Priestly office : a pastoral letter to the clergy of North Carolina by their diocesan

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THE PRIESTLY OFFICE: A PASTORAL LETTER TO THE
CLERGY OF NORTH CAROLINA BY THEIR DIOCESAN
By
Levi Silliman Ives
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2013
http://archive.org/details/priestlyofficepaOOIevi
North Carolina State* Library
Raleigh
THE PRIESTLY OFFICE
PASTORAL LETTER
THE CLERGY OF NORTH CAROLINA,
BY THEIR DIOCESAN,]
RT. REV. L. SILLD1AN IVES, D. D.
NEW-YORK:
STANFORD AND SWORDS, 137, BROADWAY.
1349.
PASTORAL LETTER.
TO THE CLERGY OF THE DIOCESE OF NORTH CAROLINA.
Dear Brethren : By the providence of God, I
was unable the last spring to fulfil my purpose of
presenting to you, in convention assembled, the im-portant
truths set forth in this Letter, on The Office
of Priesthood. Convinced of the peculiar necessity
of these truths to the present time, and their fitness as a
preface to others, which, to further the " obedience of
faith," I feel constrained to address to my whole dio-cese,
I hereby commend them to your earnest and
prayerful consideration, and through you to your re-spective
congregations.
<; Convinced," I say, " of the peculiar necessity of
these truths to the present time," let me not in the
outset be misunderstood. It is not that I have dis_
covered any special resistance, in our day, to the due
exercise of the priestly functions. But it is that I
feel these functions have not been duly exercised by
ourselves, who are entrusted with " the ministry of
reconciliation." That one and all of us, either from
the continual pressure from without, or from opposing
principles and influences within, have sadly failed in
the fulfilment of our sacred office and trust. It is
true, we may not have been guilty of keeping men
back from Baptism, Confirmation, and the holy Eu-charist.
And this would be much if understood as
meant by Christ, and received by the early saints.
But what is it now ? what is it as too generally ex-pressed
in our own work and in the lives of our peo-ple?
Let us take our liturgical offices for Baptism,
Confirmation, and the Holy Communion, toourclosets,
and on our knees examine each part of them—mark
the spiritual system they unfold—the deep self-con-secration
to God which they require—the high spir-itual
gifts they witness to—the heart-searching vows
they record—the spirit of Christ, the education of
conscience, the thorough self-examination, the earn-est
self-discipline, the heavenly pursuits, the exalted
attainments they imply ; how, by the power of a new
nature, of a life-giving union with the incarnate God,
of "a life hid with Christ in God," they seem to
raise the Christian above, and as by a great gulf,
separate him from the unbaptized or the professed
votaries of sense ; and then with the actual state of
our people before us, ask ourselves whether this awful
failure to realize in their spirit and lives that which is
so solemnly taught in the divine sacraments to which
they have come may not, in a humiliating degree, be
owing to our own want of earnestness and fidelity in
the discharge of our priestly functions ? And whether
this does not more than justify your Bishop in here set-ting
before your minds the nature and reality of these
functions, with some of the weighty duties which
necessarily result.
You have received " the Holy Ghost for the office
and work of priests in the Church of God."
All authority in the Church is from God, to be
exercised for God. To check in us the sin of pre-sumption
and cultivate within us the grace of fidelity,
this great truth must be kept before our minds. Men,
set apart for holy things in the Church, are some-times
led to think themselves in some sort proprie-tors
of the Church ; as having a right to impress
upon it their own wisdom and skill ; or to modify and
build it up in their own way. Whereas " all things
are of God." The Church, is " the Church of the
living God,"—founded by Him and toberuled by Him.
Even Jesus, the Divine Head of the Church, did
nothing of Himself,—nothing as of His own unde-rived
authority and power. " All power is given
unto me," He says. "As the Father gave me com-mandment
even so I do." Hence "the Son of
Man has power on earth to forgive sins." If it be so
with the master, how much more with the servant
!
