BX 5175. B58 1865 Blunt, John Henry Directorium pastorale Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/cletails/directoriumpastoOOblun DIRECTORIUM PASTORALE. Give me the priest these graces shall possess : Of an ambassador the first address, A father's tenderness, a shepherd's care, A leader's courage, which the cross can bear ; A ruler's awe, a watchman's wakeful eye ; A pilot's skill, the helm in storms to ply ; A fisher's patience, and a labourer's toil; A guide's dexterity, to disembroU ; A prophet's inspiration from above, A teacher's knowledge, and a Saviour's love. DmECTOmUM PASTORALE. THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PASTORAL WOEK IN THE CHURCH OF BY THE / REV. JOHN HENRY BLUNT " Work your work betimes, and in His time He will give you your reward." EccLUS. li. 30. SECOND EDITION. JLonifon, EIVINGTONS, WATEELOO PLACE; HIGH STEEET, I TEINITT 8TBEET, 1805. " And he said unto Him, If Tliy presence go not with me, carry us not hence." — ExOD. xxxiii. 15. OCT 1 1885 1y<^ PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. The rapid sale of a large impression, and the favourable criticisms of the Press, prove that the Author was not wrong in his con\action that a work of this character would be acceptable to many of the Clergy. In preparing a Second Edition he has thought it desirable to make as few alterations as possible. Many useful additions have been suggested, but they would have increased considerably the bulk of the volume ; and, after all, most of the subjects treated of require separate works if they are to be dealt with exhaustively. This Edition is, therefore, substantially identical with the former one, the only important changes being in the transfer of a portion of the Appendix to the end of the Chapter on Schools, the correction of two or three errors, and some slight additions to the Appendix itself. August, 1865. PREFACE. Whether we look at the social or the spiritual aspect of the relations between the clergy of the Church of England and the people committed to their charge, the importance of the Pastoral Office to English society and English reli- gion can hardly be over-estimated. During the last gene- ration, and so much of the present as has already passed, there has been a very rapid development of new phases of social life ; education has extended greatly among the middle and lower classes ; the power of thinking, and of expressing their thoughts, has become a possession of the many and not of the few ; personal piety is much more respected than it has been for many generations ; and, lastly, a conscious and willing assent to the principles and system of the Church of England is to be observed among a larger proportion of the population than, perhaps, at any time since the Reformation, or at least since the sup- pression and persecution of the Church in the seventeenth century. All these things work together to make the position of the clergy one of importance to the age ; and all make it necessary that they should be men of the age if they are viii PREFACE. to maintain their place, as they ought, at the head of the forward march of society. The old ideal of a clergjTnan as " a gentleman and a scholar " is not one that we can afford to despise, whatever other qualifications may be thought desirable to fill out a proper ideal. Nor ought we to slight the popular newspaper notion that the office of the Clergy is " generally to leaven the people and give a good tone to society." There are, indeed, far higher objects than these before the eyes of Christ's ministers ; but these are yet the tithe of mint, anise, and cummin, which we must not neglect to pay, though more exalted duties than the rendering of such small tithe may be imposed upon us. It seems to me that there are four principal particulars to which the attention of all who love the Church of England, whether clergy or laity, should be earnestly directed at once, if the age is to be moulded by it as there seems good hope that it may be. 1. The clergy ought to be maintained still in that high social position which they have hitherto occupied, re- membering that while none but "gentlemen" in habit and feeling can ever be acceptable to the higher, the pro- fessional, and the best of the mercantile classes ; so also, a man of refined taste and good social position carries far more influence for good with the lower classes than one destitute of those qualifications, if the energy and ability of the two are equal. 2. The general knowledge of the clergy ought to keep pace with the age, so that there may be many points of sympathy, even on secular matters, between them and PREFACE, their flocks. He who spoke to shepherds and fishermen as one familiar ^^^th their callings would not have shrunk from using the knowledge peculiar to a mechanical, com- mercial, scientific, and artistic age, for the purposes of the Kingdom of Heaven. In our own day few things more alienate a clergyman from those who are full of their present time and work, than a sympathy which confines itself to Mediaeval times, and is a great laudator tempons acti, but can find little or nothing to rest on in the nine- teenth century, of which the present generation is, and most justly, so proud. 3. The spiritual life of the clergy requires to be deve- loped more and more as religion makes progress in society. Openly wicked clergymen are happily become rare amongst us, — may they become more rare still! — but care is re- quired lest we should fall into an unspirituality of life in endeavouring to keep pace with an age of bustle and real business. Though there is an increasing reverence for the office of the clergyman, and an increasing belief in the doctrine of the Twenty-sixth Article of Religion, personal sanctity in the clergy is becoming more necessary to their real influence for good, in proportion to this respect for their office. 4. Clergymen should strive to be " workmen that need not to be ashamed " through want of practical acquaintance with their duties. In every profession and occupation a more strict technical knowledge is required than in the last age ; and the ambassadors of Christ must not be behindhand in their persevering endeavours to become expert in their calling. X PREFACE. The volume now published is intended as a humble contribution towards promoting such an efficiency in the work of the clergy as has been here indicated. It is the result of varied experience, much observation in different parts of England, and a careful reading of most of the works that are extant on the pastoral office ; and it is sent into the world with an earnest prayer that it may have God's blessing for the furtherance of His glorj^ and for the good of His people in the fold of our beloved Church. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. PAGE Principles on the subject, to be sought in Church of England formu- laries. Evidence of those principles as to necessary qualifications, independent of, and conferred by. Ordination. Separation of pastors as a KXijpoc of the Lord, from the Aaoj of the Lord. Gift of the Spirit to pastors. Committal to them of the care of souls. Relation of pastors to God and man. Example offered them by the Good Shepherd Himself. The advantages and discourage- ments of the pastoral office in the present day .... 1 CHAPTER II. THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. Analogy between the gift of the Spirit for pastoral purposes, and the gift of life for physical purposes. Delegation of authority and capacity by God in both cases. Ministerial authority and minis- terial capacity. Illustration of their exercise. Prudence sug- gested m teaching about pastoral office ; especially to young men, and those who do not illustrate principles by practice. Official duties flowing from the relation of the pastor to God; exactness in ministrations ; accuracy and balance in teaching ; persevering diligence in official prayers ; the place of such prayers in pastoral work ; necessity of diligent study arising from the same relation j and of personal holiness 28 CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. P Foundation of it to be laid in the co-operation of God with pastoral work. Spiritual and temporal laws of the relation. The parochial system. Endowments an accident of pastoral relation to flock, but yet a quid pro quo. The clergyman's bearing towards his people. Sympathy, approachableness, readiness, condescension to infirmities. Law's picture of a holy pastor. Social intercourse between pastor and flock, its necessity and its safeguards. Poverty of some clergy. Temptations to partiality for persons and classes. Necessity of gaining men over to religion. FoUowings to be avoided and discouraged. Importance of town populations. Systematic habits of visitation desirable, and also of teaching. Over-work CHAPTER IV. THE MINISTRY OF GOd's WORD. Extreme party opinions about Preaching. Its place in the system of the Clnu-ch of England shows its great importance ; and is justified by Holy Scripture. The object of preaching is to draw souls nearer to God. Tliis to be done by exposition of Scripture; by instruction in doctrine, especially concerning our blessed Lord; by setting forth the Christian moral law ; by exhortation and consolation. Objections to borrowed sermons; which are ex- ceptionally allowable only in two cases. Original composition, from study of books, intellectual meditation on Holy Scripture, and study of human nature. Systematic plans of sermon subjects to be established. Note on antiquarian styles of preaching. Plain preaching does not involve bad taste, but good vernacular language and plain simple thoughts. Extempore preacliing, its disuse and revival ; the most natural and ettective mode of preach- CONTENTS. xni PAGE ing ; the way to practise it ; its advantages to pastor and people. Necessity of dependence on the grace of God for the ministry of His Word , . . .99 CHAPTER V. THE MINISTRY OF THE SACRAMENTS. Baptism and the Holy Commmiion are essential parts of the pastoral- system. Means, not sources of grace. Necessity for exactness in their administration. Advantages of Public Baptism. Rules re- specting Private Baptism. The pastor's duty with reference to Baptisms by Dissenters. Baptism in its practical relation to pastoral work. Confirmation a link between Baptism and the Holy Communion. Reformation law and practice compared with modern practice. Relation of catechizing to Confirmation. Defi- nite preparation of candidates. The confirmed and the Holy Communion. Much detail about the doctrine of the Holy Com- munion not advisable here. Its place in the pastoral system, as an apafivi](jtQ, and as a means of grace. Frequent communion valuable in both ways for pastoral work, both to pastor and CHAPTER VI. THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. Practice of modern Church higher than that of former times. Its importance. Who are to be considered as the sick. How to visit aged, infirm, and invaUd persons profitably. Cases of temporary sickness. The pastor's duties towards persons in a state of mortal sickness ; prolonged or sudden. Visitation service, when and how applicable. Death-beds of religious Dissenters. Death-beds of irreligious persons. Some general rules about visiting the sick. Suggestion for a Visiting Manual. Private Communion. The pastor's duty in cases of infectious disease. Rules by which in- fection may be avoided 191 xiv CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. PASTORAL CONVERSE. PAGE Its necessity generally recognized. Some mechanical aids towards acquaintance with parishioners. Value of intercourse with them. Opportunities of gaining it. The Church theory of pastoral dis- ciplme. The pastor's practical interpretation of such theory in dealing with various classes of persons ; wicked livers ; Dissenters ; modem sceptics. Endeavours to win over from error to truth, by the setting forth of Christ. Discovering and using the good that may be mingled with the error. Dealing with young men, and " modern thought." Confidence in truth .... 223 CHAPTER VIII. PASTORAL GUIDANCE. Necessity of detailed instruction and guidance. Most effectually given in the parsonage study or parish room. Classes valuable for bringing parishioners there; and for driving instruction home. Guidance needed in the details of Christian morals. Use of casuistry to that end. Confession cannot be overlooked. Has always been used in some form or other. Church of England principles on the subject. The pastor's duty deduced from those principles. The limitations indicated by them. The dangers at- tending confession. Reticence in all confidential intercourse be- tween the pastor and his flock 2^6 CHAPTER IX. SCHOOLS. Children part of the pastor's cure of souls. Clergymen considered as the educational agents of society. Kature of pastoral duty towards education, in private, endowed, and poor schools. The parish school, and the clergyman's relation to it. Necessity of ireligioas COKTENTS. XV education in parish schools not now contested. School system to be worked in with Church system. Definite objects to be set before us in religious instruction. Co-operation of clergyman and school-teacher in giving it. Certain rules to be observed in giving it. Value of learning Holy Scripture by rote. Social character of a class formed in the schools of the poor. Co-opera- tion of parents to be sought. Infant schools. Evening schools. Sunday schools. A form of school prayers. The influence of ignorance on Christian life 272 CHAPTER X. PAROCHIAL LAT CO-OPERATION. Combination of clergy and laity necessary for perfection of pastoral work. The churchwarden's oflSce. Laymen's work in gathering funds for Church purposes in their parish ; in managing them ; in distributing alms to the poor. Unpaid Scripture Readers, and the missionary utiUty of educated men. Church singers. Even- ing schools, and lectures. Women and their work; valuable character of the latter in a parish. Cautions and safeguards re- specting it. Lady-teachers in schools. District visiting; who qualified ; the necessity of clerical supervision ; unity of plan ; devotional character in the work. Organization of the laity for ChOTch work 313 CHAPTER XI. AUXILIARY PAROCHIAL INSTITUTIONS. Necessary to supplement the parochial system ; with means for pro- moting provident habits ; for oSering wholesome recreation and improvement to working men ; for securing personal interest in the work of the Church. " Penny " banks, their great value. Plan of a combined bank, clothing, and coal club. Associations of working men a guide to what the Church should provide. The Hagley Village Club. A Church Institute and its rules. The Working Men's Club. The Oxford Churchmen's Union. Re- ligious Societies. The Bangor Lay Association . ^ . . 3-14 xvi CONTENTS. CHAPTER XII. PARISH FESTIVALS. PAGE Becoming a part of the parochial system. Towtis better provided for than country by wholesome established places of recreation. Village feasts ; their evils ; the remedy for those evils. Harvest homes. School-treats and tea-drinkmgs. Estimate for enter- taining 200 children. Various useful provisions for such occa- CHAPTER XIIL MISCELLANEOUS RESPONSIBILITIES. General care of the Church. Church Restoration, its principles and practice : naves for congregations ; chancels for performance of Divine service ; decorations. Organs. Belfries, bellringers, and bells ; law respecting them ; ringing and chiming ; Sir. Ella- combe's apparatus for chiming. Care of churchyards. Sanitary suggestions. Money for Church purposes 378 APPENDIX. A. Assistant Curates 409 B. Rules of the Oxford Churchmen's Union ; the Bangor Church Lay Association ; and the Durham Church Institute . . 412 C. Town Reading-room and Library 423 D. Plan for forming and carrying on a Village Lending Library . 425 E. Harvest Home Pastoral Letter 426 F. Belfry Rules 430 Q. Prayers for a Choir 432 Index 435 CHAPTER I. THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. To carry out effectively the duties which belong to the office of a Parochial Clergyman, the person occupying that position ought to have a definite knowledge of the real spiritual obligation which rests upon him with reference to the people committed to his charge : and of the actual relations between him and them, which the Church, by whom he has been sent among them, supposes to exist. Such a knowledije will be acquired best, and n , , , . . . Church of most safely, by taking as a startmg-pomt England those formal documents of the Church of ^ettgSfoi- England in which there is direct or indirect o'^ t'"^ ject. reference to the work in question : for although the varying requirements of different ages may neces- sitate a change in the details of a clergyman's ' work, the original principles on which the ministry of the Church of England is founded remain the same in one century as they were in another, so long as those authoritative documents remain unaltered. The sub- stantial character of the office is fixed by this funda- B 2 THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. mental outline ; and a loyal adherence to it wiU be rewarded by the attainment of solidity and strength in aU who foUow out its leading plan. Such an examination of the various documents which form the standard of Church of England principles and ^ devotion, will show that there are certain quali- Quahfica- . . . ^ tions neces- fications required of her clergy which precede, are^i^depen- independent of their ordination, but natbn^ ^^^^^ Considered of the highest importance in those who have to undertake the clerical Others con- officc : that there are Others which are Conferred ferred by bv ordination: and that the ordained persons ordination. " . , . . p t /~n i who constitute the ministry oi the Church stand in a special relation towards God and men. A right understanding and appreciation of these three points is so essential to a proper conception of the pastoral oflBce, that it will be well at the outset to set them forth in some detail. §. QHcdifications independent of Ordination. The mere legal requirements of the Church i a ureage. England place the age of those who are to enter upon the care of souls at a higher standard than that at which men may begin the practice of other professions. At twenty-one a man may be placed in the important position of a legislator in the House of Lords, or the House of Commons, may occupy still more important oflBcial posts in the State, may foUow the profession of the law, or that of medicine : but he cannot become a clergyman at aU before the age of twenty-three, nor THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 3 be put in charge of souls as pastor of a parish before that of twenty-four. Thus it is required that ah initio the Church of England pastor be a man whose character and judgment are in some degree formed ; and in practice the theory is so far extended that very few clei'gymen are actuallj^ put in charge of souls until they have served an apprenticeship of several years in the subordinate and comparatively irresponsible position of curates. In addition to this it is required that all so sent to take part in the ministerial work -^'S^' ^ racter. of the Church, shall be men of whom respon- sible acquaintances can give a good account as to their previous lives, the standard of a comparatively mature age not being considered sufficient. And if this require- ment is honestly carried out by all concerned, no one can take charge of souls of whom it cannot be testified positively in very solemn terms by three clergymen, and negatively by the assent of the congregation to the "Si quis," that for four years previously (one during which he has been in Deacon's orders, and three before) he has lived piously, soberly, and honestly ; has not held, written, or taught any thing contrary to the doctrine or discipline of the Church in which he is to minister ; and is considered to be, as to his moral conduct, a person worthy to be ordained to so important an office. It is also required, further, that the general education of the clergyman shall be of the educa- highest order : of the same kind, in fact, which those go through, who are destined to undertake the duties of what are often called the " governing classes " B 2 4 THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. of the country. And it may be stated as a fact that this law is so far carried out, that there is a larger pro- portion of thoroughly educated men among the clergy, than in the ranks of any other profession. The definite rule of the Church with respect to this general education of the clergy is contained in the I'reface to the Ordination Services, in which it is directed that the Bishop shall onlj^ proceed to ordain candidates after he has proved by examination and trial, that they are "learned in the Latin tongue." This really pre- supposes such good classical training as is gained at College : and it is to be so interpreted, that if any of the candidates for the ministry have not taken degrees at an University, the same standard of knowledge is required of them as if they had, before they can be enlisted in the runks of the clergy'. A further gradation of knowledge, that of lim^'tiou''' ^^'^ special subjects connected with their pro- fession, is also indicated as necessary by the rule that they shall be "sufficiently instructed in the Holy Scriptures." The theology of the Scriptures is to be the life-long study of the pastor ; but he must be able to show at the outset of his course, that he has acquired some firm foundation of such knowledge from the theological lectures of the University, or by means of an ' Deans of Cathedral Churches are required to take care " that tJie petty Canons, Vicars Choral, and other ministers of their Church he urged to the study of the Holy Scriptures ; and every one of them to liave the New Testament not only in English, but also in Latin." Canon 42. See also the permission for the clergy to say the service in any language that they themselves do understand. Preface to Prayer Book. THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 5 additional year of divinity education, and training, spent at a Theological College. Antecedently then to any tiling conferred by ordination, and therefore indcpciidcntli/ of the rite, the clergy of the Church of England are required to be men of mature age, of character which will bear a searching investigation, of superior general acquirements, and of some special know- ledge of their profession'. And at the very verge of ordination they are made to pledge themselves anew that they will be strictly loj^al to Church and State, as being bearers of important public offices'; and that they will continue to maintain that position as to character and education which they are proved to have attained. What- ever spiritual gifts may be theirs by holy living and ordi- nation, they are required to be men whose character and attainments are such as to place them in the foreniost rank of the educated classes ; and if there are those among the clergy who do not come up to this ideal of the Church of England, the fault lies in the administration of her rules, not in her constitution — a contingency against which even stricter provisions than those which are made could not ensure absolute security *. - How far high education of clergymen is consistent with Holy Scripture is shown by Hp. Hall in the Tenth Sermon printed in his English Theological works. Although there are few, if any, clergy so ignorant as those whom Bp. Ikill had in his mind when he wrote this famous sermon, the lessons which it contains are of a character well calculated to " freshen up ' in a busy clergyman's mind a sense of the necessity for continual study as a part of his official duties. 3 By subscribing the 36th Canon, containing three articles respecting the Royal Supremacy, the Prayer Book, and the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion. • " Canon 34. The quality of such as are to be made ministers. " No Bishop shall henceforth admit any person into Sacred Orders .... THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. The wisdom of these requirements will be suflBciently apparent to any one who considers how much influence is possessed by the clergy in the country at large, and by each of them in their own particular parishes. They are often the only link between those parishes and the other classes of society, and their influence is most beneficial on the side of order and morality in the midst of a society other- wise almost excluded from all good influences. It is also necessary that they should be capable, from education and social training (such as Universities furnish), of taking their place without embarrassment to themselves or oflfence to others on those higher levels of society which are occu- pied by their rich parishioners, that their office may be respected through the respect won also by their persons. For the clergy to be indifferent to such qualifications in after life is to break the contract made with them ipso facto in their ordination ; and clergy or laity who fail to see the value of them have failed to learn the lessons which have except he ... . hath taken some degree of school in either of the said Universities ; or at the least, except he be able to yield an account of his faith in Latin, according to the Articles of Religion approved in the Sj-nod of the Bishops and Clergy of this realm, one thousand five hundred sixty anil two, and to confirm the same by sufficient testimonies out of the Holy Scriptures ; and except, moreover, he shall then exhibit Letters Testimonial of his good life and conversation, under the seid of some College of Cambridge or Oxford, where before he remained ; or of three or four grave ministers ; together with the subscription and testimony of other credible persons, who have known his life and behaviour by the space of three years next before." " Canon 35. The examination of such as are to be made ministers. " . . . . If any Bishop or Suffragan shall admit any to Sacred Orders, who is not so qualified and examined, as before we have ordained, the Archbishop of his province having notice thereof, and being assisted therein by one Bishop, shall suspend the said Bishop or Suffragan so oflending, from making either Deacons or Priests for the space of two years." THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 7 been taught by tbe result of their absence in the friars of former days, the Dissenting preachers of modern times, and many of the clergy in an age only lately passed away. It is certainly no part of the Church's intention that her clergy as men of the world should be below men of other professions in their acquirements or social status, any more than that they should as Christians be below the higher standards of personal religion. It would clearly be con- trary to the constitution of the Church of England if a class of clergy were to arise similar to those of whom we read in Macaulay's " History of England," in " Echard's Contempt of the Clergy," or in the novels of the last age ; a class whom, even so lately as 1781, Paley thought it necessary to exhort, as Archdeacon of Carlisle, that they should abstain from visiting beer-shops and from asso- ciating there on equal terms with very low company. The social and educational position of the pastor is, in fact, a most important element in the pursuit and develop- ment of his proper work, and one by no means to be slighted. As an " officer and a gentleman " is the well- known characteristic designation of a Queen's servant in the navy or the army, so should the time-honoured appel- lation of a " scholar and a gentleman " still continue to be deserved by those who serve God in the ministry of the Church of England. §. Qualifications conferred by Ordination. Such being the acquirements which the clergy are pre- supposed to possess and exercise in common with other men, let us go on to consider in what special particulars 8 THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFIl E. they are differenced from them by the ceremony of ordina- tion, and what are the qualifications superadded by that rite to the person in whom the qualifications of character and education already exist, for the purpose of enabling him to exercise the office of a pastor in the flock of the Good Shepherd. In the first place, it is clear that the clergy Separation on whom the order of priesthood is conferred, from the ^ Laity. and who are thus empowered to become pastors, are, by the act of ordination, separated from the ranks of secular men and from the pursuit of secular employments, a KA^poc of the Lord taken out from among the Aaoc of the Lord. In the formularies which bear upon the subject this is made very plain. At the time of ordination an exhorta- tion is read to the candidate deacons by the bishop, in which he sets forth the great responsibilities belonging to the higher order which they are seeking, in which he is to say, "And seeing that you cannot by any other means compass the doing of so weighty a work, pertaining to the salvation of man, but with doctrine and exhortation taken out of the Holy Scriptures, and with a life agreeable to the same ; consider how studious ye ought to be in reading and learning the Scriptures .... and for this self-sanie cause, hoio ye ought to forsake and set aside {as much as you may) all worldly cares and studies. We have good hope .... that you have clearly determined, by God's grace, to give yourselves wholly to this office, whereunto it hath pleased God to call you : so that, as much as lieth in you, you will apply yourselves wholly to this one thing, and draw THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 9 all your cares and studies this way." In accordance with this exhortation, one of the vows afterwards made by those to be ordained is to " lay aside the study of the world and the flesh." And in case this should be thought indefinite, there is the express law of the Church of England, con- tained in the 76th Canon, entitled "Ministers at no time to forsake their calling ;" which enjoins that " no man being admitted a deacon or minister, shall from thenceforth voluntarily relinquish the same, nor afterward use himself in the course of his life as a layman, upon pain of excommunication." This separation of the clergy into a distinct order of men is spoken of by the earliest Christian writers; Clemens Romanus the companion of St. Paul, and Ignatius the apostolic bishop of Antioch, referring to it in their Epis- tles; and the icAjjjooc, kXtjpikoI, or clerici, being clearly distinguishable from the Xaoc or laici, the body of Chris- tian people, in all early Christian writings. The reason of this is, that by ordination men receive a distinctive "mark or character, acknowledged to be indelible " Itsevereth them that have it," says Hooker, " from other men, and maketh them a special order consecrated unto the service of the Most High in things wherewith others may not meddle." And although all Christian people are part of a " royal priesthood," as " the whole congregation " was " holy, every one of them, and the Lord was among them," yet is it an error to suppose that a separate ministry is, ' I. ad Corinth. I. x. 19. St. Paul's ISiuTrts in 1 Cor. xiv. 16, seems to point the same way. « Ad Polyc. c. 6. ' Hooker, V. Ixxvii. 2. 10 THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. for this reason, not required among Christians, as it was in the " gainsaying of Core " for him and his companions to say, " Wherefore thus lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord'?" This separation of the clergy is so complete by the act of ordination, that, again to use the words of Hooker, "let them know which put their hands unto this plough, that, once conse- crated unto God, they are made His peculiar inheritance for ever. Suspensions may stop, and degradations utterly cut off the use or exercise of power before given ; but voluntarily it is not in the power of man to separate and pull asunder what God by His authority coupleth '." As therefore a person is so separated from the body of men by baptism that he can never after become a heathen in fact or in responsibility, however much he may become like one in sin and wickedness, so a person qualified to become pastor by ordination to the priesthood can never again become in fact one of that body of laity from -which he has been separated by ordination, though a legal act may possibly deprive him, i.e. restrain him from the public exercise of the duties to which he devoted himself. But God never sends us duties, or lays re- A gift^of sponsibilities upon us, without giving us the stowed.*^ ability to work out the one, and to bear the other. There is a ^apaicri'/p impressed and im- posed by ordination, and there is also a xapiajua bestowed with it by the same rite. The very words which our Lord used when He bestowed that xap'<''i"a upon the twelve Apostles are used with an apj^lied meaning and force by ' Num. xvi. 3. " Hooker, V. Ixxvii. 3. THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 11 the Church of England in the ordination of every one who is to take the duties of pastor in a parish or a diocese. They are, " 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 of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." In after life it is well for clergymen to recall to mind the force which these words appeared to have at the solemn time of ordination. No one could use them, no one could kneel down before God to have them thus used, with a conscious conviction that they meant much less than according to the ordinary rules of language they seem to mean. When our blessed Lord, " the chief Shepherd," used them over the Apostles, they conveyed (as none can doubt) the gift which they professed to convey ; and they could not be consciously adopted, either actively by a bishop, or passively by the person voluntarily kneel- ing before him, without the alternative of belief or blas- phemy. Although then there may have been hesitation and want of exact definition in explaining the sense in which they have thus been used, there can be no doubt that they have been substantially understood by the hun- dreds of English bishops who have used them, and the thousands of English priests over whom they have been ' It is observable that until 1662 this form of words stood, " Receive the Holy Ghost. Whose sins," &c. The special designation of the object for v\ liich the gift is bestowed was only then inserted. 