nobles and not of the kings. The prelates were for the most part in the Danish interest, and when Christian II. of Denmark, after defeating Sten Sture the younger, and crushing all resistance, came to Stockholm to be crowned in 1520, he employed his ally. Archbishop Gustavus Trolle, to demand the holding of an ecclesiastical court which condemned to death as heretics the leaders of the national party, nominally on the ground that they had dethroned and imprisoned the archbishop as a traitor. Eighty-two persons suffered in the *' Stockholm blood-bath," and among them two bishops, a proof that the national movement against the Union was not unrepresented in the Church.
But Gustaf Vasa, when he came to power, looked back on the Danish intrigues of the prelates and their opposition to Sten Sture. He saw the danger to his throne from their exces- sive power, and was convinced that to obtain peace in the land their might must be broken. There was besides the exhausted treasury, with its debt to Liibeck, which the plunder of the Church would relieve. Such were the motives which disposed him to listen to the teaching of the reformers whom he first met at his coronation at Strengnas, though it would be unfair to say that he did not ultimately embrace that teaching with full con- viction of its truth.
Though it cannot be said that there was any national move- ment of dissatisfaction with the old faith and the old ritual, yet
SKETCH OF THE HISTORY. 37
the Reformation was native in its origin. Olaus Petri, its leader, his brother Laurentius Petri, the wise Archbishop, and Laurentius Andreae, were all Swedes, and their purpose was not to establish a foreign form of religion to be called Lutheranism, but to reform their own national Church. The impulse had come from W^ittenberg where Olaus had studied, but it was not till seventy years later, when all the important changes had been made, that a Lutheran standard of doctrine, the Augsburg Confession, was adopted at the Upsala Mote, 1593.
A brief sketch must be given of the measures by which Gustaf \'asa carried out 'his policy of reducing the political power of the Church and clearing the field for the work of the religious reformers. The parliament of VesterAs, after some resistance, yielded to the king; and assented, first to the so- called " Recess," by which the episcopal and other ecclesiasti- cal revenues were largely reduced, and the bishops were deprived of their castles and the estates surrounding them. All lands which had come into ecclesiastical hands since 1494 were restored to their previous owners. The other, simultane- ous measure known as " Ordinantia " dealt with details, both as to Church revenues and administration generally. It was not till two years later that a Synod, not a parliament, met at Orebro to further reformation in doctrine and ritual. Its directions were cautious and tentative. It sought to explain median'al usages rather than to abolish them, and was guided, as Cornelius says, by Gustaf Vasa's often repeated principle of instructing first, and reforming afterwards. The next years produced Olaus Petri's Kyrko-Handbok, the first order of ser- vice in the vulgar tongue, and in 153 1 Olaus published his Swedish Mass, which, however, with wise forbearance was not ordered for universal use. It was not printed in one volume with the Kyrko-Haudhok till 1614. The character of these books and their influence on subsequent practice will appear elsewhere in this report. The next important step was the consecration of Laurentius Petri (brother of Olaus) as Arch- bishop in 1 53 1. By 1536 all the bishops were of the re- forming party. The later years of the great king's reign fell under the sinister influence of Peutinger and George Norman, who sought to conform the Swedish Church to the pattern of German Lutheranism. The policy which they promoted tended to transfer all decisive authority in the government of the Church from the hands of the bishops to those of the king and certain trusted officials of his choice. The king was thus alienated from the leaders of the Reformation who had enjoyed his confidence. Both the foremost men of the original move- ment, Olaus Petri and Laurentius Andreae, were tried and con-
28 APPENDIX I.
demned to death on the charge of concealing their knowledge of a conspiracy, and barely escaped with their lives. The king refused to give the bishops their proper title, and would have them called ordinaries or superintendents. But Archbishop Laurentius Petri lived through these perilous times, and with Bothvid Suneson of Strengnas preserved the historic episcopate. A second parliament at \esteras in 1544 forbade the retention of the mediaeval usages tolerated by the Synod of Orebro, such as invocation of saints, holy water, and masses for souls. It also made the crown hereditary in the Vasa line. This prohibi- tion may be regarded as the final act of breach with the mediaeval system, though as yet no standard of reformed doc- trine had been formulated, nor any Church law to take the place of Canon law, and of appeals to the pope.
The next thirty-three years between the death of Gustaf Vasa in 1560 and the Upsala Mote in 1593 were also a period of imminent danger for the Swedish Church. First under Erik XIV. Calvinism, which was favoured by the king, sought to obtain a footing, but failed. Then came the efforts of Romanism to recover its lost ground under John III., who desired to bring about a reunion of all the Churches on the basis of primitive doctrine and usage, but was never (as was formerly asserted) received into the Roman Church. His successor, Sigismund, lost his crown in the attempt to bring back Sweden to the Roman obedience. Lastly, Karl IX., who saved his country from Sigismund's attempt, and took his place on the throne of Sweden, was much more of a Calvinist than a Lutheran, and the danger from that quarter to doctrine and Church order was serious and persistent.
Such was the course of events in outline. It will now be necessary to trace them in somewhat fuller detail, if only to show that it was the want of equilibrium between pressure from dif- ferent sides during this period of danger, which brought home to the Swedish Church the necessity of alliance with Continental Lutheranism and adoption in some measure of its symbols. For throughout this period there was no doctrinal standard legally binding beyond the vague formula that " the pure Word of God was to be preached."
