THE "BISHOP" OF BEVERLEY'S PASTORAL.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 516, 26 March 1851, Page 4

THE " BISHOP" OF BEVERLEY'S PASTORAL.

John, by the Grace of God and favour of the Apostolic See, Bishop of Beverley ; to our dearly beloved in Christ, the clergy secular and regular, and the faithful of our diocese.

Health and Benediction in tbe Lord. " Render unto Caasar the things that are Cusar'a ; and to God the things that are God's."— (Matt. xxii. 21.) The Almighty Lord and Ruler of heaven and earth, to whose dominion every creature is subject, has, for the government of mankind, instituted two diitinct and separate authorities ; the civil, for the government of men in everything that relates directly to the right order and benefit of Bocial life; the ecclesiastical, for the government of men in those things that relate directly to the divine worship and the salvation of eouls. The civil authority wai ordained by God in the original institution of civil society. When the Divine Redeemer appeared on the earthy so far was he from weakening or changing this established order of things, that he confirmed and sanctified it. When founding the sacred establishment of his church he declared that hit kingdom was not of this world, though he said that all was given to him in heaven and on earth, yet he commanded his apostles and his followers to obey the civil authority of the State — to render to Cf»sar what belongs to Cjesar. He not only enjoined but also practised this obedience to the civil authority, and cren worked a miracle in order to pay the tribute that was due. Be, then, my dearly beloved children in Christ, subject to all that have power over you—to all invested with civil authority ; and be subject, not through fear of punishment, but for conscience 1 sake. Itender to all men their dues : tribute to whom tribute is due, and honour to whom honour is due. Walk, in this respect, dearly beloved children, in the footsteps of the first Christians, your fathers in the faith, and of your Catholic ancestors in this country ; and, like them, show by your conduct how truly dear to the State and to the civil authorities your religion ought to be, since it is that religion which makes good and faithful subjects. Besides this civil authority, of which we have just spoken, there exists another authority — viz., that which is ecclesiastical. The ecclesiastical authority is sepalate from, and independent of, the civil authority. These two authorities are independent of each other. Their respective spheres of notion are distinct and separate. As it does not belong to those invested with ecclesiastical authority to direct the affairs of the State, so it does nut belong: to those invested with civil authority to direct the affairs of the Church. The ecclesiastical anthority was instituted by Jesus Christ himself. He did this when he framed the constitution of his church, and when he appointed the authorities by whom it was to be governed. While our Divine Redeemer ordained that his church should be extended throughout all the nations of the earth, yet this iiu. mense society was still to be holden together, aB only one building, resting upon one principal corner stone — the supreme but spiritual authority of one great ruler, to whose jurisdiction all other authorities, constituted to govern the different departments of the church, were designed to be subordinate, Now, there can be no power, or authority, either to preach the Gospel of Christ, to administer the sacraments, or to rule his flock, save that which was derived from himself. It was not, however to emperors or kings, not to princes or civil governors, that Jesus Christ communicated this spiritual authority ; but to St. Peter, the chief of the apostles, to the other apostles, and to their successors in that sacred authority and ministry which our Divine Redeemer established. It was not toan emperor, but a poor fisherman, that our Divine Redeemer said, " I give thee the keysof the kingdom of heaven. Feed my sheep ; feed my lambs." It wag not to the civil Sovereigns of States or kingdoms, but to the apostles, that our Saviour said, " Whatever you shall bind or loose on earth shall be bound or loosed in heaven. All power is given to me ia heaven and earth ; go ye, and teach all nations." See, also, beloved children in Christ, the independent manner iv which the apostles exercised the spirit, val authority imparted to his church by Jesus Christ. Without any kind of commission or permission from the civil Government, these holy men preached the doctrines of their divine master, and propagated his sacred institutions through every nation. They established churches and appointed bishops in diffeient countries. They made a variety of laws and regulations for the more exact lulfilment of the injunctions of religion. They ordained and appointed priests to co-operate with them. They transmitted to the bishops as their successors in the sacred ministry, that same mission and authority, and to the bishop! and priests those same doctrines which they had thennelves received fiom Jesus Christ. Obedient in all temporal things to the civil authorities under whom they lived, they itill consider themselves completely independent in regard of all those duties which were connected with the discharge of their pastoral (unctions. The apostles and their immediate successors persisted in performing the functions of their sacred ministry, although forcibly commanded not to do so. They proclaimed that, in persisting to perform their spiritual duties they acted under the immediate command and the direct appointment of tbe Almighty. — Vidt Acts of the Apostles iv. 18, 19. At a much later period — viz. in the year 870 — we find the independence of the ecclesiastical authority publicly and solemnly proclaimed. The Emperor Basil in the eighth general council of the church, addressing himself to the lay peisons who were present, at the conclusion of his speech spoke thus :— " I have nothing more to add, save just to remind you that you have no right to determine ecclesiastical matters ; for the cognizance of such matters belongs to the patriarchs, to the prelates, and to the priests, who alone have received the authority of spiritual jurisdiction ; vi ho alone have the power to administer the graces ot sanctificatiou— the uuthoiity to bind or to

