The Science of the Sacraments

We come now to the consideration of the greater Orders of the Church—those which definitely confer power. Putting aside the subdiaconate, which is purely preparatory and confers no power, these major Orders are three—Bishop, Priest and deacon. The deacon is practically a kind of apprentice or assistant Priest. He has not yet the power to consecrate the Sacrament, to bless the people or to forgive their sins; he may baptize children, but, as I have already explained, even a layman is permitted to do that in case of emergency. After a year in the diaconate he is eligible for ordination as a Priest, and it is this second ordination which confers upon him the fuller power to draw forth the force from the reservoir to which I have already referred. To him is then given the power to consecrate the Host and also various other objects, to bless the people in the Name of the Christ, and to pronounce the forgiveness of their sins. In addition to all these powers, the Bishop has that of ordaining other Priests, and so carrying on the apostolic succession. He alone has the right to administer the rite of Confirmation and to consecrate a church, that is to say, to set it apart for the service of God. These three are the only Orders which mean definite grades, separated from one another by ordinations which confer different powers. You may hear many titles applied to Christian clergy, such as those of Archbishop, archdeacon, dean, canon, prebendary, rector or vicar, but these are only the titles of offices, and involve differences of duty, but not of grade in the sense of spiritual power.

The clergy exist for the benefit of the world; they are intended to act as channels for the distribution of God's grace. Priests and Bishops have sometimes forgotten that primary fact, and have yielded to the temptation to seek power for themselves and for the branch of the Church to which they belong. Their duty is to explain the truth as they see it and to offer guidance and advice where it is needed; never under any circumstances have they the right to attempt to dominate the minds of others, or force them into any course of action. Any branch of the Church which entangles itself in politics thereby betrays its spiritual heritage and departs from the path which our Lord has marked out for it; and in so doing it lays itself open to the just condemnation of honest and right-thinking men.

I fear there is little doubt that the great Roman Church has laid herself open to this charge in the past, and is even now open to it in various parts of the world. The condition existing in the Middle Ages is well expressed in a recent book of considerable influence. “The Roman pontiff, clinging to political claims, unable to conceive the Church's function as essentially spiritual, became merely one in a crowd of jostling monarchs. The Church became one of the great powers of Europe, and fell into grave danger of ceasing to be the channel of the power of God. The energies and genius of faithful churchmen were required in the service of upholding her political interests, bargaining and plotting with the mob of diplomats, winning worldly allies, brow-beating weak foes and fawning upon strong ones. The Church began to look as if she were existing for her own sake, and for her own sake not as the Bride of Christ, but as a political and financial corporation whose hand was at one time or another against every nation, and every nation's hand against her.”[1]

Most sincerely do I hope, most firmly do I trust, that our Liberal Catholic Church, which begins its career under such benign auspices, may never thus be false to Christ our Lord and Master; for His kingdom is not of this world; His throne is the heart of man.

The grace of God is the life of God, and it is poured incessantly upon the world in many ways and at many levels. It is one of the purposes of every religion to provide its people with channels for this outpouring, and to prepare them to take full advantage of it. It is obviously the will of God that as His people climb higher and higher up the ladder of evolution, and so learn to see Him more clearly and to comprehend His plan better, they should have the opportunity and the privilege of co-operating in this mighty and wonderful scheme of His. To understand how they can do this we need a little knowledge of what may be called the physics of the higher worlds—the laws under which these mighty forces act, and the way in which advantage can be taken of them.

On every plane of His solar system God pours forth His light, His power, His life; and naturally it is on the higher planes that this outpouring of divine strength can be given most fully. The descent from each plane to that next below it means an almost paralysing imitation—a limitation entirely incomprehensible except to those who have experienced the higher possibilities of human consciousness. Thus the divine life flows forth with incomparably greater fullness at the mental level than at the astral; and yet even its glory in the mental world is ineffably transcended by that at the intuitional level. Normally each of these wondrous waves of influence spreads about its appropriate plane (horizontally, as it were), but it does not pass into the obscuration of a world lower than that for which it was originally intended.