Under the weak rule of Erik XIV. the Church slipped out of the grasp of royal power which Gustaf had exercised, and thus Laurentius Petri was able to draft in 1561, and finally in 1571, with King John's sanction, to issue his Kyrko-ordning, a care- ful sketch of the constitution of the Swedish Church, but not in the form of a body of law. The Kyrko-ordning contained among other things directions for the election and consecration of bishops, and the constitution of cathedral chapters. It was
I
SKETCH OF THE HISTORY. 39
accepted by a Synod at Upsala in 1572. The endeavour of John III. to strike out on the basis of his own patristic studies a via media between Rome and the Swedish Church as he found it, was embodied in his Kyrko-ordinantia and his Liturgy (Roda boken), which was founded on the Roman Missal. The opposition of the clergy to the king was fostered by Duke Karl, and everywhere the demand was heard for a council to restore unity of faith and worship to the divided Church. John III. died in November 1592, and Duke Karl took advantage of the new king, Sigismund's, absence in Poland, to summon as regent the famous council which met at Upsala in February, 1593. At this the Augsburg Confession was read article by article, and, together with the three creeds, acknowledged as embodying the faith of the Swedish Church. Moreover, Laurentius Petri's Kyrko-ordning was re-affirmed, and King John's Liturgy set aside. The importance of the Upsala Mote lay not only in its decisions, but in the precedent it established of the right of a clerical and lay Church assembly to decide its own affairs apart from the parliament. And it decided them without regard to the religion of the reigning monarch (Sigis- mund) or the desires of the regent (Duke Karl). Whatever was the case in other countries where the Reformation pre- vailed, Sweden at least is free from the charge of subservience to the crown at this crisis. It may be added that without the Upsala Mote Gustaf Adolf's work would be inconceivable. The Mote may, therefore, claim with some justice to have been a turning point not only in the history of Sweden, but in that of Europe. Though the Mote mainly consisted of bishops and clergy summoned in due proportion from the several dioceses, yet members of the Riksrad and other laymen were admitted to it, Duke Karl himself kept in the background, and gave freedom to the meeting to elect its own president. The resolutions were sent forth and signed in the provinces by nearly 2,000 persons of distinction, thus pledging the nation at large to the action taken. As the Bishop of Salisbury has said, " There are few if any parallels to the Upsala Mote in religious history. The freedom and unanimity of the action could only be possible in a nation so much accustomed to the idea and practice of self-government by a large popular assembly, and so ready to be swayed by enthusiasm in mak- ing great decisions at critical moments of its history." The Swedish word mote ought properly to be retained to describe it, as it was neither a synod nor a council in the usual ecclesi- astical sense of those terms. All through Swedish history Church councils are frequent, not like English Convocations concerned also with the granting of subsidies, but purely with
3
30 APPENDIX I
4
ecclesiastical affairs, and the importance of such councils was confirmed not long since by the law of 1863 as to their constitu- tion and powers.
Next followed the attempt of King Sigismund, by force and fraud, to restore Romanism. His failure and his subsequent dethronement remind us forcibly of the similar attempt of our own James II. It was, however, succeeded by a Puritan reaction to which our history at that particular date gives no parallel. The visitation of Archbishop Abraham which fol- lowed with its violent uprooting of such mediaeval usages as still lingered, and its severity towards resisting clergy, receives the approval of so able and impartial a writer as Professor Hjarne {Svcnskt och Friimm ancle, p. 31 ff.) as a necessary stage of progress, a necessary preliminary to the ultimate union of the Protestant forces under Gustaf Adolf. The reign of Duke Karl (as Karl IX.) was occupied, so far as the Church was concerned, with his endeavour to gain ground for his semi-Calvinistic views and his long resistance to the require- ment of his parliament that he should accept the Augsburg Confession and the resolutions of the Upsala Mote. The failure of the king to succeed in any degree was largely owing to the wisdom and patience of Archbiship Olaus Martini, to whom perpetual gratitude is due. The doubt as to his con- secration expressed by Cornelius has been conclusively set at rest by fuller investigation. The Swedish Church emerged victorious from the strife. But it is due to Karl IX. to own that his unfailing toleration to his opponents in a matter on which his convictions were so strong, shines out brightly in an age of bitter intolerance and persecution. And to him was due the deliverance of his country from the great wave of Catholic re- action surging over Europe, of which Sigismund and his claim were the representatives so far as Sweden was concerned. Karl's reign and his policy prepared the way for the glorious career of his son Gustaf Adolf, whose victories, and the treaty which they secured, stemmed the tide in Germany and delivered German Protestantism from its foes. His dying words were, " I am the King of Sweden, who do seal the Religion and Liberty of the German nation with my blood." " He had been the first to set a bound to the tyranny which Germany was powerless to resist, and which would, if not resisted, have spread far beyond Germany, even beyond distant Sweden." {Custavus Adolphus, by C. R. L. Fletcher, p. 288). A review of the history of the Swedish Church would be indeed incom- plete whirh omitted to record what Europe owes, if not to the Swedish Church, at least to Swedish Christianity in the person of its greatest hero.
SKETCH OF THE HISTORY. 31
The period which succeeded, 1632 to 1680, may be described on the political side as that of the supremacy of the great nobles who liik'd the Cabinet (Riksrad), administered public affairs, and acquired possession of more than half of the land of the country. On the ecclesiastical side, it was the age of an intolerant ortho- doxy, in which clergy suspected of Syncretism were persecuted; and the victory of the orthodox was sealed by the addition of the Formula Concordioa to the symbolical documents of the Swedish Church in the parliament of 1664. In the earlier half of the seventeenth century the sees were held by powerful bishops who retained much of the independence of mediaeval times, such as Johannes Rudbeckius and Laurentius Paulinus Gothus. They were able administrators, promoted culture and education, and had been stronjj enough to resist successfully the attempts to impose on the Church the Consistorium Generale proposed by Gustaf Adolf in 1623, which would have practically superseded episcopal government. But when this period closed, and the power of the Cabinet and the great nobles fell before Karl XI. in 1680, the sees were held by weaker men, and the divisions in the Church left no power sufficient to resist the will of a king who was determined to be absolute. There was indeed need for a definite constitution to be given to the Church, and the vigorous administration of the great bishops had introduced varieties of practice which needed to be harmonized, but the Kyrkolag of Karl XI., drawn up by a lay commission, approved by the king and accepted by the parliament, had too much of the character of the king's general policy, which was to con- centrate in the Crown despotic power both in Church and State.
This Kyrkolag (Church law) is the most important document in all Swedish Church history, and is still in force, though con- siderably modified and greatly enlarged by subsequent legisla- tion. The edition generally in use is that of P. Rydholm, Stock- holm, last ed. igio, and it still bears the title of " Siveden^s Church Laiv of the year 1686." Nothing authoritative as to the constitution and practice of the Church had been issued since the Kyrko-ordnincr of Laurentius Petri a hundred years before, and the deficiencies of that document and the changing needs of the times had been met partly by resolutions of the house of clergy at meetings of the Riksdag, partly by diocesan synods, and partly by the independent action of diocesan bishops who issued ordinances for their own dioceses. The Kyrkolag, whatever were its defects as to contents and sanction, restored uniformity to the Church, and was followed by considerable ecclesiastical activity. Important books were issued in quick succession, a new Catechism by Svcbilius in 1689, which held its ground till
ja APPENDIX I.
i8io ; a revised Prayer Book in 1694, which was a slightly altered edition of that issued in 1614; an enlarged Hymn-book in 1698, chiefly due to Svedberg and Spegel; and a revised version of the Bible in 1703. , ^. . .