loosen, and the regulation of the lteys both of ibe church and of the kingdom of hearen. We who are only nmongst the sheep of the fold which is under their rule— we have no right to iuterfere in their concerns." Labbe, torn. viii. p, 1,154k Having, dearly beloved children in Cbriit, said thus much, that you may clearly distinguish between that authority which ii civil and that authority which is ecclesiastical, we now beg to direct your attention to the immediate object of this our pastoral. We sincerely and warmly congratulate you on the happy restoration to England of her long lost and anxiously desired ecclesiastical hierarchy. The hierarchy ii a sacred power — a power instituted by Jesus Christ, and delivered by him to his apostles and their- successors to rule the church and to celebrate the divine mysteries. The Son of God, becoming by his incarnation our high priest, 1 when going to exercise in, heaven his divine priesthood in a manner becoming the majesty of a God-man, substituted iv his place on earth his apostles, and the bishops their successors, and invested them with the name plenitude of the priesthood which he had exercised during his mortal life. The apostle*, in receiving from the Son of God the plenitude of the priesthood, received at the same time a power and a command, not only to confer that plenitude upon their successors the bishops, but also to distribute it in such different degrees to the respective ministers as should be necespary for the good order, the well-being, and the government of the church. It was then, by the command of our divine high priest, that his apostles ordained, for the sacred ministry and the government of his church, bishops, priests, and deacons— that hierarchy emanating from and still connected with our sovereign high priest in heaven. " The bishops, placed at the head of thehier. archy,"saysa learned theologian, "being theinißges and vicars of Jesus Christ on earth, possess the plenitude and the perfection of the Christian priesthood." "The episcopacy (wyi thii author) ia a spiritual sovereignty j hence no bishop has been nor will be consecrated, to whom at hit consecration a diocese is not then assigned. Priests and deaconi are ordained without any subjects bting assigned or jurisdiction given to them. But a bishop, receiving all the plenitude of the royal priesthood of Jesus Christ, being hi& lieutenant on earth, he cannot receive his episcopal consecration without receiving at the «arne time that jurisdiction and spiritual sovereignty which are inseparable from the episcopal character." •< The church," says St. Crysoatome, " cannot exist without bishops, as a body cannot exist without a soul, which, poiiesied of life itself, gives life to all the members of the body." We have endeavoured, at some length dearly beloved children in Christ, rather to instruct than exhort you in this our paitoral.. We feel fully assured that you participate in the joy and exultation of the catholic body of England at the happy restoration of our long lost hierarchy. Whilst with grateful hearts you join your brethren throughout the kingdom in blessing up to heaven Got! who has prospered you, fail not to pray for his Holiness, Christ's vicar on earth, that his reign over the church may no longer be sorrowful, but happy. Pray, too, fervently and frequently for us, to whom this portion of our Lord's vineyard it intrusted, that we may endeavour to imitate the zeal and piety of our sainted predecessors in this diocese. The grace of our Lord Jesas Christ, and the charity of God, and the communication of tl.e Holy Ghost, be with you all. JOHN, Bishop of Beverley. Given at York, the Octave of All Saints, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty.