men who have public authority given them to ordain?
Because the service does not allow any to be ordained except by a bishop.
Why is the office confined to the bishops?
Because they are the only ministers who have ever received authority to ordain; and a person can never possess authority to ordain others to be stewards and ambassadors of Christ, unless he has received it from Christ and His Apostles.
How do we know that the bishops have received this authority?
Because in the Church of England and in many other Churches, we can tell from the records, who ordained almost every bishop one after another, up to the very Apostles themselves.
And how is it, where you cannot trace them up in this way?
It has always been the known rule that no bishop could be made, except in public, nor without being ordained by those who were bishops before him.
In what manner does a bishop call and send men to execute the office of ministers?
He lays his hand on their heads and prays to God for them, and then in the Name of God gives them the power of "forgiving and retaining sins" together with authority to preach God's holy Word and to administer the Sacraments.