The next thirty or forty years saw the Pictistic movement spread from (iermany to Sweden. It is difficult to distinguish its various forms. Some of them were distinctly unsound in doctrine, but on the whole Pietism was a sincere reaction against the stiff unspiritual orthodoxy of the time and its indifference to the moral deterioration of' society. The period can best be studied in the life of Bishop Svedberg who, though he did not belong to the movement, recognized what was good in it. When it passed away it left its mark in an appreciable renewal of spiritual life in the Church, though perhaps it would be truer to attribute this to the sounder influence of the Moravian mis- sion which followed on its steps. It must be remembered that the coercive measures against Pietists, such as the edicts against Conventicles of 1706, 1713, 172 1, and the severest of all in 1726, proceeded not from the Church, but from the government. The last of these, forbidding all public gatherings for worship except under the parish priest, was not repealed till 1858. After the revolution of 1720, which transferred all real power from the Crown to the Parliament, the supremacy over the Church which Karl XI. had obtained for the Crown fell to the Parliament, and the weakness of the position of the Church became more apparent. The period has been called the " time of freedom," but the government was really an oligarchy.
Irregularities occurred which are accounted for by the weak- ness of the Crown, as, for instance, the permission sometimes granted to deans to usurp the right of Ordination. The so- called " Freedom period " of half a century came to an end in the coup d'etat of Gustaf III. in 1772, and absolutism was re- stored for a time under an able and enlightened despot. But Gustaf III., through his close connexion with Germany, was led to favour the Deistic current of thought, which at that time was flowing from France and England over Northern Europe. In Sweden it was not only the vogue at court and among edu- cated laymen, but infected the clergy, and the period from 1772 to 1817 is reckoned with good reason as the period of neology, that is to say of a rationalism which set aside the essentials of the Christian faith, and preached only a feeble and ineffective morality. Unfortunately for the Church, Archbishop Lind- blom, imbued with the prevailing spirit, succeeded in obtaining authority for a catechism which bore evident marks of neologian influence (Cornelius : Hist. II., p. 298). This catechism super- seded that of Svebilius mentioned above, and was in use until
SKETCH OF THE HISTORY. 33
the present authorized catechism appeared in 1878. The re- vision of the Prayer Book under the same Archbishop in 181 1, while it had the merit of recognizing a Confirmation service, hitherto used without authority, had nevertheless the grave defect of omitting the word priest from the Ordinal.
Along with the rationalist movement in the higher classes of society, and to some extent in protest against it, there arose a revival of spiritual religion among the lower classes not unlike the somewhat earlier Evangelical revival under Whiteficld and Wesley, and within the English Church. The movement in both countries may be regarded in some measure as a protest against the torpor of the Church and the prevalence of Deism, but there was another element in the situation in Sweden which was lacking in England, namely, the opposition called out by the Catechism, the revised Prayer Book and revised Hymn-book, mentioned above as issued under the hand of Archbishop Lind- blom, and bearing traces of the cold rationalistic attitude then dominant. It is, however, right to add that the addition of an authorized Office for the First Communion of the young, which became practically a Confirmation office, was also a cause of strenuous complaint. The followers of the movement be- longed mainly to the North of Sweden, and were known as the "new readers." There had been a party named "readers" in the middle of the eighteenth century, who took their name from their diligent study of the Bible and Luther's writings. They had taken no step towards separation from the Church, but the so-called " new readers " soon manifested their schis- matic character, and afterwards began to administer their own sacraments in 1848. Their doctrinal variance from the Church lay mainly in their exaggeration of Luther's teaching on justification by faith, which they pressed to an antinomian ex- treme. Indeed it is not too much to say that the principal points at issue between the Swedish Church and Separatists have always arisen on the subject of justification. The latest and most influential secession has also turned on that doctrine, though the position of its leader Lektor Waldenstrom is totally distinct from that of the "readers," and amounts practically to the denial of the existence of and the need for any objective atonement. The special feature of Swedish dissent at the pre- sent day is that with not very numerous exceptions those who are practically dissenters, as using separate places of worship and forming separate congregations, are nevertheless still in name and legal position members of the national Church, inasmuch as they have not taken advantage of the law of i860, which requires a definite act of renunciation of membership on the part of those who desire to be relieved from their obliga- tions to the national Church.
,4 APPENDIX I.
To estimate the forces of the various sects, their religious importance, and their prospects of growth or decay is out of the question in this hasty sketch. We must, therefore, return to the relation of the Church to the State, which was funda- mentally altered by the reform of parliament in 1865 — 1866, under which the House of Clergy, along with the other three houses, ceased to exist, and the four houses were replaced by two chambers, in neither of which the clergy had any place as such, though eligible as members, and often, as in the persons of Sundberg and Billing, occupying important political posi- tions. The abolition of the House of Clergy necessarily in- volved the substitution of an independent Church representa- tive assembly for dealing in its stead with matters affecting the Church. This had already been provided in 1863, but did not hold its first meeting till 1868. It consists of thirty clerical and thirty lay representatives, and meets at intervals of five years, or oftener if summoned by the king. It has power to discuss and either accept or reject bills on Church administration sent up to it from the Riksdag. There are many important topics deserving to be included If space permitted, more especially the missionary activity both of the Swedish Church and of other Christian bodies ; and, secondly, the religious history of the Swedish emigrants to U.S.A. with the circum- stances which led to the establishment of the Augustana Synod.
It is not possible In the present limits to do justice to the points in which the Swedish Church can claim our special re- spect as adequately representing high Ideals of Church organiza- tion. But a closer acquaintance with its constitution such as we hope will become more general among English Churchmen, will show them that there Is much that is admirable In its method of election, both of bishops and of clergy, in the close connection between the Church and the universities, in highly developed parochial self-government, and In the extremely thorough system of episcopal visitation.
One result of this sketch will have been, we hope, to em- phasize the many analogies between the history of the Swedish Church and that of our own. There is much which w-e think they may profitably learn from our experience ; and we also may learn from theirs. There Is one conviction strong to-day among their foremost men, which they may well inspire us with, and of which we stand in need — an unabated confidence in the ideal of a national Church, and Its unspeakable value as a spiritual home for the individual, as a sphere of worship and common devotion, and not least as a sphere of practical work and service for the moral and material advancement of the race (Soderblom : Den Euskildc och Kyrkan, p. 4).
33
APPENDIX II.
QUESTIONS WHICH HAVE BEEN RAISED IN REGARD TO THE CONTINUITY OF EPISCOPAL SUCCES- SION IN SWEDEN.
(By Dr. A. J. Mason).
The following memorandum is a summary of the state- ment made by Dr. Lundstrom at Upsala, afterwards con- firmed by him in writing, and as far as possible verified by ourselves : —
I.
