The Church: Her Books and Her Sacraments Part 13

No one can read the Prayer-Book Office for the _Ordering of Priests_ without being struck by its contrast to the ordinary conception of Priesthood by the average Englishman. The Bishop's words in the Ordination Service: "Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office and Work of a Priest in the Church of G.o.d," must surely mean more than that a Priest should try to be a good organizer, a good financier, a good preacher, or good at games--though the better he is at all these, the better it may be. But the gift of the Holy Ghost for "the Office and Work of a Priest" must mean more than this.

We may consider it in connexion with four familiar English clerical t.i.tles: _Priest, Minister, Parson, Clergyman_.

_Priest._

According to the Prayer Book, a Priest, or Presbyter, is ordained to do three things, which he, and he alone, can do: to Absolve, to Consecrate, to Bless.

He, and he alone, can _Absolve_. Think! It is the day of his Ordination to the Priesthood. He is saying Matins as a Deacon just _before_ his {131} Ordination, and he is forbidden to p.r.o.nounce the Absolution: he is saying Evensong just _after_ his Ordination, and he is ordered to p.r.o.nounce the Absolution.

He, and he alone, can _Consecrate_. If a Deacon pretends to Consecrate the Elements at the Blessed Sacrament, not only is his act sacrilege and invalid, but even by the law of the land he is liable to a penalty of 100.[6]

He, and he alone, can give the _Blessing_--i.e. the Church's official Blessing. The right of Benediction belongs to him as part of his Ministerial Office. The Blessing p.r.o.nounced by a Deacon might be the personal blessing of a good and holy man, just as the blessing of a layman--a father blessing his child--might be of value as such. In each case it would be a personal act. But a Priest does not bless in his own name, but in the name of the Whole Church. It is an official, not a personal act: he conveys, not his own, but the Church's blessing to the people.

Hence, the valid Ordination of a Priest is of essential importance to the laity.

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But there is another aspect of "the Office and Work of a Priest in the Church of G.o.d". This we see in the word

_Minister._

The Priest not only ministers before G.o.d on behalf of his people, but he ministers to his people on behalf of G.o.d. In this aspect of the Priesthood, he ministers G.o.d's gifts to the laity. If, as a Priest, he pleads the One Sacrifice on behalf of the people, as a Minister he feeds the people upon the one Sacrifice. His chief ministerial duty is to minister to the people--to give them Baptism, Absolution, Holy Communion; to minister to all their spiritual needs whenever, and wherever, he is needed.

It is, surely, a sad necessity that this ministerial "office and work"

should be so often confused with finance, doles, charities, begging sermons, committees, etc. In all such things he is, indeed, truly serving and ministering; but he is often obliged to place them in the wrong order of importance, and so dim the sight of the laity to his real position, and not infrequently make his spiritual ministrations unacceptable. A well-known and London-wide respected Priest said {133} shortly before he died, that he had almost scattered his congregation by the constant "begging sermons" which he hated, but which necessity made imperative. The laity are claiming (and rightly claiming) the privilege of being Church workers, and are preaching (and rightly preaching) that "the Clergy are not the Church". If only they would practise what they preach, and relieve the Clergy of all Church finance, they need never listen to another "begging sermon" again. So doing, they would rejoice the heart of the Clergy, and fulfil one of their true functions as laity.

The Parson.

This is one of the most beautiful of all the clerical names, only it has become smirched by common use.

The word Parson is derived from _Persona_, a _person_. The Parson is _the_ Person--the Person who represents G.o.d in the Parish. It is not his own person, or position, that he stands for, but the position and Person of his Master. Like St. Paul, he can say, "I magnify mine office," and probably the best way to magnify his office will be to minimize himself. The outward marks of {134} respect still shown to "the Parson" in some places, are not necessarily shown to the person himself (though often, thank G.o.d, they may be), but are meant, however unconsciously, to honour the Person he represents--just as the lifting of the hat to a woman is not, of necessity, a mark of respect to the individual woman, but a tribute to the Womanhood she represents.

