The Church: Her Books and Her Sacraments Part 14

The absolutely essential part of Ordination is the Laying on of Hands (1 Tim. iv. 14; Acts vi. 6; 2 Tim. i. 6). Various other and beautiful ceremonies have, at different times, and in different places, accompanied the essential Rite. Sometimes, and in some parts of the Church, Unction, or anointing the Candidate with oil, has been used: sometimes Ordination has been accompanied with the delivery of a Ring, the Paten {139} and Chalice, the Bible, or the Gospels, the Pastoral Staff (to a Bishop),--all edifying ceremonies, but not essentials.

(III) DEACONS.

A Deacon is a server. The word comes from the Greek _diakonos_, a servant, and exactly describes the Office. Originally, a permanent Order in the Church, the Diaconate is now, in the Church of England, generally regarded as a step to the Priesthood. This is a loss. But it is as this step, or preparatory stage, that we have to consider it.

Considering the importance of this first step in the Ministry, both to the man himself, and to the people, it is well that the laity should know what safeguards are taken by the Bishop to secure "fit persons to serve in the sacred ministry of the Church"[9]--and should realize their own great responsibility in the matter. First, there is the age.

(1) _The Age._

No layman can be made a Deacon under 23.

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(2) The Preliminaries.

The chief preliminary is the selection of the Candidate. The burden of selection is shared by the Bishop, Clergy and Laity. The Bishop must, of course, be the final judge of the Candidate's fitness, but _the evidence upon which he bases his judgment_ must very largely be supplied by the Laity.

We pray in the Ember Collect that he "may lay hands suddenly on no man, but make choice of _fit persons_". It is well that the Laity should remember that they share with the Bishop and Clergy in the responsibility of choice.

For this fitness will, as in the case of the Priest, be moral and intellectual.

It will be _moral_--and it is here that the responsibility of the laity begins. For, in addition to private inquiries made by the Bishop, the laity are publicly asked, in the church of the parish where the Candidate resides, to bear testimony to the integrity of his character.

This publication is called the _Si quis_, from the Latin of the first two words of publication ("if any..."), and it is repeated by the Bishop in open church in the Ordination Service. The {141} absence of any legal objection by the laity is the testimony of the people to the Candidate's fitness. This throws upon the laity a full share of responsibility in the choice of the Candidate. Their responsibility in giving evidence is only second to that of the Bishop, whose decision rests upon the evidence they give.

Then, there is the testimony of the Clergy. No layman is accepted by the Bishop for Ordination without _Letters Testimonial_--i.e. the testimony of three beneficed Clergymen, to whom he is well known.

These Clergy must certify that "we have had opportunity of observing his conduct, and we do believe him, in our consciences, and as to his moral conduct, a fit person to be admitted to the Sacred Ministry".

Each signature must be countersigned by the signatory's own Bishop, who thus guarantees the Clergyman's moral fitness to certify.

Lastly, comes the Bishop himself, who, from first to last, is in close touch with the Candidate, and who almost invariably helps to prepare him personally in his own house during the week before his Ordination.

It will be _intellectual_. In addition to University testimony, evidence of the Candidate's {142} intellectual fitness is given to the Bishop, as in the case of Priests, by his Examining Chaplains. Some months before the Ordination, the Candidate is examined, and the Examiner's Report sent in to the Bishop. The standard of intellectual fitness has differed at various ages, in different parts of the Church, and no one standard can be laid down. a.s.suming that the average proportion of people in a parish will be (on a generous calculation) as twelve Jurymen to one Judge, the layman called to the Diaconate should, at least, be equal in intellectual attainment to "the layman" called to the Bar.

It does sometimes happen that evidence is given by Clergy, or laity, which leads the Bishop to reject the Candidate on moral grounds. It does sometimes happen that the Candidate is rejected or postponed on intellectual grounds. It does, it must, sometimes happen that mistakes are made: G.o.d alone is infallible. But, if due care is taken, publicly and privately, and if the laity, as well as the Clergy, do their duty, the Bishop's risk of a wrong judgment is reduced to a very small minimum.

A "fit" Clergy is so much the concern of the laity, that they may well be reminded of their {143} parts and duties in the Ordination of a Deacon. For, as Dr. Liddon says, "the strength of the Church does not consist in the number of pages in its 'Clerical Directory,' but in the sum total of the moral and spiritual force which she has at her command".

[1] "The Threefold Ministry," writes Bishop Lightfoot, "can be traced to Apostolic direction; and, short of an express statement, we can possess no better a.s.surance of a Divine appointment, or, at least, a Divine Sanction." And he adds, speaking of his hearty desire for union with the Dissenters, "we cannot surrender for any immediate advantages the threefold Ministry which we have inherited from Apostolic times, and which is the historic backbone of the Church" ("Ep. to the Philippians," p. 276, later ed.).