Dr. Lundstrom began by making his own two observations of A. E. Knos, contained in his letter appended to the English translation of L. A. Anjou's History of the Reformation in Sweden (New York, 1859), p. 639, to the effect (r) that at the outset of the Reformation the preservation of the Apostolical Succession was a matter of great concern to King Gustavus I.; and (2) that a law [of that king], which has never been broken, lays down that no bishop-elect shall before his consecration enter upon the episcopal office, preside in a diocesan chapter, perform any of the duties of the episcopate, or enjoy the revenues and emoluments of his see. One effect of this law has been to draw sharply the distinction between bishops and bishops-elect; so that Dr. Lundstrom says that "it is absolutely safe" to assert that during the whole of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century, with which we are mainly concerned, if a man is styled in the documents episcopus or its Swedish equivalent, he had been consecrated; otherwise, he is always called electits, or ut}nvald hiscop (or uthivald bisp). He gives as an instance the case of Nicolaus Olai Bothniensis (tifioo), elected to the see of Upsala in 1599, but never con- secrated, who is described as electus in the original chart of the monuments in the cathedral.
The four points at which it seemed necessary to examine the history of the succession were as follows : —
I. The case of Petrus Magni, the consecrator of Laurentius Petri, the first archbishop of the Reformed Church.
The question of his consecration has been investigated in
36 APPENDIX II.
English by A. Nicholson, LL.D. {ApostuUcal Succession in the Church ofSii^cdcri, 1880, and VindicicB Arosienses, 1887), with whose account of the matter, in spite of its somewhat unscientific form, Dr. Lundstrom professed himself satisfied.
It is now beyond doubt that Petrus, formerly Superior (Pro- visor) of the Brigittine Convent at Rome, was consecrated Bishop of VesterSs at Rome on ist May, 1524. The principal proofs of the fact are : —
(a) The letter of the papal protonotary, Zutpheld Warden- berg, dated Oth .August, 1524, in which he informs the Arch- bishop of Trondhjem that Petrus " consecratus fuit in episcopum Arosiensem dominica ante Ascensionis Domini" (Nicholson: Ap. Slice, p. 8 ; see C. F. Allen : Breve og Aktstykker, i, p. 271).
{b) The Diariiim I adstenense, the chronicle of the mother house of the Brigittine order, which says, in 1524, that on 15th July " venit fr[ater] noster doctor Petrus Magni de Roma, consecratus in episc[opum] Arosiensem " (printed in Fant's Scriptores Rerum Svecicarum, vol. I., p. 218, Upsaliae, 1818).
(c) The autobiographical notes of Olaus Magni, given by Professor H. Hjiirne, who discovered them at Cracow, in Teolog. Tidskrift, 1883, p. 203 foil. In these, Olaus, the (titular) Roman Catholic archbishop of Upsala, takes credit to himself for having paid fifty ducats " doctori Sudfello " [i.e., Zutpheld Wardenberg), and lent 350 more to Petrus Magnus, bishop-elect of VesterSs, to expedite his papal confirmation, "quorum solutionem ob pra^dicti cpiscopi persecutionem et mortem numquam obtinuit aut obtinebit."
{d) The register of Gustavus I.; and (e) the records of the Swedish Parliament, according to which Petrus Magni took his seat at the King's Council, not as clectus, but as cpiscopus.
(/) His own evidence in the secret protestation of loth August, 1 53 1, discovered by Dr. Lundstrom in the archives of Strengniis, in which he and Magnus Sommar, Bishop of Strengnfis protesting against the course of events in which they were compelled to take part, describe themselves as " nos Magnus Sommcr Strengnensis et Petrus Arosiensis Dei gratia episcopi " (Lundstrom ; Vndersokningar och Aktstycken, p. 42), as they do also in the protestation of 27th August of the same year (Lundstrom : ibid., p. 46).
The Roman Catholic Abbe Jules Martin, in his Gustave Vasa ct hi Rc'jonne en Sndde (Paris, 1906), p. 241, is inclined to think, from a document discovered by him in the Vatican, that the consecration of Petrus was performed by the well-known Pans do f.rassis, Bishop of Pesaro, Master of the Ceremonies to Leo N. If so, the writer of the document in question gives a
CONTINUITY OF EPISCOPAL SUCCESSION. 37
wrong description of the bishop then consecrated, for he calls him "a titular bishop"; but he may easily have been misinformed on the point.
2. The case of Botvid Sunonis (11562), Bishop of Stren^^nils, the consecrator of Paulus Juusten, Bishop of Abo, who in his turn consecrated Laurentius Petri II. (Ciothus), Archbishop of Upsala.
The doubt in his case, as in the case of our own Bishoji Barlow, who was consecrated about the same time, arises solely from there being no extant contemporary record of the consecra- tion, the cathedral of Strengniis having been burned in 1551. The evidence of Botvid's consecration is sufficiently given by Nicholson : p. 36 foil. But Dr. Lundstrom adds that the re- cords of the Swedish Parliament, and the register of Gustavus I., most of which works were published later than Nicholson's book, give many evidences that Botvid was not a mere electus, but a full episcopus. Thus on 7th September, 1536, he is addressed in a royal letter as bishop-elect of Strengniis, but in 1539 and later he appears as bishop (Dr. Lundstrom gives many references to the Handlingar of the Swedish Parliament, and to K. Gustaf I.'s Registratur).
3. The case of Olaus Martini (f 1609), Archbishop of Upsala. The doubts concerning his consecration which were expressed by the Swedish Romanist, Messenius, have been repeated by such a critical inquirer as Anjou ; and C. A. Cornelius : Svenska Kyrkans Historia efter Reformationen, I., p. 130, says that there are strong reasons for thinking that Olaus Martini was never consecrated.
_ Dr. Lundstrom has proved the groundlessness of this sus- picion (see his Skisser och Kritiker, Stockholm, 1903, p. 118)- J. Raumannus, the preacher at the archbishop's funeral, who was a professor in the University of Upsala at the time of the consecration, and was probably present at it, says distinctly that he w^as consecrated on (Sunday) i6th August', 1601, and the same date is given in the contemporary diary of J. T. Bureus (1601), published by Klemming in 1883. The' name of the con- secrator, Petrus Kenicius, then Bishop of Skara, afterwards archbishop, is given by Eric Fant in his dissertation, De suc- cessione canonica et consecratione episcoporum SuecicB, p. 12, Upsala, 1790. At our conference at Upsala, Dr. Lundstrom was able to produce, with dramatic propriety, the minute book of the Domkapitel of Upsala, containing records, which he had that morning discovered, the first dated nth July, 1601. The entry for that day speaks of the consecration as still future. On a later day we read that the bishops who were called to the mauguration gave reasons for their not coming, and excused
3S
APPENDIX II.
themselves. The chapter decreed that " Dominus electus mav enter upon his ollicc (i.e., do such duties as a bishop-elect may do). It was decided that the bishops should be excused for not" being present, but they were to be admonished to come at another time. The "inauguration" was fixed to take place, "tempore S. Laurentii," i.e., in the week following August loth. On Wednesday, 19th August, the usual chapter day, there is the record of a divorce case with the note " Lata est sen- tentia divortii a R. D. Archiepiscopo." From these chapter acts it is clearly to be inferred that the consecration took place, between the lo'th and the 19th August, and (as was usual) on a Sunday, viz., the i6th August, the tenth Sunday after Trinity, as Hura-us and Raumannus assert.
