H. W. Montefiore, one-time vice-principal of Westcott House, Cambridge, and a priest in the church of England, argues that the episcopacy is of the plene esse of the church. Of those who claim it is if the esse , he writes, “if episcopacy were to be essential to the life of the church, God would have made it quite clear to us. He who had condescended to become man for the salvation of the world would not allow the benefits of His passion to be jeopardized by the doubtful hypotheses of biblical scholarship. There can therefore be no support from the Bible that the apostolic succession through the laying on of hands guarantees the church. It may be read into the text, but it cannot be read out of it.”
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