<--Tracts for the Times, No. 1, by J. H. Newman-->
<--Version 1.0.2-->
<--This file should be called TRACT01.TXT-->

No. 1.]  =(Ad Clerum.)= [Price 1d.

THOUGHTS
/ON
/THE MINISTERIAL COMMISSION.

RESPECTFULLY ADDRESSED TO THE CLERGY.
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I Am but one of yourselves,--a Presbyter; and therefore I con-
ceal my name, lest I should take too much on myself by speaking
in my own person.  Yet speak I must; for the times are very
evil, yet no one speaks against them.

Is this not so?  Do not we "look one upon another," yet per-
form nothing?  Do we not all confess the peril into which the
Church is come, yet sit still each in his own retirement, as if
mountains and seas cut off brother from brother?  Therefore
suffer me, while I try to draw you forth from those pleasant
retreats, which it has been our blessedness hitherto to enjoy, to
contemplate the condition and prospects of our Holy Mother in a
practical way; so that one and all may unlearn that idle habit,
which has grown upon us, of owning the state of things to be
bad, yet doing nothing to remedy it.

Consider a moment.  Is it fair, is it dutiful, to suffer our
Bishops to stand the brunt of the battle without doing our part
to support them?  Upon them comes "the care of all the
Churches."  This cannot be helped:  indeed it is their glory.
Not one of us would wish in the least to deprive them of the
duties, the toils, the responsibilities of their high Office.  And,
black event as it would be fore the country, yet, (as far as they
are concerned,) we could not wish them a more blessed termina-
tion of their course, that the spoiling of their goods, and mar-
tyrdom.

To them then we willingly and affectionately relinquish their
high privileges and honours; we encroach not upon the rights of
the SUCCESSORS OF THE APOSTLES; we touch not their sword
and crosier.  Yet surely we may be their shield-bearers in the
battle without offence; and by our voice and deeds be to them
what Luke and Timothy were to St. Paul.

Now then let me come at once to the subject which leads me to
address you.  Should the Government and Country so far forget
their GOD as to cast off the Church, to deprive it of its temporal
honours and substance, =on what= will you rest the claim of respect
and attention which you make upon your flocks?  Hitherto you
have been upheld by your birth, your education, your wealth,
your connexions; should these secular advantages cease, on what
must CHRIST'S Ministers depend?  Is not this a serious practical
question?  We know how miserable is the state of religious
bodies not supported by the State.  Look at the Dissenters on all
sides of you, and you will see at once that their Ministers, de-
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pending simply upon the people, become the =creatures= of the
people.  Are you content that this should be your case?  Alas!
can a greater evil befall Christians, than for their teachers to be
guided by them, instead of guiding?  How can we "hold fast
the form of sound words," and "keep that which is committed
to our trust," if our influence is to depend simply on our popu-
larity?  Is it not our very office to =oppose= the world?  can we then
allow ourselves to =court= it?  to preach smooth things and pro-
phesy deceits?  to make the way of life easy to the rich and indo-
lent, and to bribe the humbler classes by excitements and strong
intoxicating doctrine?  Surely it must not be so;--and the
question recurs, on =what= are we to rest our authority, when the
State deserts us?

CHRIST has not left His Church without claim of its own upon
the attention of men.  Surely not.  Hard Master He cannot be,
to bid us oppose the world, yet give us no credentials for so
doing.  There are some who rest their divine mission on their
own unsupported assertion; other, who rest it upon their popu-
larity; others, on their success; and others, who rest it upon
their temporal distinctions.  This last case has, perhaps, been
too much our own; I fear we have neglected the real ground on
which our authority is built,--OUR APOSTOLICAL DESCENT.

We have been born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of GOD.  The LORD JESUS CHRIST gave
His SPIRIT to His Apostles; they in turn laid their hands on
those who should succeed them; and these again on others; and
so the sacred gift has been handed down to our present Bishops,
who have appointed us as their assistants, and in some sense
representatives.

Now every one of us believes this.  I know that some will at
first deny they do; still they do believe it.  Only, it is not suffi-
ciently practically impressed on their minds.  They =do= believe
it; for it is the doctrine of the Ordination Service, which they
have recognised as truth in the most solemn season of their lives.
In order, then, not to prove, but to remind and impress, I entreat
your attention to the words when you were made Ministers
of CHRIST'S Church.

The office of Deacon was thus committed to you:  "Take thou
authority to execute the office of Deacon in the Church of GOD
committed unto thee:  In the name," &c.