4. The case of Johannes Steuchius (11742), Archbishop of Upsala.
Steuchius had previously been "superintendent" of Karl- stad, from 1723 to 1730. In January, 1730, he was appointed Bishop of Linkoping, from which see he was translated to Upsala on 20th November of the same year, and entered upon his new office in 173 1. In the sermon preached at his funeral there is no mention of his consecration. This fact aroused the suspicion of Dr. Lundstrom. What Sven Baiter says in his book on Church ceremonies (ed. Stockholm, 1762, p. 973) that " superintendents " are not consecrated, while bishops are, is not exactly true. Cases have occurred in which " superintendents " were consecrated to their office. But as a general rule they were not consecrated. If, therefore, Steuchius had been promoted from Karlstad to Linkoping and from Linkoping to Upsala without any further qualification beyond what he re- ceived on his appointment to Karlstad, it would seem that there would have been a break in the succession. A. O. Rhyzelius, however, who is an especially competent witness (as he was Provost of Linkoping at the time — from 1720 to 1743 — and be- came bishop of that see in 1744) asserts that Steuchius was con- secrated to Linkoping on r5th November, 1730, by Bishop Jesper Svedberg at Skara. See p. 149 of his Episcoposcopia Sviogothica (Linkoping, 1752); and this, we think, must be true.
Since writing the above we have received from Dr. Lundstrom and the Bishop of Kalmar conclusive evidence that Rhyzelius* assertion is correct : —
(i) There is the original royal letter in the possession of the Chapter of Skara, dated 2nd November, 1730, instructing Bishop Svedberg to ordain and consecrate the bishop-elect, Johannes Steuchius, during the vacancy of the archiepiscopal see. A cop\- of this is preserved in the Riksarkiv at Stockholm.
CONTINUITY OF EPISCOPAL SUCCESSION. 39
(2) There is an entry in the Register of the Chapter of Skara, dated 7th November, 1730, stating that the royal letter had been read that day.
(3) There is an official letter, also in the Riksarkiv, from Bishop Svedberg to the king, dated 23rd November, from his official residence of Hru'nsbo, informing the king that he had executed his commission on the 15th of the same month.
II.
The question was raised whether any doubts were cast upon the validity of the episcopal succession in Sweden in the time of King John III., when there was a reaction in the direction of mediajvalism and of Rome. Dr. Lundstrom adopted in reply the word of Knos (Anjou : ut supra, p. 640), who says that when certain bishops were to be consecrated in John's reign, the king and others desired to restore some ceremonies which had fallen into disuse at episcopal consecrations; but that not a word was said to the effect that the consecrating bishops were them- selves invalidly consecrated, and, therefore, incapable of trans- mitting consecration. Neither King John himself, nor the Roman Legate, Possevin, who was then in Sweden, in treaty with the king, made any such objection.
III.
It was asked whether at any time others than bishops had been permitted to ordain in the reformed Church of Sweden.
Dr. Lundstrom replied : " Yes, in a few exceptional cases, but in no case that affects the continuity of the Swedish episco- pate." He proceeded to mention all the cases known to him, of which several had not been previously known to historians. They fell under three heads : —
1. In 1713 the Chaplain General of the Forces (as we might call him) ordained two men at Moscow to work among the cap- tive Swedes in Russia. Wallquist (Eccl. Coll., 2, 131) indeed affirms that several similar ordinations took place in the army during the time of war, but does not substantiate his affirmation.
2. Dr. Lundstrom thought he remembered to have seen in an unprinted letter of Kric Benzelius Junior at Linkoping that J. Serenius, then chaplain to the Swedish legation in London, was commissioned by Bishop Jesper Svedberg of Skara, who had the oversight of this London congregation, as well as of that of New Sweden on the Delaware, to ordain a man for work in
^o APPENDIX II.
the Swedish colony in North America. Whether the ordination took place Dr. Lundstrom did not know. r .u j i
3 Baiter (ed. 1838, p. 678) says that deans of cathedral churches have sometimes, by royal permission, performed ordinations. Dr. Lundstrom has discovered three such
instances : — , , . , • .
(a) In 1758, during the vacancy of the archbishopric, Asp, the Domprost.'by royal permission, ordained twenty men {20th June, 1758). None of them rose to high position, or were called upon to ordain others (Baiter: I.e.).
{b) In 1764 the Domprost, Hydren, received a similar per- mission "during the present vacancy of the archbishopric," and ordained sixteen men (i6th December), of whom the same may be said as of those ordained in 1758.
(c) In 1775 the permission to Hydren was renewed, and thirteen more'were ordained {2rst July), of whom the same holds true.
Fant and Lastbom {Upsala Herdaminne, III., p. 265 foil.) speak as if Hydren had "several times" (flera ganger) per- formed such ordinations. Dr. Lundstrom has carefully examined the registers, and is certain that it was not done by Hvdren on more than these two occasions. In 1786 Hvdren applied for a similar permission, and the king of that day refused, on the ground that ordination was a privilege reserved to bishops. In 1792 O. Celsius, Bishop of Lund, on account of his age and infirmity, begged the king to permit his Domprost to ordain in his stead, but the permission was again refused, and on the same grounds. These facts have not been published before.
It should be added, in illustration of paragraph two of Dr. Lundstrom's statement, that about the year 1700 the three Swedish pastors of the Delaware Settlement, Anders Rudman, Bjork and Sandel, ordained Justus Falckner, a Halle student, to the priesthood. When this act was cited, twenty-four years later, as a precedent for presbyterian ordination, "the four Swedish pastors disclaimed the authority to ordain, and ex- plained the ordination of Falckner upon the ground that Rud- man had bc<n made by the * Archbishop of Sweden ' ' suffragan, or vice-bishop.'" Further, the same author who gives this information states : " That, by a commission of the archbishop and consistory in Upsala of 7th November, 1739, the two Swedish pastors in America, Dylander and Tranberg, were directed to ordain to the ministry William Malander ... an order which could not be carried out because of the death of Dylander, and the conviction on Tranberg's part that he was without authority alone to administer ordination " (See Henry
CONTINUITY OF EPISCOPAL SUCCESSION. 41
Eyster Jacobs' Hist, of the Evangelical Luthemn CJiurch in U.S.A.y p. 97, cd. 5, New York, 1907).
IV.