Yet there are conditions under which the grace and strength peculiar to a higher plane may in a measure be brought down to a lower level, and may be spread abroad there with wonderful effect. Repeated experiment and long-continued patient investigation show us that this happens only when a special channel is for the moment opened; and that work must be done from below and by the effect of man. When a man's thought or feeling is selfish, the energy which it produces moves in a closed curve, and thus inevitably returns and expends itself upon its own level; but when the thought or feeling is absolutely unselfish, its energy rushes forth in an open curve, and thus does not return in the ordinary sense, but pierces through into the plane above, because only in that higher condition, with its additional dimension, can it find room for its expansion.

But in thus breaking though, such a thought or feeling may be said to hold open a door of size equivalent to its own diameter, and thus furnishes the requisite channel through which the divine force appropriate to the higher plane can pour itself into the lower with marvellous results, not only for the thinker but for others. An infinite flood of the higher type of force is always ready and waiting to pour through when the channel is offered, just as the water in a cistern may be said to be waiting to pour through the first pipe that may be opened. The result of such a descent of the divine life is not only a great strengthening and uplifting of the maker of the channel, but also the radiation all about his of a most powerful and beneficial influence. This effect has often been described as an answer to prayer, and has been attributed by the ignorant to what they call a special interposition of providence, instead of to the unerring action of the great and immutable divine law.

It will be readily understood that the great Saints and Angels have a power of devotion far above our own, and that their efforts can reach higher levels than we can at present hope to attain. There have been Saints in all religions, and for millenniums these great ones have been flooding the world with spiritual power of the most exalted type, so that what may be called a great reservoir of such force has been formed, which is under certain conditions available for the helping and uplifting of humanity. Many holy men and women, especially those of the contemplative orders, devote themselves all unconsciously to this work; and even we, in our humbler way, may share that glorious privilege.

Tiny though our efforts may be as compared with the splendid outpouring of force of the Saint or Angel, we also can add our little drops to the great store in that reservoir, and we can do it by the unselfish love or devotion of which I have just written. Not only does such a thought or feeling hold open the door of heaven, as I have described, but the grandest and noblest part of its force ascends to the very throne of God Himself, and the magnificent response of benediction which instantly pours forth from Him falls into that reservoir for the helping of mankind. So that it is within the power of every one of us, even the weakest and the poorest, to help the world in this most beautiful manner. It is this adding to the reservoir of spiritual force which is the truth that lies behind the curious idea of works of supererogation.

The arrangement made by the Christ with regard to His new religion was that of a kind of special compartment of that reservoir should be reserved for its use, and that a set of officials should be empowered by the use of certain special ceremonies, certain words and sign of power, to draw upon it for the spiritual benefit of their people.

The scheme adopted for passing on the power is what is called ordination, and thus we see at once the real meaning of the doctrine of the apostolic succession, about which there has been so much of argument. To this I shall return later.

The economy and efficiency of the whole plane of the Christ depend upon the fact that much greater powers can easily be arranged for a small body of men, who are spiritually prepared to receive them, then could possibly be universally distributed without a waste of energy which could not be contemplated for a moment. In the Hindu religion, for example, every man is a priest for his own household, and therefore we have to deal with millions of such priests of all possible varieties of temperament, and not in any way specially prepared. In Christianity the scheme of the ordination of the Priests gives a greater power to a limited number, who have by that very ordination been specially set apart for the work.

Carrying the same principle a little further, still higher powers are given to a still smaller number—the Bishops. They are made channels for the force which confers ordination, and for the much smaller manifestation of the same force which accompanies the rite of Confirmation. The hidden side of these ceremonies is always of great interest to the student of the realities of life. There are many cases now, unfortunately, where all these things are mere matters of form, and though that does not prevent their result, it does minimize it; but where the old forms are used as they were meant to be used, the unseen effect is out of all proportion to anything that is visible in the physical world.