12 THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. uttered, in their literal and natiiral sense. They hare been understood to convey, in connexion with the accom- panying imposition of hands, a special gift of God for the work of the priesthood in all its parts. And the special gift thus bestowed is, in the words of Hooker, the " pre- sence of the Holy Gliost, partly to guide, direct, and strengthen us in all our ways, and partly to assume unto itself for the more authority those actions that appertain to our place and calling." The consequence of this gift is that " we have for the least and meanest duties per- formed by virtue of ministerial power, that to dignify, grace, and authorize them, which no other offices on earth can challenge. Whether we preach, pray, baptize, com- municate, condemn, give absolution, or whatsoever, as disposers of God's mysteries, our words, judgments, acts, and deeds are not ours but the Holy Ghost's The idea thus directly exhibited in the actual words of ordination is also reflected in all the praj^ers which imme- diately refer to the clergj', and by the general analogy of the services throughout the Prayer Book. In the litany used at the time of ordination there is, besides the ordinary prayer for the " illumiuation " of the clergy, a special clause beseeching God that He wUl be pleased to bless these His servants, and to pour His grace upon them, that they may dulj^ execute their office to the edifying of His Church, and the glory of His holy Name. The epistle read at the celebration is that significant one from the fourth chapter of Ephesians in which St. Paul speaks 2 Hooker, V. kxvii. 8. THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 13 of the " gifts " bestowed on the Church through the ascension of our Lord, " for the perfecting of the saints, for the icorl; of the minktnj, for the edifying of the body of Christ." Tlie exhortation magnifies the oflBce of the priesthood, and declares that as the will, so the ability to execute it aright is given by God alone. In the replies to the bishop's questions, which constitute the ordination vows of the priest, as the replies of the godparents at baptism constitute the baptismal vows of the Christian, the solemn form is used, " The Lord being my helper." The bishop's blessing invokes the "strength and power" of Almighty God upon the kneeling candidates. And, lastly, the Veni Creator is a special prayer for the gift of the Holy Ghost to attend the imposition of hands. Thus the general character of the Ordination Service illustrates the reality of the central words used at the moment when the persons are set apart by the " laying on of the hands of the presbytery," and shows that they are used with the solemn intention of conveying to those ordained the great gift of which they profess to announce the bestowal. Further illustration of a similar, but more independent kind, is to be found in the general tone of the Prayer Book, in places where no special petitions are offered for the clergy apart from the Christian body at large. In the absolution at morning and evening prayer the " power " which God has given to His ministers is referred to as well as the " commandment ;" the latter word repre- senting the ^ai)aKr)'jp, the former the ^apiafia : and so far as the absolutions at the Holy Communion and the Visitation of the Sick are more authoritative in tone than 14 THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. those at the daily services, so much further do they carry the proof of the point in view. In all acts of benediction there is likewise an assumption of a spiritual abiKty to convey blessing : and when in the Marriage Service the priest says, " Those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder," it is directly and unmistakeably assumed that the work of the priest is that which Hooker declares it to be, the work of the Holy Ghost. So, further, is the supra-natural qualification of the priest, as distinct from the layman, clearly evidenced in all parts of the service for the Holy Commxmion, from his offering of the " alms and oblations " to his final offering of " this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving," and the very sacred benedic- tion in which he fulfils the words of Christ, " My peace I leave with you ;" " Freely ye have received, freely give." And in all this, the tone of the Prayer Book is quite in keeping with the tone of Holy Scripture, in passages such as 2 Cor. iii. 6, 7 ; Eph. iii. 7 ; iv. 7 ; 1 Tim. i. 12, and many others which speak of the ministerial capacity as derived from a gift which God has bestowed especially on His ministers for the purposes of the work assigned them in building up the mystical body of Christ. In the exercise of such a gift is fulfilled that truth declared by the Apostle in the first of the above passages : " Who also hath made us able ministers {'iKavtixrtv rifiac Siokovovq) of the New Testament ; not of the letter, but of the spirit : for the letter kUleth, but the spirit giveth life. 3 Some, of whicli the meaning is lost in the English, as is the case with St. Paul's description of himself in Eom. xv. 16, Xeirovpyhv 'IriaoC XpKTTov Upovpyovvra rh evayytKtov tov @(ov. THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 15 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance ; which glory was to be done awaj^ ; how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious ? For if the ministration of condemnation be glorious, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory." By the gift of the Spirit to the Christian ministry for the ministration of the Spirit, all the various offices of the old Jewish ministry which are gathered up into it are elevated, because they are spiritualized. The principle of the ministry of God, as far as it was developed under the Old Testament dispensation (setting aside the extra- ordinary office of the prophet), was contained in the offices of elder and priest. In the same ministry under the New Testament dispensation, these offices are combined and elevated, so that the elder of the synagogue and the priest of the temple are united and continued, but in a more " glorious " ministry, in the Christian priest. No longer indeed does the presbyter interpret a law to which obedience in any high degree was an impossibility, for the ministration of condemnation has been displaced by the ministration of righteousness. No longer does the priest of God offer up sacrifices of slain beasts which could not take away sin, for the blood of the Lamb has been shed once for aU : the offering of the shewbread has passed into the exalted offering of the Eucharist, and that of incense into prayer in the name of Christ *. Glorious as * A change beautifully predicted by the prophet Malachi. "From the rising up of the sun to the going down of the same, My Name sliall be great 16 THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. was the ministration which dealt with types and shadows, how much more glorious is the ministration which deals with the realities and substance of worship and grace, through the power of the Holy Ghost accompanying it. " For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord." " We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." §. Cure of souls, and relation of Pastor to God and man. By separation to his oflBce then, and by the special gift of the Holy Ghost bestowed for the work of that office, the Christian priest is qualified to become a pastor of Christ's flock. The qualifications for that position, are completed by ordination, but the actual and definite cure of sovds is given by institution to a particular parish. The chief cure of the souls of every diocese is vested in its bishop, and every priest entrusted with it acts as his deputy. Accordingly cure of souls is given in a solemn manner by the clergjTnan to be instituted kneeling before the bishop, who commits to him the charge with the words (or some of a similar kind), " Receive this charge, my cure of souls and thine, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." A commission of a less responsible nature is given to unbeneficed clergymen, among tlie Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered unto My Name, and a \m-c offerinsj; for My Kame shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of Hosts." Mai. i. H. So one of the earliest of Jew-ish comnieutaries, the Berescith Kahba, the substance of which dates from the time of our Lord, is said to declare that " in the times of the Messiah, all offerings shall cease, except the offering of Bread and Wine." THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 17 iu the form of a licence " to do the work of an assistant curate," in some parish already committed, — as rectory, vicarage, or perpetual curacy, — to an actual curate in the person of the clergjTiian holding the benefice*. Such being the characteristics of the pastoral office as set forth in the formularies and usages of the Church of England, let us conclude this chapter by taking a review of that office as a whole, and especially in its relation to that Chief Pastor whom it represents in His flock on earth. For the word itself, it is not clear how it became originally applied to the ministers of God. The earliest instances of its use in a spiritual sense at all, are to be found in that highest sense in which it is applied to our Blessed Lord. Probably "the shepherd, the stone of Israel," in Jacob's blessing, is such an application, and several of a similar character in the Psalms. But the earliest certain use of the term in this way, is by the prophet Isaiah, in the beautiful passage, " lie shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." The same prophet does indeed say of some, " His watchmen arc blind .... dumb dogs .... they are shepherds which cannot understand:" and there are fourteen or fifteen places in Jeremiah, where there are similar allusions ; but in all these passages, the secular leaders (or the priests as secular leaders) of Israel appear to be intended : and I do not think there are any instances before the Capti\ity, in which the Old Testament writers use the 5 See Appendix A. C 18 THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. word pastor ia the sense of a spiritual leader, except in those where our Lord Himself is referred to in His character as the Messiah. In Ezekiel and the post-captivity writers the word is more clearly used in the Gospel sense. Perhaps this is to be accounted for by the fact that those persons who, from their knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, were competent to teach and expound them in the synagogues, were called by the name of pastors ; and that as synagogues were not established before the Captivity (though proseuchae were common,) such officers did not exist in the time of Isaiah and earlier writers. In later times, the Jews applied the same name to their elders, and to the collectors of alms, or deacons: and hence probably (though by no means certainly) the introduction of it into the Christian Church. In the formularies of the Church of England the word is used four or five times only, in the first Ember Collect, in a prayer at the consecration of Bishops, and in the collects of St. Peter's and St. Matthias' days. The Litany clause in which the clergy are prayed for, was once worded " Bishops, pastors, and ministers of the Church," but at the Revision of the Prayer Book in 1661, the expression was changed for "Bishops, Priests, and Deacons," the terms " pastor " and " minister " being too general to be used as specific names of the two lower orders of the ministry ^ It * I do not feel at all sure, however, that " pastors and ministers " did not represent beneficed priests (with cure of souls) and their assistant deacons. Until recent times I do not think any but deacons were unbeneficed, except a few priests who acted as sulistituti-s for non-resident rectors and vicars ; and perhaps tlioy had bei'U ordained [iriests on college titles. It may also be remarked that " Bishop and Pastor " is the expression used in all documents connected with the election and confirmation of a bishop. THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 19 need hardly be added, that the idea of the laity being a flock, of sinners being lost sheep, presupposes in some degree the appellation of shepherd for their clergy. The New Testament application of the term pastor is of such sanctified origin as to establish a firm place for it in the vocabulary of the Christian Church of all ages. Among the many terms afterwards adopted to express the functions or responsibilities of the Christian ministry, — such as stewards, watchmen, ambassadors, builders, labourers, — pastor or shepherd is the one term which our Blessed Lord identifies with His own ministerial office and functions ; " I am the good Shepherd :" and His use of it seems to have dwelt on the ears of the early Church, like the echo of a sweet strain of music. Thus St. Paul speaks of " the Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep," and the Apostle to whom his Master had said " Feed My sheep " calls that Master " the chief Shepherd," in memory of his own subordinate pastorate ; and bids the sheep of his own nation, who were scattered abroad, remember that they had come out of J udaism into the Christian flock of Him who was the " Shepherd and Bishop of their souls ^" In the last words of the Good Shepherd to St. Peter, we may find, as St. Chrysostom beautifully shows, the true key to the meaning and use of the word pastor. The sole ' Considering the free use of "pastor" as a designation of Christian ministers, it is singular to find that there is only one instance of such au application of the word in the New Testament, that in Eph. iv. 11. Hooker thought that tlio " pastors and teachers " there spoken of, wei-a Presbyters with cure of souls, as distii: guislied Irom itinerant "Evan- gelists." c 2 20 THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. question which lie asked of the Apostle was, "Lovest thou Me?" It was the sole qualification He sought for in him whom He had already " enabled " by setting him apart for the Apostleship. And so again for proof of his love, He bade the Apostle do but one work, " Feed My sheep." He might have said to him, If you love Me, fast, lie on the naked ground, be in watchings, defend the oppressed, be a father to the orphan, and a husband to the widow. But passing by all else, what does He say more than " Feed My sheep ? " And what more need He to say ? For to love Him as the penitent Apostle loved is to be ready to do all these and much more in His service ; and to feed the sheep of Christ is to do these things and all else that falls within the province of the Good Shepherd's deputies in the earthly work of His Church. Thus we may see how a true interpretation of the pastoral office must be sought, not in any contracted notions that may have been attached to the term pastor by those who have taken only a surface glance at Holy Scripture, and judged of God's words by their own pre- conceived opinions, but in the full development of those characteristics which belong to the work of Christ in gathering souls out of the wilderness of the world, into the "one fold" of the "one Shepherd." The perfect pattern of pastoral work is to be found in Him of whom it was said of old, "He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young :" " As a shepherd seeketh out his THE NATTTBE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 21 flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered ; so will I seek out My sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day I will feed My flock, and cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick .... I will feed them with judgment And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even My servant David ; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd." "The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep and fleeth, and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine. As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold : them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd From the exalted pattern thus set before us in the person of the Good Shepherd, we may revert again to the characteristics of His servants and deputies as set forth in the formularies of the Church ; and combining the two, so far as we may, in one picture, we shall form an ideal of the pastor as a servant of Christ separated from among 8 Isa. xl. 11. Ezek. xxxiv. 12. 23. St. John x. 11. 16. 22 THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. His ordinary servants, and endowed with special grace to carry on His work. As He is the one and only Mediator between God and man, so does He depute to these His servants to be channels of communication by which the benefits of His mediation are conveyed to men. As He is the one Intercessor in heaven, so does He set apart His ministers to lead the intercessions of the congregation of the faithful to the Father by Him. As He is the " one Shepherd " whose mediation and intercession are the means by which lost sheep are brought into the green pastures, and led beside the stiU waters of God's grace and salva- tion, so does He send forth His under-shepherds into the world to gather in, and to feed, to guide, guard, and save the sheep of His inheritance. And looking at our Lord's pastoral character as proceeding from His mediatorial and intercessorial character, it will be seen how the charac- teristics of those pastors whom He makes His deputies in the kingdom of grace must be of an analogous nature. By imposition of hands they become channels of communica- tion between the Lord and His people, ministering to the people in the name of God, ministering to God on behalf of the people. In the one capacity they perform such offices as those of teaching, exhorting, blessing, absolving, baptizing, administering the Holy Eucharist. In the other capacity they lead the praises and prayers of the congregation, offer up its alms and oblations, and, above aU, the oblation of the Eucharist itself, which is the priest's higliest work : they intercede also with God in a ministerial sense for those whom they have in charge, while others intercede for each other only as THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 23 private Christians. This character of their office should, then, be reproduced in all their work, so that every thing which is done by them in their official capacity should be done as in the name of God on the one hand, and for the good of souls on the other. And "who is sufficient for these things?" Very truly does St. Augustine say, " Nihil est in hac vita difficilius, laboriosius, periculosius Presbyteri vita." So difficult and dangerous and laborious is the labour of him who has thus to lead a portion of Christ's flock, and tend it on its way to the promised land, that he may well take up the words of Moses ; " If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence." Those who feel the real magnitude of the responsibility laid upon them by the pastoral office, will feel also the comfort of the thought that God's presence as really goes with them as it did with Moses : and the words spoken to a later leader of Israel may often come into their mind to refresh them : "Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have not I sent thee ? Surely I will be with thee." We might indeed hesitate in undertaking the office from consciousness of the disproportion between its nature and our unworthiness and insufficiency, but that we have Scriptural warrant for the doctrine which I have here endeavoured to elucidate, that " our sufficiency is of God, who hath made us able ministers of the New Testament." In the conviction that the words " Receive the Holy Ghost for the work of a priest " are words as true as they are awful, we may go to that work day by day in the conscious- ness that we are "workers together with God" through 24 THE NATURE OF THE TASTORAL OFFICE. His grace bestowed upon us for the purpose of His work'. And it must be tbe endeavour of every clerg}Tnan to stir up {ava^wTTvptlv) the gift of God that is in him by the laying on of hands, that he may go forth continually in the strength of the Lord God, to do as a humble repre- sentative of the Chief Shepherd, the work of a faithful, grace-endowed, and fully commissioned pastor in the midst of His flock that is scattered abroad. " As My Father hath sent Me," said the Good Shepherd, "even so send I you." A few words may be fitting, as a sequel to the foregoing, on what may be called the secular phase of a clergyman's spiritual ministrations ; the comforts and discomforts which belong to his office, and respecting which much exagge- rated language is sometimes used. We may take up a book on the Christian ministry and find at one end an allegation that no conscientious mind can expect temporal ease and comfort, or any thing but a daily cross, in the pursuit of pastoral duties. At the other end of the same book we may find allegations equally strong that a clergy- man whose work does not make him very happy must have something radically wrong about him. The real truth does not lie in either of these extremes. There is much that is pleasant in the life of a clergjTnan, faithful and hard-working as I of course presuppose him to be, and much which brings pain and discomfort, especially in the ' Clerical meetings have sometimes been held, the object of which was to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon the ministry of the Church. Was suflScient faith shown hy those who met, in the outpouring which God has already vouchsafed them ? THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 25 later life of poor beneficed and unbeneficed men. As St. Jerome says of the text, " He that desireth the office of a bishop desireth a good work," — Ojnis, non dignitatem ; Jahorem, non delicias, — so certainly he who undertakes pas- toral work, whether in a crowded town or an agricultural village, must undertake it with his eye set firmly on the labours and anxieties which will belong to his position : and he must imflinchingly buckle on his armour with a prayer that he may seek nothing but the glory of the Master in whose service he is enlisted, and the unwearying guidance of the souls given into his care. But there is much to alleviate this burden of toil and responsibility. In the course of his work the faithful pastor will hardly fail to see something at least of success attending his labours. He will be able to point to souls converted or strengthened by his ministrations, to comfort given to the aged, and instruction to the young. He will be able to reckon up many who by his hands have been made members of Christ, many who have been fed with heavenly food in the Holy Sacrament that he has been privileged to administer to them. He can point to some work in his parish which has promoted the glory of God, a church restored, a school built, extra services established, a larger congregation gathered, an increased proportion of religious persons in the parish. And as professional suc- cess in any other career would bring its own reward to the mind, so, and much more, does it do so in that profession which is concerned with so great and solemn a responsi- bility. It is unfair not to set this laudable satisfaction which a diligent clergyman feels at the success of his 26 THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. ministry as a balance against tlie amount of toil, anxiety, discouragement, and vexation for which he is liable. Apart from these spiritual alleviations of the ministerial burden, it is also fair to reckon the advantages of good position which belong to the clerical office, and of that universal esteem and respect which are accorded to any one who occupies it in a faithful manner. Nor least of all is that comfort of a life endowment to which the beneficed clergy are able to look, the smallness of which is frequently compensated for by its certaint)^ Altogether it must be allowed that there is much pro- mise of the life that now is, as well as of the life which is to come, in the career of a conscientious beneficed clergy- man. And, provided his benefice is such that with the simple habits which befit the clerical life, he is saved from the torture of the res angusta domi, it may probably be reckoned as one of the happiest careers that can fall to the lot of a working man, though his anxieties be great and his labours severe. There is no other calling in which a man's professional labours, those by which he gains his livelihood, are of such a nature that they can be registered in the courts of heaven as essentially works redounding to the glory of God and the salvation of souls. The reading and study of Holy Scripture, the constant service of God in the sanctuary, the frequent communions, are all means of grace calculated to lead him forward in holiness, and build him up in Christ. The ministrations to the poor, with the many charities of life called out by the ministerial office, are such as if pursued in a holy spirit cannot fail to be most acceptable to Him whose words will be, " For- THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 27 asmuch as ye did it unto the least of these My brethren, ye did it unto Me." The highest aspirations of saints have, indeed, been to lead such a life as the faithful pastor leads by the mere diligent attention to his pro- fessional duties ; and spiritual advantages so conducive to personal religion cannot be overvalued. And if, after all, it is said that excepting the result of definite oflBcial acts, there is really very little fruit to be seen of all a pastor's labours, let it be remembered that this is, more or less, a consequence which must follow from the very nature of his work. In other professions a man may be able to see every thing, his work, the result of it, and the path by which the result was attained. But in other professions men are dealing with the things of a visible world: the pastor deals with those of a world unseen. There may be a large amount of real solid results which will never show themselves before the day when aU hidden things will be brought to the light. Reserve on one side, want of penetration on the other ; the uncertainty which must ever surround our knowledge of another person's spiritual condition; — aU this wiU form a veil between the pastor's work and the results following it, and it is hopeless for him to try and draw that veil aside. Let him submit to its presence as part of his discipline, and work on with steady cheerfulness in the certainty that God is working with him, and that he is helping to build up a fabric whose true solidity will only be fully revealed when all other work of man has passed away like a summer cloud. CHAPTER II. THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. When the external framework of our being first came forth from the hands of its Maker, He breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life, and that exterior frame- work was henceforth inhabited by a living soul, a partaker of that "spirit" which, after its allotted time of sojourn, again " returns " to God who gave it. This principle of life is undiscoverable by the keenest penetration of science, and yet it is the source of all man's mental and physical power, being so because it is a Divine principle. Hence human nature is brought into so mysteriously near a relation to God, even by creation, that the life of man is sacred. God requires it at the hand of every man, his own Kfe and his brother's, as a treasure confided tem- porarily to his keeping, for which he must render an account to Him who has thus endowed him with it. If we were to follow up the detail of this accountability, we should see how it extends to aU the voluntary acts of our nature, which derive their power from the life that enables us to perform them. And hence the ques- tion, How does a man Uve, weU or iU ? is really equivalent THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 29 to the question, How does he use the life which God has entrusted to his care and stewardship ? Doubtless there is a very close analogy be- be- tween the Divine sift of phvsical life, and the twecn the . ? . . gift of the Divine gift of spiritual life ; and it would be a Holy Ghost not unprofitable labour to trace out tliat ana- "'.'a *of'^ na- logy in its various ramifications. But my ^ui'ai lite, present object is to use it as an illustration of the position in which the recipient of the grace of God for ministerial purposes is placed with reference to the Be- stower of it, and not to deal with the question as it belongs to the kingdom of grace at large. As I have already shown in the preceding chapter, the pastoral office is a delegation from the Good Shepherd Himsdf; and a delegation, not only in the sense of a commission to do certain work for Him by means of na- tural powers, but also in the sense of a conveyance to the person commissioned of some of the spiritual ability or power to do those things of which the Good Shepherd Himself is the inexhaustible fountain. Regardiag the minister of Christ as a steward, it is to be understood that property is placed at his disposal, out of which he is to maintain the household ; as a soldier, he is sent forth by royal authority, and with arms in his hand. . That, then, which the principle of life is to human nature the grace of ordination is to the Christian ministiy. It was " breathed upon " the Apostles by the same Creator who breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life : and as natural life is transmitted by natural means, so is minis- terial life by spiritual and ministerial means. It is a 30 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. Divine gift which no eye can see, but which yet endows him who receives it with a capacity for action that he could not otherwise possess. Being Divine, this gift brings the receiver of it into a mysteriously close relation to Him who bestows it. And being a gift only in the sense of an endowment, it entails upon the possessor the responsibility of stewardship, so that when God shall take His own back again, He may receive with it the usury earned by a faithful and diligent servant. Following up, then, into some detail the consequences which flow from the bestowal of this gift of ministerial capacity (the arterial life, if I may use such an expression, of the Church militant), it will now be my object to show the relation in which the human pastor is placed to the Divine : first, in respect to the nature of his oflBce ; secondly, as to the responsibilities thrown upon him ; and thirdly, as to the practical duties flowing from these responsi- bilities. §. llesults of the official relation. The pastoral office being a delegation from Delegated Qj^igf Shepherd, authority to act in the authority. '■ •' name of God belongs essentially to its nature. The imags of God in Adam was the instrumental cause of his sovereignty over the things of the visible world. Moses was sent forth to his work with so complete a dele- gation of Divine authority that the Lord Himself said to him, "Thou shalt be to Aaron instead of God:" "See, I have made thee a god imto Pharaoh'." The prophets ' It is very observable that our Lord's well-known reference to the eighty -sixth Psalm, " I have said, ye are gods," which appears to be founded THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 31 of the old dispensation ever went forth with " Thus saith the Lord," unhesitatingly, on their lips. The Evangelists and Apostles were sent in the name of Christ to preach the glad tidings of salvation in Him, and to cast out devils who were opposing His progress to the hearts of men ; and the Church could say for several years after our Lord's ascension as well as before, " In Thy Name have we done many wonderful works." Looking, then, at such illustrations as these, which are given in the Holy Scriptures, of the results which followed upon a delegation of authority by God to man, it seems difficult to attach too high an importance to those acts which are done by the Christian ministry when it goes forth among Christ's flock, commissioned to do them in His Name, the Name of Christ and of God. Indeed, it seems more probable that the clergy themselves may be in danger of attaching too little consequence to what they do as the deputies of Christ ; and that they may say and do things officially without sufficient thought of the real spiritual bearing which their words and deeds may have towards others. The necessity of " intention" towards the efficacy of minis- terial acts and words is no doctrine of the Church of England. It may be that the comparatively heedless words of a pastor may fall with a spiritual weight, as regards those to whom, or on whose behalf they are uttered, which will not be revealed until the results are laid open to view at the day of judgment. on this inciilcnt in the intercourse of Moses with God, occurs in immediate connexion with His discourse on the Pastoral Office ; " If He called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken."— St. John x. 35. 