The Pastoral Letter to the Clergy 1829
The Pastoral Letter to the Clergy
The Archbishop of Baltimore, and the other prelates of the United States of America, in Council assembled, to their very reverend and reverend co-operators and Brethren in Christ, the Clergy of the Roman Catholic Church in the same States: Health and Blessing. Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Ghost.
Dearly Beloved,
Following the ancient usage of the Church, after beseeching the aid of the Father of Lights, we have considered those things which appeared to us necessary to be regulated in the present state of our discipline. Whilst performing this sacred duty, we have endeavoured, under the hope of being guided by "him who chiefly loves equity, not to be disturbers of justice;" and have taken counsel, so that we might not be misled by ignorance, or drawn aside by favour; nor has any temptation to do wrong been cast in our way. Our Conferences have been in charity and kindness, with that mutual reverence which the sacred institutions of the Son of God demand; especially for those whom, because of his goodness, not of their deserts, he vouchsafes to elevate to the station of successors of the apostles, whom "the Holy Ghost hath placed Bishops to govern the Church of God, which he hath acquired with his blood." We have transmitted to our Holy Father the decrees and regulations that we have thus formed, so that being made perfect by the authority of Peter, they may be to ourselves and to you, beloved brethren, the correct rules of orderly demeanour, which, we trust, you will cheerfully unite with us in observing. We have addressed in the spirit of affection the laity entrusted to our charge: allow us in the solicitude of those tender attachments to express our feelings and wishes to you, the co-operators in our ministry, the ambassadors of Christ, the dispensers of the mysteries of God. We most urgently entreat you not only to continue to walk as you have hitherto done, but to make even greater exertions, so that you may, through the merits of Christ our Redeemer, not only procure your own salvation but that of many others whose souls are entrusted to your care, and for whom you must render an account before angels and men at the tribunal of that Judge, in whose presence even they by whom he was surrounded have been found imperfect.
"You are the light of the world," the lustre of your example must irradiate its obscurity, and alas! how many are they who sit "in darkness and in the shadow of death." He by whom you have been sent, came to enlighten the world, and communicating to his apostles his strength, his power and his charity in tongues of fire, through their successors the sacred flame has alighted upon your head in ordination: to you therefore he specially addresses himself, that your light may so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your father who is in Heaven, How glorious is your vocation! How elevated your dignity! How important your duties! How awful your responsibility!
The world tends to corruption, "you are the salt" by which it must be preserved from putrescence; but if you "lose your savour" wherewith shall it be preserved? Its loss is a natural consequence; and if you become worthless you are doomed to be "cast out and trodden under foot." It is not said, if you become corrupt, but if you lose your savour. You are aware, beloved brethren, that the faults which are trivial in the layman are crimes in the priest: and that, as your place is higher, so are the virtues which a God of justice demands from you of a far superior grade to those required from a layman. It is then, brethren, our duty and yours to aim at being "the light of the world," and "the salt of the earth." "Be you perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect."
We need scarcely remind you, reverend brethren, that your perfection will be found in being fully animated by the spirit of your holy state. For all men, because of our weakness and corruption. prayer is essential that "through grace we might obtain seasonable aid;" but for us it is more especially necessary. We are called upon to be pure and holy in the midst of profanity and vice; the apostle admonishes us, that evil communication corrupts good morals, and the examples which are so fearfully exhibited in the sacred records shew us but too plainly, the piety of David, the wisdom of Solomon and the strength of Samson, yielding to the influence of sin. How many similar instances might we not easily adduce to confirm more fully in our minds the conviction of that admirable charge, "let him that standeth beware lest he fall?" We cannot depart from this pestilential region in which the duty that we owe to God detains us, but upon the mountain of prayer we may occasionally breathe a purer atmosphere; there we may expose the wounds of our heart to the loving physician of our souls; there we may be renewed in spirit, and invigorated when we shall have been healed; thence we may bring down to others the means of their spiritual health and everlasting salvation.