It is by this Sacrament of Holy Orders that a man is endowed with power to draw for certain definite purposes upon the reservoir of which I have written. The three stages of deacon, Priest and Bishop represent three degrees of this power, and at the same time three degrees of connection with the Lord. Each ordination confers its own special powers, and as the ordinand rises from one rank in the Church to the other he draws nearer and nearer to his great Master the Christ. He comes more and more closely into touch, and he controls more and more of the mighty reservoir. In that reservoir itself there are different levels and different degrees of power. The working of the whole scheme can be to some extent indicated or symbolized by a diagram, and we shall presently try to help our comprehension of it by that means; but naturally anything in the nature of a mechanical drawing can only very faintly adumbrate what is really taking place. For all these forces are living and divine; and though there is a mechanical side to their working, there is always also another which can never be portrayed by drawings or by words.

This reserved portion of the reservoir is not easy to describe. It extends through several planes or states of matter, and if we try to represent it by a form confined to our three dimensions, the nearest we can come to an expression of it is a vast bell-shaped object not unlike a Buddhist dagoba. (Diagram 10.) It is divided into three parts, which we have labeled A, B and C. The ordination of a deacon puts him in touch with the rim of the bell, marked C, and enables him to draw strength from it—strength, primarily, for his own progress and for his preparation for the reception of that which is to come; yet he may also to some extent pass it on to others by an effort of his will, and so he can help people both astrally and mentally.

But it is at the next stage, that of the priesthood, that the real power begins. The Priest draws from the part marked B, the main body of the form; by his ordination the ego (or soul) has been more definitely awakened, and thus he can act directly upon other souls at the level of the causal body. It is this relation which gives him the power to straighten out the distortion caused by deviation from the path of right, and so it is said that he can remit sin. In him also is vested the power to bless, and to offer the sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist. The strength which the Priest brings down is not for himself, but for the flock which is committed to his care.

The spire of the dagoba, the handle of the bell-form (marked A ) reaches up into the intuitional and spiritual planes; and it is upon this that the episcopate can draw. The Bishop is intended to be a veritable manifestation of the Christ principle, capable of radiating that upon all with whom he comes into contact. The power for good which lies within his reach is not easily to be exaggerated.

so there are two aspects of ordination—the gift of the Holy Ghost, which provides the key to the reservoir, and the personal link of the Christ Himself with His minister. The former of these is the official connection which enable a Priest, for example, to consecrate the Host and to dispense absolution and blessing. This is the irreducible minimum of power, which is equally possessed by all properly ordained Priests, and is quite independent of their acquirements in other directions—their spiritual or devotional development, for example, or their comprehension of the mechanism of the Sacraments which they administer—just as a man may be a rapid and accurate telegraphist, even though he does no know what electricity is, and though his moral character is not above reproach.

Many people think this strange, because they have not grasped the nature of the Priest's relation to the Sacrament. If the Host were a talisman into which he had to put his personal magnetism, obviously the nature of that magnetism would be all-important. There is, however, here no question of magnetization, but of the due performance of a certain ceremony, in which the character of the performer has nothing to do with the matter. If the faithful had to institute an exhaustive enquiry into the private character of a Priest before they could feel certain of the validity of the Sacraments received from his hands, an element of intolerable uncertainty would be introduced, which would practically render inutile this wondrously-conceived device of the Christ for the the helping of His people. He has not planned His gracious gift so ineptly as that. To compare great things to small, to attend a celebration of the Holy Eucharist is like going to a bank to draw out a sum of money in gold; the tellers' hands may be clean or dirty, and assuredly cleanliness is preferable to dirt; but we obtain the gold all the same in either case. It is obviously better from all points of view that the Priest should be a man of noble character and deep devotion, and should thoroughly understand, so far as mortal man may, the stupendous mystery which he administers; but whether all this be so or not, the key which unlocks a certain door has been placed in his hands, and it is the opening of the door which chiefly concerns us.

I cannot do better than repeat here some part of what I wrote in The Hidden Side of Things on this subject, when I first investigated it:

“First, only those Priests who have been lawfully ordained, and have the apostolic succession, can produce this effect at all. Other men, not being part of this definite organization, cannot perform this feat, no matter how devoted or good or saintly they may be. Secondly, neither the character of the Priest, nor his knowledge or ignorance as to what he is really doing, affects the result in any way whatever.