32 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. A faithful appreciation of the authority with which his ministerial words and actions are endowed, is therefore an essential element in the formation of a good pastor ; and a humble, self-annihilating reliance on that authority will often stand him in good stead when all " influence " derived from lower sources would prove utterly valueless. He must endeavour to sink his own personality in that of his Master, whose he is, and whose work he is doing, and try to say with the Apostle, " I can do aU things through Christ which strengtheneth me." What foUy, as well as sin, would it have been in the Apostles for them to have gone out to their work of healing the sick, casting out devils, proclaiming " the kingdom of God is at hand," if they had gone regardless of the fact that they went in the name of Christ ; and how analogous to the sin of Moses, when he said, " Must ur fetch you water out of the stony rock' ?" Very nearly akin to such sin and foUy must be that of men who are sent forth as the pastors of Christ, the Chief Shepherd, and yet fail to realize the fact that their official words and acts, whether they will or no, bear the impress of His authority. On the other hand, very real and solid will his work seem to the clergjTnan who constantly goes about it under the influence of such convictions as his Master's words give him a right to, " Into whatsoever house ye enter, first say. Peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it ; if not, it shall turn to you again." "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My s Num. XX. 10. [LXX, i|aSo/.{i..] THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 33 Name, I will give it unto you." " Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven^" Very important must all the official acts and words of that office be, of some of which our Lord could thus speak ; and very necessary it is that every pastor should have a clear apprehension of the fact that God ratifies the work of His ministers to an extent of which man may not proudly pretend to define the limits. The sacred gift of the Holy Ghost also en- dows a pastor with a capacity, faculty, or Delegated '■ L J ' J ' power or ca- power in ministerial acts of a more definite pacity for character than those to which I have princi- action, pally referred in the preceding paragraphs; so that, whether in their relation to God or to the souls of men, those acts have an efficiency which does not belong to them irrespectively of the gift. I have already quoted, at page 12, a lucid and outspoken passage from the vener- able Hooker on this point, which more than justifies the definite language I am using ; but the common sense of the world as clearly acknowledges that such a capacity is vested in the clergy. No one, for example, would doubt that a solemn benediction in the words of the Communion Service, pronounced by a bishop or a priest, is of more value to the souls of those over whom it is uttered than ' Tlie reality of the pastoral office -vrould be more perfectly appreciated, if it were always remembered that some of our Lord's most precious pro- mises, as those contained in several chapters of St. John, were primarily, at least, addressed to the Apostles iu their pastoral capacity, and not as ordinary disciples. D M THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. the same words would be if pronounced by a mere layman*. Again, it would shock the majority of serious-minded persons in any intelligent circle of society, if a la}Tnan were to go through the form of consecrating the Holy Eucharist ; and this feeling would spring not only from the knowledge that such an act was a flagrant trans- gression of Church customs and law, but also from a sense, more or less defined, that it was an unreality, a profane imitation of an external rite from which no inward grace was to be expected. A strong conviction of this on the part of the pastor would not only give him a deep sense of responsibility, but would also strengthen his perception of the reality be- longing to his ofiice. He would regard himself as in continual contact with the unseen world ; engaged with the things of God, in respect to which sacrilege is a comparatively easy sin ; as in a very close communion — official communion — with Christ, which necessitates greater personal holiness, if possible, than the relation between ordinary Christians and theii- Head. The doubts and hesitations by which many minds are perplexed in these days would be banished by a full and simple consideration of this principle. A minister of the Church of England who has no belief in a supra-natural system of grace must indeed hesitate and doubt as to the use of the formularies to which he is bound ; and his only mode of escape is to explain away the solemn words which he has to take continually upon his lips. When he has ' Many would feel this who yet hold much lower notions respecting ordination than those which alone are authorized in the Prayer Book. THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 35 done SO, I do not see how a conscientious person can feel satisfied in the continued use of " explained away " formu- laries. One must surely long to use them in their simple meaning ; and no difficulty will be found in doing so if they are recognized as a part of a system in which ministerial acts and words have a power derived from God, as well as an outward form. Many mistakes are made through a partial and incomplete apprehension of this great truth. One hears phrases about the regeneration of children by Holy Baptism, the reality of the gift bestowed in the Holy Communion, the forgiveness of sins in Absolu- tion, which leave many minds open to an impression that the priest is supposed to effect the regeneration, reality, or forgiveness ; but such phrases will have no place in the vocabulary of a clergyman, or a layman either, who thoroughly recognizes the relation between the human pastors and the One Divine. Whatever is the spiritual effect of words or actions that are used by the ministers of God, that effect is produced by God alone ; and the minister of God can no more be said to produce these results than the conduit which conveys water from the mountain spring to the lips of the di-inker can be said to quench his thirst. Let me pause for a moment to illustrate this point more fully, in connexion with a portion of the ministerial power claimed and exercised in the Church of England, whicli has had a prominent place in modern discussions upon the question now in hand. When the Pharisees said, "Who can forgive sins, but God only ?" our Lord did not reply that man could for- D 2 36 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. srive them when authorized by God, but led Illustrated * ' by absolu- them to look to His own person as the source of all such power under the mediatorial sys- tem and dispensation. He wrought a miracle to show them that " the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins," because He carries in His own Divine person the power of the Almighty, not ministerially, but essentially. It was perfectly true that man could not forgive sins, but God only', and yet the Jews had long been familiar with a sacrificial system, in which the priests of the temple were used by God as the means by which to convey His forgiveness to men. The Lord Jesus revealed Himself as now exercising in a new form, without the intervention of any typical sacrifice, the Divine Power of the forgiveness of sins. Afterwards He caused this power to flow from Himself as the newly-revealed fountain head, through the channel of Apostolic minis- trations, when He gave to the ten Apostles assembled on the day of His resurrection, the primary commission of the Church : " As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you. And when He had said this. He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost : Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them : and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained^" It still remained a fact, as it ever will remain, that none can Some sentences of this kind are, however, taken up by those who use them, as if they were the words of God, instead of being quotations inserted therein from the sayings of those who were opimsing our Lord. AMun Satan used Holy Scripture against our Lord, he used it in such a way ai to disguise a fallacy in the garb of the words of truth. ' John XX. 21. THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 37 forgive sins but God only : so that these words must be interpreted in the sense indicated by our Lord's previous words on binding and loosing, viz. that what the Apostles did in their ministerial office, had power towards the souls of men, because though done by men on earth, it was done by those who were acting as the deputies of the Chief Shepherd, and would consequently be, nothing hindering, ratified by God in heaven. Now tlie very words used by our Lord to the Apostles are taken up by the Church, and put into the mouth of every bishop every time that he ordains any to go forth and do his Master's work : and what I have already said of the words of ordination must be here repeated, viz. that if they are not true there is only one alternative, they must be untrue ; and if they are untrue, they are words of such solemn import and origin, that the untrue use of them must be blasphemous. But the application of them by the Church of England in the Ordination Ser- vice, and also in the office which the pastor is directed to use in his Visitation of the Sick, (if required,) is so direct as to put this alternative beyond the reach of any himible- minded Christian who considers the weight of authority which has accumulated upon that application by continuous use for centuries by the holiest of men. And we must conclude that the boldness of the Church in assuming the Divine words, and thus applpng them, is a guide to the individual pastor as to the sense in which he is to regard his own official ministrations. Such a sense will amount to a thorough dependence upon God for the efficacy of his ministrations : and he who 38 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. has it, cannot have either doubt as to that eflBcacy, or haughty feelings with reference to his own " sacerdotal power." The forgiveness of sins (to continue to use this example) is utterly and entirely God's act. Whether the words of His minister wiU be ratified by Him, depends upon whether the free will of the person over whom they are uttered does or does not interpose the hindrance of unrepentance as a bar to the operation of Divine grace. If the words do convey that grace, it is because the person pronouncing them does so in the name of God. If the forgiveness is bestowed thus, it is because God has wUled that His gifts shall flow through visible and audible channels so long as the invisible souls of men are placed in the material vehicles of their bodies for the purposes of their probation. The illustration which I have thus used may be ex- tended by analogy to all other ministerial acts of the pastoral ofEce, whether done in Church at the altar, or, like the one referred to, in the private ministrations of the parish. Every pastor ought to have firm and unwavering faith in this grace of God given to him for his ofiicial work; and should endeavour as far as possible to subordinate the mere personal element to the official in whatever he does, and in aU his thoughts respecting it. So far as he is concerned the power of God conveyed by his ministrations is such that he cannot dissociate it from the more sacred of his functions ; though not so tied down to those functions that those to whom he ministers cannot break the connexion. If an impenitent soul receives the word of absolution in THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 39 the congregation or in private, it is still God's word, although the impenitence of the sinner may cause it to return to Him void. So also in other ministerial acts, if the sinner himself places an impediment in the way of God's grace conveyed by those acts, the minister doing them is still the channel of that grace : and if he has done his office faithfully he has no part in the slight offered to it, or in the harm that results to the unfaithful receiver of it. I conceive it to be essential to the proper realization of his office, and of his relation necessary in to God, that the pastor should have these ^bou^The "high notions," as they are often called, of Pastoral Office. his ministerial acts. It is also very desirable that his flock should have a just conception of the real position occupied by their minister, both towards God and themselves, in the Christian system. A "low" opinion respecting the spiritual capacity of the ministry, and of the extent to which God in heaven ratifies their work ou earth, may be a real obstacle to their Christian pro- gress. But much discretion is to be used in " preaching up " the pastoral office, or it may happen that those who entertain unworthy views of it, may be hardened in them ; and those who felt little respect for it before, feel less afterwards. I will therefore venture to add some cautions by way of suggestion which the reader may perhaps find useful as a guide to his own thoughts on the subject. 1. It scarcely rests with young men just in holy orders to say much about the authority and spiritual power of the priesthood. It is possible they may feel strongly 40 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. on the subject, and think they see a great necessity for expressing their feelings : but their neophyte position renders it prudent for them to restrain for a time, at least, that expression. 2. Such kind of teaching comes with the best grace from those who scrupulously show by their diligence, earnest- ness, and good living, that they themselves feel that respect for their office which they require others to feel. If a clergyman preaches wretchedly bad sermons, the less he says about the value of preaching, the better for himself and his people. An unholy priest cannot expect to be listened to ^vith respect, if, in eflPect, he says, " See, liere is my office, and here is my unhoHness; in spite of the latter, the former is efficacious." It may be true, but if his people did not believe the fact before he told them, they will hardly do so after. 3. Great care should be used to make it clear that such claims are urged for the honour of God, and the good of souls, and not for the temj^oral or social exaltation of the clergy. Of all things pastors should avoid speaking as " lords over God's heritage." 4. Let the spirit of such teaching, and even the tone in which it is uttered, be always that of St. Paul, " I magnify mine office." " God, who hath made us able ministers of the New Testament." " Not I, but Christ that dwelleth in me." 5. Let it be seen' that the pastor has at least as high a sense of the heavy responsibility of his office, and of his insufficiency for the perfect fulfilment of its duties, as he has of its importance and dignit3\ Any boasting or self- TTIE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 41 sufficient tone in preaching or conversation about " the power of the keys," e. g. is justly most offensive. If a clergyman thoroughly appreciates his responsibilities in exercising power over the souls of men, he ought to shrink into humbleness and self-abasement, not expand into vain- gloriousncss and self-satisfaction. 6. A clergyman ought to be a man of some calibre to put forward at aU prominently the claims of the ministry. High-sounding claims from men of too evidently small capacities may be just, but they are apt to suggest satirical criticisms which do harm. There was nothing contemp- tible about the fishermen of Galilee, though they were " a-ypafifiarot koi iSiu)Tai." 7. Finally, to adopt the words of a modern bishop, " Practise this truth, so full of encouragement to your weakness ; use it so as to add might to your prayers ; act upon it as a truth in your daily ministrations ; act on it, not by putting forward great claims, however well founded, in your sermons and in your discourses, to the power vested in you by your undoubted succession from the Apostles of the Lord, but by showing forth silently, noise- lessly, and without pretension, the character which belongs to their successors." With which words of caution I will now pass on to con- sider another branch of the subject immediately flowing from the one which has occupied attention in the last few pages. §. Official duties flowing from the relation of the Pastor to God. What has preceded will prepare us for looking with serious minds at aU practical duties which flow from the 42 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. relation existing between the human and the Di\'ine Pastor : and will, I trust, have strengthened the reader in his conviction that, apart from any considerations of the clergyman's responsibility to men, there are ample reasons why he should be a person who well knows what he has to do, and who uses his best endeavour to do it thoroughly. Thus, his duty towards God requires the all minis- pastor to be very exact in his performance of tfoi^' public and private ministrations. Nicety in externals is sometimes slighted as if it was rather a dishonour than otherwise to the reality and spirituality of the things of God. But there is a danger of so slighting the externals as to be doing this very dishonour to the interior realities which it is wished to avoid. For, let it be remembered, the services of the sanctuary, and the whole work of those who are set apart to minister there and in the parish, are not framed only for the edification of men, but for the glory of God. The public services, especially, consist not only of a worship ofiered up by the soul, but also of a worship offered by the soul expressing itself through the body. We cannot con- ceive of any service rendered to God by the Church in heaven that it will admit any admixture of slovenliness, or a free familiarity with the Object of adoration : and in the Church on earth the ministers of God should set an example to their people in respect to a reverent exactness in all which concerns the worship offered to Him here. Whatever care may be required to prevent formality from breeding a neglect of heart religion, there is not the least reason to suppose that inexact and informal clergy- THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 43 men, who disregard the rites and ceremonies ordained in the Church of England, are at all more pious than those who pay strict attention to them. Nor does the Holy Bible, with its Divinely ordained ritual of the Old Testament, and its Apocalyptic vision of heavenly worship, give us any ground for supposing that a loose, informal mode of adoration is more acceptable to God than one which is in analogy with that revealed at Sinai and Patmos. As, then, the pastor is not a minister to man minister- alone, but also a minister to God ; it is a duty ing to God in 1 • 1 1 • externals as laid upon him by this latter relation, even well as in- more than by the former, to minister in all things as being accountable for the external parts of his ministration as well as for the internal. He has no right to act as if the importance of the latter made the former of no consequence : and the interior results of ministerial work being so entirely God's work, how indeed can the clergyman guard its importance if he neglects the outward and visible part ? how can he be a faithful steward of the mysteries of God ? In practice, such a principle will lead to an avoidance of all unseemly hurry, preoccupation, or carelessness, when engaged about holy work ; as well as of any neglect or omission of prescribed forms. Within this generation I have known of a young clergyman who boasted that the children he baptized never made any noise, because he was careful not to let the water he used touch them. In another case I have known a young squire and his wife provoked into secession to Rome, in no small degree, by doubts as to the validity of the Holy Commu- nion as consecrated by their vicar, even after remonstrance, 44 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. without the manual usages dii-ected by the Prayer Book. Most of us can remember baptisms administered from a basin placed on the Holy Table, even when there was a font of stone (according to law) in the church ; hurried and mutilated performance of the Burial Service ; and other careless or indifferent renderings of Prayer Book institutions. One has seen clergymen so wearing their ofBcial vestments as if they felt it was beneath a gentleman or a dignitary to care whether they were becoming and fit for the service of God ; or as if there could be no other reason for wearing vestments at all than because the wearer was ministering before men. But all such things derive an importance from their connexion with the relation of the pastor to God which they would not otherwise possess ; and it is not the extremest minimum of " decency and order " which is likely to be most accept- able to Him. Accuracy ^^^^ another example : the faithful pastor find balance will try to be Very faithful in teaching his " people as God's mouthpiece. A suppression of some manifest truths, an undue exaltation of others, a dis- tortion of revolution to make it fit in with opinion — all this he will religiously avoid, remembering how important a position he is placed in when he is entrusted with the declaration of his Master's will, and that it is essential he should be able to say, " This is my Master's word to you, and not only my own invention." Hence, to take an instance analogous to the class I have selected hitherto for illustration, he will lead his flock to value fully the grace which God bestows by visible means. If he were to dwell THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 45 much in his discourse with them on the grace which God bestows by invisible channels, the pastor must necessarily draw largely ujDon human theories, his own or those of other men, seeing that little is said on the subject in Holy Scripture. And, moreover, although it has probably been the will of God to save many souls without a ministry, without sacraments, and without a written revelation, we have no reason to think that He will save any without these when His providence has placed them within their reach. It has been His will, indeed, at times, to convert men by visions of Himself, and also to keep up an imme- diate communication between Himself and human souls. But we are certain of this in the present dispensation, that He has established a mediatorial communication through the person of our Lord, God and man ; and that ordinary communion with Him is dependent upon the means or instruments of grace. Hence, in the " General Thanks- giving " at Morning and Evening Praj^er, we offer thanks to God for (1) " Thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ:" (2) for "the means of grace " by which that redemption is presented to our individual souls : and (3) for " the hope of glory " which is given to the world by redemption, and which we ourselves have, by our personal interest in redemption, obtained by the means of grace. It seems especially necessary in our day, both for the glory of God and the good of souls, that while all antinomianism should be strictly guarded against, yet it should be constantly and unreservedly declared that men are saved and built up in holiness, not solely or chiefly even by their own efforts of 46 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. moral discipline, but by God's work in the soul through the bestowal of grace : but, of course, this is only one illustration out of many that might be used, of the neces- sity for preserving a steady and Scriptural balance in our teaching : declaring the " whole counsel " of God, and not a part thereof, regarding the " analogy " of the faith, and " rightly dividing the word of truth." Another of the duties incumbent upon one ^[genee™^ brought into so close relation to Christ is un- flagging diligence in the work wherein he acts as the deputy of the Good Shepherd. I mean, here, not so much that kind of work which is usually in people's minds when they speak of a clergyman's activity, and which wUl come under notice subsequently, but rather that indicated by the ordination question, " Will you be diligent in prayers, and in reading of the Holy Scriptures, and in such studies as help to the knowledge of the same, lajang aside the study of the world and the flesh ? " Nor is it my intention to speak of personal or private prayers at present, though too much could not be said of their necessity to the pastor in promoting his personal holiness. But the subject of this section makes it essential for me to draw the reader's attention to that diligence in prayCTs'''^ official praycrs which is imposed upon the pastor as one of the chief duties belonging to his position as a representative of that Chief Shepherd " who ever liveth to make intercession for us," His flock. And as it will be well to take a general survey of the con- siderations which belong to the subject of constant official prayers, it will be necessary to introduce some remarks THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 47 here which would otherwise have been more properly rele- gated to the Chapter in which the pastor's relation to his flock is to be brought under notice. I will therefore pro- ceed to consider the question of Daily Church Services as a whole, i. e. in reference to God, the pastor, and the people. §. Daily Church Services. 1. It is due to God that a continual ofiering of praise and prayer should be made to Him by j-j^j^ God. the Church in its official capacity as well as by individuals in their personal or household devotions : and this continual offering has been defined practically by " The Order for Morning and Evening Prayer, DaUy throughout the Year," which is the title of our ordinary public services. This duty of the Church is fulfilled in its primary degree by the Cathedrals, each of which repre- sents the centre from whence Divine worship radiates around, as the bishop represents the centre of pastoral responsibility and labour. But, as the cathedral and the bishop are the religious centre of the diocese, so the parish church and the parochial clergyman are of that portion of the diocese which is allotted to them : and it certainly seems expedient and right, if not so absolutely essentif^l as in the case of the cathedral, that God's honour should be as constantly recognized by formal acts of Divine worship in every parish. " Day by day we magnify Thee." 2. This has ever been the principle on which the Divine worship of the Church of England Enjoined by , , „ , , , ..... the Church has been lounded; and a positive injunction of England, on the subject is accordingly inserted in the 48 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO COD. beginning of tlie Prayer Book. The title of the services which I have already referred to, is expanded in the pre- vious page of the Prayer Book into " The Order for ]Srorning and Evening Prayer, daily to be said and used throughout the year," and it is directed that this " Order " shall be used "in the accustomed place," &c. A more direct injunction is placed at the end of the short explana- tion " concerning the Service of the Church," which is placed after the Preface in our modern Prayer Books. There it is distinctly ordered that " the curate," or person having cure of souls, " that ministereth in every parish church or chapel, being at home, and not being otherwise reasonably hindered, shall say the " ]\Iorning and Evening Prayer " in the parish church or chapel where he minis- tereth, and shall cause a bell to be tolled thereunto a convenient time before he begin, that the people may come to hear God's Word, and to pray with him." This law of the Church of England is so clear and express that it is strange to find how generally it has been set aside by custom '. Yet the practice has been continu- Used by ously recognized as a matter of course by many Inenalf^''^' excellent clergymen in every generation, times. When Eishop Wilson was ordained deacon, in 1686, he received a paper of ad^-ice from Archdeacon ' Five and twenty years ago there were only three parish churches in England in which the Morning and Evening Prayer were both said daily throughout the year. At the present time there arc thirty-six such churches in Loudon alone, besides twenty -eight others, in wliich one of the services is used daily. There are about one tbousaud churches opened daily for public prayer throughout England; and the practical value of the custom is^hown by the continual increase in number of the clergy who adopt it. THE BELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 49 Hewitson, in which lie is enjoined "never to miss the Church's public devotions twice a day, when unavoidable business, want of health, or of a church, as in travelling, does not hinder." Among Archbishop Sancroft's MSS., in the Bodleian Library, I have observed a letter from Dr. Grenville, when Archdeacon of Durham, urging the necessity for a general revival of " daily prayers in parish churches, and weekly communion, at least, in cathedrals ;" the latter of which customs was iadeed restored mainly by Dean Grenville's exertions'. Good Archdeacon Basire also, when he was making a calendar for the division of his time after his return from exile in 1670, set out : — " Residence at Stanhope, above 3 moneths. 100 days. Residence at Eaglescliffe, 3 moneths. 