If " God manifested in the flesh " was under necessi-ty,
as our great High Priest, of submitting in all
things to the will of Him that sent Him ; what must
be the depth of our self-subjugation as ministers com-missioned
by His authority, and acting in his stead,
for his body the Church !
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f Our first and highest care, then, is to keep before
our minds the divine power by which we act, and
the divine will made known as the guide and end of
our action : that " all things are of God ;" that all,
in the scheme of redemption, sprang from the depths
of His infinite love, and was fashioned in every
essential feature, by His sovereign will—through
whatever channel, or by whatever agency, it has
been enjoined upon men : nothing being left for them,
no matter what may be their place in the Church,
but faith, and submission, and obedience ; that all
truth in the religion of Christ is the mind of God,
over which no other mind unauthorized and uncon-trolled
by God, can have the smallest power ; that
the Church, which embodies and sets forth that
truth, is the institution of God, concerning which?
and in which, no one can, without great hazard to
himself, speak or act, except he be commissioned
from above.
Another caution is to be observed. Whatever
power may be committed to us, as Christ's ministers,
can be effectual, in its exercise, only within the
limits of His laws, and through the merits of His
perfect sacrifice. " God hath reconciled us to Him-self
by Jesus Christ," though He " hath committed
to us the ministry of this reconciliation." So that
whatever terms He may have affixed to the cove-nant
of redemption—whatever priestly acts he may
have made necessary to our union with Him, or life
in Him ; or whatever good works we may be required
or encouraged to do, " to turn away his displeasure
and perfect holiness in His fear ;" all must be submit-ted
to and done by the aid of His Spirit ; and draw
their entire value and efficacy from the rich fountain
of His blood. Let us be careful then to bear this in
mind, in all our doings, however essential to " the
obedience of faith," lest we be guilty of ascribing to
them, the virtue which cometh only from the all-pre-vailing
merits of our incarnate Lord.
Still God hath made men the instruments of salva-tion
in His Church—hath empowered them to act,
as His representatives, in reconciling sinners unto
Himself, and fitting them for his eternal fellowship.
For to them hath He committed " the ministry of re-conciliation."
Let us see how this is. The history of it cannot
fail to throw light upon its nature and reality. This
history begins with Christ, "the Head over all things
unto the Church, which is His body." Having re-ceived
from God the Father, "all power in heaven
and earth," He came to set up His kingdom and
bring men back to His communion and love. The
first step was to humble Himself, and take our nature
in the womb of the blessed Virgin ; thus presenting
Himself to us as God and man, with his invisible di-vinity
clothed in His visible humanity. Here, then,
we have in the person of our great High Priest, the
beginning of the Church in its perfection on earth,
and a type or representation of what the Church was
ever after to be—a union of the divine and human
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—God uniting Himself -with man, that man might
again be united with God—united not only by an in-terchange
of will, but by a positive interchange of na-ture.
The Head of the Church is God manifest in
the flesh. The body, surely, cannot, in nature, be
different from the Head. If the Head be both
human and divine, so must be the body. If the Head
be thus both visible and invisible, so must be the body.
Hence, according to St. Paul, the end of our being
called into the Church and placed under its ministry,
is, " that we may come unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ ;" "may
grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head,
even Christ, from whom the whole body, fitly joined
together and compacted by that which every joint
supplieth, according to the effectual working in the
measure of every part, maketh increase of the body
unto the edifying of itself in love." Here is a union
between Christ and His Church, like unto that which
He Himself expressed when He said, t: I am the vine,
ye are the branches." But the vine cannot be essen-tially
different from the branches.
We see then that the relation which Christ bears
to His Church forbids the idea of any important dif-ference,
in nature, between them ; and hence requires
that where one is divine and human, the other in a
certain sense, and to certain degree, must be divine
and human also ; where one is both visible and invi-sible,
the other must be the same ; justifying the lan-guage
of St. Peter, where he affirms that by " the ex-
ceeding great and precious promises of the Gospel,"
or by their fulfilment in ourselves, " we are made
partakers of the divine nature."