“If one thinks of it, neither of these statements ought to seem to us in any way astonishing, since it is obviously a question of being able to perform a certain action, and only those who have passed through a certain ceremony have received the gift of the ability to perform it. Just in the same way, in order to be able to speak to a certain set of people one must know their language, and a man who does not know that language cannot communicate with them, no matter how good and earnest and devoted he may be. Also his ability to communicate with them is not affected by his private character, but only by the one fact that he has, or has not, the power to speak to them which is conferred by knowledge of their language. I do not for a moment say that these other considerations are without their due effect; I shall come to that later, but what I do say is that no one can draw upon this particular reservoir unless he has received the power to do so which comes from a due appointment given according to the direction left by the Christ.

“I think that we can see a very good reason why precisely this arrangement has been made. Some plan was needed which should put a splendid outpouring of force within the reach of every one simultaneously in thousands of churches all over the world. Perhaps it might be possible for a man of most exceptional power and holiness to call down through the strength of his devotion an amount of higher force commensurate with that obtained through the rites which I have described. But men of such exceptional power are always excessively rare, and it could never at any time in the world's history have been possible to find enough of them simultaneously to fill even one thousandth part of the places where they are needed. But here is a plan whose arrangement is to a certain extent mechanical; it is ordained that a certain act when duly performed shall be the recognized method of bringing down the force; and this can be done with comparatively little training by anyone upon whom the power is conferred. A strong man is needed to pump up water, but any child can turn on a tap. It needs a strong man to make a door and to hang it in its place, but when it is once on its hinges any child can open it.

“Being myself a Priest ordained in the Church of England, and knowing how keen are the disputes as to whether that Church really has the apostolic succession or not, I was naturally interested in discovering whether its Priests possessed this power. I was much pleased to find that they did; but I also soon found by examination that ministers of what are commonly called dissenting sects did not possess this power, no matter how good and earnest they might be. Their goodness and earnestness produced plenty of other effects which I shall presently describe, but their effects did not draw upon the particular reservoir to which I have referred.

“I was especially interested in the case of one such minister whom I knew personally to be a good and devout man, and also a well-read student of the inner things. Here was a man who knew much more about the real meaning of the act of consecration than nine hundred and ninety-nine out of a thousand of the Priests who constantly perform it; and yet I am bound to admit that his best effort did not produce this particular effect, while the others as unquestionably did. (Once more, of course, he produced other things which they did not—of which more anon.) If we think of it, we must see that it could not have been otherwise. suppose, for example, that a certain sum of money is left by a rich Freemason for distribution among his poorer brethren, the law would never sanction the division of that money among any others than the Freemasons for whom it was intended; and the fact that other poor people outside the Masonic body might be more devout or more deserving would not weigh with it in the slightest degree.

“Another point which interested me greatly was the endeavour to discover to what extent, of at all, the intention of the Priest affected the result produced. In the Roman Church I found many Priests who went through the ceremony somewhat mechanically, and as a matter of daily duty, without any decided thought on the subject; but whether from ingrained reverence or from long habit they always seemed to recover themselves just before the moment of consecration and to perform that act with a definite intention.

“I turned then to what is called the Low Church divisions of the Anglican community to see what would happen with them because I knew that many of them would reject altogether the name of Priest, and though they might follow the rubric in performing the act of consecration, their intention in doing it would be exactly the same as that of ministers of various denominations outside the Chruch. Yet I found that the Low Churchman could and did produce the effect, and that the others outside did not. Hence I infer that the “intention” which is always said to be required must be no more than the intention to do whatever the Church means, without reference to the private opinion of the particular Priest as to what that meaning is. Indeed, there was once a Bishop so blatant in his ignorance as explicitly to state to his unfortunate candidates for ordination that he did not ordain them as sacrificing Priests, but only as gospel ministers. Yet even in a case so extreme as this, his ill-directed will was unable to render nugatory what his Church intended him to do. Verily it is true that all Sacraments are received from the hands of Christ Himself, no matter how weak and ignorant may be the instruments through whom they come. I have no doubt that many people will think that all this ought to be quite differently arranged, but I can only report faithfully what my investigations have shown me to be the fact.