And the priesthood thus:

"Receive the HOLY GHOST, for the office and work of a Priest,
in the Church of GOD, now committed unto thee by the imposi-
tion of our hands.  Whose sins thou dost forgive, they are for-
given; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained.
And be thou a faithful dispenser of the Word of GOD, and of
His Holy Sacraments:  In the name," &c.

These, I say, were words spoken to us, and received by us,
when we were brought nearer to GOD than at any other time of
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our lives.  I know the grace of ordination is contained in the
laying on of hands, not in any form of words;--yet in our own
case, (as has ever been usual in the Church,) words of blessing
have accompanied the act.  Thus we have confessed before GOD
our belief, that through the Bishop who ordained us, we received
the HOLY GHOST, the power to bind and to loose, to administer
the Sacraments, and to preach.  Now =how= is he able to give
these great gifts?  =Whence= is his right?  Are these words idle,
(which would be taking GOD'S name in vain,) or do they express
merely a wish, (which surely is very far below their meaning,) or
do they not rather indicate that the Speaker is conveying a gift?
Surely they can mean nothing short of this.  But whence, I ask,
his right to do so?  Has he any right, except as having received
the power from those who consecrated him to be a Bishop?  He
could not give what he had never received.  It is plain then that
he but =transmits;= and that the Christian Ministry is a =succes-
sion.=  And if we trace back the power of ordination from hand
to hand, of course we shall come to the Apostles at last.  We
know we do, as a plain historical fact; and therefore all we, who
have been ordained Clergy, in the very form of our ordination
acknowledged the doctrine of the APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION.

And for the same reason, we must necessarily consider none to
be =really= ordained who have not =thus= been ordained.  For if or-
dination is a divine ordinace, how dare we use it?  Therefore all
who use it, all of =us,= must consider it necessary.  As well might
we pretend the Sacraments are not necessary to Salvation, while
we make use of the offices of the Liturgy; for when GOD
appoints means of grace, they are =the= means.

I do not see how any one can escape from this plain view of
the subject, except, (as I have already hinted,) by declaring, that
the words do not mean all that they say.  But only reflect what
a most unseemly time for random words is that, in which Minis-
ters are set apart for their office.  Do we not adopt a Liturgy,
=in order to= hinder inconsiderate idle language, and shall we, in
the most sacred of all services, write down, subscribe, and use
again and again forms of speech, which have not been weighed,
and cannot be taken strictly?

Therefore, my dear Brethren, act up to your professions.  Let
it not be said that you have neglected a gift; for if you have the
Spirit of the Apostles on you, surely this =is= a great gift.  "Stir
up the gift of GOD which is in you."  Make much of it.  Show
your value of it.  Keep it before your minds as an honourable
badge, far higher than that secular respectability, or cultivation,
or polish, or learning, or rank, which give you a hearing with
the many.  Tell =them= of your gift.  The times will soon drive
you to do this, if you mean to be still any thing.  But wait not
for the times.  do not be compelled, by the world's forsaking
you, to recur as if unwillingly to the high source of your autho-
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rity.  Speak out now, before you are forced, both as glorying in
your privilege, and to ensure your rightful honour from your
people.  A notion has gone abroad, that they can take away your
power.  They think they have given and can take it away.
They think it lies in the Church property, and they know that
they have politically the power to confiscate that property.  They
have been deluded into a notion that present palpable usefulness,
produceable results, acceptableness to your flocks, that these and
such like are the test of your Divine commission.  Enlighten
them in this matter.  Exalt our Holy Fathers, the Bishops, as
the Representatives of the Apostles, and the Angels of the
Churches; and magnify your office, as being ordained by them
to take part in their Ministry.

But, if you will not adopt my view of the subject, which I
offer to you, not doubtingly, yet (I hope) respectfully, at all
events, CHOOSE YOUR SIDE.  To remain neuter much longer will
be itself to take part.  =Choose= your side; since side your shortly
must, with one or other party, even though you do nothing.
Fear to be of those, whose line is decided for them by chance
circumstances, and who may perchance find themselves with the
enemies of CHRIST, while they think but to remove themselves
from worldly politics.  Such abstinence is impossible in troublous
times.  HE THAT IS NOT WITH ME, IS AGAINST ME, AND HE THAT
GATHERETH NOT WITH ME SCATTERETH ABROAD.

[SIXTH EDITION]
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LONDON : PRINTED FOR J. G. F. & J. RIVINGTON,
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1840
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