The reconciliation, therefore, of man to God by
Jesus Christ, the ministry of which is committed to
us, is a much more exalted and vital union, than is
sometimes supposed. A union implying not only
that the sacrifice of the incarnate Son, avails to our
justification ; but also that the gracious communica-tion
of His nature, puts us into a justified state
—
makes us again one with Himself; not so much cov-ers
us with His righteousness, as fills us with His
righteousness ; not declares us just on the ground of
bis own justice merely, but makes us just by the in-fused
power of that justice ; not stands without us
an ideal holiness, but is formed within us a real holi-ness.
He became the Son of Man, that, by a mys-terious
union with Him, we might become the sons of
God ; condescended to be born of a Virgin, that we
might have a new birth into Himself; to take our
nature, that we might be made partakers of His.
Here then is the foundation of the ministry of re-conciliation—
a union to be established and perfected
between Christ and redeemed sinners, calling for the
intervention of the priestly office.
The Son of God became incarnate ; offered Him-self
a sacrifice for sin ; rose from the dead for our
justification ; made the Church his body ; placed
Himself at its head ; breathed into it His spirit and
life ; commanded men to " be born again " into His
1*
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fellowship ; to be " made alive unto God in Him ;"
to become " members of His body, of His flesh and
of His bones ;" and was then " received up into
glory." But who was left to carry out this glorious
design of his incarnation—to fulfill the ministry of
His reconciliation with man ? It is true, the Holy
Ghost was given to the world to " convince of sin, of
righteousness, and of judgment ;" was given to the
Church to " sanctify and cleanse it, that it might be
a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any
such thing ;" but God hath ordained that the Holy
Ghost shall act upon the world, and in His Church,
through an outward, visible agency. Now what is
that agency ? Who was commissioned to act in
Christ's stead after His ascension—to exercise His
authority and dispense instrumentally the manifold
gifts of His grace? Was each individual to act for
himself—to be his own " Prophet, Priest, and
King ?" To teach himself—accept his own sub-mission—
remit his own sins—impose his own dis-cipline—
be his own judge ? St. Paul answers this
question in the following words : " And He (Christ)
gave some apostles, some prophets, some evange-lists,
some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of
the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edi-fying
of the body of Christ, till we all come in the
unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son
of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the
stature of the fulness of Christ."
And we see how Christ did this. As He was
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about to be taken up into Heaven, He called the
eleven disciples to Him and said: "All power is
given unto me in Heaven and earth, go ye there-fore,
disciple all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost,—teaching them to observe all things whatso-ever
I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you
alway, even unto the end of the world." "As my
Father sent me, even so send I you." " And he
breathed on them and said : Receive ye the Holy
Ghost ; whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted
unto them ; and whosoever sins ye retain, they are
retained."
Who can listen to these words and not feel that
Christ, before His ascension, ordained a living, visi-ble
ministry in His Church, and committed to that
ministry an awful power to be exercised for the com-fort,
and edification, and salvation of its members !
Let us examine into the nature and fulness of this
power thus originally conveyed. " All power is
given unto me—go ye therefore." " As my
Father sent me, even so send I you. This language
teaches, as plainly as it is possible for language to
teach, that with whatever ministerial power Christ
came invested from the Father, with that same power
did His first ministers go forth invested from Himself.
The words of a commission, from its very nature,
must be taken literally, according to their natural or-der
and force. And the words we are considering,
let us bear in mind, are those of Christ's commission
to His disciples. Now what do these words import?
or what are the special powers they, define or may,
from the subsequent claims and acts of the Apostles,
be safely supposed to embrace ?
The first of these is the poivcr to remit sins. A
power inseparable from the idea of that ministry,
whose object it is to reconcile sinners to God through
Christ. Sin makes them His enemies and interposes
the chief bar to their restoration to His fellowship.
