No. 1. (Ad Clerum) Price 1d.
THOUGHTS
ON
THE MINISTERIAL COMMISSION.
RESPECTFULLY ADDRESSED TO THE CLERGY.
I Am but one of yourselves,--a Presbyter; and therefore I conceal my name, lest I
should take too much on myself by speaking in my own person. Yet speak I must; for the
times are very evil, yet no one speaks against them.
Is this not so? Do not we "look one upon another," yet perform nothing? Do we
not all confess the peril into which the Church is come, yet sit still each in his own
retirement, as if mountains and seas cut off brother from brother? Therefore suffer me,
while I try to draw you forth from those pleasant retreats, which it has been our
blessedness hitherto to enjoy, to contemplate the condition and prospects of our Holy
Mother in a practical way; so that one and all may unlearn that idle habit, which has
grown upon us, of owning the state of things to be bad, yet doing nothing to remedy it.
Consider a moment. Is it fair, is it dutiful, to suffer our Bishops to stand the brunt
of the battle without doing our part to support them? Upon them comes "the care of
all the Churches." This cannot be helped: indeed it is their glory. Not one of us
would wish in the least to deprive them of the duties, the toils, the responsibilities of
their high Office. And, black event as it would be fore the country, yet, (as far as they
are concerned,) we could not wish them a more blessed termination of their course, that
the spoiling of their goods, and martyrdom.
To them then we willingly and affectionately relinquish their high privileges and
honours; we encroach not upon the rights of the SUCCESSORS OF THE APOSTLES; we touch not
their sword and crosier. Yet surely we may be their shield-bearers in the battle without
offence; and by our voice and deeds be to them what Luke and Timothy were to St. Paul.
Now then let me come at once to the subject which leads me to address you. Should the
Government and Country so far forget their GOD as to cast off the Church, to deprive it of
its temporal honours and substance, on what will you rest the claim of respect and
attention which you make upon your flocks? Hitherto you have been upheld by your birth,
your education, your wealth, your connexions; should these secular advantages cease, on
what must CHRIST'S Ministers depend? Is not this a serious practical question? We know how
miserable is the state of religious bodies not supported by the State. Look at the
Dissenters on all sides of you, and you will see at once that their Ministers, depending
simply upon the people, become the creatures of the people. Are you content that
this should be your case? Alas! can a greater evil befall Christians, than for their
teachers to be guided by them, instead of guiding? How can we "hold fast the form of
sound words," and "keep that which is committed to our trust," if our
influence is to depend simply on our popularity? Is it not our very office to oppose the world? can we then allow ourselves to court it? to preach smooth things and
prophesy deceits? to make the way of life easy to the rich and indolent, and to bribe the
humbler classes by excitements and strong intoxicating doctrine? Surely it must not be
so;--and the question recurs, on what are we to rest our authority, when the State
deserts us?
CHRIST has not left His Church without claim of its own upon the attention of men.
Surely not. Hard Master He cannot be, to bid us oppose the world, yet give us no
credentials for so doing. There are some who rest their divine mission on their own
unsupported assertion; other, who rest it upon their popularity; others, on their success;
and others, who rest it upon their temporal distinctions. This last case has, perhaps,
been too much our own; I fear we have neglected the real ground on which our authority is
built,--OUR APOSTOLICAL DESCENT.
We have been born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of GOD. The LORD JESUS CHRIST gave His SPIRIT to His Apostles; they in turn laid their
hands on those who should succeed them; and these again on others; and so the sacred gift
has been handed down to our present Bishops, who have appointed us as their assistants,
and in some sense representatives.
Now every one of us believes this. I know that some will at first deny they do; still
they do believe it. Only, it is not sufficiently practically impressed on their minds.
They do believe it; for it is the doctrine of the Ordination Service, which they
have recognised as truth in the most solemn season of their lives. In order, then, not to
prove, but to remind and impress, I entreat your attention to the words when you were made
Ministers of CHRIST'S Church.
The office of Deacon was thus committed to you: "Take thou authority to execute
the office of Deacon in the Church of GOD committed unto thee: In the name," &c.
And the priesthood thus:
"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. Whose sins thou dost forgive,
they are forgiven; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained. And be thou a
faithful dispenser of the Word of GOD, and of His Holy Sacraments: In the name,"
&c.