The Parson, then, is, or should be, the official person, the standing element in the parish, who reminds men of G.o.d.

_Clergyman._

The word is derived from the Greek _kleros_,[7] "a lot," and conveys its own meaning. According to some, it takes us back in thought to the first Apostolic Ordination, when "they cast _lots_, and the _lot_ fell upon Matthias". It reminds us that, as Matthias "was numbered with the eleven," so a "Clergyman" is, at his Ordination, numbered with that long list of "Clergy" who trace their spiritual pedigree to Apostolic days.

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_Ordination Safeguards._

"Seeing then," run the words of the Ordination Service, "into how high a dignity, and how weighty an Office and Charge" a Priest is called, certain safeguards surround his Ordination, both for his own sake, and for the sake of his people.

_Age._

No Deacon can, save under very exceptional circ.u.mstances, be ordained Priest before he is 24, and has served at least a year in the Diaconate.

_Fitness._

This fitness, as in Confirmation, will be intellectual and moral. His _intellectual_ fitness is tested by the Bishop's Examining Chaplain some time before the Ordination to the Priesthood, and, in doubtful cases, by the Bishop himself.

His _moral_ fitness is tested by the Publication during Service, in the Church where he is Deacon, of his intention to offer himself as a Candidate for the Priesthood. To certify that this has been done, this Publication must be signed by the Churchwarden, representing the {136} laity, and by the Inc.u.mbent, representing the Clergy and responsible to the Bishop.

Further safeguard is secured by letters of Testimony from three Beneficed Clergy, who have known the Candidate well either for the past three years, or during the term of his Diaconate.

Finally, at the very last moment, in the Ordination Service itself, the Bishop invites the laity, if they know "any impediment or notable crime" disqualifying the Candidate from being ordained Priest, to "come forth in the Name of G.o.d, and show what the crime or impediment is".

Why all these safeguards? For many obvious reasons, but specially for one. Priest's Orders are indelible.

_The Indelibility of Orders._

Once a Priest, always a Priest. When once the Bishop has ordained a Deacon to the Priesthood, there is no going back. The law, ecclesiastical or civil, may deprive him of the right to _exercise_ his Office, but no power can deprive him of the Office itself.

For instance, to safeguard the Church, and for {137} the sake of the laity, a Priest may, for various offences, be what is commonly called "unfrocked". He may be degraded, temporarily suspended, or permanently forbidden to _officiate_ in any part of the Church; but he does not cease to be a Priest. Any Priestly act, rightly and duly performed, would be valid, though irregular. It would be for the people's good, though it would be to his own hurt.

Again: by _The Clerical Disabilities Act_ of 1870, a Priest may, by the law of the land, execute a "Deed of Relinquishment," and, as far as the law is concerned, return to lay life. This would enable him legally to undertake lay work which the law forbids to the Clergy.[8]

He may, in consequence, regain his legal rights as a layman, and lose his legal rights as a Priest; but he does not cease to be a Priest.

The law can only touch his civil status, and cannot touch his priestly "character". That is indelible.

Hence, no securities can be superfluous to safeguard the irrevocable.

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_Jurisdiction._

As in the case of the Bishops, a Priest's jurisdiction is twofold--_habitual_ and _actual_. Ordination confers on him _habitual_ jurisdiction, i.e. the power to exercise his office, to Absolve, to Consecrate, to Bless, in the "Holy Church throughout the world". And, as in the case of Bishops, for purposes of ecclesiastical order and discipline, this Habitual Jurisdiction is limited to the sphere in which the Bishop licenses him. "Take thou authority," says the Bishop, "to preach the word of G.o.d, and to minister the Sacraments _in the congregation where thou shalt be lawfully appointed thereunto_." This is called _Actual_ Jurisdiction.

_The Essence of the Sacrament._