This, then, first of all, must be remitted. Its curse
taken away ; its dominion overthrown. We ought
not to be surprised, therefore, that the first and largest
power, yea, in one sense the sum of all others, com-mitted
to the ministry of reconciliation, is the power
to remit sins through Christ. Not only to preach
the Gospel which provides for their remission ; not
only to declare that remission upon contrition and
confession, but also to do priestly acts by which,
through the virtue of Christ's sacrifice, the pardon of
sin, and the grace to resist it, are conveyed to the
soul. At the head of these stands baptism. This
sacrament, where due qualifications exist, takes away
sin. " Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins."' " Arise and be bap-tized,
and wash away thy sins."
But sins may be committed after baptism—com-mitted
against the vows of the holy covenant made
to God, as represented by His ministers. Hence
they were entrusted with power to remit, upon true
repentance, such sins, and restore the offenders to
the forfeited blessings of their baptismal state.
13
This power of absolution is not only necessary to
the solemn relation which the priesthood bears to
the baptized, but has always been held by the one
Catholic Church as having been explicitly entrusted
to the Apostles by the words of their commission—
" Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto
them," he.
This remission of sins, too, was more or less con-nected
with the sacrifice offered in the Holy Euchar-ist.
The Apostolic Church was led to this convic-tion
by the words of her Divine Head at the institu-tion
of this blessed sacrament ; and hence always en-couraged
those who came to it with a penitent heart
and lively Faith, to expect forgiveness of all theif
sins. Besides, the sacrificial character of the sacra-ment
itself, furnished to all true penitents a pledge of
such forgiveness.
In addition, however, to the remission of sins, de-pendent
upon these priestly acts, there were also, as
dependent upon the same acts, a new- birth into
Christ's Kingdom—a vital union with Himself—
a
participation of His spirit and life. Who can, for
one moment, doubt this, that has not received his im-pressions
from other sources than the teaching of Christ
and his Apostles? Who can doubt it, that has not
shut from his understanding and heart, the true force
of such words as these? ' ; Except one be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
Kingdom of God." "As many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ." " I am
the Vine, ye are the branches." " He that eateth
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me, even he shall live by me." " Except ye eat
the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, ye
have no life in you." Thus was it when the ministe-rial
commission was first given.
But our Lord embraced still other things under
this commission ; authority to teach was one. Hav-ing
empowered His disciples to baptize all nations,
He gave them commission and command to teach
their converts all things which he had taught them ;
commission and command to " feed his flock ;" to
" feed his sheep and lambs." So that instruction to
be right, and safe, and sure of God's blessing, was,
in the Church of the Apostles, to be given under
ministerial commission.
Besides, to give the young disciple power to re-sist
manfully the world, the flesh and the devil, and
stability in " the faith once for all delivered to the
saints," there was instituted the further rite of lay-ing
on of hands. This rite, in its sacramental char-acter,
was first received, as shadowed forth in the
descent of the Holy Ghost upon our blessed Lord
after His baptism, and as enjoined in the teaching and
exemplified in the practice of His immediate disci-ples.
And although its administration was confined
to the highest order of the ministry, it had respect in
a degree to the priestly function of that order, suffi-ciently
so at least, to justify us in classing it under
the priestly powers at first committed to the holy
ministry.
We have then before us this solemn fact—that the
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forgiveness of sins, the engrafting of sinners into
Christ, and training their souls in the life of faith for
the eternal fellowship of heaven, were entrusted
by our Lord to the ministry of reconciliation, and
that this ministry was committed to the Apostles.
In their day, therefore, it is clear that if men would
be saved, they must seek salvation from Christ
through the priestly office. That the first ministers
stood " in Christ's stead ;" and in such a sense as
that whosoever submitted to their just authority and
received the blessings which they, as His instru-ments,
had to give, submitted to Christ Himself, and
received His grace in the only way of His appoint-ment.
The question now is, and it is a grave one, does
this ministerial power still continue in the Church ?