90 days. Bayly publich prayers, and constant sermons, in both every Sunday and Holy Day '." Somewhat earlier than this we read of Ferrar, in 1630, that "he being accompanied with most of his family, did himself use to read the common prayers (for he was a deacon) every day, at the appointed hours of ten and four, in the parish church And good George Herbert's own practice " was to appear constantly with his wife and three nieces (the daughters of a deceased sister), and his whole famUy, twice every day at the church prayers, in the chapel which does almost join to his parsonage-house ^" When Sanderson was Rector of Boothby Pannel he had * There is a very interesting collection of Dean Grenville's MSS., which was discovered in the Bodleian, in 1860 (and has not yet been published), in which there is much correspondence on the subject. ' See Surtees' Society's Life of Basire. ' Herbert's Remains, vol. i. p. 65. ^ Ibid. p. 55. E 50 l-HE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. daily prayers ; and Fell records of Hammond tliat lie kept up the same practice at Penshiirst. Later on we find Bishop Patrick (1691 — 1707) a great advocate for the same habit ; and also Bishop Lany of Ely (1667 — 1675), who writes, " Our service is a continual daily sacrifice, a morning and evening prayer; and though the greatest benefit of this belongs to those that daily attend it, yet being it is the public sacrifice of the Church, all that are members of that have their part and interest in it though they be absent, yet not in an equal measure. The present are intituled to the benefit of a sacrifice ofiered by them ; the absent, as a sacrifice ofiered for them. For this is our eternufn sacrificium, that is perpetually burning upon the altar for the service of God, and inbehaKof every member of the Church, that doth not ponere obicem, set a bar upon himself, by his wilful neglect of it, or by his opposition to it." Very similar was the Charge given by Bishop Hooper, of Bath and Wells, to his clergy some forty years later ; and many references to the practice are to be found in other charges of that date. There is, too, an old " Letter of Advice to all the Members of the Church of England to come to the Divine Service, Morning and Evening, every day," of the date 1704 which shows that the laity, as well as the clergy, knew the advantage of constant pubHc prayers. " The gentlemen of Clifibrd's Inn," it states, " in the parish of St. Dunstan's in the West," set a pious example to the public in their constant attendance at the daily prayers of the Church ; and ten 3 There is an original copy in Cambridge Public Library, B 6 — 9—41 ; but it has been republished recently. THE RELATION OP THE PASTOR TO GOD. 51 years later, in 1714, when tlie population of the metropolis was about one-sixth of what it now is, there were seventy- five churches open daily for divine service*. It was, probably, when the custom of daily prayer was beginning to die out of our parishes that Dr. William Best wrote, and the Christian Knowledge Society published, his excel- lent " Essay on the Service of the Church of England con- sidered as a Daily Service," which is still on the list of that Society's publications. I have put together these few instances of regard for the practice to show that good men at all times have considered Daily Divine Service to be the rule of the Church of England ; and, few as they are, they offer indications (which naight be much multiplied) that it was more commonly used than it has been of late years by the pious clergy ^ 3. Which leads me to observe that it is most probable many of our pious clergy in the present day have failed sufficiently to consider this law of the Church as intended partly for their own spiritual advantage in their work as pastors of Christ's flock. That such an ad- . Their spiri- vantage is supposed by the Chirrch is evident tual value to from the paragraph which precedes the rule or P^^tor. law I have already quoted from the Introductory part of the Prayer Book, " And all priests and deacons are to say daily the Morning and Evening Prayer, either privately or openly, not being let by sickness, or some * With its modem three millions of people, London had only sixty-four churches open daily in 1863. ' There are many endowments for daily service scattered over the country. The money is too often received, and the duty neglected. E 2 52 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. other urgent cause." This paragraph enjoins the daily service of the Church as a duty on the clergy, as the one which we have previously had under consideration pro- vides for the people having the full benefit of it. Bishop Cosin writes on this paragraph, " We are also bound . . . daily to repeat and say the public service of the Church. And it is a precept the most useful and necessary of any others that belong to the ministers of God, and such as have the cure of other men's souls ; " and most writers on the Prayer Book have considered this rule to be strictly binding on the clergy ^ The advantages of the practice, The provisions respecting the daily service are three : — (1) If said privately, it may be said in any language understood by those who say it. (2) All the clergy are to say it privately or openly, if not la\vfally hindered. (3) It is to be said in every parish church or chapel, by every clergyman having cure of souls. The second and third of these provisions were not printed in the first Kiiglish Prayer Book, but instead of them there was this clause, that no man shall be bound to the saying of daily prayers, " but such as, fi-om time to time, in cathedral and coDegiate churches, parish churches and chapek, to the same annexed, shall serve the congi-egation." In 1541 had been issued "An Explanation of Ceremonies to be used in the Qiurch of Eng- land," in which it is said, " It is laudable and convenient, that (except sickness, or any other reasonable impediment, or let) everj- bishop, priest, and others having orders, and continuing in their administration, shall daily say divine service ; . . . . and such as are bishops and priests, divers times to say mass." The word "privately" was introduced into the second English edition of the Prayer Book, and appears to refer to the first of the three provisions above quoted. From the history of these proWsions, it appears to me that the word does not refer to a solitary recitation of a responsive service ; and that it probably does refer to the use of the Prayer Book in college and domestic chapels, which were then very numerous. On the other hand, the recitation of a Private Responsive Service was common enough in the days when Primers were still issued ; and was the THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 53 of which I am here writing more thaa of the obligation, are only to be learned perfectly by experience ; but I will suggest some of them as they have appeared to myself, and as I have known them to be felt by others. It is no small benefit to the pastor that he may thus come into God's house before he begins the responsible duties of the day to lay a foundation for them in the strong ground of the authorized service of the sanctuary: or again, that when those duties of the day are over he may bring them, as it were, to the altar of God, there to offer them to Him by crowning them with holy worship. He will thus grow into a habit of seeking and finding strength to begin the toil of the day, and repose after its wearying anxieties and excitements. The constant services of God's house have power, more than any private home devotions, to form a solid and devout habit of mind in the clergy- man, guarding him from worldliness, and stirring up in him, day by day, the gift of God which is in him by the laying on of hands. They offer a constant and prevailing means of intercession for his flock, and the Church at large. While individual persons of his charge will need special prayer, in these he offers his general supplications for all : and in a town parish of great extent how much comfort may the hardest-working clergyman feel from thus bringing day by day before God in something more than his personal prayers, all those who are under his charge, but whom he tries in vain, from their very method adopted by Bishop Cosin in his "Collection of Private Devotions" (1627). The Latin Prayer Book of Elizabeth was also issued partly for the nse of the clergy on days when they could not get to Church, as stated in the proclamation prefixed to it. 5 i THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. numbers, to know. Nor is it of small importance that in the midst of that isolation from his brethren which is almost the necessary consequence of diligent work in a parish, these constant prayers give to a clergjTnan a deep sense of spiritual union with the rest of the Church, which goes far to counteract it. Lastly, a constant use of the daily services deepens the clergyman's knowledge and spiritual understanding of Holy Scripture, and of the principles of the Church ia which he ministers to God and men : and thus puts the keystone to his daily studies as well as to his daily pastoral labours in the streets and lanes of his parish. The varied combination of Lesson and Psalm often opens out Divine truth in a marvellous manner ; and by their repetition month after month, the Psalms, especially, are ingrained into the pastor's mind for use in sermons and private ministrations with a force that can hardly otherwise be gained : so that he is led to enter thoroughly into that devotional application of them which has caused the Psalms to be taken as the central pillar of a worship acceptable to God and good for the souls of men for nearly three thousand years. Thus, besides his own spiritual advantage, the pastor will be continually under training, as it may be said, by the ser- vices of the Church, to fit him for the effectual discharge of his duties. n.„-- ™ _; 4. Moreover, as this constant official dili- 1 heir spin- ' tual value to orenco in prayers is of advantage to the flock the flock. r . ? . . indirectly through the grace which it gains for their pastor, so will it always be found to be of practical benefit to the parish in a more direct manner. The very THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 55 sound of the church bells morning and evening is a warn- ing voice to remind men that religion should have a place in daily life. Very much of the work of the Church con- sists of this persistent warning to men, "whether they will hear or whether they will forbear," that their souls and bodies are part of the kingdom of God in which they have, duties to do, and in which they will find grace, if they seek it, whereby those duties may be done. The Church cannot relieve men of their individual respon- sibility, but day by day her warning voice goes forth to them, bidding each conscience to remember that there is a work of God as well as a work of man to be accomplished every day. And although, at first, there may be some who will sneeringly vent their vexation at such warnings, and say, " Your church bells are continually clanging," it will not be long before they learn to respect the summons, though unable or unwilling to attend the service': " And many a Christian heart o'er whom the strain At matins or at evensong is falling, Gives back within its own calm depths again A holier echo — for love's voice is calling." As, too, the persistent public devotion of the Church in the midst of the world is a warning to the parish, so I cannot but think that it is a channel by which the secular work of that parish is, so far as it is good, offered to God day by day, and His presence drawn down to sanctify the camp by its manifestation in the tabernacle. 5. As far as my experience of four parishes goes, and " See some practical remarks on the use of a peal of beUs for Daily and Sunday Services in Chap. xiii. 56 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. my observation of many others in both towns and villages, there will always be some few persons to form a congrega- tion. As many as possible of the clergyman's household will, at least, be there to use the daily prayers of the sanctuary instead of those breakfast-table devotions which have come to be an easy substitute for them To mention good George Herbert again, his biographer Isaac Walton says that not only his own family used constantly to accom- pany him to the Church prayers, but "he brought most of his parishioners and many gentlemen in the neighbour- hood constantly to make part of his congregation twice a day : and some of the meaner sort of his parish did so love and reverence Mr. Herbert that they would let their plough rest when Mr. Herbert's saints' beU rung to prayers, that they might also oflfer their devotions to God with him ; and then return back to their plough'." In these days, ploughs, hammers, and shuttles work too unceasingly for labourers and artisans to foUow the ex- ample of the ploughmen of the 17th century, but there are many persons of quite as much leisure in our day as in George Herbert's who both can and will find time to attend. Professional men and others in London are con- 8 It is worthy of observation that all collections of family prayers which are not compiled by actual dissenters, derive their inspiration from the Prayer Book. » Herbert's Life and Works, vol. i. p. 56. At a much later period, the same thing is recorded of another parish. Whitfield was for a short time curate of Dummer, in Hampshire, during the absence of the rector, and he found among other illustrations of pastoral diligence, that the children were daUy catechised, and that young and old daily attended public prayers in the morning before going to work, and in the evening on returning from it. This was in 1736. What true work goes on in quiet corners ! THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 57 stantly to be seen at the early daily seryice at Westmin- ster Abbey, at the Temple Church, and at some parish churches: and there are aged and infirm people every where, both in town and country, to whom continual attendance is a habit which brings them comfort and grace'. I have known an official gentleman for many years whose constant custom it has been to take the morn- ing prayers on his way to the railway station, whence he travelled ten miles, from one north coimtry town.to another where his daily business was waiting for him. At the same service every day might be seen a lady about ninety years of age, who used to walk from her house, nearly a mile distant, with the most unfailing punctuality day after day to her pew in the gallery. The same regular attend- ance may often be observed in country villages : and I think many clergymen who have gained practical expe- rience in this matter will corroborate the assertion that a punctual service wUl never fail in finding at the least two or three met together in the name of Christ to offer up to God their daily praises and prayers. Of the attendance of children I have spoken in the chapter on schools, and will only say here, that it has been found to produce very happy results both in some who have been early taken to their rest, and in others who have grown up in grace to maturer years. One or two objections to daily service, which Some "^yec- . tions an- have not been met by the course of my pleading swered. ^ There is an old world proverb " After the longest day comes Evensong," a version of "Man goeth forth to his work and to his labour until the evening." 58 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. ill its favour, may be considered before parting with tbe subject. First, there is its length, and the time that is conse- quently occupied ^ At the utmost this need not exceed three-quarters of an hour, and that length will only be reached by a rather slow choral service, or very slow reading. If the time taken up is ordinarily within half an hour, it will be sufEcicnt however for a reverent and intelligible rendering of the service, which very slow reading seldom is. But there is room for doubt, whether it was ever intended that a daily parochial service should consist of all the prayers that are used. For a short time after the compilation of the first English Prayer Book, the Morning Service began with the Lord's Prayer, and ended, with the third collect; and the Evening Prayer maintained this limited form until 16(32, as any old Prayer Book will show. The present rubric requires all after the third collect to be said when there is an anthem, but not otherwise ; and the " prayers and thanksgivings upon several occasions " are what their name signifies, and what it signified more plainly when the word "occasional" meant only " as occasion may require," which was its meaning at the time the title in question was inserted. I cannot but think that the abbreviations thus indicated might be legitimately introduced with great advantage in. many churches ; and that they would enable clergymen 2 This objection is often raised on serious grounds. Yet I have found in one or two villages, that an occasional five or ten minutes' exposition of one of the Lessons was very acceptable to the congregation in the even- ing; and at least one week-day evening "Lecture" is looked for in town churches. THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 59 to offer daily prayers to God there, who might otherwise feel that, single-handed, such a task was beyond their powers. It is also urged that domestic duties prevent the attend- ance of any but the unoccupied members of a family. But with a good will, much of this difficulty would pass away. As fur as the clergy are concerned, it is their duty to offer the service to all, and to point out the principle laid down with respect to the attendance of the laity in the fifteenth Canon. Lastly, I have heard some of the daily lessons made an objection to the daily services ; and I confess to having an insurmomitable objection to reading in public, and before young people, some of the lessons ordered by the calendar. There are those who defend the calendar as it stands, on the ground that all Scripture is God's Word, and that no harm can come from the reading of that which is so sacred. I confess that I can see no good which can arise from the public reading to a congregation, composed prin- cipally perhaps of young persons, of such lessons as Bel and the Dragon or Leviticus xviii., Deut. xxii., xxv., and a few other such chapters. Whatever good reason there might be originally for the public use of these Scrip- tures, reasons have sprimg up in later times why we should hesitate to speak in such language in the hearing of young people even in church. In certain cases, Gen. ix. and xix., the final verses are carefully excluded from Sunday read- * It is a fact tliat a man was once sent into a fit of loud and uncon- trollable laughter, although he was honestly preparing for holy orders, by bearing this lesson for the first time, in the chapel of a Theological College. 60 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. ing, as is also Deut. xxiii. from tlie daily lessons, and surely the careful pastor may adopt the same rule on his own authority in the daily service, and leave out some of those Old Testament chapters in which things are spoken of which it is not now the custom to mention except with the extremest reserve and privacy *. I am not aware that there are any other objections which need to be mentioned, and will conclude my remarks on this subject by expressing a fervent hope that a habit, so calculated to give tone to a pastor's labours, and to sanctify them among his people, may grow more and more common among us, until it has become the practical habit, as well as the theoretical law of our Church, that Morning and Evening Prayer shall be said daily in parish churches throughout the land. To understand the immense change in this matter since the Re- formation, one must be acquainted witli the HomUies. Such portions as the comment on the conduct of Noah and Lot, in the Homily on Gluttony and Drunkenness, could not possibly be preached in these days. Application was once made to Bishop Blomfield, by a London clergyman who is now a bishop himself, for permission to substitute other chapters for these lessons. The Bishop of Loudon could not officially grant that per- mission, of course; but, no doubt, most bishops would in reahty approve of such substitution, as, I beUeve, Bishop Blomfield made it understood that he did. It is not " squeamishuess," but a consideration for the good of souls, which makes many clergymen of experience in the use of daily services feel the necessity for it, and act accordingly. I may add, that the omitted chapters may be balanced by taking into account those ■which are superseded on Sundays and Holydays by proper lessons. Thus, if February 11th be a Wednesday, and Leviticus the eighteenth is to be left unread, let the Evening first lesson be substituted, and the following chapters of the calendar taken in ordei-, and the numbers of the days and chapters will again come together correctly on Monday the 16th. THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 61 §. Diligence in Study. It is a too generally received dictum among the clergy of this active period, that a pastor who does his duty thoroughly in church and parish can have little or no time for study ; that other and higher duties press upon them, which demand that they should put away reading as soon as it is no longer necessary for the purpose of passing college or ordination examinations. Some even seem to think that study is a luxury, to which neither young curate nor middle-aged rector has a right, so long as there are souls starving around them for which they are held responsible. The consequence is, that we are fast train- ing up a body of clergymen who are incompetent to be leaders of the laity in an age of highly-developed intellect and widely-spread knowledge ; men of the most superficial theological learning, who have scarcely gained a new idea from books since they put their college texts on the shelf. Hence we have so much dogmatizing, and ' 80 little demonstration, a characteristic of the clergy most ! haplessly unfitted for the age we live in. It is not 'Sufficient for clergymen who have to teach a generation very open to scepticism till it is taught faith, that they should be strong in authorities gathered out of clerical newspapers, but very weak in those which require to be mined out from the foundation strata of history, and sound and solid theological writers. Superficiality of this kind is easilj^ detected, and God's representative loses weight as a teacher with tliose who ought to sit listen- 62 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. ing at the feet of him whose " lips should keep know- ledge." It is a positive duty which every pastor owes to God, that he should keep himself fit by means of study, con- stant, diligent study, for the work which is set before him. Hours so employed are not lost time, even when he is surrounded in his parish and in his church, only by the poor ; for a man really learned in the Scriptures — not a mere text-learner — will be able to give far more profitable spiritual instruction to them than one who draws upon the knowledge acquired in his imdergraduate days, or upon fleeting publications, or upon sermons at so much a volume written for the clerical market. Shallow habits of reading, whether they are or are not accom- panied by diligence in active work, must inevitably lessen the breadth and completeness of a clergjonan's views. They strengthen the tendency there is among us to party feeling and cliqueism. Opinions are formed, not on a good firm ground of independent knowledge, but on the second-hand account which their favourite journal or review gives of those held by their favourite party leader, Dr. This, or Archdeacon That ; who have the misfortune, perhaps, to be set forward as "leaders" against their will, only because there are numbers of young clergy who, if they are not " led," must flounder in a theological slough of despond. Very miserable is this cliqueism among the ranks of the clergy, and a great hindrance to the steady, irresistible, combined progress of the Church in the great pastoral work of the age. Great party divisions can hardly be expected to cease ; but they THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 63 do not involve a loss of cliarity, or of general com- bination. It is cliqueism whicli reaUy breaks up the bonds of charity ; and few observant men will differ from me when I express a strong opinion that it is produced in our own day by a want of original knowledge in the clergy, arising from the superficiality and second-hand character of their reading. Diligence in study, then, especially in a real, steady study of the Holy Scriptures, is necessary to the clergy, both with respect to their position as teachers sent by God to declare His truth and will, and also as a discipline and safeguard for themselves in an age of noisy controversy. By the neglect of it a pastor will become weak in his sermons, his bedside expositions, and his colloquial inter- course with his parishioners ; and wiU possess an un- balanced mind always ready to be carried away by every wind of doctrine. Much even of his hardest parish labours will be in vain, perhaps, through this weakness : and instead of his parishioners acquiring a spiritual gain by his con- stant absence from /lis hooks that he may be present with them, they wiU sufter a positive loss by only receiving at their pastor's lips knowledge of the smallest value, when they ought to have received that which would make them truly wise, by giving them the truth about God, them- selves, and the things of God's kingdom. Let the pastor, therefore, look upon diligent reading as a duty which he owes to God, as the only means by wljich he can keep his intellectual faculties ever in such a con- dition that they may be worthily dedicated to His service. And let him pray with good Bishop Wilson, " Give me a 64 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOT). discerning spirit, a sound judgment, and an honest and religious heart, that in all my studies my first aim may be to set forth Thy glory by setting forth the salvation of men." §. Personal Holiness. The reader will have mistaken my intention very much, if he has thought that it was my purpose so to exalt the official practice of a pastor's duty as to leave out of sight the necessity of personal holiness. On the contrary, I believe that the warning words of the Apostle St. Paul ought to be endorsed on every official act of the pastor, " lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." In considering the re- lation between the pastor and God, I have necessarily confined myself principally to those particulars in which it differed from the relation between ordinary Christians and God ; and as it has not fallen within the pro\'ince of this work hitherto to enlarge on the necessity of Christian holiness in ordained Christians, so now it will only be my duty to point out in what manner the absence of a greater degree of holiness than that looked for in God's Aaoc becomes sinful in those who are ordained, and set apart as God's KA^poc- The official relation established between God and the pastor is, in fact, so close that it cannot be said a clergy- man can look on himself as at any time free to act with the same liberty that may be lawfully used by a layman. It is true that the Holy Ghost is given for the work of a THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. 65 priest, and not for the purpose of personal sanctification ; and that since, therefore, the Divine presence is vouch- safed for the priest's official acts, the person so endowed only stands in exceptionally close relation to God while engaged in those acts. But this is a dangerous argument : all the more dangerous, perhaps, because of the element of truth which it contains. The presence-chamber of a sovereign would not be knowingly and wilfully used by a loyal subject with the same freedom as an ordinary room, even in the absence from it of the sovereign's person : and liny disloyal aict, even at such a time, would seem doubly disloyal because it was done in a place which had so close an occasional relation to the person whom it dishonoured. As, therefore, ordinary Christians have been warned from the first that in defiling their bodies by sin, they defile tlwse "lively stones" of which the temple of the Holy Gliost is built up, so, much more, must it be considered til at he to whom it has been in addition definitely said, " Ilcceive the Holy Ghost," is bound by the relation thus established between himself and the all-holy God to regard himself as obliged ipso facio to a reverend and holy life. Keeping strictly, therefore, to the object of this Chapter, it must still be concluded that personal holiness is part of the official duty of a pastor. Lustrations were necessary for those who ministered at the altar of the Temple which were not needed for ordinary worshippers there : and " keep th3'self pure " was the exhortation of the Christian Apostle to his beloved son in the faith, the Christian bishop Timothy. And to His pastors, of all other men, is the F 66 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO GOD. Good Shepherd in His immaculate hoHness set forth as an example. It must be a pastor's care to guard himself against doing his work ia such a manner that it brings no benefit to his own soul : to use much scrutiny, much prayer for himself, much self-discipline with reference to the exe- cution of his duties ; to be in continual anxiety, that while God's tool is doing His work in moulding the souls of men for heaven, it may be sanctified by the position which it holds in the Almighty hand ; that when its work as a tool is laid aside, its substance may stUl be of such value in the Master's sight, that it may be placed among His treasures beside the work which it has wrought. [a prayer. 0 Lord, merciful Father, open Thou my lips that I may worthily bless Thy holy Name : cleanse my heart from aU vain and worldly thoughts, that I may not imworthily do my work before Thy Divine Majesty : and grant that what 1 do unto Thy glory in my office, may bring Thy grace to my soul, through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, om- Lord ; who, with Thee and the Holy Ghost, Kveth and reigneth, ever one God, world without end. Amen.] CHAPTER III. THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. The principles which I have endeavoured to elucidate hitherto lead on to the conclusion that the foundation of all pastoral work is to be laid not on earth and in human relations, but within the veU, before the throne of God, where only an anchorage sure and stedfast can be found. If God is the worker on whom our work is to depend, let us secure His operation as the very first necessity. He will bless activity and diligence in aU the various branches of pastoral work ; but we must take care, above all things, not to rely on the activity and diligence of our own eflPorts until we have made sure of that presence of the infinitely mightier Master-worker whose grace alone can regenerate and build up a parish. A practical recognition of this conclusion will lead us to look to the constant service of God, spoken of in the last Chapter, by prayers and the Eucharistic avainvr](Tig (the latter of which is reserved for future mention), as the real ground of a pastor's own operations in his parish. The active-minded and energetic clergyman is imder great temptation to self-reliance ; as if his labours in schools, parochial institutions, visiting the poor, and every thing F 2 68 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. else of the kind whicli he very properly applies himself to with all his heart, were of high value in themselves irre- spectively of their relation to the house of God and the altar. He needs to guard himself against such a tempta- tion by often reminding himself that the spiritual value of all such work is to be measured by the closeness of its connexion with the presence of Christ, the Good Shep- herd; and that His presence is as certain in the Christian's sanctuary, as the presence of the God of Israel was in the Shechinah over the mercy-seat. To sanctify the camp then by gaining that presence, to gain it by constant praise, prayer, and Eucharist, is not a work separate from pastoral work, and the relations of a pastor to his flock, for which a busy clergyman may reasonably plead that he has no time. It is the first and most important part of his labours as relating to his people, the very key-stone to all other portions of his system : and without it all those various parts will sooner or later coUapse from inherent weakness. We dig and plough and toil in vain, except Heaven shaU send rain upon the earth. We labour fruit- lessly among streets and lanes and schools, except we send up the incense of prayer from the altar of God, to draw down the answer of His fructifying grace. With these few words of preliminary safeguard we may now go on to consider the position of the minister of God as minister to God's people. The fundamental principles on which the Theprinciple i.,,.^-,, of pastoral relation between pastor and nock is founded, relations, traced to the general relation which fallen and redeemed man bears to God. Men are placed THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 69 on probation in a state of free will, having evil and good external to them, which they have the power to identify with themselves by the grace of God on the one hand, and tlie (ppovrifxa aapKOQ on the other. But since the first Fall it has never been a part of God's Providence to leave men to their own personal and uninfluenced guidance in this state of trial : and since the mediatorial work of Christ has originated substantial " means " of grace, it has become, not less, but more, a part of that Providence that there should be agents or ministers of God to help, guide, and discipline them. Superadded to this is the human institution of andtheparo- the parochial system, upon the history of which chial system, it is not necessary to enlarge, but which may be broadly defined as an organization by which the souls comprised within a certain topographical limit are assigned to the special pastoral charge of one agent or minister of Christ. All pastoral functions centring in the bishop, and his diocese or TrapoiKia being too extensive to permit the per- sonal exercise of them towards to all under his charge, the lower portions of those functions are committed by liim to those to whom he officially says, " Accept this cure of souls, my cure and thine :" and a certain defined limit is assigned as a parish within which those delegated functions arc to be exercised by the deputy pastor or parish priest. The human institution, then, the legal rela- Beneficial tion of a clergyman to his parishioners by which endowments , . , an accident liis right to exercise his office is confined to them of pastoral alone, is closely connected with the spiritual relation to the laity at large which is established by ordi- 70 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. nation: and the solemn act by which cure of souls is handed over to the ordained priest when he becomes a responsible pastor is such as to give the spiritual a decided preponderance over the human institution in the relation established. In the occupation of a benefice, living, or incumbency (as the terms are indifferently used), the clergyman's right to the "temporalities" or legal endow- ment, is but an accident of his position, and not (as too often regarded) the essential part of it. But the really essential part is, that a relation of responsibility is estab- lished on both sides, for which both will be accountable to God : a responsibility which may well make good men look upon their institution with feelings of prayerful awe, as it is said George Herbert did, and be fuU of anxiety that their conduct as " curates " of men's souls may be such as may, by the mercy of God, give them " boldness in the day of judgment." This principle of responsibility remains equally in force whether the benefice with which it is connected provides the holder of it with less than a bare maintenance for him- But yet a whether it be one of 2000/. a year. But quid pro there is also another view of this responsibility, which, though a lower one, must not be passed over. Where the endowment of a living is such as to provide the pastor with ample means of sustenance, he is bound by the ordinary laws of honesty and honour which protect and govern social Hfe to give a fuU equivalent for such provision in personal labour, and, if necessary, by the employment of assistants to do what is bej^ond the reach of a single clergyman's power. Non-residence can never THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 7l hocome so common as it was a few generations back, but Cl eat liberties are still taken by the clergy in absenting themselves from their parishes ; and there is a land of non-effcdkc residence to be found not unfrequently, which is almost as contrary to the spirit of the relation between the pastor and his flock as non-residence itself. It seems to be thought by some of the richer clergy that the very wealth of their benefices is a reason why they should not be "working clergy." They are often to be found living so much away from home, or holding so little intercourse with their people, that they know next to nothing of the individual spiritual condition of any of the souls committed to their charge: and the whole practical work of their jiastorate is done by one or more assistants. The result is, as far as the benefice is concerned, that after deducting tlie sum paid to these assistants, and subscriptions to local institutions, the holder of it deals with the remainder of liis ecclesiastical income as if it proceeded from a private estate in land or in the funds, instead of regarding it as a stipend (paid by means of tithe or other endowment) for labour to be given in exchange, and for an actual respon- sibility undertaken. The minds of the laity revolt at this as a misapplication of Church endowments ; although, perhaps, the clergyman who thus acts is the last person in his parish to hear of what is said and felt on the subject. Xor is it to be wondered at that such a course should be objected to ; for without looking at the spiritual effects produced, it must be regarded from a secular point of view as a breach of contract, and in any secular profession it would ultimately lead to a forfeiture of the stipend. 