—This term is well understood to mean those orders conferred in the church which elevate a deacon to the rank of a priest, capable of a full and entire performance of the duties of the Christian ministry. An interesting point has recently been stirred afresh, touching the validity of any ministerial commission which does not draw its authority from the imposition of episcopal hands. I am not proposing to start a controversial question, unsuited to the quiet and pleasant pages of "NOTES AND QUERIES;" but there branches out from this question a Query solely relating to the Church of England, and involving no dispute; and therefore I beg to ask, whether our church holds that a bishop can confer the full orders of the priesthood without any concomitant laying on of the hands of the presbytery? The rubric in the office for the Ordering of Priests, says, "The Bishop with the Priests present shall lay their hands severally upon the head of every one that receiveth the order of Priesthood:" and the Bishop then says, "Receive the Holy Ghost for the office and work of a Priest in the Church of God, now committed unto thee by the imposition of our hands," &c. Is, then, the aid of the priests essential to the due performance of the rite? Does the expression "our hands" mean both bishop's and priests' hands, as the joint instruments of conveying authority to do the work and office of a priest? Is there any instance of an Anglican bishop ordaining a priest without assistance? I am aware that Beveridge considers that the bishop's hands alone are sufficient; that it has never been the practice in the Greek or the Eastern churches for priests to take a part in the ceremony of conferring "full orders;" and that the custom of their doing so is referred to a decree of the Council of Carthage, A.D. 398, which says, "When a priest is ordained, the bishop blessing him and laying the hand upon his head, let all the priests also, that are present, hold their hands upon his head, by the hands of the bishop." Without the slightest reference to which is really the orthodox method, I would merely ask, whether the Church of England could legally forego the intervention of the priests, just as the Church of Scotland dispenses with the aid of bishops in the act of conferring "full orders?"
ALFRED GATTY.
218. Earwig.
—Can any correspondent furnish a derivation of ear-wig superior to the ones in vogue?
ΑΞΩΝ.
219. The Soul's Errand.
—I will thank any one to tell me on what grounds the stanzas called the Soul's Errand are reported to have been written by Sir Walter Raleigh the night before his execution. The first stanza is (memoriter)—
"Go, soul, the body's guest,
Upon a thankless errant!
Fear not to touch the best,