1st. That the terms of the commission seem to
require an affirmative answer can hardly be denied ;
as by these terms " every creature " of " the whole
world " to the " end of time," is placed under apos-tolic
authority. The Apostles having been com-missioned
to " preach the Gospel to every creature ;"
to "baptize all nations," and to rest in the assurance
that Christ, the Divine Head of the Church, would be
with them "always, even unto the end of the world ;"
it is impossible to conceive how this could be, ex-cept
by an unfailing transmission of the priestly
power thus committed to them, to all future ages of
the Church.
2d. Besides, the necessity of this priestly pow-
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er, ifwe are to be guided by the Gospel and not our own
fancies, is as great now as it was in the days of the
Apostles. This necessity is founded in the spiritual
condition of man, as revealed and provided -for by
Almighty God. And this condition has not changed.
The necessity of baptism, authoritative teaching, ab-solution
from post-baptismal sin, confirmation, and
the Holy Eucharist, and other things, at first com-mitted
to " the ministry of reconciliation," seems to
have increased rather than lessened since the death
of St. John. It is as true now as ever, that " Except
one be born of water, and of the spirit, he cannot en-ter
into the Kingdom of God." As true now as ever
that " the priest's lips are to keep knowledge, and
the people to receive the law at his mouth." As
true now as ever, that man sinning mortally, or so
as to hazard his spiritual life, after baptism, stands in
need of absolution from that priesthood to whom
Christ said, "Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are re-mitted
unto them." As true now as ever, that the
reception of the Holy Ghost by " the laying on of
hands," is necessary to the Christian's confirmation
in " the principles of the doctrine of Christ." As
true now as ever, that " except ye eat the flesh of
the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no
life in you." And if these blessings could not be
reached, in the days of the Apostles, except through
the Priesthood, how can they now ? Has a new com-mission
been given, in place of the apostolic commis-sion
? If so, what and where is that commission?
North Carolina Sfafe Library
Raleigh
17
Or has God revealed to us any modification or change
in the old commission, by virtue of which we may
safely deny to the priesthood now, the ministerial
powers entrusted to the Apostles ? If so, what and
where is that revelation ? The truth is, God has
made no such modification or change; and man
makes it at a terrible risk.
We profess to " believe one Catholic and Apos-tolic
Church." Not only its existence, but its
truth, as the living, speaking, directing body of
Christ ; that body in which we have our spiritual
being, our knowledge, our nourishment unto everlast-ing
life. Now has that body ever been without the
priestly function, exercised in the way we have point-ed
out, by the Apostles ? Has she ever relinquished
her claim to it? Has she ever lived a day, since
becoming "the pillar and ground of the truth," since
being invested with "the ministry of reconciliation,"
without asserting her possession, in the actual exer-cise,
of its high powers? Individuals and communi-ties,
impatient under her restraints, and reckless of their
own salvation, have, it is true, resisted her claim and
broken from her authority ; but has she, at any
time, been faithless to herself? doubted of her
priestly powers, or failed to exert them for the salva-tion
of men ? powers received from her divine head,
and transmitted by unfailing succession ?
I will not do you the dishonor of intimating, by a
single word, the need of an answer to these questions.
You know the history of the Church. You have
IS
before you the expressive and impressive ordinal of
our own branch of it. Hear the preface : " These
three orders of the ministry, bishops, priests, and
deacons, have ever been in the Church of Christ,
and were ever had in such reverend estimation, that
no man might presume to execute any of them ex-cept
he were first called, tried, examined, approved
and admitted thereto by lawful authority." Hear
the office itself, where it solemnly admonishes the
candidate for the priesthood, " to have always in re-membrance
into how high a dignity, how weighty an
office and charge he is called—that is to say, to be
a messenger, watchman, and steward of the Lord
—
to teach and premonish, to feed and provide for the
Lord's family ; that they may be saved through
Christ forever." Surely if such be the dignity and
end of the priesthood now, it can have lost none of
its apostolic character and force.