72 THE RELATION OF TKE PASTOR TO HIS FI,OUK. Spiritual These two grounds, then, the first, that a basis of pas- cure of souls has been solemnly committed to ti.m. ' him by the bishop on behalf and in the name of the Chief Shepherd ; and the second, that a Temporal basis of the Contract ensues ipso facto between the beneficed "^'"^^ clergj^man and his parishioners, form the basis of the relation between a pastor and his flock : and the first by itself is of such a character that even if the second be absent the general obligation remains from the very nature of their relative position. In the present day the situation of a clergyman placed in the position of a pastor acting under these two contracts, the spiritual and the temporal, is in some respects easier, and in some more difiicult than it was formerly. It be- • comes very difiicult in those cases where the population has increased to so disproportionate an extent, that the relation between pastor and flock becomes scarcely more than nominal. Many anxious thoughts will come into the mind of a conscientious clergjTuan, so situated, as to the real extent of his responsibilities towards the unknown hun- dreds, or perhaps thousands of his parish; and such thoughts should take efiect on his life and practice by leading him to use his best endeavours to bring the rela- tion between himself and his people into such a form as is in accordance with the theory on which it is founded. A large and well-endowed benefice may, perhaps, be so divided by his exertions, that it becomes transformed into parishes of a manageable extent, each provided with a sufiicient endowment ; as was done by Dr. Hook at Leeds in the course of his many years' ministry there. Or if the THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 73 benefice is a poor one, it is not unlikely that some of the wealthy proprietors within its bounds may be aroused to a sense of responsibility, and persuaded to provide addi- tional clergymen. There are also societies in London, and local ones for most dioceses, whose assistance may be secured towards the same object. Every effort should be made to provide so many clergy in large and populous parishes, that there may be at least one to every thousand of the parishioners ; and efforts of a like kind to provide church accommodation of sufficient extent, and within easy reach of the various portions of the parish. In the practi- cal working of his parish he will also endeavour to econo- mize labour by method and arrangement, for the purpose of making it as far effective as possible ; for there is a great deal of bustling work in large parishes, and small ones too, of a very unproductive character, but which occupies the time and thoughts of clergymen to the eflPectual exclusion of other work of a much more real and practical nature. Nor is the increase of population the only difficulty in the way of modern pastoral labours ; for the progress of education and the development of intellect have laid men open to the knowledge of evil as well as good ; and the town clergyman who really knows the subjects of his charge is almost sure to meet with much scepticism, more or less fully developed, against which it should be his anxious endeavour to oppose the force of Church teaching and influences. On the other hand, the surface of general morality and religion has risen to a much higher level than in the last or preceding centuries, so that open pro- 74 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. fligacy and irreligion are discouraged by society at large as well as by the clergy, and public opinion runs, to no small distance, parallel with that of the Church of God. But, whatever there may be in the condition of our parishes to facilitate the work of modern clergy, God has laid upon them a great responsibility through the character of the age in which they work ; and every thoroughly efficient pastor must have his qualifications written ia such words as " Scientia magna, memoria major, judicium maxi- mum, at industria infinita." §. The Clergi/man's bearing in dealing with his people. In looking to the great example of the pastoral cha- racter, there wiU be found certain prominent features of general attractiveness which seem to indicate the pattern to be striven after by His servants in their dealings with those under their charge. These features are (1) SjTnpa- thy, (2) Approachableness, (3) Eeadiness to help, (4) Con- descension to infirmities. The expression or manifestation of sympathy Sympathy. , , ^ , . . depends very much on constitution, some per- sons being much more reserved than others ; but its presence depends chiefly upon " heart " and love. Unless a clergyman has heart in his work he can never engage in it in such a manner as to be en rapport with his people, either in respect to their bodily or their spiritual troubles. But the very first essential towards winning the love of a flock is to be well imbued with the spirit of love for souls in general, and for those committed to one's charge in particular. A hard, dry, business-like way of doing THE RELATION OF THE tASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 75 pastoral work may win the respect of the people for their pastor, as a man desirous of doing his duty at all cost or inconvenience to himself ; but there must be some mani- festation of that kind of sympathy which the Good Shep- herd showed so plainly, if the further influence which may be gained by the addition of love to respect is to be attained. It has often been observed that the strongest men are the most gentle and tender in handling the wounded on a field of battle. Something of a strong tenderness there should be in every pastor when he goes forth to work among souls wounded by the wear and tear of the world, by affliction, or by sin; some warmth of manner which comes from real heart ; a sympathy which has much power over the person exercising it, but is yet so far under his control that he can command the mani- festation of it, and use it wisely for the good of those who need it. The clergyman ought also to be easily ap- proachable by his flock, especially by the poor, abieuess'^" He will never win the latter if he exhibits mi- willingness to be troubled about their afiairs, or is always in hot haste to run ofi" to something else when they wish to converse with him. It is true there will be much that is quite superfluous in their talk, and he will have to listen to many communications which are little connected with his woi'k among them ; but by lending a willing ear, and bearing with much of this patiently, he will often be able to get at that which really does concern the pastoral relation in which he stands towards them, and which other- wise he would probably never reach. Reserve in religious 76 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. matters will often break down before sucb an approachable spirit on the part of the pastor ; but the hearts of the poor, at least, are almost sure to be shut up by an appearance of indifference or impatience in respect to their secular affairs. At the same time, it will be very necessary for the clergy- man to protect himself from having valuable time frittered away by mere gossip that can lead to nothing; as also from giving the impression that his sympathy may be looked for in the seciilar concerns of those with whom he is holding pastoral intercourse, without regard to that which is the real object of his holding that intercourse '. . .. Great readiness to so any where, or to do Readiness. . o j ' any thing, at any time, of a pastoral nature, is another quality that must assist in uniting parishioners and their pastor heart to heart. It should be clearly seen by his conduct that nothing is more important to the latter than those ministrations to the soxils of the former with which he is entrusted. There should be no delay in the baptism of a dying child, or in attendance upon a sick person requesting his visit; no want of punctuality at funerals or other occasional services ; but that spirit of readiness which seems to say, " See, I am willing, God helping me, to do my duty towards you ; let me entreat you in Christ's name to do your duty towards Him." ' An easUy accessible room at the parsonage, where the clergyman may see any of his parishioners freely, is very useful. One such has come under my notice in a town rectory, which was to be reached by an outer and inner door of its own communicating directly with the public road. A bell at this door sounded in the room itself, and by an arrangement of wires the clergyman could give admission to the visitor without the intervention of a ser\'ant. If the outer door was closed, it was knomi that the rector was not in his study. THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 77 Let him also carefully avoid all appearance Cy^^iggpe^. of harshness towards infirmities of body or sion to infir- mind. With sin, indeed, " Melius est cum severitate dUigere," in the words of St. Augustine, " quam cum lenitate decipere ;" but towards poverty, the weaknesses of old age or of understanding, towards want of resolution and perseverance, and all bodily failings, great tenderness should be shown, and a loving patience in bearing with them. Irritability on the part of the clergyman is likely to raise a barrier between him and those to whom it is shown, which it wiU perhaps be im- possible to break down again. The cultivation of such a spirit in himself on the part of the pastor will go far towards winning for him the kindliest feelings on the part of the flock. Time and long acquaintance will probably mature these feelings into that deep-rooted, afiectionate veneration so often observable in our old-fashioned English parishes, where the rector of twenty or thirty years' standing is looked up to as a father by all his people during his lifetime, and mourned like one at his death. In Law's " Serious Call to the Un- converted," there is a picture of such a clergyman too valuable not to be inserted in these pages, although per- haps it may be well known to my readers. " Ouranius is a holy priest, full of the spirit f '■ . ^ Law's pic- of the Gospel, watching, labouring, and pray- ture of a ing for a poor country village. Every soul in ^"'^ pastor, it is as dear to him as himself : and he loves them all as he loves himself ; because he prays for them all, as often as he prays for himself. .... When Ouranius first 78 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. entered into holy orders, lie had a haughtiness in his temper, a great contempt and disregard for all foolish and unreasonable people; but he has prayed away this spirit, and has now the greatest tenderness for the most obstinate sinners; because he is always hoping that God will sooner or later hear those prayers that he makes for their repentance. The rudeness, Hi-nature, or per- verse behaviour of any of his flock, used at first to betray him into impatience ; but now it raises no other passion in him, than a desii-e of being upon his knees in prayer to God for them. Thus have his prayers for others altered and amended the state of his own heart. It would strangely delight you to see with what spirit he converses, with what tenderness he reproves, with what affection he exhorts, and with what vigour he preaches ; and it is all owing to this, because he re- proves, exhorts, and preaches to those for whom he first prays to God. ... At his first coming to his little village, it was as disagreeable to him as a prison, and every day seemed too tedious to be endured in so retired a place. He thought his parish was too full of poor and mean people, that were none of them fit for the conversation of a gentleman. This put him upon a close application to his studies. He kept much at home, writ notes on Homer and Plautus, and sometimes thought it hard to be called to pray by any poor body, when he was just in the midst of one of Homer's battles But now his days are so far from being tedious, or his parish too great a retirement, that he only wants more time to do that variety of good which Hs soul thirsts after. The solitude of his little THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 79 parish, is become a matter of great comfort to liim, because he hopes that God has placed him and his flock there to make it their way to heaven. He can now not only con- verse with, but gladly attend and wait upon the poorest kind of people. He is now daily watching over the weak aud infirm, humbling himself to perverse, rude, ignorant people, wherever he can find them ; and is so far from desiring to be considered as a gentleman, that he desires to be used as the servant of all ; and in the spirit of his Lord and Master girds himself, and is glad to kneel down aud wash any of their feet^" Such a picture might require some modification to adapt it perfectly to the age in which we now are, but whether the pastor be placed among the aboriginal labourers of a country village, or in the higb-pressure in- tellectual atmosphere of a new manufacturing district, there is much of the spirit here pourtrayed which he may take home to himself with advantage. And it is certain that ho may ever set before himself, for adaptation to his own position, the holy pattern of Him who is the Saviour both of town and coimtry, and the Shepherd of intel- lectual and ignorant alike. Social intercourse between Pastor and flock. It seldom happens that a clergyman is so situated in liis charge that he is brought into contact only with the poor. In country towns and large villages, and in the ■ Call to the Unconverted, p. 388. 16th Edition. 80 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. parishes of great cities, there will be among his parishioners some of equal social standing with himself with whom he wiU have to hold intercourse of a social as well as a pastoral character. It then becomes an important ques- tion, how far such intercourse may be carried without damage to his work, and what are the limits which his position necessarily places to it. The Church ^ principle which may help much to a leavens the proper judgment on this subject, it may be set down that it is an undoubted and unmixed good for the world to have the Church in the midst of it, and by consequence the clergy ; but that on the other hand, it is not an unmixed good for the Church itself, or for the clergy. It is good for the world that it should have the clergy in the midst of it as a reminder of the world unseen with which the Church is con- grow^orldly ^6™^^^ " ^ut there is danger to the clergy that by its inter- they may in a greater or less degree forsake the world. their primary vocation, and become " of " the world, as well as " in " it. The influence of the old classical paganism among people of aU classes was kept up, in a large degree, by the intimate admixture of religion with all the affairs of life, and with aU the places in which those affairs were trans- acted. Sculpture and painting were seldom dissociated from religious ideas ; and poetry recognized them as one of its chief themes. All public and political acts were inaugurated and ratified by sacrifices : and the Penates of the household were a token that men believed their reli- gion, and were not ashamed of it. Their reUgion was THE RKLATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 81 false, but they acted towards it as if it had been true, with the instinct of true men. They carried out towards a ■wrong object the very principle laid down for the Jews, " These words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up^" The revival, or rather the Christian extension and ex- pression of such a national and social recognition of reli- gion, is much to be desired among ourselves ; and there are indeed many signs that there is likely to be such a revival. Of course the clergy can do much towards pro- moting it ; and even when they do nothing with this direct object, the social necessities of their position must have that end, if they themselves are faithful to the spiri- tual necessities of their position. The very ^j^^ ^^.^ presence of the clergy, (if they are present in senceofthe a decorous dress, and without the yielding up straint on of those minor points of conduct and carriage by which their profession and office is distinguished,) in often a step, by itself, towards a recognition of the pre- sence of their Master. It may throw an air of healthy restraint over lawful festivities and amusements which may be insensible to those who are partaking of them, but the absence of which would be very plainly per- ceptible to observant persons. A cheerful acquiescence in what is going on may be shown on many such occasions 3 Dent. v\. 6, 7. G 82 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. by the clergyman's presence, which need by no means extend to actual participation. There is no need for the clergyman to have bat in hand on every cricket-field in his neighbourhood for the purpose of showing that the Church docs not disapprove of manly sports ; nor, on the other hand, need he necessarily absent himself from a ball, as if dancing were beyond the pale of his quiet sanction, as well as being an amusement which it is inexpedient for himself to join in. Let him not shrink from being present on such occasions when they come in his way without seeking ; but let him take care that they do not alienate him from his direct duties, or drag down his character to a lower level than it ought to maintain. The genial acquiescence of which I have spoken ought never to obscure the reality of the clergyman's office, either in his own mind or that of others. He should never be so engaged in any society that either he or the society in which he moves feel that there is an inconsistency in his appearance at God's altar on the following Sunday, or his presence in the pulpit as their teacher. A promiscuous or frequent attendance of clergymen at balls or other festivities of which amusement is the only object, must be, of course, very undesirable. In his own parish, or on special occasions, it may be, on the other hand, very de- sirable. It may be expedient to remind society that it is Christian even in the midst of social joys*; and in the * If the clergy had exercised a more careful oversight in respect to these matters, it is probable that English society might have escaped the intro- duction of some modern and very unseemly dances. A Hindostanee gentle- man once cxprossiil his astonishment that English fathers and mothers allowed their dauglitcrs to dance like " uautch-girls." THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 83 gayest scene, as elsewhere, the presence of the servant of God as such may be a strong rebuke to an excessive spirit of worldliness, as it may be a visible memorial of a Master of all whose eye is never absent. The greatest safeguard to the clergyman ° ° . . Protection himself, when he is mixing with the world in against society, will be a keen sense of the inalienable character of his office ; and a religious determination that if in any sense he " become all things to all men," it is only that he " may win some " as the minister of Christ. I need hardly say that a severe criticism of his motives, from time to time, as well as self-examination in respect to his conduct in society, and the effect which it is pro- ducing upon his mind and his work, is really necessary. If it is the duty of the clergyman occasionally to mingle with society in its hours of hilarity for the sake of leavening it by his presence, it may become a far higher duty for him to absent himself, lest he should in any way become inca- pacitated for the proper and conscientious carrying out of his mission as a pastor over the flock of Christ. In using balls and cricket-matches as illustrations, I have, by implication, marked out what appear to me to be the utmost limits to which a clergyman wiU find it proper to go in mixing himself up with the in-door or out-of-door amusements of society, and I will only add, further, that there must be much discretion used, even in moving within those limits ^ Concerts and dinner parties may furnish ^ Of races and theatres I know absolutely nothing by personal observa- tion. I do not see that a clergyman can ever be called to either by his duties as a member of society ; and I should not suppose that any good G 2 84 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. liim with harmless relaxation, and yet if he is known as a constant frequenter of the one, or has the reputation of never declining an invitation to the other, he is sure to lower the spirituality of his position, and the man of God wiU be partly thrown into the background, out of sight, by the conspicuousness of the man of the world. In all that I have said on this subject, the relation of the pastor and his parishioners has been in my eye. Some may think that a more lax practice is allowable to the clergy when not among their parishioners ; and, accord- ingly, it is not uncommon to find the clergyman when away from home putting off the external marks of his office and using a much greater freedom in society than he allows himself at home. A man mast have great confi- dence in his powers of self-discipline to venture on such dangerous ground ; and can have little other excuse than the mere desire of relaxation from a stricter life for doing so. I have only mentioned the subject that I may suggest a doubt whether a clergyman can really adopt such a course without getting into a groove when away from home, from the bias of which he will find it very difficult to free himself on his return to its duties. The principal object of the pastor's social social inter- intercourse with the upper classes of his parish- parisWoners ^^^^^^ ^^'^^ thereby secure a deeper hold upon their kindly feelings for direct jjastoral purposes. As he does all he can to secure the confidence and afiection of the poor, so he ought to use would result from liis presence as a clergy man, at either a theatre or a race- course. THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 85 his best endeavours to the same end with the other classes of his parishioners. One feels that a great Alienation mistake has been made by many clergymen m of clergy applying all their tact, and a disproportionate ciasse™"^'"^ share of their labour towards gaining the igno- rant and the poor, to the alienation (by neglect) of those engaged in trade or professions, or occupying independent positions. These latter classes may have a distant respect for the rector who holds no social intercourse with them ; but they will have none of that friendliness, and almost aflPection, which it is so desirable there should be. Too often this alienation has arisen from pride, either pride of birth and social position, or pride of poverty. In the first case, the clergyman and his wife may feel that, but for the office of the former, he would never be called on to associate with those of the classes in question who may be among his parishioners. In the second case, they may feel that as the professional income of the clergyman is so small compared with his position, and with that of other professions, it is very unpleasant to go into society. lu both cases the real object for which the clergyman is in the parish at all ought to be considered as the primaiy consideration. If the younger son of a peer is too proud to hold intercourse with such of his parishioners as are able with propiiety to entertain their clergyman, he is too proud to be fit for his position. All his condescension to the poor will not make amends for his alienation of those who are not poor; and though he may give a quietus to his conscience by means of it, he cannot thus absolve himself from the responsibility he has undertaken of caring 86 THE RELATION OF THE P.^STOK TO HIS FLOCK. for all classes. But a clergyman of high social rank may find it easier to persuade himself of such a truth than to persuade his wife. With respect to the pride which I have spoken of as actuating poor clergymen and their families in holding aloof from social intercourse with parishioners, it may be answered in one word, that good taste and refinement of mind weigh infinitely heavier in all society than wealth ; and that the poor vicar, or the poor vicar's wife, will generally be able to hold their own, (by means of such qualities,) in any house, however wealthy, to which duty may require them to go. It is almost superfluous to add that the remarks already made, as to the responsibility resting upon the pastor with reference to aU classes of his flock, are as applicable in this case as in the former. The poverty which many clergymen have to mlremarks endure in the present day is, indeed, a trial of ou poverty no light kind ; and it is not probable that it of clergy. . will be lightened in our generation, as the efforts to provide for the spiritual care of the people are likely to precede any zealous effort to provide an adequate maintenance for the clergy to whom it is entrusted. It was not without reason that St. Paul wrote to Timothy, " Let no man despise thy youth ;" and probably the same practical mind, if it had been at work in the ages when Christianity became wealthy and honoured, as it now is, but when many of the clergy were excluded from partici- pation in its wealth and honour °, might have seen fit to ' It is trying to have to labour for years, in town and country, on an average income of less than 100^. a year ; one's wife being, perhaps, able THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 87 leave another injunction on record, " Let no man despise thy poverty." No doubt wealth, as well as rank and age, carries great influence with it, especially among the com- mercial classes ; and each of these carries it in the estimate which those classes form of the clergy as well as of other persons. It is right that this should be so. Age presupposes experience, rank presupposes honour, and wealth presupposes responsibility, and, to some extent, worth. The stronger the tendency to such influences on the part of a clergyman's parishioners, the greater the disadvantage to him, at first, if he possesses neither wealth, rank, nor age. Young men, unknown men, and poor men have to earn, and must do their best to earn, that respect which is accorded gratuitously to their elders or their richer brethren. Hence the maxim of St. Paul may be taken in two ways, as also the maxim which I have ven- tured to found upon it. It is true that no Christian flock ought to despise the youth or poverty of their pastor, a priori, before they have found reason to despise them. But it is equally true that he should be very careful indeed to give no man cause to despise them, a posteriori, from the results which they bring about, either now or here- after. If, therefore, the clergyman of a parish is poor, do not let his poverty keep him aloof from his parishioners ; but to raise it 25Z. more by iiard work as a governess. I liavc known vicars of parishes in obscure districts, of whicli the public never hears, equally cramped by poverty, and, now and then, even in towns. The bishops might do much both to prevent and cure such evils ; l)ut tliey have often appeared to think that poverty is a very vahuililc discipline for the "inferior" clergy. Perhaps they are right, to a certain extent. 88 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. let it be borne with sucb dignity and self-respect that he can go among them without any appearance of desire to disguise his condition, or to make it appear otherwise than the poverty of a man of sense, refinement, and con- science. It is not really either age or wealth which give influence to their possessors, but the qualities by which age and wealth are supposed to be accompanied. If those qualities are aimed at by the pastor, men will despise neither his youth nor his poverty ; and he himself will be able to feel that his moral and religious influence, at least, may stand quite independent of such accessories, so long as he takes a conscientious view of the relation between him- self and his parishioners, and conscientiously acts up to it in respect to their social intercourse with each other. ^. Impartiality in pastoral icoi-k. The occasion I have had to speak of the pastor's re- sponsibilities to all classes alike of his parishioners, leads me on to a few farther remarks on the same subject, con- nected, not with social intercourse, but with an unevenness and disproportion in work, with respect to both our acts, and the persons with whom we have to deal. ClergjTnen, with a variety of work before Temptation them, such as is to be found in no other pro- Ualityrin fession, must always be peculiarly open to the w*""!^- temptation of overvaluing some parts of that work, perhaps that in which they find them- selves most successful, to the depreciation of some other portion, that in which they, perhaps, meet with little THE REI.ATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 89 apparent success. It is quite true, tliat if any clergy- man finds himself possessed of a special aptness for any particular branch of his work, he ought to culti- vate that faculty with care and diligence. It may be that he is a better preacher than school-manager, or successful at domiciliary visits, when he can do but little, beyond what he is compelled to do, in his pulpit or school-room. The danger is, that in the interest which he will thus feel towards what he does well, he may give too little time and pains to that which he does but poorly. Suppose, e. g. he is so much in his schools that he has no time or energy for visiting ; or so con- stantly visiting, and bustling about his parish, that he neglects' study ; or so engrossed with the ritual part of his services that his sermons become the subject of heb- domadal impatience to his parishioners ; or that preach- ing is made so entirely the one end of his ministry, that most other things are allowed to float or drift on as they may. Where there is any such want of pro- portion in the exertion of a clergyman's powers, it is manifest that the want of justice to his parishioners in one particular is not compensated for by his over-pay- ment in another. Such mistakes may arise from mere want of consideration as to the effect of private tastes and inclinations upon the fulfilment of official duties. It becomes a more serious matter si ill, if they arise from a direct preftrence for those duties which are popular and observable, as Sunday services, to the neglect of others not less important, but which are less open to observation and criticism. 