Dr. Lundstrom said in conclusion : " As for several years I have been occupied with researches in the domain of ecclesias- tical history, and have paid particular attention to the present question, perhaps my opinion may be considered of some value. . . . To sum up, though I think it very desirable that a monograph on the subject should be soon produced that would fully answer the requirements of modern scientific Church his- tory, I make bold to pronounce my opinion, even in the present state of the inquiry, that the Swedish Church possesses the his- toric episcopate, or the so-called successio apostolica. In the previous discussion of the subject, scientific or more or less unscientific, no facts have come to light which on closer exami- nation weaken this assertion ; on the contrary, various pieces of new material have of late years been produced which tend to confirm it."
42
APPENDIX III. Forms of ordination of priests and consecration of
BISHOPS USED IN SWEDEN SINCE THE REFORMATION.
Introductory Notes. Forms Before 1571.
The earliest consecrations of bishops in the reign of Gustaf Vasa were performed with the ancient rite, includ- ing unction, on which great stress was laid at that period in the Western Church. The king's letter of the 7th November, 1527, addressed to Magnus Sommar, elect of Strengnas, is well known. In accordance with this he and Magnus Haraldi, elect of Skara, and Morten Skytte, elect of Abo, were con- secrated at Epiphany, 1528, by Petrus Magni of Vesteris, who had himself been consecrated at Rome. The only difference was that these three had not received papal confirmation of their election. See Cornelius : Svensha Kyrkans Historia efter Re- forniatiotien, I., § 16, and A. Nicholson : Apostolical Succession in the Church of Siveden, p. 19. The same form, with some variations, not of a substantial character, was used by Magnus Sommar and Petrus Magni in consecrating Laurentius Petri Nericius to the see of Upsala, 22nd September, 153 1. See Nicholson; I.e., pp. 30 foil., and Vindicice Arosienses, pp. 28 foil.
This same wise archbishop continued in office for forty-two years, and while he was not in favour of unction, he desired to preserve the essentials of the rites of the Church. There is no reason to think that the innovations introduced for a short time by George Norman, under royal authority, in 1540-1541, made any serious difference to the continuity of ministerial succession in Sweden. There was introduced a certain inferior class of episcopal superintendents, about whose episcopal consecration there is in some cases a doubt (See Cornelius : Hist., I., § 32). Hut the bishops of the old sees certainly continued to he con- secrated. _ What form was used is not distinctly known.
Light is thrown upon this question by a manuscript of the year 1561, drawn up by the archbishop, who was continuously labouring (as he himself tells us) to prepare a Prayer Book, which should receive authority. The Haudbok of his brother Olaus for popular use naturally did not contain the ordination services, and, therefore the forms used were in the ordaining or
FORMS OF ORDINATION, ETC. 43
consecrating Bishop's hands. This was, by natural prerogative, the Archbishop of Upsala.
The MS. in question has been analysed and described by Bishop Otto Ahnfelt in the twenty-ninth volume of the Acta Universitatis Lundensis, published in 1893 (see esp. p. 20). It is a draft for the archbishop's book printed in 1571, and authorized in 1572. The form for ordination of priests is essentially the same as that in the book which will presently be described ; but the form of consecrating bishops is somewhat different. Two forms are given, one when a man is still a lay- man, the other when, as is usual, he has been already ordained priest. In the former case the form for ordaining a priest may be used. If such a case had occurred there is every reason to believe it was intended that the word bishop should be sub- stituted for priest wherever the later w'as found. Cp. p. 49 belov/. The plan would have been very like that which is con- templated in the Canons of Hippolytus, iv. 31, but the case was one quite unusual in practice, and, as a matter of fact, it never occurred in this period, so that we have no need to discuss it. In the latter case, when a man has been already ordained, the form begins by singing the hymn Veni Sancte Spirittis, "then the collects are read," then the " Ordinarius " reads for him S. Paul's word to Timothy (as for the priesthood), and from S. Luke xii. 42-48 (inclusive), with an explanation, which thus begins : " In these words our dear Lord Christ gives us clearly to understand that those who are called to the bishop's office have a commission from God, not over some small things, but over His people and servants, yea, those whom He, with His own flesh and blood, has bought and redeemed," etc. The qualities which a bishop needs are fidelity and understanding. His reward is to have power over all the Lord's possessions. On the other hand, the Lord teaches us the punishment of those who act otherwise. The Ordinarius then asks the bishop-elect if he will act as a good and right-minded servant of our Lord Jesus Christ, to which he answers " Yes." Then the Ordinarius says: "God strengthen and comfort thee always. Amen." "Then he, in company with the other bishops, if several are present, lays his hands on the head of the elect, and says aloud over him Our Father, and after it the collect which stands above in ordinatione Preshiterorum, and so begins O Almio;hty everlasting God, Father, etc. Then the choir sings pro Introitu, '^ Now pray we the Holy Spirit,' and then finally the mass is said to the end, in which the Ordinatus shall receive the communion first among the rest."
The collect of which the first words are quoted is called the Collect for Teachers, and is one for sending labourers into the
^ APPENDIX III.
harvest, and contains no verbal reference to the priestly office. The main words may be quoted : " We pray thee therefore that of thv boundless mercy thou wouldest send us true teachers Give 'them in their hearts and mouths thy holy and healthful word so that they may teach rightly and without error, and faithfullv execute all thy commands. . . . Give us, Lord, thy holv Spi'rit and wisdom that thy Word may always remam with us.'grow and bear fruit " (Bishop G. M. Williams : The Church of' Sicedcti and the Aiiglican Communion, p. 12, Milwaukee and London (Mowbray's), 1910). _
This certainly is a very jejune form, though the intention ot making a bishop is perfectly clearly expressed, and the com- mission is described as given by our Lord Himself. There is, also, almost a certainty, that the phrase " then the collects are read " included one definitely speaking of the office, such as is found in the form of ordaining priests. We must believe this since the collect beginning " O eternal and merciful God, dear heavenly Father," which mentions the office conferred, is the onlv other collect in the previous ordination form. It may be found on p. 15 of the book just quoted, and it is given below, p. 46. In any case there was probably an allocution, as in the form for the priesthood, asking prayers for the office to be conferred.
The MS. of 1561 is, however, only a draft, and we have no evidence that it was used. In any case the only material link in the episcopal succession which could be affected by it is the consecration of Bishop Jacobus Johannis Westrogothus to the see of Skara in 1570. But, as this was so near to the publica- tion of the book of 1571, there is a strong probability that the form presently to be described was then used. The archbishop seems to have had the material constantly in a state of revision, and must have had his book ready for press some time before it was actually issued. It is a large piece of work, and in that day would have taken long even to print.
Forms in the Kyrko-ordning of 1571.
This book was not so much a prayer book as a directory, containing theological dissertations, in which forms were more or less completely embodied. It is valuable, therefore, as evidence of the intention with which the forms were used.