How often, beloved brethren, have we not been disheartened at the little progress which we make in bringing souls to God? "All night we have laboured and we have taken nothing." Talent was not wanting, information had enriched the mind, truth was on our side, circumstances appeared favourable, and yet we have been unsuccessful; our people were obdurate, and our prospects were unpromising. The mystery admits of easy solution. It is ours to plant, it is ours to water, but it belongs to God to give the increase: our reliance was too much upon our own sufficiency: too little upon his power! Have we not often beheld him select weak humility to confound strong pride? "that no flesh should glory in his sight." Ask of him earnestly in prayer and you shall receive, and then when you give to him the glory, your joy will be complete. Or, if for a time he should withhold the expected fruit, he will console you when he will speak to your heart and teach you perfect resignation to his will.
Alas I how often has it happened that he whom the world admired and applauded, upon whose lips men hung with delight, and whose deeds were exhibited as the great results of combined wisdom and energy and zeal, was lost in these external occupations, became estranged from converse with his God, was filled with the vanity that is too often the sad result of human praise, and continuing from habit, and with imperfect motives, what he had begun in the spirit of true love for his Redeemer, lost all relish for interior piety, and became mere sounding brass! Brethren, it is only by the spirit of prayer you can be preserved from this worst calamity. It is only by prayer that you can obtain light from above, to discern between leprosy and leprosy, in that tribunal where you are made the judges of souls, and commissioned to restore, by your authoritative sentence, the lonely one which had been separated from the holy fellowship of the children of God, to the communion of the just and the participation of the Body of Christ. True repentance comes from God alone, and too often is there a deceitful semblance which misleads not only the inattentive observer, but even the sinner himself, and the judge who has not, by intimate conversation with the father of spirits, learned to discriminate the characteristics of a penitent made worthy of his affection. How dreadful if the habit results from the ignorance of that priest who is not a man of prayer! dearly beloved, be instant in prayer, that you may avoid the cause of your own ruin and that of those for whom the precious blood of the Redeemer has been so copiously shed. Too often have the great and salutary maxims of Christian morality given way to a destructive expediency, which attempts to reconcile the spirit of the gospel to the bad practices of the world: too often has human respect been insensibly submitted to by him, who as the herald of heaven, ought to stand to his post with the firmness of an archangel. The self-love which we cherish, has dreaded the reproach of our conscience should we require others to be more perfect than we felt we were ourselves; and thus because of the neglect of prayer, the mounds which had been erected to avert the progress of immorality were permitted to decay, and virtue was swept from those gardens in which it had been so successfully cultivated. In vain did the eye seek refreshment, and the fragrance which once delighted us was no more. If the priest be a man of prayer, when he mixes with his flock he will bring amongst them the maxims, the spirit, and the blessing of that God with whom he converses; but, if he be negligent in the discharge of this great duty, his disappointed people will undervalue his calling, he will perceive their want of attention, and he will study their habits and amusements, that, by joining in them, he may become acceptable to them. He is no longer the messenger of heaven, his profession is an inconsistency, and the interests of religion suffer, even from his very advocacy itself. If you desire then to be useful to your people, you must endeavour to unite in yourselves the qualities of Moses and Josue. When the Amalecite approaches, you must lift your hands in prayer upon the mountain ere you go down into the plain to combat. You are mediators between God and his people; when his wrath is enkindled, you must, like Aaron, instantly seize upon the censer and rush between the living and the dead, that, your prayers ascending with a sweet odour, from the warm affection of your burning hearts, he may be appeased because of the merits of his son, whose representatives you are. It is true that, because of your other avocations, you cannot devote large portions of your time continually to this most important of your obligations. But in reciting the Psalms and other portions of scripture, which the church requires of you daily to read in your office, you can be filled with the spirit which they contain; and besides your morning and evening devotions, you can retire at intervals during the day, for a few moments, to converse with God, and keep yourselves always in his presence, sending forth your ejaculations as you call to mind your own weakness and his perfections, your solemn obligations and his justice and mercy.
