SERMON 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Right Rev. James Vincent Clem s. t. d. 
 
 BISHOP OF KINGSTON 
 
 ON THE 
 
 SUPERNHTURBL AGENCY OF BISHOPS 
 
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 MONTREAL and TORONTO 
 ID. & 0". S^IDLIEI?. Sc OO. 
 
 CATHOLIC PUBLISHERS 
 
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SERMON 
 
 OP THE 
 
 RIGHT REV. JAMES VINCENT CLEARY, S. T. 1)., 
 
 BISHOP OF KINGSTON, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 SUPERNATURAL AGENCY OF BISHOPS. 
 
 The followingr sermon was preached by the Right 
 Rev. James Vincent Cleary, S.T.I)., Bishop of Kingston, 
 on occasion of the consecration of the Right Rev. John 
 Thomas Dowling, Bishop of Peterborough, May the ist, 
 1887, in St. Mary's Cathedral, Hamilton. 
 
 " 01)ey your prelates, ami Ix" ye subject 
 unto tliem, for they watcli as Xmng to render 
 an account of your souls : that they may 
 do this with juy and not with grief. " (He- 
 brews 13 ch , 19 V.) 
 
 My Lords, Very Rev. and Rev. bretliren of the clergy, 
 and dear children in Christ, my address on this solemn 
 occasion shall be directed in a general sense to you all, 
 but with particular reference to the faithful clergy and 
 laity of the diocese of Poterboro, who have gathered 
 here to witness the consecration of their new bishop. The 
 elevation of a priest to the sublime office of the Kpisco- 
 
 5569 1 
 
pate is an event of great importance to the Catholic 
 Church, especially to that portion of the ilock of Christ 
 whose eternal interests are committed to hi^' care. His 
 consecration by sacramental rite is the preparation of his 
 mind and heart and whole soul by the infusion of special 
 graces and virtues for the fulfilment of the new duties 
 laid upon him. It is truly a divine work that is done 
 before your eyes to-day. It is nothing less than a new 
 creation in the supernatural order. Let us implore tlie 
 Father of lights to shed his rays from heaven upon us, 
 that we may see his mysterious handiwork with full 
 vividness of faith, and comprehend the reality of the new 
 and Christ-like existence in which the Bishop elect shall 
 rise from under the hands of the officiating Pontiff; and 
 so, when the mitre of dignity shall be set on his brow, 
 and the staff of pastoral authority put into his hand, and 
 he shall be conducted through your midst to dispense 
 the first fruits of episcopal benediction, you may bow 
 down reverently in mind, as in body, and do him homage 
 in the sincerity of your hearts as to God> ambassador 
 entrusted with a message of salvation to you ; as High 
 Priest of the covenant of reconciliation invested with 
 the plenary power of the great High Priest of Calvary ; 
 as an anointed Ruler in Israel, pastor of your souls, and 
 true father of his spiritual children by communication 
 from Him " of whom all paternity in heaven and earth 
 is named." (Eph. 3c., 15V.) 
 
 NATURE OF THE EPISCOPAL OFFICE. 
 
 If the Episcopate were an office for which, beside 
 legitimate appointment, nothing more were required than 
 a just combination of priestly virtue and learning and 
 stability of character, of zeal and prudence, of firmness 
 of purpose and gentleness of disposition, there would be 
 
no necessity for the venerable Archbishop and Bishops 
 of this Province to come together here at much personal 
 inconvenience for the sake of an empty ceremony of pu- 
 blic investiture with the insignia of power and dignity. 
 There would be no substance in it, certainly no true conse- 
 cration ; because there would be no sacramental grace, no 
 divine communication of power, no transforming virtue, no 
 spiritual reality ; but only a religious pageant, calculated 
 to impress the minds of the beholders with something like 
 awe, perhaps with a reverential idea of the higher order 
 of ecclesiastical dignities. But now, although the Bishop- 
 elect of Peterboro has received his appointment from the 
 Supreme Pastor of the whole fold of Christ, to whom, be- 
 cause of his sovereign jurisdiction and by express precept 
 of the Son of God, the clergy of all grades turn, as to 
 the centre and " source of sacerdotal unity," consequently 
 of honor and preferment and hierarchical institution, he 
 is not qualified to discharge the ministry of salvation for 
 you till, like the first twelve bishops, he " be indued with 
 virtue from on high," by the infusion of the Holy Ghost 
 and His gifts of spiritual agency proportioned to the 
 work to be done, which is wholly supernatural, depend- 
 ent on supernatural means, and ordained to a super- 
 natural end. All whatsoever man by his natural powers 
 and gifts could do ; all that the wisdom and learning and 
 eloquence and wealth and marvellous enterprise of this 
 age could accomplish, would not suffice to save a single 
 soul. The beatitude of heaven is a supernatural goal that 
 cannot be reached but by paths of supernatural direction 
 and by helps transcending the highest powers of nature. 
 " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it 
 entered into the heart of man, what God hath prepared 
 for those that love him." (i Cor., 2c, gv.) 
 