[2] The Welsh Bishops did not transmit Episcopacy to us, but rather came into us.

[3] In a book called _Registrum Sacrum Anglicanum_, Bishop Stubbs has traced the name, date of Consecration, names of Consecrators, and in most cases place of Consecration, of every Bishop in the Church of England from the Consecration of Augustine.

[4] The Bishops are one of the three Estates of the Realm--Lords Spiritual, Lords Temporal, and Commons (not, as is so often said, King, Lords, and Commons). The Archbishop of Canterbury is the first Peer of the Realm, and has precedency immediately after the blood royal. The Archbishop of York has precedency over all Dukes, not being of royal blood, and over all the great officers of State, except the Lord Chancellor. He has the privilege of crowning the Queen Consort.

[5] Cf. "Encyclopedia of the Laws of England," vol. 11, p. 156; and 25 Hen. VIII, cap. 2, s. 6.

[6] 14 Car. II, c. 4, s. 10. See Phillimore's "Ecclesiastical Law,"

vol. 1, p. 109.

[7] But see Skeat, whose references are to [Greek: kleros], "a lot," in late Greek, and the Clergy whose portion is the Lord (Deut. xviii. 2, 1 Pet. v. 3, cf. Acts i. 17). The [Greek: kleros] is thus the portion rather than the circ.u.mstance by which it is obtained, i.e. Acts i. 17 rather than Acts i. 26.

[8] For example: farming more than a certain number of acres, or going into Parliament.

[9] Ember Collect.

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CHAPTER XI.

PENANCE.

SACRAMENTS OF RECOVERY.

We deal now with the two last Sacraments under consideration--Penance and Unction. Both are Sacraments of healing. Penance is for the healing of the soul, and indirectly of the body: Unction is for the healing of the body, and indirectly of the soul.

"Every Sacrament," says St. Thomas Aquinas, "has been inst.i.tuted to produce one special effect, although it may produce, as consequences, other effects besides." It is so with these two Sacraments. Body and Soul are so involved, that what directly affects the one must indirectly affect the other. Thus, the direct effect of Penance on the soul must indirectly affect the body, and the direct effect of Unction on the body must indirectly affect the soul. We will think of each in turn. First, Penance.

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_Penance._

The word is derived from the Latin _penitentia_, penitence, and its root-meaning (_poena_, punishment) suggests a punitive element in all real repentance. It is used as a comprehensive term for confession of sin, punishment for sin, and the Absolution, or Remission of Sins. As Baptism was designed to recover the soul from original or inherited sin, so Penance was designed to recover the soul from actual or wilful sin....[1] It is not, as in the case of infant Baptism, administered wholly irrespective of free will: it must be freely sought ("if he humbly and heartily desire it"[2]) before it can be freely bestowed.

Thus, Confession must precede Absolution, and Penitence must precede and accompany Confession.

_Confession._

Here we all start on common ground. We all agree upon one point, viz.

the necessity of Confession (1) _to G.o.d_ ("If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins") {146} and (2) _to man_ ("Confess your faults one to another"). Further, we all agree that confession to man is in reality confession to G.o.d ("Against Thee, _Thee only_, have I sinned"). Our only ground of difference is, not _whether_ we ought to confess, but _how_ we ought to confess. It is a difference of method rather than of principle.

There are two ways of confessing sins (whether to G.o.d, or to man), the informal, and the formal. Most of us use one way; some the other; many both.

_Informal Confession_.--Thank G.o.d, I can use this way at any, and at every, moment of my life. If I have sinned, I need wait for no formal act of Confession; but, as I am, and where I am, I can make my Confession. Then, and there, I can claim the Divine response to the soul's three-fold _Kyrie_: "Lord, have mercy upon me; Christ, have mercy upon me; Lord, have mercy upon me". But do I never want--does G.o.d never want--anything more than this? The soul is not always satisfied with such an easy method of going to Confession. It needs at times something more impressive, something perhaps less superficial, less easy going. It demands more time for {147} deepening thought, and greater knowledge of what it has done, before sin's deadly hurt cuts deep enough to produce real repentance, and to prevent repet.i.tion. At such times, it cries for something more formal, more solemn, than instantaneous confession. It needs, what the Prayer Book calls, "a special Confession of sins".

_Formal Confession_.--Hence our Prayer Book provides two formal Acts of Confession, and suggests a third. Two of these are for public use, the third for private.