Brethren, no man can make progress in virtue without strict examination of his conscience, and intimate conversation with heaven. The carnal man is conversant with external objects, the spiritual man studies his own interior, and as it were carries his soul in his hands, always subject to his inspection. It was said to the Levites of old, "be you cleansed who carry the vessels of the Lord." You bear about with you more than the vessels. "Blessed are the clean of heart for they shall see God," was the declaration of the Saviour. It is your duty to see God, and to converse with him for the advantage of his people; it is your duty, when forgetful of his law they proclaim a festival for passion and excite his anger, to cast yourselves at his feet upon the mountain, to avert his wrath even before you descend to reprove them for their criminality. Your hearts must be clean that your prayer may be efficacious. Unfortunately, you dwell in the midst of contamination, you should, therefore, be perpetually vigilant, that by the tear of penance and the blood of the Lamb, you may immediately wash away the soil to which you are occasionally liable; you are well aware that whilst it remains it penetrates, and stains more deeply; hence it is of the utmost importance to have it instantly discovered and rapidly removed. Watch, therefore, that you enter not into temptation, and devote at least some portion of your morning to that most necessary duty of meditation. You will thus sanctify yourselves and those entrusted to your charge. You have been trained up in this way, but, beloved brethren, you will excuse us if we express our apprehension that some amongst you have been insensibly drawn by worldly habits into a fatal neglect.
You are the instructors of your people; if their eye be darkened, how shall they see? "If the blind lead the blind, they shall both fall into the pit and perish together;" and how many dangerous precipices lie along the narrow way that leads to Heaven! If you walk carefully in the footsteps of the saints who have preceded you, your journey will be in security; if you attend to the instructions of the spouse of Christ you cannot mistake your path; you should therefore seek daily to extend your knowledge, that you may improve your people: the field which lies before you is immense, the wealth of ages is spread upon its surface, and it is moreover enriched with the treasures of Heaven. The sacred volume of the Scriptures should be to you as the rolled book was to Ezechiel; you should eat it before you go to speak to the children of Israel. When you approach to partake thereof, it will be to you sweet as honey in your mouth; you shall be filled; from the fulness of your heart your words will proceed, your discourses will not be in the expressions of human wisdom but in the power of God; and the word which is thus sent forth, will not return without fruit. To those who are negligent or arrogant, on this head, the same book is like to the flying volume of Zacharias; it is a curse that goeth forth over the face of the earth for judgment and destruction. Seek then in this sacred place to learn what, from the days of the Apostles, our Holy Mother the Church has held and preserved as genuine interpretation of those passages which so many of the learned and unlearned and unstable wrest to their own perdition. Be intimately conversant therewith; for the lips of the priest should keep knowledge; the people seek the law at his mouth, "because he is the Angel of the Lord of hosts." Woe to them who because of their ignorance would cause persons to stumble at the law; they make void the covenant; not only are they contemptible and base before the people, but they have a dreadful account to render at the bar of divine justice.
Brethren, we entreat of you, not to be taken in the delusive snare which has entangled several, who, leaving the law and the gospel, have wasted their time and destroyed their usefulness by indulging in the study of vain and frivolous ephemeral productions, under the pretext of acquiring a pleasing style. The truths of religion should be delivered in becoming language, but it is a sad mistake to leave the substance in order to acquire the appearance: and we fear that in general this disposition evinces rather a dissipation of mind than a zeal for improvement: we should hope that it never springs from the unholy ambition of exhibiting the individual for human applause rather than of preaching the doctrines of a crucified Redeemer.
We would not be understood as disposed to restrain our brethren from the pursuit of useful human science, which might be so often turned to the advantage of religion, as the blending of various rays gives the purest light; but we would impress upon their minds the superior excellence of that which God has taught over that which man acquires: thus whilst we urge a decided preference we are far from insisting upon an exclusive occupation. It becomes our character always to read for information, never for amusement.
They who sometimes complain of the want of leisure for study, are frequently found at a loss for employment; they are not unusually found spending hours together in unprofitable conversations, and even sometimes engaged in mere worldly concerns. It is true that there are not many amongst us, beloved brethren, against whom such a charge can be made with propriety; but it would greatly console us if not one could be discovered who so far forgot the dignity of his place and the extent of his obligation. No large stock of books is requisite; a very few will answer; but those few should be in perpetual use. The doctrines of faith, the great principles of morality, the history of the Church, the admonitions of the holy Bible, a few volumes which would aid in your own spiritual improvement, by example and reflection, this would suffice, and this every one could procure. An intimate acquaintance with the meaning of our instructive ceremonials, and the force of our admirable liturgy, would be at once deep lessons of admonition to the priest, and of sublime and beautiful and impressive instruction to the people, who are too often left to behold without edification that which was constructed to convey to the mind of the flock, the doctrines, the history, and the efficacy of religion, as well as the dispositions which should animate them at our public offices. We entreat you, brethren, to give heed to those important concerns.