3d. But more than this, the gifts and graces first
bestowed upon the ministry, show its peculiar and un-changing
character,—give it an individuality and dis-tinctness,
and prominence, consistent only with a
fixed and essential institution. When our blessed
Lord was about to enter upon His ministerial office,
the Holy Ghost descended upon Him in a bodily
shape. When about to send forth his disciples to
execute the same office, " He breathed on them and
said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Now this ex-traordinary
communication had doubtless a two-fold
object, First, to set apart and qualify for the holy
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ministry—to elevate a peculiar grade—to fit for a
peculiar work : and hence to give a stamp of divini-ty
and authority not to be effaced ; to infuse into the
office a high and abiding life, and to invest it with a
sacramental dignity and power. Secondly, to en-trust
to this office gifts for sinful men—to impart to
Christ's stewards '•' the manifold grace of God." The
gifts, which the Divine Head of the Church, at His
ascension "received for men," were, as St. Paul
represents, to be dispensed to them by the -'ministry
of reconciliation." Hence, they who first exercised
this ministry, claimed to be the channels of such
gifts. St. Paul desires to go to Rome, that he " might
impart to his converts some spiritual gift;" and
speaks of them alias being "partakers of his grace,"
which really was nothing more or less than the grace of
Christ entrusted to him for the penitent and faithful.
And this ministry thus endowed, was given to edify
the Church—not for a period limited to the age of
the Apostles, but " till we all come in the unity of
the faith and of the Jcnowledge of the Son of God
unto a perfect man"
Upon this principle is it, and upon this alone, (for
there is no other that can justify us,) that our branch
of the Catholic Church still uses, at the ordination of
priests, the language which our blessed Lord used in
commissioning the Disciples—"Receive ye the Holy
Ghost, for the office and work of a priest in the
Church of God ; whose sins thou dost remit, they
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are remitted unto them ; and whose sins thou dost
retain, they are retained."
When we consider, then, that the commission first
given by our Lord embraced the whole world, and
reached to the end of time, and that no other com-mission
to minister in holy things has ever been given
to His Church—when we consider the end of this
ministry towards the children of God—towards the
Spouse and Body of Christ—when we reflect that
" the one Catholic and Apostolic Church," in whom
we profess our Faith, hath ever owned and exercised
this ministry—and that for its "office and work " she
still, in the most solemn way, asserts her authority
from Christ, to impart, in His words, the gift of the
Holy Ghost : we dare not doubt that the same
priestly power, with which the incarnate Son came
invested from the Father, and with which he so
solemnly invested His Disciples, still continues for
the recovery of sinners—for the perfecting of saints
—for the edifying of the His Body, the Church.
Our first duty, then, my brethren, is to consider
seriously whose ministers we are. If by any earthly
power we had been put into our office, then might
we safely yield in the fulfilment of it, to earthly
authority or influence—might inquire for the will,
and be subservient to the tastes, and prejudices, and
caprices, of sinful men. But, as God has commis-sioned
and sent us to do His will—put us in trust
with " the ministry of reconciliation." for the faithful
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fulfillment of which, He will make us give account
at the judgment of the great day ; you will perceive
" that it is a very small thing," as St. Paul saith, cc to
be judged by man's judgment, if we do but keep a
good conscience before God." In order to this,
we must seek above all things, to honor God before
the world to whom we are sent—must show our con-viction
of the dignity and awful solemnity of our
trust, by our humility, our meekness, our wisdom,
our self-discipline, our deadness to the world, our
strict and steady imitation of Him, who clothed us
with His authority and breathed upon us His spirit,
and left us His bright 'and spotless example, as the
first bishop and shepherd of our souls. To gain this
deep sense of the reality and weight of our divine
mission, we have need to observe more retirement
from the world and more unreserved devotion to God.
To stand more aloof from those scenes and influences,
which we are called upon to control or resist, and
be in close communion with Him, whose authority
we represent,—whose will we are sent to do, whose
Spirit is our life, and strength and consolation.
" The Holy Ghost given us for our office and
work," must first make that work effectual upon our-selves
; must not only set apart our persons to holy
things, but take possession of our thoughts, affec-tions,
desires and powers, and appropriate them all
in all their strength, to the ministry of God.
We see then the reason why the Eternal Son,
who first took this ministry, so often retired from the
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society of men, to some " desert place," where by
fasting and prayer and divine contemplations, He
might teach us, as partakers in His ministry, how to
bring ourselves into higher communion with God the
Father, throw oft* more effectually the power of the
wicked world, and yield ourselves more unreservedly
to His sway.
Our next duty, beloved, is to have ever imprinted
on our minds, the end of our ministry towards the
children of God—towards the spouse and body of
Christ." That it is emphatically " the ministry of
reconciliation" That " all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to Himself, by Jesus Christ, and
hath committed to us the ministry of ?^econciUation. ,,
That we have received priestly authority from Christ
through "Apostolic succession,"—not to lord it over
God's people, but to become their servants for Jesus'
sake "—the divinely appointed instruments of their
salvation ; to lead them from sin, from condemnation,
and death, and " bring them unto Christ, who is our
life ;" and to watch over them, " watch for their souls
as they that must give account." We must make
our people feel this—feel that our ministry is a bless-ing
sent from Heaven to them. That we have no
more control over it—no more liberty to change it,
or suppress its powers, than they themselves have.
That it is ordained by God to apply, through the
power of the Holy Ghost, the efficacy of Christ's
sacrifice for their salvation. Hence that the question
of its validity is not a question of non-essentials—nor
23
of mere taste and preference ; but one of most vital
interest to their souls ; identified with their dearest
blessings and hopes—intervoven into the very texture
of" the truth as it is in Jesus." That instead of aery
for popular preaching, their prayer should be for au-thoritative
preaching and valid sacraments—not for a
pleasing speaker, nor an agreeable man ; but for " a
man of God ;" one clothed with the authority and
imbued with the spirit of Christ : who has power
from Christ to lead them unto Christ—has received
of the Holy Ghost to make them partakers of the
Holy Ghost—been entrusted with the truth to guide
them into all truth—made a steward of the manifold
gifts of God, that they may be " furnished unto every
good work ;" enabled " to perfect holiness in the
fear of God."
But to ensure, beloved brethren, a due recognition
of our priestly character from our people, we haveonly
to make them feel itsnecessity—to turn their attention
from our claims to their own wants. The strongest
argument for our office, will be urged by a voice within
themselves : a voice sent forth from the convictions
of an instructed conscience, from a clear view of their
baptismal state—of the near relation in which they
were placed to God and all holy beings—of the fear-ful
gifts imparted to them—the strict account to be
demanded of them : sent forth from an earnest spirit,
striving for conformity with God; desiring, above
all things, the fellowship of Christ—the power of
the Holy Ghost—the guardianship of angels—the
24
perfection of saints, the glories of Heaven. Sent
forth from a heart trembling under the condemnation
of sin ; pierced with a sense of having defiled the
temple of the Holy Ghost, crucified the Son of God
afresh, and put him to an open shame. Sent forth
from an understanding oppressed with the blindness
of sin—with the convictions of stupidity and doubt,
and delusion, and disorder, brought upon the soul by
the power of pride, and envy, and anger, and lust,
and covetousness, and gluttony, and sloth, with all
their dismal train of consequent corruptions. Sent
forth from the depths of the contrite spirit—of the
trembling, prostrate soul, in tones of supplicating
earnestness—" Sirs, what must I do to be saved ?
—
What must I do to inherit eternal life ? " ' How shall
I escape the curse of my broken vows? How pro-pitiate
the favor of Him, whose blood I have tram-pled
under foot? How bring back to my wretched,
helpless soul, the presence of that Spirit to whose
blessed influence I have done such foul despite ?