90 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. Partiality same temptation arises in tlie path for persons of the clergyman with regard to the persons under his charge. There is a great ditference m the facility with which some classes of them may be " got at " and influenced, as compared with others ; and it not imfrequently happens that the clergyman forms, or allows to grow, a sort of clique, of which he is the centre, and these persons (very good, probably, as well as very manageable) the radiating substance. He calls upon them very frequently, looks to them exclusively for help in Church work, considers them, and treats them as the very elite of his flock. Perhaps towards most others in it he feels almost helpless and hopeless, and allows this feeling to go on growing until he gradually settles down into being the pastor of a congregation instead of the pastor of the parish. In such a case the Church becomes almost avowedly the Church of a sect, and the pernicious notion goes on also growing, outside of the clergjrman's clique, that such outsiders have no spiritual concern with him, nor he with them. Thus there comes into play a sort of "pew system," in the pastor's work of spiritual oversight, in which the per- petual missionary duties of the Church of England in her modern parishes have no place or representative. The most likely form of such a danger, as bfgained''^ experience shows, is that which has led to the too common idea that a clergyman is princi- pally concerned with the charge of women and children. By excess of display, in respect to his influence over the children of his school, or by too prominent and exclusive THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 91 an attention to the feminine part of his flock, the clergy- man may seem to be giving groimd for this notion ; seeming to treat his work as if it was complete, because he has done something towards instructing the one, and gaining influence with the other. It should, therefore, be recognized as a first principle of parochial action, that men are by the laws of Providence the leaders of the society in which they live ; and that if they are not gained, very little real work has been done. The susceptible mind of the weaker sex is naturally open to personal influence, but let it be also remembered that the personal influence of the clergyman is not the power of religion. As a rule, the substantial tone of a family, whatever appearances may be, will follow the tone of its head. At least, if he is religious, the wife and chil- dren will mostly be found so ; and good habits that have their origin in him will not be long in finding their way to the members of the family, of which he is the "house-band" and the father. There is, therefore, the strongest reason why the pastor should guard him- self against attaching too much importance to any seem- ing influence that he may possess with the feminine portion of a family ; and why he should apportion his endeavours and labours in respect to persons generally, according to that providential arrangement by which " the head of the woman is the man." Probably it is impossible, such is the weak- , , , " Follow- ness 01 human nature, but that an earnest ings" to be clergyman should have a " following." It will often, especially in large cities, be this " following," 92 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FI.OCK. by whicli the respect and affection that many bave justly learned to feel for him will show itself. But it will be healthy for him, and for those who are thus attached to him, to show a ruthless determination in not recognizing such a following, either to others, or in his own mind. In theory, he is in charge of the souls in his own parish, and in that onl}'- ; in theory he is in charge of the souls of all in that parish. The nearer he can bring his practice into analogy with this theory, the more faithfully wiU the pastor be representing, in his own person and work, the Catholic, orderly, and compre- hensive character of pastoral labours as they are recognized by the Church of England. §. Importance of Towns. Although the subject is almost too general an one for a place in a book which professes to deal with pastoral work in detail, it seems not altogether inappropriate to urge here a more thorough appreciation, on the part of the clergy at large, of the importance of viewing the Church of England as the Church of the whole people of the land, and as equally essential to the progress and even maintenance of religion whether in town or countr^^ There has always been a prefer- ence for country parishes among the clergy : and of books that have been written on the subject of pastoral work, I know hardly any which at all deal with it, as if England was a land of manufacturing and commercial towns as well as of agricultural villages. Let English clergymen avoid the seductipns of the charming sophism THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 93 that " God made the countrj^ but man made the town." Under the influence of love for country life they went a long way, in past generations, towards losing the hold of the Church of which they are ministers on the populations of our large towns. And yet one great city, thoroughly gained for the Cliurch, would have more influence on the revival of Church of England principles, and of practical religion, than the largest county of mere agricultural parishes. It is in the cities and towns that the intel- lectual powers are being developed among the classes who do the head-work of the country. It is there that the great social questions of the day are being tried out ; there that the secular part of education is being pushed to its utmost limits. This is especially the case in the north of England ; which, in many parts, is a kind of Anglicized America in its feelings, institutions, and habits; the principal difference, and a most important one, being, that there is still a strong underlying force of national tradition which gives a stability to the northern counties of England, derived from the consciousness of a past, such as America, in its unmitigated newness, cannot yet possess. If it should be the lot of a clergyman to be cast in any town parish where the characteristics here hinted at are conspicuous, let him look on it as a ministerial privilege ; let him consider that he has been placed in a position where all his learning, energy, zeal, piety, and tact, will be required. lie has been placed in the vanguard of the army which is fighting the Lord's battle against immo- rality and intellectual sin ; and has had put into his hands the most hopeful material that can be found for building 94 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. up a " Church of the future," such as will be a true development, for a busj' age, of the ever fresh and young Church which has been the guide of so many generations. Our towns and cities are fields of labour in which Christ's pastors are sure to win great progress for His Church and glory for His Name, if they are but true to their office, and to the principles of the Church in which they minister. §. Systematic Habits. Whether in a town parish where the houses are almost heaped together, or in a country village and its adjacent farmsteads, the pastor will find that his work among his parishioners is made much more productive by a systematic economy of his powers. Some persons have a fear of system in religious matters of any kind, others have a kind of contempt for it. Tho>' who fear it do so from a dread that it must be accom- panied by, or that it must lead on to, formality : while those who despise system, despise it from a misapprehen- sion of the silent and concentrated nature of its residts. Work done on a systematic plan occupies less space and makes less show than diffuse and bustling labours ; but it will sufier great injustice if it is judged by a superficial glance. One who is in real earnest will be in little danger of becoming merely formal. System is to parish work what the forms of devotion are to prayer. A high sense of responsibility to God will be the true safeguard in either case, and a thoroughly efficient one. There need be no THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 95 fear of formality arising from exactness and system : the danger of it will come from other sources. As to the amount of work relatively accomplished by a loose and a systematic course of action, it seems almost uunecessary to say a word in such days as these, except for the peculiar reasons that I have referred to above. As in other callings, so it will be with that of the clergyman ; tliG systematic man will accomplish in two hours as much work as one of unsystematic habits will do in the greater part of a day. The o;ie goes on the plan of " knowing what he has to do, and doing it ;" the other, starting with indefinite notions as to the nature and extent of his work, is sure to have still more indefinite ideas as to the mode of doing it. The one is able to watch his own progress in tlie mass or in the detail of his labour : to see when it is time to leave it ofi", when it^ has been carried as far as it need or can go, and when continued labour is still re- quired : the other is like a man digging up a field here and there as the impulse takes him, who may finish his task in time, but who will expend far more time and labour over it than he need have done had he dug on in an orderly manner, spit after spit, from one end of the field to the other. The systematic man knows pretty well, too, the extent and limits of his powers, mental and phy- sical, of his official authority, and of his responsibilities ; while the unsystematic is ever a slave to the unknown and the infinite. The one can persevere; the other is con- tinually breaking down. The one often succeeds ; the other almost always fails. Without descending to much detail, which is not the 96 THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. object of this Chapter, I will take two illustrations of the value of system in the relations between a pastor and his flock ; the one connected with domiciliary visiting, the other with his mode of teaching. 1. A clergyman may habitually spend a large visitfn^ '° P^'"'' ®^ ^'^^ ^'isiting his flock, and yet be producing very little efiect by his visits through the want of some definite purpose and course of action. If the true view of ordinary pastoral visiting cul- minated in a little friendly semi- religious gossip, of course little more system in mental or bodily action need be used than is enough to carry the pastor from house to house, to take so many in turn, and get through so many week by week. But if the clergyman ought to be something more than a kind Christian friend, and if he is to kavc his mark as a pastor in the houses where he makes ofllcial visits, he will find it profitable to consider in each case why he is visiting, and in each visit what can be done towards efiecting the object in view. Thus he may seek out a purpose for nearly the whole of his domiciliary visiting, and steadily work his way towards its attainment. 2. A large majoritj^ of our people are mar- tcithi"''" vellously deficient as to their knowledge of the fundamental principles of Christianity. This fact comes out in strong colours sometimes, when conver- sation in society happens to turn towards any current controversy, such as the authority of the Iloly Bible or the observance of Simdaj-. I have known a lady of much piety, and some education, express great astonishment Avhen told that she was wrong in supposing the Bible THE RELATION OF THE PASTOR TO HIS FLOCK. 97 Society possessed the original MSS. of the New Testament : and among the lower classes ignorance of a far more oiave character in proportion to their station of life is to be found'. It is to be feared that a vague way of preaching has had much to do with this ignorance among all classes. Catechizing is the true remedy of the Church's atients by neglecting to regard this acknowledged fact. 222 THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. use extra care to keep the perspiratory ducts of the skin clear of obstruction, that the excretive force of the per- spiration may have fair ]Dlay in throicing off infectious matteTs floating in the air. I believe that by keeping up constitutional vigour, avoiding contact, and attending to the detailed precautions I have set down, clergymen may visit infectious patients as harmlessly as medical men do ; and they are such precautions as the former may use without in the least foregoing the duties of their office. And, more than all, they may well have faith in the protecting Providence of Him in whose work they are engaged. We have right and reason to believe that any dangers which really belong to the duties that God lays upon us will be neutralized in the discharge of them ; and in such a faith let the pastor go even to the worst of places, and the worst of cases, if a real pastoral duty summon him. But, remembering the answer of One who, when it was suggested to Him, " Cast Thyself down : for it is written. He shall give His angels charge over Thee," replied, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God," so let the pastor decline to rush uncalled into danger, and avoid tempting God by a neglect of ordinary safeguards. CHAPTER YIL PASTORAL CONVERSE. It is so generally acknowledged in the present day that a clergyman ought to be much among his parishioners for direct pastoral objects, as well as in that social inter- course of which I have already spoken in the Second Chapter of this volume, that I need occupy no space in introducing the subject, but may at once assume that the reader recognizes the duty of visiting and admondshing " the whole," as well as the sick, for an integral part of the cure of souls. More care, perhaps, is necessary in this than in any other duty of the pastor to prevent his work from de- generating. If he sets no definite objects before him, he wiU either leave off visiting his parishioners almost alto- gether ; or he will go from house to house in a dry statis- tical manner, spending much time, and producing little result. As the fundamental principle of such visiting, therefore, he should put before himself these questions as applicable in every case : — 1. What is the particular work I have to do in this house ? 224 PASTORAL CONVERSE. 2. How is that work to be accomplished, or attempted ? To visit his parish systematically and with Jl^hf^^^ economy of time, he should make himself thoroughly acquainted with its topography. This may be done best, by using the maps of the Ord- nance Survey, which are published in three sizes, one, six, and twenty- five inches to the mUe. The middle size is useful for showing the general bearings of a parish ; but every house being distinctly marked in the largest size, it is from that the clergjTuan will obtain the most practical information. It will also be of untold advantage to him Census of _ _ " the parish- to get a census, approximate, if not exact, of his parishioners. A good-sized volume shoxdd be appropriated to this purpose, a leaf or a page being used for each household, so as to leave room for changes, or for remarks. Such a census might be taken without much difficulty by the clergyman himself, in parishes where the population does not exceed 1000 or 1200, and without any offensive intrusion upon the privacy of his people'. In larger parishes assistants would be required; and the parish-rates collector will prove a very usefiJ ally. If it can be done no other way, it may be done by taking down the names, and the ages (approximate in some cases, actual in the case of children), as oppor- tunities offer in the course of visiting. The value of such a record for school and Confirmation purposes, and for the ' I obtained permission to assist an incompetent enumerator in 1861, and by that means secured for pastoral use a complete list of all the in- habitants in a parish near Oxford. PASTORAL CONVERSE. 225 adaptation of pastoral visits to special circumstances, can- not be over estimated. The objects of sucb intercourse as that now under consideration, may be stated generally as that of assisting and supplementing the work done within the walls of the church. "In private converse with an individual, you perceive, and can accommodate yourself to his particular character and habits of thought, and can then supply just the kind of instruction or advice that especially suits that individual. You learn what are the particular difficulties or objections that most beset him ; and again, the par- ticular excuses by which each may have soothed his con- science; and which, perhaps, are what you would never have conjectured. The particular temptations to which one individual is most exposed, are often quite different from those of another man. And these you will best come to understand in private intercourse^" It is mani- fest that intercourse of this kind should not be confined to the poorer classes alone, nor to the feminine part only of the households that are visited. But, at the same time, the educated portion of regular church- going people stand less in need of it, as a rule, than the uneducated; and the occasions of social intercourse which ofier themselves in their case are opportunities to the clergyman in the houses of the upper class, which are obliged to be sought by a kind of pastoral intrusion in those of the lower. It is no trifling advance to have made with our parish- ioners (I speak now chiefly of the lower classes), if we 2 'Miately's Parish Pastor, p. 7. Q 226 PASTORAL CONVERSE. have convinced them that there is not an impassablf barrier between them and their clergyman. It may take some time to do this ; and when done in some cases, will require to be done over again in others; especially where there is a shifting population. Among operatives, there is a disposition to think that their clergj-man looks down upon them from a lofty height of " aristocratic " pretension'; and with this idea in their minds they take pains to assert their own independence, by holding aloof from "the parson's" advances, and by sometimes treating him with surliness and disrespect. It is something, then, to make them aware that the clergyman of their parish feels a real brotherly interest in them and their concerns. And, in fact, the only way of getting them to listen to him is by getting them first to believe in his manly sjTnpathy with them. When the ice is broken, and their warm hearts are reached, they will hear religious conversation or admonition, and wiU feel that it is the duty of " the parson " to point out to them their own duty, and they will respect him for doing it. But there a^e many circumstances arising in the life of every household in which much comfort will be felt from the visits, more or less frequent, of the clergyman ; and an acquaintance is initiated which may end in the highest good to the family visited, and the firm establishment of Comparisons are often, made between clergymen and Dissenting preachers in respect to tliis. The explanation of the greater favour in which the latter are as friends is to be found in the nearer approach of their social condition to that of the classes who attend their meeting- houses. But it is generally the clergyman who is sent for when spiritual help is needed. PASTORAL CONVERSE. 227 a sound relation between them and their pastor. Times of sickness, death, and the mourning time after bereavement by death, are obviously such occasions. But so also are times when affliction has come upon a household or an individual through want of prosperity, or an actual loss of property ; through the breaking up of family ties ; the misconduct of young people, domestic differences, or the quarrels of neighbours. In such cases a discreet clergyman can quietly interpose his influence without offence, when any other person would certainly be thought intrusive. On such occasions the hearts of some, or perhaps the whole, of the household will be open to the clergyman; and he will be of practical use to them, first, by soothing and comforting, secondly, by giving judicious and trustworthy advice. From one who thus proves himself anxious to comfort and advise, rebukes (if they are necessary at any time) will be taken with submission; and the way to a higher Christian life may be pointed out without causing offence. From such oc- casions of intercourse the pastor may be able to date a more punctual attendance at church, a habit of com- municating, greater thoughtfulness about the religion of daily life, more humble recognition of and dependence on the Providence of God. Pastoral Discipline. According to the standard set up by the Church of England, the exercise of discipline is no small part of a pastor's duty. At the very outset of his career, for example, he is required to promise that he will " so Q 2 228 PASTORAL CONVERSE. minister the discipline of Christ, as the Lord hath commanded, and as this Church and Realm hath received the same, according to the commandments of God." In the Canons, again, there are no fewer than seven bearing on the subject of discipline, some of which are corroborated by the rubrics of the Communion Service ; and all of which are illustrated by the Commination Service and its annual regrets that discipline is not more strictly exercised. The seven Canons on the subject are the 26th, 27th, and 28th, on exclusion of various classes of oflfenders from the Holy Communion; the 112th, 113th, 110th, and 114th, on pre- senting non-communicants, licentious persons, and schis- matics to the bishop to be dealt with by him at his discre- tion*. Good has been done, even in our own day, by a literal obedience to these canonical injunctions ; and it is probable that a faithful observance of them by clergymen would often, if not always, be productive of a sound and real reformation of manners. Few of us are prepared, how- ever, for a sudden return to such a course, except in cases where conscience is positively outraged by the attendance of a notorious and unrepentant sinner at the Holy Commu- nion. The expense of following up presentations is almost ruinous to bishops and clergymen ; and the danger of agita- tion is too great, in many cases, to be compensated for by the probability there may be of effecting good K But on ^ Tlie Canons themselves are too long to be inserted here. ^ The 115th Canon strongly " admonishes and exhorts all judges, both ecclesiastical and temporal, as they regard and reverence the fearftil judg- ment-seat of the highest Judge, that they admit not in any of their courts any complaint, plea, suit, or suits against any churchwardens . . . nor against any minister for any presentment" they may make. I do not feel sure how PASTORAL CONVERSE. 229 the outline of this formal system of discipline, the pastor may construct a sort of system of his own for dealing with his parishioners in which he will try to carry out the spirit of the Church, if he cannot act upon the letter of its law. §. Pastoral dealing uith wickedness. The variety of the cases which an active pastor must meet with, in which he is called upon to deal with those who are living in a state of alienation from God, is so great as to preclude the possibility of laying down any detailed rules in respect to the mode of dealing with them. Like the physician or surgeon he must acquire that know- ledge and experience which will enable him to make in his mind a " diagnosis " of each case as it comes before him. Like them, too, he must endeavour to bring remedies suitable to each case, for " the coarseness of an universal panacea will fail in the hand of the spiritual, as it does in the hands of an ordinary empiric He must, too, impress upon the sinner the necessity of a co-operation on his part, without which remedies must prove unavailing. But un- like the physician of the body, the pastor has to deal with persons who are, most frequently, imconscious of their malady, or suffering no pain from it ; and the hardest part of his work is to bring them to the first step on the road to spiritual restoration, conviction of sin. Yet without this, all apparent progress will be merely deceptive. far this Canon would secure a clergyman from punishment for libel or defamation in obstinate cases. « Bishop of Oxford's Addresses, p. 106. 230 PASTORAL CONVERSE. Among all variations of sin, there is, indeed, so much of generic similarity, that a definite line of treatment may be laid down which is applicable to every case, though it is not possible to fill up the details, except as the cases arise. (1) The conscience must be aroused to a knowledge of sin as sin ; and it is surprising to find how much work is cut out for the pastor in his private intercourse with his parishioners even in giving this knowledge. Conventional habits, long familiarity with what is wrong, the specious casuistry which the father of lies has ever had ready at hand for the sinner since the day when he first beguiled Eve with his subtilty ; these, and many more influences, act on the consciences of men as anaesthetics operate upon their bodily senses. It is the work of the pastor to coun- teract the poison, and to restore sensation even by sharp and electric shocks of pain if it cannot be done otherwise, lost sleep should pass into an insensibility from which there is no awaking. (2) The consciousness of sin must then be made a step to sorrow for it, a fruitful " godly sorrow, working repentance not to be repented of." (3) Repentance must be urged forward to its practical results, confession of sin, restitution and reparation, amendment of life. A fuU and honest confession must be made to God in all cases without exception ; and in some cases it may be the duty of the pastor to aid the penitent in " opening his grief." Restitution must be made, where it is possible, for injuries done to man ; and where it is not possible, (alas ! how often,) there must be the sincere desire to make it if it might be done ; or to imdergo some self-denial which may be in some degree equivalent PASTOKAL CONVERSE. 231 to it in its effects towards tlie penitent. (4) Then all is to be crowned with the " benefit of absolution " by the "ministry of God's holy "Word," (either by a personal application of the general absolution which the minister of God's holy Word pronounces in the public services of the Church ; or, if " humbly and heartily desired," by individual absolution,) and the Holy Communion received by the penitent as a pledge of his reconciliation to God, as a promise of amended life, as a means for gaining that grace by which alone he can fulfil the promise and maintain his reconciled position. It is almost impossible to go beyond this general outline in the present volume, the detail of cases requiring much space, and belonging more to a work (if such should ever be written for the Church of England) on moral theology. In filling up the outline with such detail ia his work among his people, the pastor will find occasion for the exercise of all his tact, his patience, his discretion, and his love for souls ; for much remembrance of sinful members of the flock in his prayers ; and, not to be forgotten, for an untiring perseverance. There will be many of those on whom he wiU begin to work, with whom his work wUl never be completed ; there will be some in whom he will never see the results of his work, though yet it may not be fruitless ; there will be a few whom he will be able to lead from sin to holiness, and of whom he may have a good hope that they will be his "joy and crown of rejoicing" when his pastoral ministrations are reviewed at the last account. 232 PASTORAL CONVERSE. §. Pastoral dealing with error. But it will not be in respect to vice alone that the parochial clergyman must carry out the spirit of Church discipline. Private endeavours to draw his people away from errors of belief are a duty definitely laid upon him by his Ordination vows. " Will you be ready," asks the ordaining bishop, "with all faithfid diligence, to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines con- trary to God's Word, and to use both public and private monitions and exhortations, as well to the sick as to the whole, within your cures, as need shall require, and occa- sion shall be given ? " To which the solemn reply of the clergyman to be ordained Priest is, "I will, the Lord being my helper." These words not only justify a pastor in speaking to the members of his flock privately on the subject of their doctrinal errors, but they lay an obligation upon him to do so from which he cannot escape without peril of breaking a solemn promise made to God when he undertook the duties of the pastoral office. Our dealings with error in the present day may be divided into dealings with Dissenters, and with that growing class of sceptics whose sympathies are more with the Church than with any separated religious com- munity, but whose principles form a congeries of nega- tions most discordant with her faith and practice. Dissent from tlie Church of England is more often a matter of accident, habit, or ignorance, than of conscience. As I write I overlook a tract of country thickly scattered over with villages, which are inhabited by thousands PASTORAL CONVERSE. 233 who have probably never seen the interior of the church, and know nothing whatever of Church religion. These villages have sprung up in what was formerly a desolate moorland divided into parishes that spread over many square miles ; and many of them are as wholly uncon- nected with the original church of the parish (except in the matter of rates), or with any other church, as if none existed. At a time when the Church was less active than now, the desire for some kind of visible link between them and God led the people of these villages to build cheap meeting-houses for themselves, and some branch or other of the Methodists has provided them with preachers, men slightly above themselves in know- ledge, and full of self-interested prejudice against the Church of England. Such a district is only a type of the rise and spread of dissent all over the land, whether at the Reformation or at later times. "Where the Church has neglected its duty, there a lower form of spiritual life has sprung up, whether in crowded towns or in the open country ' ; and however much there is in such a lower form of spiritual life to excite our regret, there is much in it to claim our sympathy. Certainly our feelings towards those who are Dissenters through such circumstances ought to be of a very chari- table nature. It is our duty to do the best we can 7 Some future writer of Ecclesiastical History will point out that wher- ever the Church of England has lost its hold of the people, or the institu- tions of the country, it has been through its leaving ground that ought to have been, and might have been occupied, uncovered. Hence have arisen troublesome Kegistratiou Acts, Marriage laws, Burial bills, and many others of the same kmd. 234 PASTORAL CONVERSE. towards winning them over to a system which provides them with higher privileges, and more certain means of grace ; but it would be wrong to treat them as wilful and conscious schismatics. Their real errors are those of indifferent blindness to that better way which God's Providence has opened for them ; and that of easy con- tentment with the mere ashes of religion on which they are too often fed, when so rich a store of good spiritual food is provided for them in the Church of the land. But we must guard against indifference to truth in our desire to show charitable tenderness towards Dis- senters. The Church of England formularies are clear and decided in their censure of wilful and conscious sepa- ration from its communion ; and it would be wrong in her clergy to lose sight of these censures in their theo- retical opinions or their practical work. Those are ex- pressly censured in the Canons who deny or impugn the Sovereign's supremacy, who affirm that the Church of England is not a true and Apostolical Church, that its Prayer Book is unscriptural, its Articles of Religion erro- neous, its rites and ceremonies superstitious, its episcopal character repugnant to the Word of God, its mode of ordi- nation insufficient or wrong * ; and such denials certainly constitute the only grounds on which any could become Dissenters, if they became so with knowledge of what they were doing, and on principles of professed religion. Again, the authors of schism, who " combine themselves together in a new brotherhood" instead of joining in Christian 8 Canons 1 to 8 inclusive. PASTORAL CONVERSE. 235 profession with "the Christians who are conformable to the doctrine, rites and ceremonies of the Church of Eng- land," are spoken of as persons who have fallen into " wicked errors," as are those who support and encourage them in their schism'; and the thirty-fourth Article of Religion condemns them as those who "ought to be re- buked openly, as offending against the common order of the Church, hurting the authority of the magistrate, and wounding the consciences of the weak brethren." And the principles thus formally declared are so thoroughly a part of the system of the Church of England, that they are carried into her devotional services at the most solemn times ; her ministers praying that all who profess and call themselves Christians, may be led into the way of truth that God would have mercy on all unbelievers, and take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of His Word^ ; and that He will deliver -us from all false doctrine, heresy, and schism, from hardness of heart, and contempt of His Word and commandment^. These Canons, &c., expand then the text of the Ordi- nation vow which every clergyman makes, that he will be ready to contend against false doctrine and error when there is necessity and occasion to do so ; and show that a pastor cannot, if he is faithful, sit down in the midst of Dissent and say it is no concern of his, peace requires that he should let others go their way if they will let him go his. Nor can he content himself with endeavouring to drive away error in his pulpit ministrations alone, since ' Canons 9 to 12 inclusive. ' Prayer for all Conditions of Men. ■- Third Collect for Good Friday. ^ Litany. 236 PASTORAL CONVERSE. the majority of those who are entangled in its meshes never come within the walls of his church to hear his warnings or his arguments. It is his duty to go among the wandering sheep of his flock in the wilderness, and seek to bring them home to God's fold with a gentle but a firm hand. The performance of this duty may at first be very un- pleasant to all parties concerned ; and imder the most favourable circumstances it requires great tact and delicacy to perform it successfully. But in the end, both the clergyman and those whom he has endeavoured to turn from their errors will probably, even in this life, see cause to be thankful for the faithfulness and moral courage which he has shown. It is, however, necessary to observe the limitations of the obligation he is under, (1) " withia your cures," (2) " as need shall require," and (3) " as occasion shall be given;" limitations which need only to be stated thus barely to be thoroughly understood, but which yet ought to be kept in view by the clergy. And yet when I call these the limitations of this part of a pastor's duty, it seems almost Uke playing with words ; for it can hardly be said that there is any parish in which need wiU not often require him to exercise it. The germs of error are scattered about in our day like the winged seeds which unnoticed currents of air, as well as boisterous winds, carry from the wild common or the hedge-row to the carefully sown corn-fields adjacent ; and unless the process of weeding is diligently attended to by the labourers of the great Husbandman, it will be seen in harvest time that the results of their other labours in ploughing and PASTORAL CONVERSE. 237 sowing are far less productive than they ought to have been in store for the heavenly garner. For this work, as well as for public preaching, a sound study of Holy Scripture is the great foundation. And, in fact, so far as knowledge goes, that which qualifies any man to preach in defence of the doctrines of Chris- tianity, win also qualify him to stand up for them in his private admonitions. It should be remembered, however, that " he that is of the contrarj^ part " has an opportunity of reply in the one case, which is denied him in the other ; and that hence the private conference of a clergyman with misbelievers is a very good test of the real Scriptural knowledge which he has acquired. If it is knowledge which is of the kind that may be called "ingrained," he will not be at a loss to see the fallacies of those with whom he has to deal ; and he wiU be able to use Holy Scripture to the point, after the manner indicated by our Divine Lord's application of it at the Temptation, or in silencing the Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees. But if it is a mere knowledge of texts, without a good perception of the avakoyia, balance, and spirit of the Scriptures ; or a mere set of dogmatic propositions which he ushers in with the venerable formula, "The Church says," the clergyman of our day wiU often be driven to feel that his own weakness is a very insufficient representative of the strength of the cause which he is advocating. An acquaintance with the course of error, from the beginning of the Christian aera to our own time, is also a most useful auxiliary weapon of offence and defence in contending against modern error. In no sense is the 238 PASTORAL CONVERSE. proverb of the wise man more true tlian as it applies to misbelief, that " There is no new thing under the sun." It may, at least, be said that as soon as the sun of Chris- tianity arose, the roots of heresy began to be planted with a comprehensive spread that has served for the after growth and development of every error that the world has since known. The more we lay bare the foundations on which unbelief or error in its infinite degrees of strength stands, the more clearly shall we see that it rests idti- mately on a larger or smaller space of that comprehensive denial of Christ which characterized the inspirations of Satan in the first ages. Hence, I venture to express an opinion, that all " erro- neous and strange doctrines contrary to God's "Word" ought to be met by a setting forth of the Person, the past and present work of the Word, to Whom the main part of the written record points, and against ^Yhom the error contested is radically opposed. To use a phraseology that has been very much hackneyed, but yet is very con- venient, if a rationalizing " subjectivity " is the prevailing vice of modern religion, a rational "objectivity" will be its best remedy. If the tendency of the times is to in- dividualize, to make our own selves the centre of each one's religious sphere, to which all else is expected to converge, then the cure for this is to point to Christ, whose centrality is supreme over all other centres ; and to show how the true exaltation of human nature is indeed to be found only through union with Him. In contending against all error, then, we should put this question before us; How can I so point to Christ PASTORAL CONVERSE. 