When we entered upon our holy state, we renounced the prospects of worldly gain and the claim to worldly enjoyment; we took the Lord for our inheritance, and looked for our reward in a better world; we undertook to protect with inviolable fidelity the interests of religion, when the mystic keys under which the deposit was kept were placed in our hands. When we were privileged to stand in an elevated place in the Church, to instruct the faithful, the solemn monition was given to us that our exaltation was for example, not for domination; it was expected that after we had by divine aid expelled the enemy of God from our own souls, we should succeed in dispossessing others by the influences of our conduct and the efficacy of prayer; when we were told to let our light so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in Heaven; we were admonished to walk as children of light, and informed that the fruit of light is in all goodness and Justice and truth. At a more solemn moment of our devotion, when the sacred vessels were placed in our hands, we were charged to have the altar of the living God decorated with the purity of virtue, so that the beholders might be enamoured with the beauty of the house of the Lord. Raised to the levitical rank and becoming incorporated with that lovely tribe of which the heroic Stephen was the precious ornament, it was committed to us to bear and watch the tabernacle in the holy attire of virtue, proclaiming the precepts of the Gospel whilst we ourselves were models of their observance, so that by the exhibition of our spiritual cleanliness, splendour, purity and charity, we might be fitted to occupy the station of the active vanguard of the sacred host, and the joyous multitude should be excited to declare, that blessed are the feet of those announcing the Gospel of good things. On a more awful day, we pledged ourselves to have profound respect for our own station, and whilst we were authorised to shew forth the death of the Lord until his second coming, we undertook to mortify ourselves, that being made like to Christ in death, we may be raised with him to a more perfect life and assimilated in permanent glory. To attain this we promised that our doctrine should be a spiritual medicine for the people of God, the sweet odour of our life the delight of the Church of Christ, and that we would, by the grace of the Holy Ghost, by word and deed build up with an holy people the living temple of the eternal God. Thus, brethren, are you segregated from the laity, and made to appear within the sanctuary robed in that ancient and mysterious vesture which testifies the origin of our Church, the facts which we commemorate, and the many virtues of which you should be the bright examples. Surely, you need not our exhortation, when the wisdom of our institutions thus inculcates upon your memory the bonds which you have given, and the absolute claim which God and his people have so firmly established against you, for a virtuous life and conduct not only without reproach but above suspicion.
You are the ministers of the sacraments whose efficacy, it is true, is derived not from your virtue, but from the power of God, the merits of the Saviour, the institution of Christ, the influence of the Holy Ghost and the dispositions of those who receive them. But you are well aware that those dispositions are more or less excited as your conduct is more or less beneficially influential. Does not your zeal, beloved brethren, urge you powerfully to increase the blessings of your people? Alas! how has it sometimes happened that they who hesitated between duty and temptation, have been determined to neglect, by the tepidity, by the worldly spirit, by the mere want of conformity between his appearance and his station in the pastor. We do not here allude to absolute scandal, nor to gross neglect, nor even a disposition to vice or irregularity, nor yet to such a dereliction of duty as would deserve our official reprimand. We merely advert to the want of that influence which is naturally created by the presence of a man whose correct demeanour proclaims that he is a priest of God. When you look around you, beloved brethren, you will agree with us and with all those who have narrowly inspected our concerns in all places and ages, that the example of a pious and zealous clergyman though of limited attainments is a richer treasure to the Church, than talents and learning and eloquence united. When Samuel reviewed the children of Isai, the voice of the Lord declared, "look not on his countenance, nor on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him, nor do I judge according to the look of man, for man seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart."[1] It is some humble one whom the mighty overlook, but who is filled with the spirit of his state, that God frequently chooses to go forth against the blasphemer before whom the stoutest warriors have quailed, though unprovided with sword or spear or shield, yet to triumph in the name of the Lord of hosts.