THE EPISCOPATE IS A SUPERNATURAL AGENCY OF FAITH. 
 
 The end of Christian life being' supernatural, it is evi- 
 dent that the means of attaining: it must be likewise 
 supernatural. And so our Lord has provided by institutin<r 
 the Apostolic Hierarchy as the agency of faith throu^^h 
 which salvation shall be wrought to the end of time for 
 " as many as have been pre-ordained unto life everlast- 
 ing." (Acts 13., 48.) He prepared twelve men in a special 
 manner by three years' private as well as public ins- 
 truction and by performance of stupendous miracles in 
 their presence for proof of His mission from His Father. 
 After His death on the cross and His resurrection from 
 the grave, He spent forty days in completing their ins- 
 truction, " appearing- to them, and speaking of the king- 
 dom of God " (Acts ic, 3v.) ; and finally, on the moun- 
 tain of Galilee, at the moment of His ascension into 
 heaven. He delivered this momentous commission to 
 them, " All power is given to me in heaven and on earth ; 
 going, therefore, teach ye all nations ; baptizing them in 
 the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ghost ; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever 
 I have given in charge to you : and behold ! I am with 
 you all days even to tiie consummation of the world." 
 (Matt., 28c.) The meaning is obviou;>, that this world- 
 wide and everlasting mission was absolutely impossible 
 of fulfilment by mere human agency, and that He alone 
 to whom " all power is given in heaven and on earth " 
 could work it out through His commissioned agents. 
 Hence the preamble recites the omnipotence of Jesus 
 Christ, " all power is given to me in heaven and on 
 earth ; " and the mandate refers to this omnipotence as 
 the principle of assured efficiency, " going therefore 
 teach " ; and the promise of ever-present divine help, 
 " Behold ! I am with you all days," guarantees the success 
 of the Apostolic ministry in the full measure of God's 
 
predestination unto all nations and all qrenerations of 
 men " even to the consummation of tlie world." Where- 
 fore it is folly to think that a man, because he hasaccpiir- 
 ed a certain power of oratory or the art of attractive and 
 fascinating speech, may take upon himself the office of 
 propagating faith by the preacliing of God's Word. 
 There are men who traffic upon the credulity or 
 curiosity of multitudes in this fashion, and make heaps 
 of money by the delusion of simple people. But you 
 know their discourses are not sermons, but rather 
 lectures of entertainment for the rich and the idle. 
 They are simply theatrical performances. One thing 
 is certain: if the commission of Jesus Christ to "go 
 and teach " has not been delivered to the preacher, 
 the promise attached to the commission, " Behold, I am 
 with you," shall not be fulfilled in him. His learned 
 harangues, unhallowed by grace, shall be "as the sound- 
 ing brass and the tinkling cymbal " (i Cor., 13c.); they 
 may strike the ears of his auditory with rhetorical force, 
 it may be with pleasure, but they shall convey no mes- 
 sage of God to the soul. In this sense the Apostle of 
 the Nations, addressing the Romans, who had mastered 
 the world in philosophy and rhetoric, makes nothing of 
 scholarly qualifications, and attributes all efficiency of 
 preaching to Christ's grace energizing the commissioned 
 preacher. " How shall they believe/' said he, " if they do 
 not hear ? and how shall they hear without a preacher ? 
 And how shall they preach unless they be sent ? " (Rom., 
 IOC.) The mission from Jesus Christ, and His grace 
 accompanying His commission, are as essential to the 
 engendering and nourishing of faith in the people e.3 the 
 very announcement of the truths of revelation. In like 
 sense he wrote to the Corinthians, " Christ sent me to 
 preach the Gospel, not with wisdom of speech, lest the 
 cross of Christ should be made void . . . And 1, 
 brethren, when I came to you, came not in loftiness of 
 speech or of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of 
 
8 
 
 Clirist ; that your faith micfht not rest on the wisdom of 
 men, but on the power of God " ( r Cor., 2 c). Hence also 
 that other word of St. Paul, by which he rebuked the 
 vain ^lory of certain preachers who had claimed credit 
 for the number of their converts : " Neither \ui that 
 l)lanteth is anything-, nor he that watereth ; but God 
 tliat jTfiveth the increase." (1 Cor., 3.) The plantintj' and 
 watering- is done to-day by the apostolic ministry, just 
 as in the days of St. Paul : but now, as then, it is God 
 that giveth the increase. 
 
 In the Acts of the Apostles it is written that some of 
 their hearers rejected their teaching whilst others accept- 
 ed ; and the sacred historian discriminates between the 
 two classes of hearers by reference to an invisible 
 agency of omnipotence working out its own eternal 
 decrees : " As many believed as were foreordained 
 unto everlasting life ". (Acts 13 c.). All those 
 of every congregation who had been foreordained unto 
 life everlasting were effectively drawn to faith by God's 
 invisible agency cooperating with the Apostolic ministry. 
 Souls are to be saved by faith in our day and in " all 
 days, even to the consummation of the v/orld, " by the 
 successors of the Apostles in virtue of the same com- 
 mission from the Saviour and the same promised help 
 of omnipotence ; and " as many as have been foreordain- 
 ed unto everlasting life" shall be brought to faith by 
 God's grace interiorly acting upon their minds and 
 hearts conjointly with the preaching and teaching of 
 the Hierarchy. This, and this alone, is the supernatural 
 faith whereby souls shall be saved in every age. God could 
 indeed bestow his gift of faith without the help of man's 
 preaching. Matthew, the Publican; Magdalen, the sinful 
 woman ; the dying thief on Calvary ; Saul, the perscu- 
 tor of the Church, were drawn to God in faith and love 
 without the aid of preaching. But since Jesus Christ 
 has been pleased to establish a perpetual Hierarchy for 
 
delivery of His message of salvation to all men of all 
 ages and nations, and has promised His presence and help 
 to give effect to their ministry by attracting men to ac- 
 ceptance of their word in faith, and moreover has declared 
 belief in them to be saving faith, and rejection of their 
 doctrine to be damnation ; it follows conclusively that 
 acceptance of the teaching of the Apostolic Hierarchy 
 is now and ever shall be the true order of faith and the 
 divinely-appointed test for discriminating between soul- 
 saving conviction, engendered by divine grace, and the 
 thousand forms of erroneous human belief to which 
 the term •' faith " is vulgarly applied. 
 
 It is consequently of vital importance for men who 
 value their souls' salvation to ask themselves, " Have we 
 the true faith of Christ, by which alone we can be saved ? 
 Have we received our faith from the commissioned mes- 
 sengers of Christ ? Perhaps we rest our belief on mere 
 human assurances." In a matter so serious as this no risk 
 should be run. There are hundreds of associations 
 nowadays styled Christian churches, each of them pro- 
 fessing to have the true faith. But one alone can have 
 it: all the rest must necessarily be devoid of it. For 
 among any number of contradictory systems of belief 
 only one can be true. The one true faith of Christ is 
 that which proceeds from divine grace silently moving 
 men's souls to acceptance of the teaching of the succes- 
 sors of the Apostles. 
 
 SUPERNATURAL PREPARATION IS REQUISITE FOR 
 THE EPISCOPAL OFFICE. 
 
 The first care of a bishop is to rear up his spiritual 
 children in faith, which is the original principle of all 
 spiritual life, the " foundation and root of all justice. " 
 
lO 
 
 Faith is not a natural product : it is not an intellectual 
 theory, nor a system of philosophy : it is not derived from 
 liuman reasoninj^-, nor is it to be confounded with intellec- 
 tual conviction. Intellectual conviction may belong- to the 
 Jew and heretic as well as to you. They are as intel- 
 lectually convinced as you are, but they are intellectually 
 convinced in error, while the faith of Jesus Christ must 
 be in truth. Faith must have conviction ; otherwise 
 it is not faith : but it must be a conviction impressed 
 upon the soul by the grace of the Holy Spirit of God 
 and founded entirely on the revelation of Gou. The 
 only true and supernatural faith is the conviction sown in 
 th(; soul by tlie delivery of God's message with the 
 grace of God. It was to sow it and water it and nourish 
 and guard it in the souls of men that Jesus Christ appoint- 
 ed the hierarchy, gave them their everlasting mission 
 and sent them into all parts of the earth, filled with the 
 omnipotence expressed in His promise that He, to whom 
 " all power has been given in heaven and on earth," 
 would be with them unto the end of time. Its germin- 
 ation in youth, its vigorous development in growing 
 age, its fruitfulness in deeds of self-denying charity through 
 life, its acceptance also by unbelievers in response to our 
 preaching, these must ordinarily depend on a concurrence 
 of graces flowing through the channels of sacerdotal 
 ministration. 
 
 The instrument must he fitted for its work ; and the 
 human agents whom God is pleased to employ for co- 
 operation with Him in the sanctification and salvation 
 of mankind by the generation of faith in men's souls 
 must be prepared by communication of Supernatural 
 powers for the adequate performance of this Supernatural 
 work. This is most fully signified in the words ad- 
 dressed by Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Apostolic Body 
 after His Resurrection : " As the Father hath sent me, 
 I also send you. When he said this, he breathed on 
 
M 
 
 them, and he said to them : Receive ye the Holy Ghost." 
 (John, 20 ch.). It was a communication of divine power 
 for fulfilment of a divine work. To this St. Paul refers 
 in proof of his Apostleship, when he asks the querulous 
 Corinthians, " Am not I an Apostle ? Are not you my 
 work in the Lord ? For you are the seal of my Apostle- 
 ship in the Lord " (i Cor., 9 c.). The necessity of super- 
 natural preparation of the Hierarchy for the work of 
 sanctification of men's souls through faith will be more 
 clearly understood if we examine the inner ways of God's 
 agency of grace and the manner of its cooperation 
 with the Apostolic ministry. 
 
 GODS AGENCY OF GRACE WORKS IN THE BISHOP AND THROUGH 
 
 THE BISHOP. 
 
 For yo must not understand tiie co-operation of God 
 with niLm and man with God in the work of human sanc- 
 tification to be two separate agencies, one natural and the 
 other supernatural, acting merely in harmony with one 
 another, and each contributing its share towards the good 
 result. Not ^t all. Philosophy, equally as Theology, 
 repudiates such a theory. Both agents, if they con- 
 cur in a work common to both and dependent on their 
 joint agency, must of necessity operate in the same su- 
 pernatural sphere in order to produce a common super- 
 natural result. God and man are indeed distinct agents ; 
 but their sanctifying operation is one, and it is wholly 
 supernatural. It is God working in man and through 
 man by His own divine power and will, and the 
 Bishop also working upon his fellowman through the 
 impulse of his own will, it is true, but by the communicated 
 power of God, Remember, therefore, that this agency 
 of divine grace by which the souls of men are saved 
 and sanctified is not an external adjunct or supplemen- 
 
12 
 
 tary help of the hierarchy ; it is God with them and 
 within them. It is God working in and through us, the 
 bishops of the Church, by His grace, and working also 
 in cooperation with us upon the minds and hearts of our 
 hearers. The apostle St. Paul never took to himself the 
 credit of the success of his mission. He never said : It 
 was I who converted a thousand people in Athens, the 
 seat of Grecian philosophy, or in Rome, or Corinth, or 
 Philippi. He gave the entire credit of the accomplished 
 work to God, and only claimed credit to himself for 
 having done his duty faithfully. It was by laboring, 
 travelling and teaching, by exposing himself to attacks 
 and dangers and loss, by submitting to the rigors of 
 imprisonment and chaiis and scourging, by preaching 
 in and out of season through day and night, and enduring 
 patiently all sorts of insults and wrongs, that he worked 
 out the salvation of the people. But while he claims this 
 much credit for himself, he gives the glory of the 
 accomplished work entirely to God. He says : "The grace 
 of God in me hath not been void : I have labored more 
 abundantly than all the other apostles ; yet (he adds) 
 not I, but thegrace of God with me" (i Cor., 15 c.) 
 That is a most remarkable sentence. Herein we 
 recognize the two agents, the human and the divine. 
 The good result is attributed to both ; to the man 
 ministerially, and to God primarily ; to the labours 
 of the Apostle in co-operation with grace, yet 
 much more, nay wholly ,to grace co-operating with the 
 Apostle, abiding in him, energizing him, and working 
 salvation unto millions through him. It is for the purpose 
 of imparting this Apostolic grace and power to the Bishop 
 elect of Peterboro, and transforming him into a super- 
 natural instrument of divine agency in favor of his people, 
 that the sacramental rite of consecration is administered 
 to him to-day, as it has been ordained by Jesus Christ 
 and practiced in His Church since the day of Pentecost. 
 So essential is it to the Episcopal office that even the 
 
13 
 
 Twelve Apostles, although they had received their com- 
 mission from the mouth of the Son of God Himself, and 
 the promise also that He would be with them always 
 and everywhere in their work, were commanded by Him 
 not to commence their mission until they should be trans- 
 formed by the grace of the Holy Ghost into fitting 
 agents of the power and wisdom and mercy of God in 
 the spiritual and wholly supernatural order. " Stay ye in 
 the city," said He, " until ye be endued with power from 
 on high.". . . ." ye shall receive the power of the Holy 
 Ghost coming upon ye, and ye shall be witness( s unto 
 me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even 
 to the uttermost part of the earth." (Luke, 24 c. Acts, i c.) 
 
 So also in the case of Saul. He had been filled with 
 revelation by the voice and look of the Lord Jesus speak- 
 ing to him from out the lightning cloud as he approached 
 the gates of Damascus, and had been declared " a vessel 
 of election, to carry his Divine Master's name before the 
 gentiles and Kings." (Acts, 9 c.) Nevertheless he did not 
 dare to go forth to the nations or undertake to found a 
 church anywhere till the choir of Bishops assembled 
 around the altar of sacrifice in Antioch imposed hands 
 on him, together with Barnabas, by express order of the 
 Holy Ghost, for communication of Apostolic power and 
 grace fitting them both for their ministry. 
 
 BISHOPS IN EVERY AGE ARE SACRAMENTALLY CONSECRATED. 
 
 Let it not be said that this transformation of man into 
 a supernatural agency of salvation by the power and 
 grace of the Holy Ghost was needed for the Apostles 
 only, not for the Bishops who succeed them in the 
 ministry. The work assigned them is humanly impossible 
 at all times, and divine power alone can accomplish it in 
 
14 
 
 tlie 1 9th century, as in the first. Therefore the same 
 communication of grace was needed for the successors of 
 the Apostles as for the Apostles themselves : and hence 
 the Lord Jesus Christ hasdeclared in the fullestand clearest 
 manner of which language is capable that the commission 
 given to " the Twelve " has been given by Him to their 
 successors for all ages — for the 1 9th equally as for the 
 first — and for the benifit of all the children of Redemp- 
 tion " even to the consummation of the world." (Matt., 28 
 chap.) Hence also the Catholic Church has administered 
 the rite of sacramental consecration to every Bishop from 
 the beginning. St. Paul consecrated Timothy Bishop of 
 Ephesus, and Titus Bishop of Crete, and many others, 
 by the imposition of hands, just as himself and Barnabas 
 had been consecrated at Antioch. That heavenly 
 grace, and power, and zeal, and fortitude, and 
 other hierarchical virtues, were imparted by this 
 rite of consecration, is patent in his letters addressed to 
 two of those bishops. For instance, when he writes to 
 Timothy, " I admonish thee, that thou stir up the grace 
 of God which is in thee by the imposition of my hands " 
 ....'• Labor with the Gospel by the power of God ". . . . 
 " Keep the good deposit by the Holy Ghost who dwelleth 
 in us". . . . " Be strong in the grace which is in Christ 
 Jesus, &c." Wherefore, brethren, it is not the Bishop's 
 learning or eloquence or zeal that begets faith in fiis 
 hearers or preserves it in the souls of the children of the 
 Church. It is tlie grace of God in the Bishop and with 
 the Bishop, co-operating in his labours. It is by virtue of 
 the supernatural preparation of the Bishop for this agency 
 of grace, through sacramental orders, that the thoughts 
 of his mind and the words of his mouth pass into the 
 hearts of his hearers with divine force and fire of the 
 Holy Spirit, who worketh in him and through him for illu- 
 mination of mind and strengthening of will and mysterious 
 attraction of souls to God through his holy ministration. 
 
15 
 
 THE GRACE OF HIERARCHICAL GOVERNITENT. 
 
 Besides the guardianship of the sacred deposit of re- 
 vealed truth and the propagation of spiritual life by faith, 
 the government of souls in great number is committed to 
 the bishop, to conduct them to God. Is not this a work for 
 which the special succor of heaven and the grace of divine 
 direction are most manifestly needed ? How else could 
 authority based on purely spiritual sanction, and appeal- 
 ing to conscience only for the enforcement of its laws, 
 maintain a discipline of manifold restriction over men of 
 flesh and blood, conquering nature's sensuality and the 
 pride of life ? Withdraw from the hierarchy the divine 
 lights and helps promised them by Jesus Christ ; let 
 them be God's representatives before men in such manner 
 only as the rulers of this world are, dependent on the 
 general dispositions of Providence for the maintenance 
 of their rule, and, think you, shall they continue long to 
 bind the discordant elements of society in absolute unity 
 of religious belief and subjection to one common law of 
 morality and worship ? Impossible. The downward tend- 
 encies of nature would more than counterbalance the 
 force of spiritual maxims — the clashing of sentiment and 
 rivalry of parties would evoke a tempest of passion, in 
 whose din the mere human voice of the bishop would be 
 completely inaudible ; and thus the Church of the living 
 God, whose divinity of origin is most conspicuously dis- 
 played in her undivided unity, would very soon be dis- 
 tracted by schism, and made the prey of heresy and 
 unbelief. Witness what occurs in the sects around her on 
 every side The dignitaries whom they call bishops are 
 day after day effectually resisted and put to silence on 
 vital questions of dogma and discipline, not through 
 insufficiency of learning or lack of zeal, but because they 
 have no sacramental orders, no hierarchical grace. Would 
 not a similar fate most surely befall the Catholic Church, 
 
i6 
 
 if her bishops were not divinely assisted, especially 
 in an age of canonized revolt, when the ablest 
 writers in the press are urged on by blind bigotry 
 to sustain and defend, by artful suggestion and open 
 advocacy, every cause, how unworthy soever, that has 
 for its object the enfeebling of her authority in regard of 
 her own children ? Yea, brethren, among those by whom 
 the episcopal mandate would be challenged, impugned, 
 defied, some might be found whom the Church had reared 
 up with special care for the service of the sanctuary, and 
 who, on bended knees before the altar, in the same 
 moment that they were clothed with the vesture of holi- 
 ness, had placed both hands within those of the bishop, and 
 vowed to him obedience and reverence, ratifying their 
 vow with the kiss of peace. Be not disedified, brethren, 
 if God permits a scandal of this kind to occur excep- 
 tionally, and at happily rare intervals ; for by it men see 
 and are plainly convinced how easily the bonds of Ca- 
 tholic communion, like those of purely human organiza- 
 tions, would be broken, did not He Himself protect them 
 in the strength of His right arm upholding the crozier. 
 It has been foretold that scandals must come, and that 
 heresies must be : there is a limit however marked by 
 divine decree, and beyond this they shall not progress. 
 " Their speech," says St. Paul, " spreadeth like a cancer, 
 and they have subverted the faith of some." The Apostle 
 then adds : " But the sure foundation of God standeth 
 firm, having this seal, the Lord knoweth who are his." 
 (2 Tim., 2 ch.) The Church of the Crucified shall suffer 
 persecutions and trials from without and from within, even 
 as her Divine Founder did. It was He who said " The dis- 
 ciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. 
 If they have called the good man of the house Beelzebub, 
 how much more his domestics ? Therefore fear them 
 not. " (Matt, 10 c). The Catholic Church never loses 
 confidence in Jesus Christ. He said to her Hierarchy of 
 all times, " Behold : I am with you, " and she never 
 
17 
 
 doubted His word, nor shall she ever. He is with the 
 Bishops, not alone in the teaching of faith and the Baptism 
 of believers and the incorporation of all tribes and ton- 
 gues and peoples and nations into the unity of her fold, 
 but in the enforcement also of the whole discipline of 
 Christian life upon her children according to the terms of 
 the Apostolic commission, " Teach them to observe all 
 things whatsoever I have given in charge to you. Behold ! 
 I am with you all days. " Some will resist the truth in 
 ignorance, others shall err through infirmity. These the 
 Bishop, acting on the advice of St. Paul to Timothy, will 
 correct with modesty of rebuke, reproof, entreaty in all 
 patience and doctrine. It may happen that some, through 
 pride of intellect or perversity heart, will now and again 
 stand out in open defiance of Episcopal authority and, 
 like the Philistine of old, challenge the captains of the 
 army of God to single combat. This rarely happens, 
 thanks to our good God, But it is not unknown in 
 Canada. It has to be met by the Bishop at the peril of 
 his soul in the fulness of charity — not the charity of idle 
 sentiment or timid submission to the ringleader of sedi- 
 tion, but the charity of brave defence of God's Church, 
 regardless of personal trouble, of popular obloquy, of 
 scandalous defamation and every other risk whatever. 
 This is well-ordered charity, that holds the public safety 
 and the fundamental rule of ecclesiastical unity precious 
 beyond all price, to be preserved at any cost. It is 
 remarkable that St. Paul in his letters to Bishops takes 
 care to give them special admonition not to tolerate by 
 any means defiance of their authority. To Titus he 
 writes " Teach and exhort and rebuke with all authority ; 
 let no man despise thee ; " and to Timothy " Let no man 
 despise thy youth." (Tit., 2 c, 15 v. i Tim., 4 c., 12 v.) 
 All else, whether it be ignorance or infirmity or folly has 
 to be treated with tenderness ; but open rebellion against 
 the authority and power and grace of God vested in the 
 Bishop, must be treated as an attempt to wrest the crozier 
 
i8 
 
 from his hand and hrinq' the Church under subjection to 
 lawlessness. In sucli case the admonition <;iven by St. 
 Paul to Timothy for corrcv-tion of his natural timidity, 
 applies to every ])ishop. " I admonish thee that thou stir 
 up the o-race of God which is in thee the by imposition of 
 my hands. For God hath not g-iven us the spirit of fear, 
 but of power. "...'* Be strong in the grace which 
 isin Clirist Jesus. . . . Labor with the gospel by the 
 power of God. " These are the hierarchical graces of 
 the order of Episcopate conferred by the rite Sacra- 
 mental of which you are witness here to-day. May the 
 Lord save bishops from the painful necessity of sternness 
 in duty ; but if the challenge of rebellion should unhappily 
 come, their first duty is to hold firm the crozier, the 
 symbol of divine authority, the safeguard of religious 
 unity, the weapon of pastoral defence against the inva- 
 ders of the fold who would scatter the sheep or snatch 
 them out of Christ's hand. Let us never forget the word of 
 divine promise, " Behold, 1 am with you all days. " So 
 active and intimate is Christ's presence with the Hierar- 
 chy, that He makes their acts of administration His own : 
 " He who hears you ", said He " hears me : and he who 
 despises you, despises me " (Luke, lo c, i6 v.). Further- 
 more, in authorizing them to lay bonds upon the souls 
 of men who deserve condemnation, He adopts their judg- 
 ments before, hand and declares them ratified in heaven 
 (Matt, 1 8 c). " And, in fine, whoso will not hear the 
 church ", said he, '' let him be to thee as the heathen and 
 the publican " (Matt., i8 ch.). So conscious was St. Paul 
 of this indwelling of Christ's Spirit in the Hierarchy for 
 the purposes of salutary government, that he did not 
 hesitate to enforce his admonitions and threats of chas- 
 tisement against unruly Christians by affirming that they 
 were the utterances of Christ Himself speaking through 
 him. " If I come again, 1 will not spare. Do you seek 
 a proof of Christ, who speaketh in me ? " (2 Cor., 13 c). 
 This is the '* power from on high " with which the first 
 
19 
 
 Bishops were indued in the ccnacle of Jerusalem, and 
 which was imparted to Saul and liarnabas in tiie sanc- 
 tuary at Antioch, and is transmitted to all Bishops, even 
 as to them, by Sacramental consecration. 
 
 TIIK El'ISCOrAL POWER OF CONKIKMIN'G AND ORDAINING. 
 
 Yet another and ofrcater urace must be criven to the 
 bishop, to fit hini for liis office. The choice _i,nfts of the 
 Holy Spirit reserved to the Sacrament of Contirmation 
 are ordained for the preservation and development of 
 faith. Those attached to the Sacrament of Holy Orders 
 are necessary for the perpetuation of the priesthood, in 
 living, visible presence, among- the faithful everywhere, 
 in the village and on mountain-side, as well as in the 
 populous city. To the bishops, the chief rulers of the 
 Church, and successors of tlie Apostles, the power of 
 administering these Sacraments must belong for the sanc- 
 tification of God's people. In the exclusive possession 
 of this superior sacramental virtue the Episcopate is dis- 
 tinguished from the inferior orders of the hierarchy. It is 
 the plenitude of the priesthood of Jesus Christ, whose 
 entire power of sanctification is vested ministerially in 
 the bishop. Wherefore, as Jesus, the Son of Mary, 
 der.ved all His sanctifying power from the consecration 
 of His humanity by the unction of the Divinity in hypos- 
 tatic union, so also must the bishop be consecrated with 
 divine unction derived from the Incarnation, to enable 
 him to fulfil the whole priestly office of Christ in the 
 Church. And now the Spirit of God, whose breath is life, 
 exerts his creative power on the soul of the bishop elect. 
 When He rested upon the waters of chaos in the begin- 
 ning, they acquired a mysterious virtue, enduring through- 
 out all time, for the production of animal life in countless 
 variety and beauty of form. In the creation of a bishop 
 
20 
 
 I lis operation is upon a nobler subject, the soul of man, 
 for the propajration of a hii^her life, the life of the chil- 
 dren of God in grace. He descends invisibly, and 
 overshadows the soul under the imposition of hands. He 
 rests upon it during the solemn Invocation and anoint- 
 ing with Chrism. It is a soul already sanctified ; he 
 sanctifies it more. It is a soul already marked with the 
 indelible character of Christ's priesthood ; He engraves 
 that character more perfectly upon it, tracing the lines 
 anew in greater brightness and holier unction. Before God 
 and His angels, for time and eternity, the bishop's soul 
 is adorned and hallowed by this luminous impress, encir- 
 cled with seven-fold grace, denoting his possession of 
 of Christ's eternal priesthood in the fulness of the order 
 of Melchisedech. All the sanctifying agency of the New 
 and Eternal Testament — all sacrificial, sacramental, doc- 
 trinal and governmental powers, with corresponding 
 graces and pledges of divine succour, as occasion may 
 require, are now vested in him for adequate fulfilment of 
 his office in feeding and ruling and governing the flock 
 of Christ unto life eternal. By the ministry of the Arch- 
 bishop celebrant, and his assistant bishops, this change 
 is wrought in the soul of the Bishop- elect. They im- 
 pose hands upon him, and invoke heavenly benediction 
 and sanctification and consecration. They pour out 
 upon his head the horn of holy chrism, at once a sign 
 and instrument of sacerdotal grace, infinitely more sacred 
 than that which flowed down the beard of Aaron, the 
 High Priest of the Old Testament. But it is the 
 Third Person of the Adorable Trinity that gives efifect 
 to their ministrations. He it is who, inwardly and in 
 truth, blesses and sanctifies and consecrates the Bishop- 
 elect in the fulness of sacerdotal unction and constitutes 
 him a High Priest in the likeness of the great High 
 Priest of the New Testament, Jesus Christ, the Son 
 of God, whom he shall visibly represent henceforth, in 
 power of grace and truth and government, in propitia- 
 
21 
 
 tion and healing and copious blessing. To hold this power 
 of Jesus Christ over the faithful, with the charge to use 
 it as the Saviour Himself would use it, for the benefit of 
 all and each unto life everlasting, involves a responsibili- 
 ty of the gravest kind. Well may the Bishop-elect confess 
 to himself his weakness, and turning to God, like Solo- 
 mon, in holy fear, invoke the Divine assistance: "God 
 of my Fathers and Lord of Mercy ! give me wisdom that 
 sitteth by Thy throne. Send her out of Thy holy heaven 
 and from the throne of Thy majesty, that she may be 
 with me, and labor with me, that I may know what is 
 acceptable with Thee. She shall lead me soberly in my 
 work, and shall preserve me by her power, and I shall 
 govern Thy people justly." (Wisdom, 9 ch.). And as the 
 Holy Scripture relates, that " God gave to Solomon wis- 
 dom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of 
 heart," so may He be pleased to pour out copiously these 
 divine gifts on him who shall have chief care of the fold of 
 Peterboro' for years to come ; that the sacram-^nt 
 which marks him interiorly with the character of Christ's 
 priesthood in perfect image, and imparts to him the power 
 of sacerdotal government, may communicate to him like- 
 wise the fulness of the spirit of Christ's rule for the bene- 
 ficial exercise of his authority. Wiierefore, for the Bishop's 
 sake, let us pray ; and let us pray also for our own sake 
 (because it concerns us all), that the spirit of Christ may 
 descend on him this day in overflowing benediction, as 
 it did upon the first Apostles in the Cenacle of Jerusalem, 
 and upon St. Paul and St. Barnabas at Antioch, by 
 imposition of hands ; and that by faithful co-operation 
 he may cause it to fructify in all spiritual good amongst us. 
 Amen. 
 
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 CONTENTS 
 
 '■< 
 
 ■ ^' PACE 
 
 Introduction 3 
 
 Nature of the Episcopal Office 4 
 
 The Episcopate is a supernatural agency of Faith. 6 
 
 Supernatural preparation is requisite for the Episcopal Office 9 
 
 God's agency of grace works in the Bishop and through the 
 
 Bishop II 
 
 Bishops in every age are sacramentally consecrated 13 
 
 Bishops receive the grace of hierarchical government 15 
 
 The Episcopal power of confirming and ordaining ly