239 as to be bringing tbe truth about Him to bear at once, or ultimately, on this error ; upon these mistakes in be- lief or in practice, this heresy or schism ? It is sur- prising how universally, and in what variety of modes this Divine remedy may be brought pointedly to bear ; and how often it will prove that the Name of Christ is a weapon wherewith to cast out the devils of unbelief that would yield to no other argument. But the effective use of that Name is not to be attained without very diligent, religious, and official study of Holy Scripture. This alone can make a minister of the Word of God, a true Qio\6yoQ. It will enable us to bring out the light of some general principle, by means of which the relation between God and man may be so clearly shown as to cut the ground from under the arguments which the adversary puts into men's minds. But the useable knowledge of that general principle we shall probably have attained only by long and careful study; just as some invaluable remedies belonging to the physician's art, although simple in their own composition, require to be separated from many other and extraneous sub- stances, by tedious processes, before they can be brought into a state fit for use. Again, it is of great importance that the pastor should acquire the power of analyzing the general belief of those who are in error, so that he may be able to see what is really wrong in it, and in what manner it combines with what is right, so as to disguise its poisonous character. For it is to be observed that, except in the wilfully apos- tate, the religious errors of mankind are always com- 240 PASTORAL CONVERSE. mingled with an element of tnitli. The extreme of Rationalist opinion, for example, represents that "the Christ " is to be found, not in a Divine and Human Person external to ordinary humanity, but in humanity itself, as in so many agglomerated atoms. This doctrine always amounts to a real denial of Christ's existence, and yet it is crystallized around a morsel of truth, a fragmentary notion of the great principle that men " dwell in Christ, and Christ in them ;" that He is the sanctifying Person by whose indwelling, through the operation of the Holy Ghost, men are made one with God and with each other. Such a morsel of truth obviously offers a common starting- point, from which we may go forward in our arguments with a Rationalist. To change the illustration ; let us suppose the case of a Wesleyan Methodist, whom we are trying to win back to the Church of his fathers. Shall we go to him and. say, in effect. You are altogether wrong ; we alone are right ? By no means. On the contrary, I would gladly admit, at once, that Methodism sprung out of an earnest desire for more spiritual religion than the clergy and the society of the last century encouraged ; that the founder of the community was a man of great zeal, per- sonal piety, and mental power; and that it was only through a self-satisfied settling down on the lees of poli- tical Churchmanship, that John Wesley and his followers were driven to their meeting-houses instead of being kept within the walls of their parish churches. And having, as occasion offered, shown that the history of Methodism is as familiar to the clergy as it is to the Methodists PASTORAL CONVERSE. 241 themselves, and that they can feel much respect for its origin, it would be easy to point out how modern Methodism differs from that of John Wesley; that he never meant his followers to separate from the Church of England ; and that a tradition of his intentions is still kept up by some old people when they assert, as they often do, that they are Church people as well as Me- thodists. It makes no small impression on Wesleyans to prove to them that their system was intended to svp- plement, not to supersede the ordinary Church system ' ; and that Wesley would have thought it a very great sin for his followers to content themselves with their meeting- houses, instead of only using them after they had been to church, and felt the need of further prayer. Nor would it be difficult, in a well-ordered parish, to carry this argument further, by pointing to what the Church offers, and contrasting it with what the meeting-house offers; to show them that the services of the Church are more abimdant, more full of Holy Scripture, more truly spi- ritual, and less merely human than Methodism ; that, whereas the latter was originated on the plea of a necessity for higher spiritual life than the former afforded, now times are changed, and the Church provides far higher spiritual life for those who choose to avail them- * It was founded, in fact, on the system of Religious Societies, which had been formed in the Cliurch of England under the leadership of Horueck, author of " The Crucified Jesus ; " which were strongly advocated in print by Samuel Wesley, the father of John Wesley, in 1699 ; and which were also in full activity at Oxford, when John and Charles Wesley were the one Fellow of Lincoln, and the other Student of Christ Church. These Societies must not be confounded with those for the Reformation of Mannei-s. R 242 PASTORAL CONVERSE. selves of it, than any other religious community in England. One other illustration shall be offered from a recent experience of my own ; and I offer it with reference to the dissemination of errors by means of tracts, which are thought to be religious and Scriptural by those who circulate them, and by those, probably, who, in their ignorance, presume to write them. Going into a sick room, I found such a tract lying on the woman's bed, entitled " The Way to Heaven ; " and, as it consisted only of four small pages, I looked it through before opening the Bible to read. The first page showed that Christ is the only way to heaven, quoting St. John xiv. 6, as proof ; but it showed it in a manner which had a strong controversial odour, and indicated an arrih-e pensee. A little further on, accordingly, the tract went off into declamatory Adolence, the substance of which is indicated in the words, " Mark well ! Infant baptism is not the door ; adult baptism is not the door ; ministers are not the door. . . . Let me entreat you to beware of resting on forms or ceremonies, on a profession of religion, or on membership with any visible Church whatever °." I had reason to think the tract had been left for the purpose of counteracting my advice, that the dying woman should receive the Holy Communion. Accordingly, but without any reference to the tract itself, I at once said a Peniten- tial Psalm, and read the first half of the sixth chapter of St. John's Gospel, expounding the miracle as an Ulustra- = Tract No. 92. Dublin Tract Eepository, and 9, Patemoster-row, London. PASTORAL CONVERSE. 243 tion of Christ's proTiding bj' His Divine Power nourish- ment for the bodies of a famishing mtdtitude, and dis- pensing that nourishment to each by the hands of His ministers ; my prayer afterwards following in the same key. On the next two visits, I went on with the chapter, expounding the remainder of our Lord as the Provider of grace for famishing souls, which He dispenses in the Holy Communion, and by the hands of His ministers. The analogy thus drawn out at length worked in with the strong language of the tract in its true part, and con- futed its false part out of Holy Scripture ; and, although the tract fell upon soil greedy to receive its teaching, I am sure that the real Christ of the Scriptures was too strong for the phantom Christ which the tract, and those who circulated it, were ignorantly substituting. It seems to me to be of great importance to show our people by such methods of dealing with them, that we have no fear of the spirit of inquiry ; but that what we fear is a spirit which inquires too little, and is really a spirit of ignorance. A large proportion of the half- sceptics, who are now to be met with in aU ranks of society, are young men who have thought a little about the principles of Christianity and practical religion, but who are so easily satisfied, that their studies never go more than skin deep. Consequently they are extremely open to the fashionable tone of the day about "doubt," " free inquiry," " inner consciousness," and so forth. Just as young men used to imagine themselves duplicate BjTons, because they went loose at the neck, when most people except Byron went about in tight cravats ; so now R 2 244 PASTORAL CONVERSE. they will occasionally look you in the face with a solemn air, and profess that they are suflfering mental pangs of metaphysical labour in their " search after truth." They read Maurice's Essays, a scrap or two of Strauss or Schleiermacher, Essays and Reviews here and there, part of Colenso's thin octavo ; and ha\4ng thus obtained a few ideas, and a great deal of peculiar phraseology, they take these as their stock in trade, with which they think they may confidently set up in opposition to old- world believers. We must be careful to carry our process of analysis beyond the speech of such men into their minds. There is some desire to know the truth about Christianity, and what belongs to it ; and some little error picked up from such reading as I have indicated. But we might run into danger of fixing the error if too much importance were attached to it, as held by persons of this class ; and of strengthening the conceit which is really their vice by omitting to combat it. These young men of our day are not like the vicious young infidels of a former generation, men whose infidelity was cut to fit their profligacy, — they are not altogether unreflective in their habits, not by any means men who can be efiiectively met by dogmatic asser- tions. Their fault is that they are far too easily satisfied ; and too little anxious for the truth which they imagine themselves to be searching after, when they are only learning to doubt. There are not a few such who may be made to feel ashamed of their superficiality by a pastor who has his resources well in hand, especially if he can adopt a tone of Socratic banter in his earlier dealings PASTORAL CONVERSE. 245 witli them. And when their superficiality has been laid bare to their eyes, they will have a desire for more com- plete knowledge, which will offer the clergyman an opportunity for pointing out to them sources of sound information on such subjects as form the topic of con- versation, — solid jMbiilitm of old Divinity, which will soon disgust their minds with the flatulent second-hand Ger- manism that audaciously arrogates to itself the almost exclusive right to be considered " modern thought." In dealing with all error, it is best boldly to show that we are not afraid for our doctrine to be brought into the light of the Gospel to be tested by it. Let us declare and exhibit the highest reverence for truth and light wherever we may find them. And let us also show that we will be utterly imsparing towards Satanic simulations of truth, and to darkness which professes itself to be an angel of light. If we can persuade men to seek more light, and not to be content with what comes to them through the obscuring and distorting medium of human whims, fancies, and prejudices, we shall be waging the strongest war we can against error in all its forms. And, in all such contests, if we pray God to make our zeal the zeal of His house, and not leave us to any zeal of our own will, opinion, or party, we shall win the day as individual pastors seeking to save our own flock from harm ; and, as a collective clergy, striving for the honour of God in the Church of England, and the kingdom at large. CHAPTER Till. PASTORAL GUIDANCE. Many of the cases contemplated in the last two Chapters are such as can be treated with success only by means of a more definite, personal, and individual intercourse than can be adopted in the course of ordinary parochial visita- tion. For neither pulpit teaching of the most faithful and judicious, nor parochial visitations of the most diligent kind, make that distinct and definite mark upon the minds and characters of his people which the pastor will desire. Preaching wiU go a long way, with those who can " take it in," towards guiding them in the particular details of Christian doctrine and Christian life ; but experience of human nature shows that the number of those whose minds are so trained as to make them capable of doing this is comparatively small ; and that there is a far larger proportion of our flocks who are unable to make that defi- nite and logical application of a sermon which would give it this value. And, again, though something may be done towards this pastoral guidance in detail when the clergyman is visiting his parishioners at their own houses. PASTORAL GTTinAXCE. 247 k yet lie almost always finds a rival there in tlie sliape of domestic affairs, hospitality, or business. Far the more effectual way of making this jj^^j^jj^^^ impression in detail upon the character is to guidance get people to come to the clergyman at his at tl^ par. own house, as freely as it has become the cus- ^°^^se- torn for him to go to theirs. If they thus come, whether it be for instruction or guidance, they come with a definite purpose connected with religion ; and, making that the business of the hour, there is nothing to interfere with the pastor in the pursuit of his object, and much less of dis- traction than there would otherwise be on the other side. It may not be easy to get English people to come to their clergyman's house in this way ; but I feel convinced that much advantage is gained by it, and that the gain is worth a persevering effort to obtain it. To break down the reserve towards clergymen which prevents it being done is something ; but it is far more to be able to indi- vidualize the flock so as fully to instruct and guide them in the religious life ; and this cannot be done otherwise, except with the sick. §. Instruction Classes. A good opening for such personal intercourse may be found in the cultivation of Bible, Prayer rttracted"* Book, and Communion classes, which are some- '^1"^''"'-' '^^ ' ' _ _ classes, thing intermediate between public and private intercourse, and still better by means of the Religious Societies which are referred to in the end of the eleventh Chapter. These bring parishioners into a habit of " finding i248 PASTORAL GUIDANCE. their way " to tlie clergyman's study or parisii room, and extinguisli that extreme and ahsurd diflBdence which is so commonly felt about seeing him within his own doors. By arranging an easy mode of access — a great point — and by making those who come feel that they are really welcome, even the most timid may be got to have a sort of home feeling towards the accustomed room at the parsonage such as they have towards the Church itself. Classes of this kind will be found extremely useful for supplementing all other work of instruction, and for in- graining truth into the mind. They admit of a detail which would be out of place in the pulpit ; and they also allow the teacher to adopt a tutorial rather than a pro- fessorial system ; to use a combination of the catechetical and the Socratic method which vivifies the knowledge imparted, making its communication more interesting; and also solidifies it by drawing out the reasoning powers, and not trusting merely to dogmatic teaching on the one side, or to memory on the other. "The parson once demanded after other questions," says Herbert, " about man's misery ; Since man is so miserable tchat is to be done ? And the answerer could not tell. He asked him again, What he would do if he tcere in a ditch ? This familiar illustration made the answer so plain, that he was even ashamed of his ignorance ; for he could not but say, he would haste out of it as fast as he could. Then he pro- ceeded to ask, whether he could get out of the ditch alone, or whether he needed a helper, and who was that helper ? This is the practice which the parson so much commends to all his fellow-labourers ; the secret of whose PASTORAL CxUIDANCE. 249 good consists in this; that at sermons and prayers men may sleep, or wander ; but when one is asked a question, he must discover what he is\" And while . , , . winch drive instruction in the Holy Scriptures and Theo- instruction logy, in the history and use of the Prayer Book, in Ecclesiastical History, or in Christian morals is thus driven home, it is given under circumstances which will prevent the knowledge gained from being intellectual only and unspiritual. Reverent habits and modes of thought may be firmly grounded, a devotional knowledge and an intelligent devotion originated, and those thus trained will learn to use not heart and voice only, but the understanding also in the service of their God, by whom that understanding is given. §. Pastoral Ach-ice. 13 ut instruction is not the only purpose for which a pastor is called upon to encourage and cultivate the free access of his people to himself. "When a thorough and habitual confidence is established between them, there will be sure to be many appeals to him for advice, which he may use as most profitable opportunities for assisting those who come to him in the progress of their religious life. The broad outlines of right and wrong are easily distin- guishable by any ordinarily well-brought up Christian ; but the detail and particular appli- much in de- cation of moral laws require thought, logic, ti^'^'j^oraig^' book-knowledge, and much acquaintance with human nature ; and these are not qualifications possessed 1 Herbert's Works, i. 164. 250 PASTORAL GUIDANCE. by the multitude. It would be a great advantage to many persons to be able to go to their clergyman to seek his guidance on doubtful points respecting their Christian duty in the affairs of common life, as they would go to their solicitor for advice in matters of law. For want of such counsel the halting half-decisions of an ill-informed con- science frequently open the way to declension. "WeU- meaning persons fall into sin before they know where their course is leading them. Sinful habits become fixed and firmly rooted, which might have easily been torn up when they were just beginning to form; and the persons yielding to their power at last would have been glad to have eradi- cated their first germ, if they had certainly known that it was the germ of a sin. "Herein indeed," says Herbert again, "is K Ca""st. greatest ability of a parson, to lead his people exactly in the ways of truth, so that they neither decline to the right hand nor to the left. Neither let any think this is a slight thing. For every one hath not digested, when it is a sin to take something for money lent, or when not ; when it is a fault to discover another's faults, or when not ; when the afiections of the soul in desiring or procuring increase of means, or honour, be a sin of covetousness or ambition, and when not ; when the appetites of the body in eating, drinking, sleep, and the pleasure that comes with sleep, be sins of gluttony, drunkenness, sloth, lust, and when not, and so in many circumstances of actions. Now if a shepherd know not which grass will bane, or which not, how is he fit to be a shepherd? Wherefore the parson hath thoroughly can- PASTORAL GUIDANCE. 251 vassed all the particulars of human actions, at least all those which he observeth are most incident to his parish \" It is not every clergyman who could thus trust himself to be adviser to his parishioners in the details of Christian morality, universally as clergymen are so constituted in respect to the general guidance which may be given from the pulpit. Something of a judicial mind is required in those who would advise soundly and promptly ; and, while books and logic will go far, only long experience will give that matured knowledge of human nature which will make a clergyman's decisions entirely what they ought to be. Divines of former days seem to have been great adepts in this part of their work ; and some of their " Cases of con- science" (especially the nine bearing Bishop Sanderson's name) are admirable examples of the elaborate and com- plete way in which they arrived at their decisions. But with more humble qualifications than those of Sanderson, a clergyman may be a sound counsellor to his flock in. ordinary matters of Christian law. And by becoming so he may preserve many an one from declension ; may stop in their outset many dilferences which would otherwise have become serious quarrels ; and may be able to suggest many subjects for reflection (and perhaps for repentance) to those who come for his advice, the very mention of which in any other way would have quite alienated his parishioners from him. The efiect of such work on the character of the latter cannot be overrated, especially in a day of vague morality like our own. 2 Herbert's Works, i. 128. 252 PASTORAL GUIDANCE. §. Confession. This brings us to the consideration of a subject which would a few years ago have been thought by many clergy- men to be altogether beyond the pale of a volume treating of the principles and practice of pastoral work in the Church of England ; but which it would be impossible to omit noticing now, without a serious dereliction of duty on the part of a writer who professes to speak of pastoral work with reference to the best inter- Reasons for pretations of it, and in all its parts. If I were treating of Confession, to Say nothing about the pastoral use of Con- fession, I should be justly chargeable with omitting to notice that which many holy, far-sighted, and experienced clergymen look upon as a very valuable part of the pastor's work, and which many lay people of our day actually demand as a right from the clergy. The fact is, that Confession (coupled with Its use " Direction ") has always been used more or uuder other names. less by the clergy and laity of the Church of England, and even by Protestant dissenters, but under some other name. John Newton was prac- tically Confessor and Spiritual Director to a large number of persons in the circles of London society, dui-Lng the eight j'ears of his life at St. Mary's, "Woolnoth. Scott, the commentator, received people to private interviews, of a character closely analogous to Confession, at the vestry of the Lock Chapel. Mr. Simeon held a similar position among the undergraduates of Cambridge to that held by Newton among the religious people of PASTORAL GUIDANCE. 253 London. Almost all zealous clergymen of the Evangelical school were accustomed to encourage their people in opening out their hearts to them, "telling their expe- rience," as it was called, for the sake of gaining spiritual advice and help from their pastors ; and they were also encouraged in going at once to the vestry, if their con- sciences had been awakened by the sermon, for this purpose'. In such cases, the confession was made, but a prayer for pardon or for conversion was used in ' In my own boyhood I remember being taken (when under excited religious emotions) to an Evangelical clergyman of the most extreme school, for a purpose exactly analogous to Confession ; though the much-respected relative who took me, and the clergyman himself, would have energetically repudiated the application of that name to the interview. The extent to which the system was carried by the Evangelical clergy is illustrated strongly by the following, which I extract from the Record newspaper of May 31, 1865; — " Professional men have an official secrecy imposed upon them, — a minister, a lawyer, a medical man. If this were not the case, a distressed conscience could never unburden itself to its confessor. Incalculable in- juries to health and property might be sustained for want of proper advisers. This applies in a very high sense to a minister considered as a confessor, a director of the conscience. An alarmed conscience will unfold its most interior recesses to him. It is said Dr. Owen advised a man who, under religious convictions, confessed to him a murder which he had perpetrated some years before, to surrender himself up to justice. The man did so, and was executed. I think Dr. Owen erred in his advice. I thought myself right in urging on persons who have opened their hearts to me, deep humiliation before God; but as it had pleased Him to give a thorough hatred of their crimes to their mind, and a consequent self-loathing and humiliation, and yet to allow in His providence that they should have re- mained undiscovered, I judged that the matter might be safely left with Him. Yet there may be cases in which general consequences require that confidence should be betrayed. Such cases usually relate to evil in progress. To prevent or counteract such evils it may be necessary to disclose what has been entrusted in confidence. Yet the party should be honestly warned, if its purposes are not changed, what duty your conscience will require." — The Rev. Richard Cecil, from his Memoir by Rev. Josiah Pratt. 254 PASTORAL GUIDAXCE. the place of Absolution. "With, respect to less recent days than those of the Evangelical school, it is a fact that there is hardly a Divine of the Church of England, from Archbishop Cranmer to Bishop Tomline, who has written on the subject of penitence, and has not referred to Private Confession and Absolution as an ordinance of the Church of England. For these reasons it would be presumptuous to consider the subject of Private Confession as altogether out of court in treating of a modern clergyman's work ; and whatever may be my own inclinations, or those of my readers, it is our duty to see, first, what are the principles of the Church of England respecting it, as shown in her laws and formularies, and, secondly, how those prin- ciples are to be carried out in the practice of a modern pastor. I. The specific references to Private Con- i?the*'°°* fession contained in the official documents of Church on the Church of England are the four following. the subject. . . . . (1) A Rubric enjoins that sick persons shall be moved to make special confessions. (2) An Exhortation enjoins persons to go to a clergyman to confess, and to receive absolution, if they cannot quiet their consciences by private self-examination. (3) A Canon enjoins secrecy on all clergymen receiving confessions. (4) A HomUy refers to Private Confession as an usage not forbidden in the Church of England *. * I am not quite sure that a fifth ought not to be added. The rubric before the Communion Ser\-ice is : — " So many as intend to be partakers of the Holy Communion shall signify PASTORAL GUinANCE. 255 (1) The Rubric is contained in the Office for the Visi- tation of the Sick : — " Here shall the sick person be moved to make a special Confession of his sins, if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty matter. After which Confession, the Priest shall absolve him (if he humbly and heartily desire it °) after this sort." The Absolution so enjoined being as follows : — " Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power to His Church to ab- solve all sinners who truly repent and believe in Him, of His great mercy, forgive thee thine offences ; And by His authority committed to me, I absolve thee from all thy sins. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." The words " be moved to " were introduced at the last revision of the Prayer Book in 1662 ; and it must be allowed that they give the Rubric a force, as regards the priest, which they did not possess before. As it now stands, this injunction imposes on the clergy the duty of persuading the sick to make private or special confessions, of receiving those confessions, and of giving absolution, should the sick person's penitence be their names to the curate, at least some time the day before." This is taken from Herman's Consultation, fol. 207 : " We will that the pastors admit uo man to the Lord's Supper, which hath not first offered himself to them ; and after that he hath first made a confession of his sins, being catechized, he receive absolution according to the Lord's Word .... and for this p\irposc let the people be called together at eventide the day bo- fore." In Ireland a bell is still rung the day before " Sacrament Sunday," the original purpose of which was that here referred to. * Since the first edition of this work was published I have discovered that this important parenthesis was inserted by Bishop Cosin. It is in the margin of tlie Prayer Book which he prepared for the Revisers of 1661 ; [D. III. 5, in Cosin's Library, Durham,] and will l)e found, with many other important alterations of his, in the " Annotated Book of Common Prayer." 256 PASTORAL GUIDANCE. SO sound, as that it can be said lie " humbly " as well as " heartily " desires it. (2) The Exhortation is the third paragraph of the warning exhortation to the Holy Communion : — " And because it is requisite, that no man should come to the Holy Communion, but with a full trust in God's mercy, and with a quiet conscience ; therefore, if there be any of you, who by this means cannot quiet his own conscience herein, but requireth further comfort or counsel, let him come to me, or to some other discreet and learned minister of God's Word, and open his grief ; that by the ministry of God's Holy Word he may receive the benefit of ab- solution, together with ghostly counsel and advice, to the quieting of his conscience, and avoiding of all scruple and doubtfulness." In the original form of this Exhortation (1549), there was a further period of about equal length with the above paragraph, which seems to indicate that an apologetic tone was deemed expedient at the earlier period of the Reformation, for which there was no necessity afterwards. This I subjoin, as it also elucidates the meaning of our present Exhortation, and contains some wise words very applicable to ourselves at the present time. " Requiring such as shall be satisfied with a general confession, not to be ofiended with them that do use, to their further satisfy- ing, the auricular and secret confession to the priest ; nor those also which think needful or convenient, for the quietness of their own consciences, particularly to open their sins to the priest, to be ofiended with them that are satisfied with their humble confession to God, and the PASTORAL GUIDANCE. 257 general confession to the Church. But in all things to follow and keep the rule of charity, and every man to be satisfied with his own conscience, not judging other men's minds or consciences ; where as he hath no warrant of God's "Word to the same." (3) The 113th Canon ends with an injunction of secrecy on confessors in the following words : — " Provided always. That if any man confess his secret and hidden sins to the minister, for the unburdening of his conscience, and to receive spiritual consolation and ease of mind from him ; we do not any waj- bind the said minister by this our constitution," [respecting the presentation of offenders,] "but do straitly charge and admonish him, that he do not at any time reveal and make known to any person whatsoever any crime or offence so committed to his trust and secrecy, (except they be such crimes as by the laws of this realm his own life may be called into question for concealing the same,) under pain of irregularity \" (4) In " the Second Part of the Homily of Repentance " it is said that " if any do find themselves troubled in conscience, they may repair to their learned curate or pastor, or to some other godly learned man, and show the trouble and doubt of their conscience to them, that they may receive at their hand the comfortable salve of God's Word ;" by which phrase was no doubt meant the word of absolution, as ordained by our Lord, and referred • This Canon was made at a time when Treason was a comparatively common crime, and the parenthesis relates to the concealment of Treason. Even the parenthesis is, however, only permissive. " Irregularity " shuts u priest out from holdmg any benefice whatever for the future. 258 PASTORAL GUIDANCE. to in the Absolution previously quoted from the Office for the Visitation of the Sick. II. From these authoritative statements we deduciblr have to draw out the principles of the Church from the q£ England in respect to the use of Confession preceding. » _ '■ and Absolution. The absence of any more stringent injunction is also, under the circumstances of the case, an important piece of evidence, and even autho- rity, not lightly to be passed over. a. It is quite clear that the private confession of sins to a priest is considered to be of much value to certain persons, under certain circumstances ; also, that it is no- where forbidden, but is in several places recommended, and enjoined. /3. A clergyman is bound to receive those of his own parishioners who wish to confess their sins to him, and, under particular specified circumstances, to exhort and persuade them to do so. He is also bound to absolve those who thus confess, if their penitence is such as to make them fit for absolution. It is also evident that it would be a want of charity if he refused to receive any who (wishing to use the liberty allowed to the laity of going out of their parishes) came to him for the same purpose, though not belonging to his own flock. 