We live in the midst of a world that scrutinizes our conduct with habitual jealousy; the most perfect amongst us are liable to have their very best actions misconstrued, their sayings misinterpreted. their motives unappreciated, and their imperfections magnified and blazoned forth to public observation. It is natural that this should be the case, because since we are established as censors of the conduct of others, human nature urges upon them the inquiry into our own demeanour; and that self-love whose dominion we all feel, is gratified at the discovery of what appears to palliate the aberration of the observer. Thus they who are most virtuous in the ministry can with difficulty escape the remarks of the uncharitable, and the general disposition of mankind is to proclaim our faults with unsparing assiduity. What a lesson of caution to us! What an additional motive to excite us to such vigilance, that not only shall we have nothing of serious reproach against ourselves, but we shall afford no semblance of ground for others to suspect us! You must yourselves be aware of a temptation on this head to which we are all liable. It is natural when we are conscious of our integrity, to assert our freedom, and to feel indisposed to yield to unnecessary restraint, because others choose to be hypercritically censorious. Some too will allege that a change of conduct where no crime has been committed, would rather argue that the suspicions were well founded, than that it was a prudent concession for the public good. Generally speaking, we should on such occasions recollect that declaration of the apostle, "wherefore if meat scandalize my brother, I will never eat flesh, lest I should scandalize my brother."[2]
We are led from this topick to another that fills us with painful recollections. The Saviour declared woe to the world because of scandals, and also fore-told that, owing to the imperfection of our nature and the evil propensities of the human race, scandals must come; but he denounced his wrath against those by whose fault these evils would arise. We trust, and are disposed to believe, reverend brethren, that few if any of you are likely to incur this malediction; yet we cannot forget that it was chiefly through the misconduct of clergymen that several occasions of lamentable schism were given in our province. How has the progress of religion been impeded! How have strife and tumult profaned the sanctuary of the God of peace! How have we been exposed to the unpleasant observations of our fellow citizens! How have our most sacred rights been thoughtlessly and criminally invaded! How has the venerable spouse of the Saviour of the world been ridiculed and insulted! How many criminal souls have been precluded from a return to mercy! How many of the wavering have been thrown back in despair! How many have been driven from the sacraments! How many of the faithful and firm have been oppressed with anguish and shame! In other days and in other nations the crimes of the clergy have caused the degradation of the Church, the contempt of the institutions of religion, sanctioned the vices of the laity, been the sources of schism, and the origin of heresy. If we look over the dark catalogue from the time of Nicholas the deacon to our own, what a frightful accumulation is presented to the eye? We would invite you to weep with us over this abomination! But what would tears avail? Let us rather call upon you to aid us in guarding our infant churches against such dreadful calamities for the time to come; and though you should feel that we ought to be convinced, as we are, of the purity of your intentions, the correctness of your demeanour, and your zeal for the glory of God, yet you will acknowledge that it is with such a clergy, and under such circumstances, the discipline can be most easily established, that will preserve and improve those dispositions and render their effects more generally beneficial. It is from men of such dispositions we can with great confidence require the cheerful adoption of those wholesome restraints of ecclesiastical laws, which are more required to prevent future evils than to remedy any that exist. It must, however, be confessed that owing to a variety of circumstances not hitherto under our control, our organization has not been so perfect, nor our observances so exact, as we could desire; but with your zealous co-operation we now expect to make considerable progress towards a more orderly and efficient state of being.
As to your intercourse with the world; we would suggest that you always remember that you are the ambassadors of Christ. Let the dignity of your vocation be made manifest in your conversation, in your attire, and in the becoming gravity of your conduct. Your flocks may find sufficient relaxation and amusement in their intercourse with each other: from you they expect instruction for the service of God, not suggestions as to the regulation of their own temporal concerns with which you should scrupulously avoid any entanglement; from you they seek useful and attractive lessons leading to virtue, not the idle and frivolous amusements or conversations of the day, which are too often calculated to wound reputation, to disseminate scandal, to create jealousies, and to destroy that confidence, without which you cannot learn the state of that conscience which you are charged to direct; from you they derive consolation in their afflictions, and when they are disgusted with the bitterness of time, you should point out the manner in which they may attain the sweets of eternity. But, whilst you treat them with kindness and affection, you will recollect the bounds within which this affection should be contained; and be watchful that your kindness be not liable to misconstruction. In general, if you apply yourselves to attain the perfection of your state, you will be seldom abroad, and very little in society, save with those amongst whom the Saviour was generally found as a benefactor, the poor, the afflicted and the sick. We know that we need not urge upon you the solemn and indispensable obligation of the most devoted attention to your dear children, when they are about to be summoned before the tribunal, at which you must one day yourselves be arraigned, and when sloth on your part might be the cause of eternal ruin to a soul which needs all your assiduity to prepare it for the benefits to which it is entitled by the death of Christ.
Many things that may appear trivial, are to you important. The very fashion of your dress is, in the eye of the world, calculated to elevate or to depress your character, and to extend or restrict your usefulness. In almost every organised public association, such a subject is matter of regulation; the soldier who loves his profession is laudably exact in its regard; and however philosophism might speculate, every practical officer will feel that the character of the individual is generally ascertained from his appearance. You are the officers of the militia of Christ. You bear his commission. Is it possible that there can be found one amongst you who would feel disposed to conceal the dignity with which he is invested? Such a renegade would be unworthy of his place. Can he presume to seek precedence in the church who is disguised in the world? Is he ashamed of that station to which he sought, with so much earnestness, to be raised? He should be forthwith discharged to make room for one more worthy of the honour. The canons of the church equally censure the thoughtless folly or censurable vanity which is made ridiculous by its efforts to be fashionable, and the unbecoming slovenliness which degrades the dignity of the order, by the meanness of the individual; the simple cleanliness of the attire should evince the plain innocence of the wearer, and his conformity to the regulations of the church should manifest the esteem in which he holds its authority.
In the discharge of your ritual offices, especially in offering the holy sacrifice of the Mass, and the administration of the sacraments, we would intreat you always to be impressed with the recollection that you are continuing the ministry of reconciliation instituted and established by the Son of God himself. When you first engaged in the awful and important charge, your sentiments were of the most elevated and pious description; you felt that you were employed in the palace of the monarch of the universe; that you stood at the gate of heaven; and trembling like the patriarch upon the mountain when he consecrated his pillar, you were aware of the presence of your God. His sanctity is not diminished, but your familiarity is increased. You should be extremely careful lest this intimacy degenerate into disrespect: cherish those feelings of devotion in which you originally indulged, and as you advance in life, recollect that your example ought to be more edifying for those who look to you as their model. When you observe the exactness which God himself required from the Aaronitic priesthood in the most minute ceremonials, you must feel, that though the forms are not the essence of religion, they are useful means for its attainment and its preservation. He who smote Nadab and Abiu before the altar, permits now to live, several upon whom his lasting indignation will inflict eternal death for their disregard of the ceremonials of his church. If you have zeal for the Lord, you will love the beauty of his house, and you will be led by your piety to enter fully into those dispositions which your holy vestments signify, to appreciate the sublime lessons which our rights inculcate; and your sense of charity of justice and of responsibility will procure for your flocks that frequent explanation, without which what is presented to the eye can seldom fully enlighten the understanding or impress the heart.