'
When this voice, beloved, speaks within our
people, then, and not till then, will they be found
thanking God for the blessings of our ministry. For
then, and not till then, will they discern the depth
of their guilt, as unfaithful members of Christ's body
—discern how helpless and hopeless is their condition,
as neglectors of the grace of baptism and violators of
baptismal vows, without the extraordinary mercy
which God has provided for them through " the
ministry of reconciliation "—perceive the dreadful
25
hazard of that presumption which leads such neglec-tors
and violators to trust for pardon to a vague and
general repentance—a repentance not accepted by
the representatives of Christ, who alone have charge
of the discipline of his Church, or the power to remit
and retain sins ; that presumption which boldly rushes
to the mercy-seat of the temple which the priest
himself dare not approach without the priestly sac-rifice.
Be it, then, our first care, dear brethren, to place
before our people with a distinctness not to be evaded,
and an earnestness not to be withstood, their real
state " as members of Christ, and temples of the
Holy Ghost
!
" To teach them the true spiritual life,
the peculiar danger of sin to the baptised, and the
only way of escape from it. Teach them, as the
Prayer Book teaches them, the real presence of
Christ in the Holy Eucharist—that therein they are
made " partakers of His most blessed body and blood ;"
and how earnest must be the preparation to receive
such divine and glorious benefits; and how devoted
and self-sacrificing the love that is enkindled by a due
sense of them ! what prompt and glad renunciation
of the world, and what burning zeal for heaven, that
love begets ! Be it our case to teach them this, in
the spirit of our Master and the power of our office,
and to teach it till they " mark, learn, and inwardly
digest it ; " and we shall not find them loth to be led
back to the almost forgotten privileges of " the one
Catholic and Apostolic Church"—shall no longer see
2G
them startled at things as new, which our forefathers
cherished for being as old as the Christian faith. No
longer see them guilty of irreverence to avoid the
charge of superstition—see them shy of obedience,
lest they trench upon the office of faith—suspicious
of the daily prayers, lest they contract formality
—
afraid of the weekly communion, lest they lose a due
sense of its dignity—shunning watching, and fasting,
and self-mortification, lest they be led to afflict the
body for the sin of the soul. In short, we shall no
longer see them decry the power of the priesthood for
fe^r of detracting from the honor of Him who gave
that power, and commanded its faithful use for His
glory and man's salvation. For then there will be a
humility shrinking from self—a sense of danger flying
to every appointed refuge—an earnestness seizing
upon every offered help—a " hungering and thirsting
after righteousness," demanding every divine pro-vision—
an obedience fearing the loss of eternal life —a heavenly-mindedness, dreading the influence of
the world—a spirit of holiness yearning for the fel-lowship
of God and His saints—a divine charity,
" believing all things, hoping all things, enduring all
things, and never failing." Then distrust will give
place to confidence—jealousy to hearty goodwill
—
thanks to reproaches—the " deaf ear" to an open
heart—the shyness of servitude to the boldness of
true sonship—a contentious reason to an obedient
faith—an earth-bound sense to an earnest soaring
spirit. Then there will be no fear of man to bring
,- gfcfcj Librtf?
v.^J.v iK
27
us into a snare—no temptation from without to hide
our talent, to withhold our priestly powers ; for then
the teaching of the Holy Ghost will go before our
own—will awaken a conviction of want in our peo-ple,
that must open our eyes to our stewardship
impel them to a struggle with the enemy that must
rebuke our cowardice and call us up to their aid
—
beget in them a demand to be led onward and up-ward
in the narrow way to eternal life, that cannot
fail to prompt us to our work, and inspire us with an
awful sense of our responsibility as Priests in the
Church of the li vino: God.
GC 253 I95p
Ives, Levi Silliman, 1797-1867.
The priestly office : a pastoral letter
3 3091 00276 0635
DATE DUE
GAYLORD PRINTED IN US. A.
PAMPHLET BINDER"
: Syracuse, N. Y.
^^Z Stockton, Calif.
RESTRICTED
NORTH CAROLIIMIANA
253
I95P
Ives
The priestly office: a pastoral letter
to the clergy of North Caroliba by
their diocesan
^-
** ~*'&L,