7. That the Church of England neither enjoins nor prohibits frequent or habitual private confession ; nor any where recognizes it as a part of her pastoral system. 8. That private confession is not essential to salvation. The Church of Rome has authoritatively decreed that " this sacrament of penance is necessary unto salvation PASTORAL GUIDANCE. 259 for those who have fallen after baptism ; even as baptism itself is for those who have not as yet been regenerated ;" and that confession was " instituted by the Lord, and is of Divine right necessary to all who have fallen after baptism If such had been the doctrine of the Church of England, that doctrine would undoubtedly have been stated as clearly as it is in the case of the two sacraments " generally necessary for salvation." " And this would have been the more necessary, because the only places where confession is enjoined appear to represent it as essential only under particular circumstances ; while the Exhortation of 1549 expressly speaks in the most chari- table terms of those who do not think confession ne- cessary for themselves, without giving the slightest intimation that they are running iato danger by its omission. III. From the principles thus deduced, there can be no doubt the Church of England contemplates that the duty of receiving the private confessions of her , „ ■,, I . The pastor's members may tail upon a clergyman at any duty as con- time of his pastoral life ; and that he ought to f'^^'"'' ^ ' ° be evaded. be prepared to act when the time comes. It is a painful duty, — at least, I cannot enter into the feel- ings of those to whom it is otherwise, — but the pastor has no right to evade it ; and he must undertake it as he does other duties of his olEce, for the love of God and of the souls committed to his charge. It is almost un- necessary, perhaps, to add that he need be under no 7 Cone. Trident. Sess. XIV. c. ii., Iv. S 2 260 PASTORAL GUIDANCE. scrtipl" on account of the objection often raised, that to hear confessions and to absolve penitents is an undue assumption of authority on the part of one human being towards another. He acts in the Name of the Chief Pastor, not in his own ; and acts in obedience to the rules of that Church from which he receives his com- mission as a minister of God. To those, however, who, like myself, feel the painfulness of the duty strongly, I would suggest one mitigating reflection, which is, that the mere unburdening of the conscience is to some persons a source of spiritual strength in their contest with sin ; while the absolution, faithfully and worthily received, is one of the greatest blessings which one human being can be the means of conveying to another. IV. A careful consideration of the principles Whom to thus set down for our guidance, will also lead persuade to i • , i • n confess. to the conclusion that there are certain well- defined cases in which it is the duty of the pastor to " move " the sick to make a " special confession of their sins," and to exhort others to do so who cannot quiet their consciences by self-examination, confession without the private intervention of a priest, and the abso- lutions of the public services. ^, , . It seems, for instance, as if the use of Con- Those dving by violence, fession. Absolution, and (if possible) the Holy Communion, would meet the necessity of the case in those instances to which I have referred in a note on p. 204 ; where, from accident, battle wounds, or sudden mortal sickness, it is e^ddent that there must be no delay in settling afiairs both of the body and the soul. In such PASTORAL GUIDANCE. 261 cases — I have one vividly present to my memory as I write — the clergyman called in may be a total stranger to the sufferer. He does not know whether that sufferer has led a religious or a wicked life, and relatives or friends are little likely to tell him the whole truth, even if they know it. Ke has no circumstances to guide him to the course he has to take, but the fact that a sinner lies before him, who, whether his sins are many or few, is about to appear before the judgment-seat of God. I have had the cry of the poor dying sufferer, and of his weeping relatives ring in my ears in such a case, " Do sometliing for me ! " " Oh, lead him to make his peace with God before he goes ! " What better way could I devise under these cir- cumstances than that suggested by the Visitation Office ? to do all I could to move the dying man to " make a special confession of his sins," to comfort him with " the benefit of absolution," and to draw him as near as I could to the mercies and blood-shedding of his Redeemer by giving him the Holy Sacrament of which that Redeemer said, "Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life ; and I will raise him up at the last day." If any should reply that earnest prayer and the reading of Holy Scripture would, by themselves, have been eqiially effectual to the end in view, I can only say (1) that I do not see on what groimd such an assertion is made, and (2) that these are part of the course recommended, though not the whole of it ' It may be observed that Confession and the Holy Communion are aliriost invariably used in the case of criminals sentenced to death, shortly before their execution. 262 PASTORAL GUIDANCE. But it is often said that the injunction of the offering'^^™^ Visitation Office does not apply alone to those penften"^'' °^ extreme cases in which immediate death is cer- tain ; and there is assuredly no such Hmitation in the words " sick person," nor in the general character of the Office. It will therefore he the duty of the pastor to consider how far any ordinary sickness may be so attended by a good promise of repentance as to call upon him to act literally on the words of the rubric. Herbert says, " Besides this, in his visiting the sick or otherwise afflicted, he foUoweth the Church's counsel, namely, in persuading them to particular confession; labouring to make them understand the great good use of this ancient and pious ordinance, and how necessary it is in some cases It seems to me that no one can lay down for another any rules to be adopted in the selection of such cases : but that, having regard to the duty imposed upon him by the Church and to the spiritual condition of the sick person, each clergjTnan must decide for himself when and how, or whether at all, to advise confession as an aid to penitence. With respect to those who are in health, the heaUb."' guides given to us by the Church are the passage in the Exhortation to Communion, and the few words in the Homily " Of Repentance," both of which have already been quoted. In applj-ing the prin- ciples so indicated, it would seem to be the pastor's duty sometimes to follow up the public exhortation by an ex- 9 Herbert's Works, i. 155. PASTORAL GUIDANCE 263 hortation in private. There are often cases of wicked persons, such as those described in the former part of the Communion Service exhortation, who become much im- pressed with the necessity of repentance, and have great desire to repent, but who, at the same time, know nothing whatever of any way of " quieting their consciences," except the way of those fanatics who think that to " feel pardoned " is all that is necessary to a reconciliation with God. Such persons may have a desire for the Holy Com- munion, and it may be the wish of the pastor that they should eventually partake of it ; but there is some danger that they may drift into an unrepentant participation of it, if their consciences are not thoroughly enlightened as to the greatness of sin and the nature of repentance. It is probable that a real conviction of sin in such cases will often lead persons to wish to " open their griefs " to the clergyman, and "receive the benefit of absolution." The same may be said also of those who have the weight of some special sin or sins, — such as dishonesty, seduction, or profligate living, — on their consciences. And it is also plain that they who complain that they cannot "qmet their own consciences," that their own unassisted repent- ance seems imperfect, that they cannot be " satisfied with a general confession," are likely to be much benefited by the adoption of the course under consideration. All of such cases can, without hesitation, be classified as among those contemplated by the bare words of Church of Eng- land formularies ; and others might no doubt be included, without any violation or evasion whatever of tlie principles there laid down. 264 PASTORAL GUIDANCE. Limitations V. But, notwithstanding the variety of cases Chuj'clf'^ which thus seem to come within the range rules. of the principles laid down by the Church on this subject, it must certainly be evident to every one carefully studying the actual and authorized sources of those principles that there are certain limitations by which we ought to be guided in our use of confession, which restrict us, for the most part, to those who have been spoken of as fit subjects for it in the preceding pages. It has been already shown that it is quite Confession a impossible to suppose that confession is es- tonie for the ^- , ■ , , ^, , weak. teemed necessary to salvation hj the Church of England. It may be added that, at least with those who are in bodily health, confession is set forth by the Church of England as a spiritual medicine for the weak, and not as food for the daily nourishment of the strong. It is " when they cannot quiet their consciences," that persons are exhorted to confess their sins privately to a priest ; that is, when they cannot, after honest and faithful self-examination, confess their sins honestly, faith- fully, and fully to God, and accept the public absolution as a declaration of forgiveness for the sins they have so confessed. Now there are many persons who are both competent and willing to do this ; persons whose intellect and conscientiousness will ensure them against any serious mistake, even if they have no assistance from a clergyman'. 1 The proper w.iy of using the public Confession is shown in the Rubric before the Confession to be used in Imminent Danger at Sea : — " When there shall be imminent danger, as many as can be spared from necessary PASTORAL GUIDANCE. 265 Such persons as these may be said to be so strong (in the matter of whicla we are treating) as to stand in no need of the spiritual tonic provided by the Church for those who are weak. If such persons voluntarily seek the "benefit of absolution" in private, their confession ought un- doubtedly to be received by the pastor to whom they apply; but it seems to me to be a deviation from the prin- ciples of the Church of England to exhort them to do so, as if honest, searching confession to God, and the personal application of the public absolution did not avail for a perfect repentance. The Exhortation of 1549 is certainly more in accordance with the general tone of the Church of England ; and although now omitted from our formularies, there is no proof whatever that the principles on which it was founded have been altered by its omission or by any other authoritative act of the Church. Again, the frequent or habitual use of con- fession is not provided for, nor can I see that it confession is recognized by the Church of England. There P'-ovided are abundant instances on record in which it was used in articulo mortis (or now and then in their previous life), by her faithful children; but few, if any, of its constant habitual use, as in foreign churches or in the Roman Catholic sect in England. The utmost that can be said is that it has been treated as an open question since the Reformation. If so, then the pastor assumes a grave responsibility who recommends such habitual use of service in the ship shall be called together, and make an humble confession of their sin to God : in which every one ought seriously to reflect upon those particular sins of which his conscience shall accuse him ; saying as followeth." 266 PASTORAL GUIDANCE. the ordinance to his flock ; a responsibility whicli he assumes without definite support of the Church of which he is a minister. He should carefully consider what the consequences will be of the advice he gives ; and should also carefully examine the grounds on which it is given. He should ask himself whether those grounds are a fair foundation for a clergyman of the Church of England to build upon, or whether they are the opinions and practice of foreign Churches, adapted for persons accustomed to southern habits, perhaps, but not for those whom an English clergjTnan has ordinarily to deal with. If habitual confession had been intended in the Church of England, it would hardlj^ have been left unnoticed and unprovided for. If it had been the practice of the Church of England, there would have been more definite mention of it in the writings of her divines. The farthest, however, that any of the latter ever go towards advocating such a practice is shown in the following extract from Jeremy Taylor's " Guide to the Penitent " : — "Besides this examination of your conscience (which may be done in secret between God and your own soul), there is great use of holy Confession : which, though it be not generally in all cases, and peremptorily commanded, as if without it no salvation could possibly be had ; yet you are advised by the Church, under whose discipline you live, that before you are to receive the Holy Sacra- ment, or when you are visited with any dangerous sick- ness, if you find any one particular sin or more that lies heavy upon you, to disburthen yourself of it into the bosom of your confessor, who not only stands between PASTORAL GUIDANCE. 267 God and you to pray for you, but hath, the power of tlie keys committed to him, upon your true repentance, to absolve you in Christ's name from those sins which you have confessed to him." It is clear that the writer does not here refer to such an habitual confession : and it is also clear that he is not contemplating the case of a regular communicant, but of one who receives rarely, with long intervals between the times when he comes to the Altar. Nor is it without reason that so much feeling is shown by English people against the practice of private habitual confession. Such a practice involves more or less of " direction," and is sure to lessen that proper . . . Lessens pro- self-reliance which every Christian ought to per self- have, and to make him walk on human crutches rather than depend on the Divine and supernatural support of grace. The sense of personal responsibility is weakened in a serious degree. " There are persons," says Mr. Gresley, " females especially, who have brought themselves so entirely to yield their conscience to the guidance of others, that they have no will or choice of their own : and it is clear that if such persons fell into the hands of designing priests, they might be made the tools of much iniquity." The frequent, habitual private confession of venial sins is, in fact, trifling with the ordinance, and throwing a slight upon the general confession and public absolution of the daily and the Eucharistic services. Instead of encouraging such a habit, the pastor should rather teach his people how to " quiet their consciences " by using for ordinary life the ordinary means of grace : and he should 268 PASTORAL GUIDANCE. endeavour to lead them out of that moral weakness which incapacitates them from making an unassisted confession to God, and from receiving His pardon in the public ordi- nances provided for that very purpose. It is impossible not to observe that confession ^Wtuid^^a- ^ippsars to possess a kind of fascination for letudinari- some minds, especiallv for those of women anism. ... . ' living in a narrow circle of society ; and that under its influence they are dangerously liable to a sort of spiritual valetudinarianism in which they do not so much seek strength from the remedy used as a confirmation in the idea of their weakness, and to be treated as weakly persons. I cannot think it is wise in a pastor to overlook this fact, or to disregard it. A physician might find several good reasons for continuing to treat as really unable to walk one whom he knows an alarm of fire would startle into robust action and energy in a moment. But the physician of souls must not run the danger of really weakening the moral strength which God has given by under-estimating its amount, or seeming to do so. He must therefore be on the watch against any such morbid sensitiveness in those who apply to him to receive their confessions ; and above all must carefully guard against encouraging the imagination to invent sins. St. Paul enjoins tenderness towards weak brethren, but he certainly would not advise us to encourage their weakness, and add to their number. „ „ Another danger attending habitual private Danger of . ° or indifference confession is one of exactly the opposite cha- racter, that of becoming indifferent to sin. If it is used, not from morbid sensitiveness, or blindness to PASTORAL GUIDANCE. 269 the value of the public ordinance, but because the person really has serious sins to confess time after time, the frequent repetition of those sins shows that the confession of them in private has not produced the effect for which it was partly used, that of strengthening the moral nature and enabling the sinner to stand more firmly against temptation. In such cases there is apt to grow up in the mind some such idea as this, " I have got rid of my sins by confession and absolution : I make a fresh start \i-ith. a moral tabula rasa : if I am unfortunate enough to give way to temptation again, I can again go through the same course." Here also I may quote from the advocate for confession whose words I have already used. "The avowals of foreign writers on this subject afford con- vincing evidence that, where confession is periodical and compulsory, persons will too frequently come as a matter of course, and without due contrition, and confess their sins, without forming any decided resolution of forsaking them. Confessors also become careless and perfunctory ; while it requires even more than the average skill and holiness in the confessor to infuse a spirit of true contrition into these formal penitents ; consequently, there is a great danger of those who make such confession remaining really impenitent, and deceiving their own souls It is true that a faithful pastor would warn persons of this kind in the spirit of Ezekiel xviii. 24 ; but it becomes a serious question whether they are not more injured than benefited by the frequent use of private confession, and ' Greslcy's Ordinance of Confession, p. 136. 270 PASTORAL GUIDANCE. whether they ought not rather to be treated in some other method. I have not based these suggestions in any degree upon the prejudices which are felt by English people against habitual confession, because it might be our duty to trj- and overcome them : nor have I referred to the objection, entertained by many good and wise men, that it often involves confidences with a third party which the English character can never tolerate. For other reasons, and those of a strictly spiritual nature, it would seem imadvisable for a clergyman of the Church of England to encourage the habit in his flock ; and as it is not provided for by the Church, he is keeping strictly to her rules and spirit when he ordinarily limits the use of confession to the cases which have been mentioned as those seeming to call for its remedial and restorative application. Before parting with the subject of this Chapter, it may be as well to refer again to the 113th Canon. SeS The spirit of that Canon clearly extends to all kinds of confidential intercourse between a clergyman and his parishioners as well as to actual con- fession. It is almost impossible to suppose that any pastor could be so forgetful of his duty as to transgress against the rule of absolute secrecy which is enjoined in confession : but there would be more confidence between the clergy and their parishioners if the former made it more clear than they often do that the intercourse held with their parishioners was not a staple subject of do- mestic conversation. A parishioner may wish to make a communication to his pastor, and very much object to the PASTORAL GUIDANCE. 271 slightest hint of that communication being given to that pastor's wife or to any one else. There cannot be too close reticence in such matters : and if it is known that the lips of the clergy are sealed in respect to all commu- nications made to them, which are not of a manifestly open kind, there will be much more disposition on the part of the laity to consult them for the good of their souls, and to seek that pastoral guidance of which an outline has been sketched in the preceding Chapter. CHAPTER IX. SCHOOLS. The pastor's position in relation to the schools of his parish, is fixed partly by the inherent responsibilities of his oflBce, and partly by the modern crystallization of fresh duties and cares around it '. First, since the clergyman to whom cure of The pastoral souls is committed has a comprehensive charge dren. of all, young and old, he is necessarily the pastor of the children of his flock as well as of adults. And as in their infancy his duty towards them is to baptize them into the fold of the Good Shepherd, and at a later period to bring them before the Bishop for Confirmation, so in the space between these epochs there lies an interval during several years of which if is his duty to look after them with a keen eye to see that they are receiving Christian training in the way that they should go. The clergy act, in general, as if this duty rested upon them only in respect to the children ' It may be noticed that Canons 77, 78, 79, referring to the licensing of schoolmasters hy the Bishop, and the preference of clergymen for the office, apply to Grammar Schools only. Parochial schools are not even mentioned, e.g. in Bishop Burnet's Pastoral Care. SCHOOLS. 273 of the poor ; and there is probably a much larger pro- portion of middle and upper class children than of the poor, who never come under the clergyman's eye or guidance, unless at the time preceding confirmation. But, although more of the pastor's personal labour may be required in the case of poor children than in that of the others, I do not see that there is any real dis- tinction as regards the ultimate spiritual responsibility ; and in this, as in other matters, class jjreference has led the clergy into a mischievous practical error, the result of which they feel deeply ; that of neglecting the pastoral supervision of those children who grow up to form the influential classes of society. Secondly, the clergyman of modern days is recognized by society as its agent for all kinds ^ucatimi^ of matters connected with the education of ''se"ts for society. those who have a claim or a partial claim upon a public provision of the means of education. There are two reasons why this is so. One is that the clergy have taken more practical interest in the work of educating the poor than have any other classes of society, and conse- quently most of the labour entailed has fallen into their willing hands. And the other is, that the old tradition Btill clings to the heart of the nation that the Church is its chief educator, and the clergy therefore the chief ministers of education as well as of religion. Such manifest advantages to practical religion result from this venerable educational theory, and it would be so extremely difficult for the clergy to act up to their responsibilities in feeding Christ's lambs, if it lost its hold upon society, T 274 SCHOOLS. that it is plainly the duty of every pastor to accept it willingly, although by so doing he will probably draw upon himself some inconveniences, responsibilities, and labours, which do not essentially belong to his office ^ ^ ^ But the pastor should place before himself pastoralduty distinctly the object for which he thus under- cation'^'*"^"' ^^^^^ *° become practically responsible for the education of the poor of his parish. It is that he may promote the training up of children in the " nurture and admonition of the Lord ;" that they may under his influence become morally and religiously fitted to do their duty in that state of life to which it shall please God to call them. He maj'' have strong views as to the necessity of intellectual training for the lower classes, but whether he has or not, their intellectual training is not part of his pastoral obligation. His one end should be to exercise such influence over their educa- tion that it may be of a kind which shall make them better Christian citizens than they would have been without it ; and whether he promotes a high class of secular educa- ' tion or discourages it, let him do so with this end in view. In carrying out his pastoral duties towards Schools of children, the clergyman must not confine him- class. " self entirely to the children of the poor. At : least in town parishes there will be schools for ' In the 1856 and 1857 volumes of the National Society's Monthly Paper, there are some Essays by the present miter on the duties of Churchmen with reference to National Education, and on its History, in which the course of it as Church-of-England education is traced from ancient to modern days. SCHOOLS. 275 the education of boys and girls of tlie middle classes, and where there is not a clergyman at the head of such establishments, it is his duty to seek admission to them for the purpose of giving religious instruction. In many cases, the offer of his services 'will be gladly accepted ; and in few would it be declined if such offers were more common than they are. It will then become one of his weekly engagements to spend an hour on one or more days at such schools over a catechetical lecture on Holy Scripture, in which he will probably find it best to take the Catechism as his guide, and by means of which he may give many useful illustrations of the devotional ser- vices of the Church. He will thus be continually laying a foundation for confirmation instruction ; and will, be- sides, be imparting to children of the middle and higher classes a kind of knowledge in which they are often more deficient than the children of the poor. The time thus spent will be among the best of aU the hours that the pastor expends on the work of education. He will be gaining access to minds which are afterwards to influence others, will be giving firmness to the general religious tone of the school, and will be preparing some of the comparatively alienated classes of society for accepting the Church-of-England system and its pastoral machinery with frankness and afiection in their after life. I may remark here that the clergy should exercise great watchfulness with respect to ^^looU^** any endowed schools that may exist in their parishes. In most cases they are ex officio trustees of such foundations, and have a good deal of power in their T 2 276 SCHOOLS. hands; yet abuses have often sprung up which ought never to have been permitted, and which hinder their full usefulness. It is the positive duty of the clergyman to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the history of all eleemosynary foundations in his parish, and with the laws under which they are governed; and in few cases will he be doing a more real service to religion, as a man of education, than by such research, and by (if possible) acting upon it. But for his influence it would often happen, and does sometimes happen, even now, that good sound Grammar Schools would degenerate into mere " Commercial Academies," and the work of middle- class education become watered down to a miserable standard of learning, far below what was intended by the founders, what the institution is capable of giving, (if properly administered,) or what is fit for the class of youths who partake of its advantages. §. Parish Sc/ioo^s. But it is in that which is distinctively called the parish or church or national school that the clergyman finds himself most completely master of the situation. It may be that he is wholly responsible for the funds by which it is maintained, beyond what is provided by the children's pence; or that he is one of a committee of subscribers; or one of the managers in a school under government inspection ; but in either case the practical management of the school rests almost entirely in his hands, and it depends chiefly upon him whether it is or is not what it ought to be. Supposing then that he has found, or has SCHOOLS. 277 secured the appointment of, one or more good teachers in whose educational ability and religious principles he can have confidence, the work of the pastor in reference to such a school wiU generally mould itself under these three heads. (1) He must control, and take active part in the religious instruction of the children. (2) He will have to exercise a general supervision over every de- partment of the school, for the purpose of making it efficient according to the requirements of the day, so that the Church school may be visibly the best school of its class in his parish. (3) The business management of the school will certainly rest upon his shoulders, and perhaps the responsibility of providing, or obtaining from his parishioners, the money necessary for its main- tenance. With regard to the direct control to be exercised by the clergyman over the religion ^^^^ous^ of the school, it may be observed that the education principle of the Church, that of conducting fdmUted. education in subordination to religion, is much more generally admitted among thoughtful persons of every class than it used to be some years ago. "I be- lieve," said Mr. Henley to the House of Commons, in 1855, " that education, to be of value, and especially that which it is the duty of the State to promote, ought to be of that kind which trains the mind upon the solid founda- tion of religious teaching, reaches the heart, and elevates the condition of the people, so that they may know what is, and how they are to do, their duty to God and man ; and doing their duty to God and man may successfully 278 SCHOOLS. struggle through this life to the life to come'." Such, in the main, is the opinion of most educated men ; and though some are jealous of the power acquired over the minds of the people by the Church of England in her schools, yet no one questions the right of the clergy to carry out their duty in all which can be claimed as be- longing to their parochial jurisdiction. The pastor will have the satisfaction, then, of feeling that he is not opposed by the opinion of his generation, when he attaches primary importance to religious educa- tion ; and from his point of view, the theory of religious education will assume the form assumed by the well-known proposition, that true Christian education consists not so much in imparting knowledge as in drawing out the grace of God for the work of life. Knowledge is good only when directed to a good end; and it is so plain that good ends are not the natural seeking of unre- generate hearts, or those in which the grace of regenera- tion lies dormant, that it is clear knowledge must be imparted with an eye to its control by grace. Knowledge is power, but there is such a thing as raising up a giant power in the unbridled intellectual faculty, whose action will be destructive to its possessors. While, then, the necessities and tendencies of the age call for a high degree of secular instruction even in our schools for the labouring classes, it is plain that this increase of knowledge requires to be tempered by an active spirit of religion. In the days of childhood, at least as much as, perhaps more than, at other times of life, the » Speech, May 3, 1855. SCHOOLS. 279 Christian must be looked upon by tbe pastor not only in respect to what God has made him by nature, but also as to what He has made him and will make him by grace ; and this principle must regulate all his course in the pastor's dealings with his parish school. Hence it is exceedingly valuable to work the school definitely into the Church system of devotion, and not to rest only on the acquisition of religious knowledge*. No Church scholar should be permitted to grow up in a habit of not going to church on Sunday ; and, indeed, I would urge it as highly desirable tliat the school should attend daily morning prayer, as well as the Sunday ser- vices. Every school begins its work with prayers ; and nothing can be more suitable (where the school is, as it ought to be, under the shadow of the Church) than for those prayers to be oflfered in God's house, and -in the recognized forms of the daily service, that the young people may grow up in familiar acquaintance with the words and habits of Divine worship'. It is also an ex- * Tlie necessity of this was strikingly illustrated by the mortifying fact which Mr. Mann made public in his Educational Census of 1851. " At first sight it appears incvitaljle that, iu course of time, the mass of the population, educated of necessity in Church-of-England schools, must gi-adually return to the Churcli; but, in opposition to this natural anti- cipation, is the curious fact that, while for many years past at least four- fifths of all the children who have passed through public schools must have been instructed iu the day schools of the Church of England, concurrently with this a very rapid augmentation has been proceeding in the number of Dissenters, so that now they number very nearly half of the total popu- lation of the country." There may be some improvement since 1851, but 1 can myself point out a mass of population of which Mr. Mann's words are still true, that Cliurch schools do not make Clmrch people. ' Private schools may occasionally be found attcn