We are placed, beloved and reverend brethren, as his substitutes on earth, by that good shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep; he instructs us in that parable where he exhibits the true pastor as leaving, for the moment, those who were obedient to his voice, that he might with zealous anxiety, seek for that which strayed in the desert, not to injure, not to drive, not to exhibit his anger, for he was meek and humble, but to caress and to bring it back upon his shoulders, and in serenity to rejoice that what had been lost was recovered. Such too was the conduct of our great predecessors in the ministry, the Apostles of Christ and their successors, who bore his name before kings and rulers and the nations of the earth: they reproved vice, but they mildly gained upon the sinner, and powerfully drew him to the society of the elect. Alas I brethren, how afflicting would be the spectacle should we behold one of our fellow-laborourers negligent and careless, whilst the ravagers of the fold make incursions on every side, and bear away thousands to destruction? Such an one might allege that he had done all that his duty required; that he perceived farther exertion was useless. This is not the language of a good shepherd of souls: he considers himself to be a useless servant after he has done not merely what a prescribed rule would indicate as the lowest point where he ceases to be censurable before a human tribunal, but when he has spent himself in the service of God, and in the salvation of those for whom he is accountable. When we contemplate the energy of Peter, the labours of Paul, the zeal of the sons of Zebedee, the unceasing efforts of their associates and followers, and contrast them with our own inefficiency, how are we humbled and put to silence? These were men of whom the world was not worthy: its accumulated wealth and power had been no adequate recompence for their toils, their sacrifices and their success: they sought a more lasting inheritance, a more splendid reward; their virtuous ambition has been gratified; they have sent myriads to bliss, and God found them worthy of himself. They were slain on earth; they are crowned in Heaven. Surely brethren, it is not for the perishable things of this world that you labour. You are intent upon fulfilling the duties of your high calling, in accordance with the institutions of him who sent forth our great forerunners, telling them to go without scrip or bread or money; and yet they were so aided by him, whose hand feeds all his creatures, that they wanted nothing. Brethren, we have no cause to suspect you of avarice which is the root of evil; but blame us not, if we still exhort you, that in the performance of your duties you seek rather the souls of your people than their contributions. And we remind those who are by far the greater number of our associates, those who feel the difficulties of very limited means, that they are thus assimilated to our Redeemer himself, to him who lived in poverty, declaring that the birds of the air had nests, and the foxes had dens, but he had not a place wherein to lay his head; they may also feel another consolation, for they can declare, as he did, that through them the gospel is preached to the poor. In their ministry, there is little room for an unholy ambition, little excitement to vanity, little danger of human respect: they are not tempted to destroy the spirit of the gospel in the effort to conciliate the rich and the powerful by basely reconciling to its letter that very conduct which it has written to condemn. Their station is obscure in the eye of the world, but in the sight of angels it is most honourable; they walk in the valleys of life, there is less danger of their stumbling over those precipices with which the more elevated paths abound; their way is more plain and more secure, and theirs is the road through which the great majority of those who now reign in Heaven have unostentatiously proceeded to their happy abode.
It will occasionally happen, beloved brethren, that temptations of another kind will prove dangerous. When we find, notwithstanding all our efforts, that no progress is made, wearied, disheartened and disgusted, we seek to change the station of our labours. We despair at our ability to stem the torrent of vice. Were our dependence upon ourselves we might well despair,—but our sufficiency is from God, in whose hands are the hearts of men; and it is not given to us to know the day nor the hour which the Father has fixed for the conversion of his children. It is our duty to plant and to water, it is his prerogative to bestow the increase—let us be assiduous in the performance of that which is ours, and leave the rest to his disposal. Did the men who converted nations succeed at once? Had they upon every similar disappointment abandoned their charge, would those nations have been Christian today? In general, they who sowed did not reap, but others entered into the field where they had laboured, and gathered the fruit; but this fruit could not have been produced had not he who first persevered upon a stubborn soil subdued it to cultivation. How often was it necessary that its sterility should be enriched with not only the sweat but the very blood of faithful husbandmen? You have not yet been called upon to endure unto blood.—Perhaps in the order of Providence the fruit is withheld for a time and given to another for your advantage: lest you glory as if the increase was from you and not from God. It would be a melancholy result if, whilst you opened the gates of glory to others, you should yourselves be cast forth in disgrace. Labour to remove, this obstacle, in the manner that is described by the great Apostle of nations, who feared lest whilst he preached to others he should become a reprobate himself. Brethren, we have never seen a people obdurate where their pastor was truly pious; where he did not mistake a repulsive pride for superior virtue of his own; where he did not imagine that human passion was a zeal for God's honour; but in those places where zeal was regulated by discretion and charity, where the pastor was patient, vigilant, laborious, and affectionate to his people, he won their favour; he gained upon their obduracy; he secured their confidence, and was successful in bringing them to God.