The intention of the Church, which adopted it in 1572, is shown particularly by chapter 25, Ordning om Biscopar, of which we have already quoted some important sentences in sec- tion 7 of our report, p. rg. The intention is clearly to make the bishop an overseer and ordaincr, and to make the priest a minister of the Word and Sacraments.
FORMS OF ORDINATION, ETC. 45
The Ordination of Priests in 1571.
The form for ordination of priests, lit sett til at orclinera Prester, is found in chapter 23, fols. 65-72, of the K. O. of
1571-.
This is preceded by a long preface (Ch. 22), entitled Ordning om Prester och Predico-embetet, fols, 62-64, ^^ which the words Prest-etJibetet and Predico-embetet are used as nearly synony- mous. The office of preaching is traced from Paradise through the promise about the seed of woman to Adam and Eve, though the Old Testament prophets, our Lord Himself, and the Apostles to whom He gave command saying : " As my Father hath sent Me even so send I you." The Apostles gave commandments to Timothy and Titus, that they, with the Churches, should com- mit this office to other worthy persons. Personal worthiness and regular call are emphasised at length. Prayer and laying on of the bishop's hands are necessary.
Nothing is said here or in the form of ordination about ministry of the Sacraments. This is clearly taken for granted here, since it is referred to again and again in chapter 25 about a bishop's relation to his clergy. We must suppose that the discussion in chapter 22 was intended to bring out a truth pre- viously obscured in the idea of priesthood, viz., that it was a teaching office. Nevertheless, we are bound to point out that the ministry of the Sacraments is not definitely referred to in either of these two chapters.
But the pastoral office (which is, of course, very closely con- nected with the ministry of the Sacraments) is referred to in the address of the Ordinarius (fol. 67), which follows the lections from the pastoral Epistles and the Acts. " Here we learn, that to us who are called to be pastors and preachers is committed a watch and ward, not over unreasoning beasts, cattle or sheep, but over the Church of the living God which He has purchased with His own blood, that we should feed and govern it with God s pure Word, and diligently give heed that wolves— that is, false teachers, come not in to hurt." Compare with this the sentence from S. Peter, with which the form closes
Then follows the question: "Will you now in the name of Uod the Holy Tnnity take upon yourselves this ministry (tiensten) and priesthood?" Answer: "Yes." Then come other questions as to the devotion of all powers of soul and body to the exercise of the office, to the preaching of the doctrine of reconcihation for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and re- demption setting a good example, etc. Then the Ordinarius says to them : —
"God comfort and strengthen you to this always. Amen.
4
^6 APPENDIX III.
And I, bv the authority entrusted to me on God's behalf by His Church for this purpose, commit to you the priest's office, in the name (^f the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen."
Then the Ordinarius alone, or ivith the other priests ivho are present, immediately lays both his hands on their heads, say- ing. Let us prav. " Our Father, which art in heaven. Hal- lowed," etc. Then after " Our Father " he reads the foUozt'ing collect : —
" O eternal and merciful God, dear heavenly Father, thou who through thy mouth of thy beloved Son our Lord Jesus Christ, hast said to us : ' The harvest is great and the labourers are few. Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest that He will send forth labourers into His harvest,' with which word thou givest us to understand that we cannot elsewhere receive orthodox and faithful teachers than of thy gentle hand. Where- fore we now beseech thee with all our hearts, that thou wouldest graciouslv look upon these thy servants, whom we have chosen and taken to this ministry and priest's office, giving them thy Holy Spirit, that they may truly and effectually carry out thy holy work, teach and punish with all meekness and wisdom. So that thy holy Gospel may ever remain among us pure and uncorrupt, and may bear us the fruit of salvation and eternal life. Through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord. Amen."
Last, in conclusion, the Ordinarius gives the ordinati S. Peter^s li'ord, saying : —
*' Go and feed Christ's flock, and have the care thereof, not of constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre's sake, but of good will, not as lords over His people, but as patterns to the flock, and when the chief shepherd shall appear ye shall receive the unfading crown of glory. Amen."
]VIie)i all this is completed, the Ordinarius begins the song, " Now fray ive the Holy Ghost," etc., and the whole choir sings it through so that it becomes the Introit of the Mass. Until the first verse is sung, all remain kneeling, then they take each one his place. When the time comes the ordinati go to Holy Comvuinion.
Whoever ventures to exercise the priesthood, either in whole or in part, zi'ithout being chosen or called thereto, or ordained by the bishops in the above manner, the same may be punished according to the school- lair, that is to say, set in the stocks and then scourged (och sedan viista nudena), and thereafter expelled from the diocese.
Then follows a rule that the bishop is to give an incumbent a letter to the rural dean, or some neighbouring clerk, so that he may be publicly inducted into his parish on some holiday.
FORMS OF ORDINATION, ETC. 47
Changes i)i Uie Urdinaiion of Priests in 1686 and later.
Later changes in 1686, i8og, 1881 and 1894 arc given in some detail by the Bishop of Marquette in his recent volume, The Church of Sweden and the Anglican Com- munion, pp. 35-40, 1910, to which we have already re- ferred. We will, however, add something to his account of the changes of 1O86. The form is not yet given in full, but is described in Chapter XXII. of the Church Laio and Order of Charles XL, printed in 1687. It is headed Om salt til at ordincra Prdster. In it the two words Prediho-embet and Prest-enibet are used side by side as synonymous. The latter was doubtless retained in the old prayer of 1571 about the labourers and the harvest, which is not quoted but only referred to. See p. 46. On the other hand, the law says : " Then the Ordinator gives the Prediko-enibet in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and, along with the priests present, lays hands on their heads while ' Our Father' is read." Then the ordained are exhorted with the Apostle Peter's word to feed the flock of Christ. Then follows the benediction and a hymn. .And then the ordained receive letters of priest's orders {prdster- href) from the bishop to have evidence of their lawful election and consecration {wijgzel). If anyone shall dare to use the priest's oflice without being elected, or called, or ordained after this manner by the bishop he will be punished by the Con- sistorium." Chapter XXIII. describes quite a different ceremony — Hoiv a lawfully called Rector may be installed.
In the service for ordination the bishop is to wear a cope, the assistants their usual vestments, the ordinands surplices. There is, however, an omission of the direction as to communion — which is, of course, to be regretted as a needless break with ancient usage. As this book of 1686 was not a Prayer Book, but a Church law, we may suppose that the service of 1571 was really used, without alteration, in all its parts.
