'We do not cry down and destroy all the Reformed Churches abroad': Overall's influence on Cosin's view of on non-episcopal orders
After taking orders, Cosin had been appointed Overall's secretary. The influence upon Cosin of Overall's acceptance of Continental Protestant non-episcopal orders is explicit:
With regard to their [i.e. French Reformed] Orders, he would seem to have accepted the judgment of his "lord and master Overall " (as he delighted to term him), who "was wont to say, 'Though we are not to lessen the jus divinum of Episcopacy, where it is established, and may be had, yet we must take heed that we do not, for want of Episcopacy, where it cannot be had, cry down and destroy all the Reformed Churches abroad, both in Germany, France, and other places, and say they have neither ministers nor sacraments, but all is void and null that they do.'"
(The Correspondence of John Cosin, Lord Bishop of Durham, Volume 1, p.xxxvii.)
A specific example of Overall's approach is seen in the case of Pierre De Laune, who had received French Reformed orders and then sought an appointment in the Church of England:
The friendliness which characterized [Cosin's] intercourse with the Pastors of the Reformed Church in France has already been adverted to. It is probable that Cosin's recognition of their Orders was due, in some degree at least, to the opinion and practice of his "Master Overall," expressed and acted upon many years before. When Dr. De Laune, who translated the English Liturgy into French, presented himself before that prelate for institution into a living to which he had been presented, and admitted that he had no Orders except from the Presbytery at Leyden, the Bishop not only offered him conditional ordination, in case it should appear on taking a legal opinion that he was incapable under the laws of England of holding a benefice without having had Episcopal ordination, but even went so far as to say that, as far as he was personally concerned, he would not object to recognize his Orders, admit his presentation, and give him institution. Some difficulty arose, apparently about the right of the patron to present, but "afterwards Dr. De Laune was admitted into another benefice without any new ordination." A letter containing a full account of this is said to have been written by Cosin, when Secretary to Bishop Overall.
This is a good example of the emergence of the view that episcopal ordination may be required for the good order of the Church of England, rather than as a rejection of French Reformed orders. And even then, as the above extract shows, "Master Overall" was prepared to admit De Laune to a benefice "without any new ordination".
(The Correspondence of John Cosin, Lord Bishop of Durham, Volume 2, p.xliii.)
The third episode concerns Cosin's stance when appointed Bishop of Durham at the Restoration. Seeking to reconcile Dissenters to episcopacy and the established Church, we have evidence of how he - in a matter not unlike Bramhall of Armagh - explicitly stated that he did not regard episcopal ordination as a renunciation and rejection of presbyteral ordination:
When Cosin himself became a Bishop he acted in accordance with Overall's views, at all events as regards the offer of conditional ordination . We learn this from the following account of his conference with Richard Frankland, M.A., of Bishop Auckland, of whom he evidently entertained a very high opinion:
"Bishop Cosin solicited him to conform, promising him not only his Living, but greater preferment upon his compliance. Mr. Frankland told him that his unwillingness to renounce his ordination by Presbyters made him incapable of enjoying the benefit of his favour. This engag'd him in a debate with the Bishop that was manag'd with great calmness, and this was the result of it: His Lordship condescended to ask him whether he would be content to receive a new ordination, so privately that the people might not know of it, and have it conditionally, with such words as these, 'If thou hast not been ordained, I ordain thee, &c.' He thanked him, but told him he durst not yield to the proposal, at the same time assuring his Lordship, that it was not obstinacy but conscience which hindred his compliance."
(The Correspondence of John Cosin, Lord Bishop of Durham, Volume 2, p.xliv.)
Against this background, we can establish something of a genealogy for a High Church generous affirmation of Continental Protestant non-episcopal orders, stretching from the Hookerian Bancroft (Canterbury 1604-10) to Overall, through Cosin and Bramhall, into the view of the Continental Reformed Churches held by the 18th century Church of England, and to just prior to the emergence of Tractarianism (and its radically different stance).
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