Even to those who oppose you whilst you firmly adhere to those principles which it would be criminal to abandon, be meek, be charitable, be courteous, be kind; not returning evil for evil, not using scurrility which would be equally degrading to your characters as men and as Christians, and altogether unbecoming the ministers of God. When they misrepresent, correct in the calmness of conscious truth: if they speak evil, bear it in imitation of him who did not reprove when he was ill spoken of. Preserve always in yourselves the disposition to "love your enemies, to do good to them who hate you, and to pray for them that persecute and calumniate you, that you may be children of your Father who is in Heaven, who makes his sun to rise upon the good and the bad, and rains upon the just and the unjust." Ask your Father to forgive them, because owing to unfortunate circumstances several of them, we are convinced, know not what they do. Have charity for all men, it is the bond of peace, and one of the characteristics of the children of God.
Of one other duty, brethren, we would affectionately but earnestly remind you.—The solicitude for the instruction of youth. Continue your efforts in this most useful and indispensable line of duty. Thus will you render comparatively light and incalculably more beneficial, the labours of yourselves and of your successors. If the great truths of religion be not deeply inculcated upon the youthful mind, your discourses will be scarcely intelligible to those who will have been left untaught; they know not the facts to which you allude; they do not appreciate the principles from which you reason; they do not feel the obligations which you enforce; your assertions appear to be unfounded, and they grow weary of hearing what they cannot understand: you beat the air and spend yourself without advantage. Unless you watch over them when they are first exposed to temptation, they will be robbed of their innocence, they will lose their horror for vice, they will be familiarised with crime, and when their habits are thus formed in early life, what prospect can you have of successfully engrafting virtue upon this stock of evil which has been deeply rooted in a soil of sin? What a task do you leave for your successors! What an account have you to render to the Great Father of those children entrusted to your care I Beloved, we rejoice to behold you assiduous in the instruction of youth. 0! it is a godlike, though to a man a laborious occupation; it is indeed redeeming a world, or rather, it is creating a new earth as the preparation for a new Heaven. How we do rejoice and bless God at beholding the venerable institutions of our Church springing up to your aid I Do, we entreat of you, encourage and cherish those pious souls that so meritoriously devote themselves to the instruction of children in the way of the God of truth.
Doing these things, beloved and reverend brethren, you will add to our joy; you will find in your own souls that peace which the world cannot give; you will save your people, you will procure honour for the Church of God. Walk steadily in that way which we have endeavoured to point out; and you cannot fail to arrive at that paradise in which the just expect you. But if you become distracted by the allurements of those who would decoy you; if you lose sight of the track in which you have been placed; if you be occupied with other cares and become regardless of the admonitions that have been so frequently repeated; if, instead of pressing forward with energy to that crown of glory which is only to be attained at the termination of your course, you seek some resting place where you may indulge yourself with worldly gratifications, your labours will have been useless, your progress unavailing, the shades of evening will descend before you expect them, night will close around you, and you will grope about, in all probability, to destruction.
May God avert so dreadful a calamity from us and from those whom we love with sincere affection. "Dearly beloved, we trust better things of you, and nearer to salvation; though thus we speak. For God is not unjust, that he should forget your work and the love which you have shown in his name, you who have ministered, and do minister to the saints. And we desire that every one of you should show forth the same carefulness to the accomplishing of hope unto the end: that you become not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience shall inherit the promises."[3] Thus shall you "come to mount Sion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and the company of many thousands of angels, and to the church of the first born who are written in the heavens, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new testament,"[4] through whom we have received grace, and from whom we expect the glory of redemption, being sprinkled and sanctified with his blood.
"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen."
Given in council at Baltimore this 17th day of October, in the year of our Lord, 1829.
+JAMES, Archbishop of Baltimore.
+BENEDICT JOSEPH, Bishop of Bardstown.
+JOHN, Bishop of Charleston and V. G. of East Florida.
+EDWARD, Bishop of Cincinnati.
+JOSEPH, Bishop of St. Louis and Administrator of New Orleans.
+BENEDICT JOSEPH, Bishop of Boston.
WILLIAM MATTHEWS, V. A. and Administrator of Philadelphia.
EDWARD DAMPHOUX, D.D., Secretary.
ENDNOTES
1 1 Kings xvi. 7.
2 1 Cor. viii. 13.
3 Heb. vi. 9, 10, 11, 12.
4 Heb. xii. 22.
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