Tract No. 1 (Ad Clerum)
Thoughts
On
The Ministerial Commission,
Respectfully Addressed to the Clergy
{1} 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 not this 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
for the country, yet, (as far as they are concerned,) we could not wish
them a more blessed termination of their course, than 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 {2} simply upon the people, become the
creatures of' the people. Are you content that this should be your
case? Alas! can a greater evil befal 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; others, 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 used 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 a 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 {3} 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 ordinance, it must be necessary;
and if it is not a divine ordinance, 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
gives 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. {4} 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 tests 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 a
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 7s. for 50
copies.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR J. G. F. & J. RIVINGTON,
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD AND WATERLOO PLACE.
1840.
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