These, I say, were words spoken to us, and received by us, when we were brought nearer
to GOD than at any other time of our lives. I know the grace of ordination is contained in
the laying on of hands, not in any form of words;--yet in our own case, (as has ever been
usual in the Church,) words of blessing have accompanied the act. Thus we have confessed
before GOD our belief, that through the Bishop who ordained us, we received the HOLY
GHOST, the power to bind and to loose, to administer the Sacraments, and to preach. Now how is he able to give these great gifts? Whence is his right? Are these words idle,
(which would be taking GOD'S name in vain,) or do they express merely a wish, (which
surely is very far below their meaning,) or do they not rather indicate that the Speaker
is conveying a gift? Surely they can mean nothing short of this. But whence, I ask, his
right to do so? Has he any right, except as having received the power from those who
consecrated him to be a Bishop? He could not give what he had never received. It is plain
then that he but transmits; and that the Christian Ministry is a succession.
And if we trace back the power of ordination from hand to hand, of course we shall come to
the Apostles at last. We know we do, as a plain historical fact; and therefore all we, who
have been ordained Clergy, in the very form of our ordination acknowledged the doctrine of
the APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION.
And for the same reason, we must necessarily consider none to be really ordained
who have not thus been ordained. For if ordination is a divine ordinace, how dare
we use it? Therefore all who use it, all of us, must consider it necessary. As well
might we pretend the Sacraments are not necessary to Salvation, while we make use of the
offices of the Liturgy; for when GOD appoints means of grace, they are the means.
I do not see how any one can escape from this plain view of the subject, except, (as I
have already hinted,) by declaring, that the words do not mean all that they say. But only
reflect what a most unseemly time for random words is that, in which Ministers are set
apart for their office. Do we not adopt a Liturgy, in order to hinder inconsiderate
idle language, and shall we, in the most sacred of all services, write down, subscribe,
and use again and again forms of speech, which have not been weighed, and cannot be taken
strictly?
Therefore, my dear Brethren, act up to your professions. Let it not be said that you
have neglected a gift; for if you have the Spirit of the Apostles on you, surely this is a great gift. "Stir up the gift of GOD which is in you." Make much of it. Show
your value of it. Keep it before your minds as an honourable badge, far higher than that
secular respectability, or cultivation, or polish, or learning, or rank, which give you a
hearing with the many. Tell them of your gift. The times will soon drive you to do
this, if you mean to be still any thing. But wait not for the times. do not be compelled,
by the world's forsaking you, to recur as if unwillingly to the high source of your
authority. Speak out now, before you are forced, both as glorying in your privilege, and
to ensure your rightful honour from your people. A notion has gone abroad, that they can
take away your power. They think they have given and can take it away. They think it lies
in the Church property, and they know that they have politically the power to confiscate
that property. They have been deluded into a notion that present palpable usefulness,
produceable results, acceptableness to your flocks, that these and such like are the test
of your Divine commission. Enlighten them in this matter. Exalt our Holy Fathers, the
Bishops, as the Representatives of the Apostles, and the Angels of the Churches; and
magnify your office, as being ordained by them to take part in their Ministry.
But, if you will not adopt my view of the subject, which I offer to you, not
doubtingly, yet (I hope) respectfully, at all events, CHOOSE YOUR SIDE. To remain neuter
much longer will be itself to take part. Choose your side; since side you shortly
must, with one or other party, even though you do nothing. Fear to be of those, whose line
is decided for them by chance circumstances, and who may perchance find themselves with
the enemies of CHRIST, while they think but to remove themselves from worldly politics.
Such abstinence is impossible in troublous times. HE THAT IS NOT WITH ME, IS AGAINST ME,
AND HE THAT GATHERETH NOT WITH ME SCATTERETH ABROAD.
[SIXTH EDITION]
These Tracts are continued in Numbers, and sold at the price of 2d. for each sheet,
or 7 s. for 50 copies.
LONDON : PRINTED FOR J. G. F. & J. RIVINGTON,
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD AND WATERLOO PLACE.
1840
GILBERT & RIVINGTON, Printers, St. John's Square, London.
Source:
This text is part of the Internet
Modern History Sourcebook. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and
copy-permitted texts for introductory level classes in modern European and World history.
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© Paul Halsall, October 1998