The really serious break, however, occurred in the new Prayer Book of 1809, published (181 1) with a preface by Archbishop Lindblom in the period of neology. The word Prediho-embet — ^'^' ministry " — is here actually substituted for Prest-embet — " priestly office." This is a well-known blot upon the Swedish ordinal. It is, however, to be pointed out (i) that two words had long been considered synonymous, as we have seen in the books of 1571 and ib8(), and they are so treated in Swedish dic- tionaries and in Swedish literature ; {2) that the word priest is used freely in the other services of the book of 181 1 ; (1) that in this service the intention of the Church is shown by the vesting of the man to be ordained in the chasuble, after the commission
^ APPENDIX in.
to office, and before the laying on of hands and Lord's Prayer As the chasuble is so closely connected with the Liturgy, the act of vesting a man in it is practically a commission to administer the Sacrament ; (4) the Augsburg Confession is also perfectly clear that the (proper) work of the ministry is to minister the Word and Sacraments, and that it is confined to the clergy, rightlv chosen and called. .
It is curious that even in the book of 1809, just after the form of ordination, is found this heading : " Announcement and prayer, u'hich, after the sermon, just before the Lord s Prayer, is read from the pulpit, the day ivhen the ordination of priests (prest-'-Jingning) shall occur.
The ordinal of 188 1 made one step in the way of improvement, and while it kept the term Prediko-embet it added the question of which the words in italics are important for our purpose : " Will vou steadfastly abide in God's pure Word, flee all false and heretical doctrine, rightly preach Jesus Christ according to God's Word and administer the Holy Sacraments according to His insiitutio7i?^'
The ordinal of 1894 has the title of Ordination to the priest- hood, and the word Prediko-embet is throughout changed to Prest-embet. Strange to say, the question introduced in 188 1 has been removed, and another, very good in itself, substituted for it, but one that contains no reference to the ministry of the Sacraments.
The vesting in Chasubles {Mdsskrudar) is prescribed, after the delivery of the office and the hymn to the Holy Spirit, and before the laying on of hands and the Lord's Prayer. The Lord's Prayer is followed by a final prayer, based on that of 1571, and by the sentence from S. Peter and a blessing.
Consecration of Bishops in 1571.
The form of consecrating bishops is found in Chapter 27 of the K. O. of 1 571, entitled Sett til at ordinera Biscopar, or Sett til at ordinera en ivahld Biscop, fols. 78 b foil. On a Sun- day or other holy day, before Mass begins, the ordinandus cpiscopus comes before the altar wearing an alb and choir cope, with two clergy of the diocese to which he is to be ordained. The ordinator makes an allocution, asking prayers for the man elected to the bishop's office. When this is done all kneel down, and the Litany is sung by two little choristers, then the ordaincr says two collects, followed by the Epistle and Gospel, and a brief exposition, and by questions to the candidate, in- cluding, " Wilt thou, in the Name of God the Holy Trinity, take up this service and bishop's office?" To which the answer is: " Yes."
FORMS OF ORDIXATION, ETC. 49
After the promises, the ordinandus makes confession of his faith in the words of the Nicene Creed. To this the ordinator says : " To this and everything good the Lord God comfort and strengthen thee. Amen." There was no specific delivery of the bishop's office in this form.
Then the choir sang Sint lumbi vestri prcBcincti, etc., and the ordinator, with the other bishops or priests who were present, laid their hands on the head of the ordinand, the ordinator first saying " Our Father, which art in heaven," etc. And then he adds the prayer which occurs in the ordination of priests, and be- gins, "O Eternal and Merciful God, dear Heavenly Father," etc., as in the ordination of presbyters. This prayer has been already printed, p. 46. It was, of course, necessary for the ordinator to change the words " this ministry and priest's office " into " this ministry and bishop's oflice," and we have evidence that was done, as the form is given at length by Laurelius, Bishop of Vester&s, which may be found in the second volume of the Kyrko-ordingar fore 1686, Part I., p. 342 (Stockholm, 1881), and in Sven Baiter's Historiska Anmdrkningar om Kyrko- ceremonierna. Section 15, p. 669, and Note 21, in the edition of Orebro, 1838. This prayer is very important, as it is the " form " in this service. We may remark that the first edition of Baiter's books was published in 1762, though it was written some time before that.
Consecration of Bishops in 1686 and later.
In the Handbook of 1686, chapter 2, page 148, we find a section, Oni sdtt til ordineva en tvaald hiskop.^^ In this there is a definite gift of the Biskops-embet, " in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,"
This form has been strengthened by the specifying of the archbishop as consecrator, and the mention of three or four bishops as assistants.
In the Handbook of 1S09 we first find the title, " How a bishop shall be set (instdllas) in his office," but it is quite clear that this is the same service as the previous ones (which tell us how a bishop-elect shall be ordained), and the word instdlla was only used, because, as a matter of fact, a bishop was always ordained to a particular diocese, and had no other installation than his consecration. The form of delivery of the office is also sufficient, though it had an Erastian tinge, which has, happily, now been removed. After the questions and oath, the archbishop said : " God Almighty strengthen and help thee to keep all this; and I, according to the authority committed to me on God's behalf by His Church, for this purpose, deliver here-
50 APPENDIX III.
with to thee the Royal Commission, and also the bishop's office in that diocese, and I fix on thy breast this memorial of Jesus Christ (a pectoral cross) for a continual reminder that it is His precious doctrine of reconciliation thou must preach and keep holy; and I give thee also this staff, as a token of thy right and reminder of thy duty, to guide and govern the flock now com- mitted to thee, and this I do, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. May the Most High grant that this may tend to thine own eternal salvation, and that of those entrusted to thee ! We will for this pray God, from whom every good and perfect gift cometh, as we now unite our petitions in the prayer our Saviour has taught us."
The archbishop and assistants now vest the bishop in a cope, \\hereupon they lay their hands upon the bishop's head, and the archbishop prays, " Our Father, which art in heaven." Thereafter the mitre is put on, and the archbishop concludes the service.
Everyone will regret the prominence given in 1S09 to the Royal Commission, but it cannot be held to have invalidated the action.
In 1881 this sentence was used at the delivery of office : " God Almighty strengthen and help thee to keep all this, and, accord- ing to the authority which is entrusted to me, on God's behalf, by His Church, for this purpose, I commit to thee herewith the bishop's office in that diocese, in the Name, etc." The Royal Commission was still given, but no longer mentioned, and the use of the bishop's cross, cope and pastoral staff was continued.
Then followed the laying on of hands and the Lord's Prayer, then the putting on of the mitre, and then a prayer taken, with slight alterations from the English ordinal. It is the prayer which begins in English, " Almighty God and Most Merciful Father, who of Thine infinite goodness," etc.
The ordinal for bishops, in use since 1S94, is the same as in iSSi, minus the oath. We may mention that the word instdllas is practically glossed in the preliminary rubric to the present service by the use of invigas (consecrated) as its precise equivalent.
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