"The hereditary fellowship of his Apostles": Jelf's Bampton Lectures on the Episcopal Succession

In the third of his 1844 Bampton Lectures, An inquiry into the means of grace, their mutual connection, and combined use, with especial reference to the Church of England, Jelf - one of those whom Nockles lists as the 'Zs', the post-1833 continuation of the Old High tradition - celebrated the historic succession maintained by the ecclesia Anglicana. He did in terms which exemplified the Old High tradition, considering Reformation and catholicity as complementary rather than contradictory (unlike the Tractarians). His rejoicing in the preservation of the historic succession amidst the trauma of the 1640s and 1650s reflects Old High native pride in the restoration of the Church and episcopate, in a manner echoing Taylor's great sermon at the restoration of the Irish episcopate in 1661. And underpinning it all is a profound sense of gratitude for the episcopal succession as a gift of grace.

And here let us pause to offer our thanksgivings to Him, from whom "every good gift, and every perfect gift cometh down," for His inestimable mercy, in having placed a branch of His true candlestick amongst ourselves; in so ordering the course of our Reformation, that we were not severed from the unity of Christ's body, nor cut off from the hereditary fellowship of His Apostles. It was not our merit, nor our foresight, nor any human device, but His Almighty Providence which overruled the mode of our purification from Romish error. He turned the hearts of certain Bishops, canonically ordained, from Popery to the true Catholic Faith; and the gifts which they had received from real, though erring, successors of the Apostles, they were empowered to transmit unbroken to an equally Apostolical ministry in a pure Church. Amidst all our sins, notwithstanding our many civil convulsions, in spite of hostility, and treachery, and calumnies, which have only led to a more triumphant vindication of the validity of our Orders, this emblem and element of primitive unity has been preserved to us unimpaired. And, by God's grace, it will be preserved to us still; since He is giving us a growing appreciation of its value, towards the edification and efficiency of our Church both at home and beyond sea.