“I must not for a moment be understood as saying that the devotion and earnestness, the knowledge and the good character of the officiant make no difference. They make a great difference; but they do not affect the power to draw from that particular reservoir. When the Priest is earnest and devoted, his whole feeling radiates out upon his people and calls forth similar feelings in such of them as are capable of expressing them. Also his devotion calls down its inevitable response, and the down-pouring of force thus evoked benefits his congregation as well as himself; so that a Priest who throws his heart and soul into the work which he does may be said to bring a double blessing upon his people, though the second class of influence can scarcely be considered as being of the same order of magnitude as the first. This second outpouring, which is drawing down by devotion itself, is of course to be found just as often outside the Church as within in it.

The additional power of helpfulness which the Priest may develop depends largely upon his cultivation of the second gift which he receives at ordination—the personal link established between himself and his Lord and Master. This also was explained by the Christ to His apostles; He tells them that He has prayed to his Father that they may be one with Him in the same way that He is one with His Father. People think of such sayings quite vaguely, and do not realize that they refer to definite scientific facts. Again He says with absolute clearness: “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.”

If we examine the inner side of the ceremony of ordination, we shall see that there is a special sense in which this promise is kept. It is not merely that there is the Christ principle in the Priest, as there is in every man; so great is the wonderful love, and condescension of the great World-Teacher that by the act of ordination He draws His Priest into a close personal union with Him, creating a definite link through which the divine force can flow, making them channels for Him in imitation, at an almost infinitely lower level, of the mysterious and wonderful way in which He is a channel for the Second Aspect, the Second Person of the Ever-blessed Trinity. Of course there are many Priests who are entirely unconscious of this; unfortunately there are also many who so live as to make but little use of the splendid possibility which this channel opens for them. Nevertheless this statement is entirely true; and therefore to describe Him as still present with His Church, is still definitely guiding those who lay themselves open to His influence, is no mere figure of speech, but the expression of a sublime reality.

A diagram cannot express this great spiritual truth, but it may help us to understand a little of the method of its working. Anything which does that has its value, because the fact becomes more real to us when we are thus enabled to see a little more of it. Those who have not yet opened within themselves the power of clairvoyant sight cannot actually see these processes taking place, as some of us can; but they can form their own opinion as to the reasonableness of what is reported by those of us who do see, and they can also obtain a good deal of corroborative evidence on various points—sometimes from their own feelings, sometimes from those of others. For those who know me I offer my assurance that all which is here recorded is the result of oft-repeated observation and experiment, so that I have no doubt of its accuracy as far as it goes.

I have remarked in an earlier chapter that God made man in His own image, and that consequently the soul in man shows a threefold manifestation corresponding at his level to the threefold manifestation of the Deity; and also that in this case the lower is not a mere reflection or symbol of the higher, but actually in some way an expression of it.

The true man, the Monad (marked 1 in Diagram 11), is a spark of the divine life existing on a plane to which, because of that, we give the name of monadic. That plane is at present beyond the reach of our clairvoyant investigation, and the highest which any of us actually know of man from direct observation is the manifestation of that Monad as the Triple Spirit a stage lower. Each of the three aspects or division of this spirit has its own qualities and characteristics. The first stays at ist own level, while the second descends (or more correctly, moves outwards) to the intuitional plane; the third moves down (or out) through two stages, and shows itself in the higher part of the mental world as intelligence. It is these three manifestations (numbered 2, 5 and 7 in the diagram) taken together which constitute the soul or ego in man; it inhabits the causal body, and in that body is often called the augoeides. It passes from life to life unchanged, except for such development as may accrue to it from the good deeds of each incarnation. Behind the principles marked 5 and 7 (the intuition and the intelligence) there remain three others, in us still latent and undeveloped, which are marked 3, 4 and 6 (fig. 1, Diagram 11). It must of course be understood that 2, 5 and 7, though not actually latent like the others, are very far as yet from the full development which they will attain in the perfected spirit. (Fig. 10, Diagram 11.)

The ordination to the priesthood is solemnized after the singing of the Gradual, and begins with the presentation of the candidates by a Priest, just as in the previous Service. The Bishop then delivers the charge:

Dearly beloved brethren, as both the captain of a ship and the passengers it carries have equal cause for security or for fear, it behoves them whose interests are common to be of one mind. Nor has it without purpose that the Fathers decreed that the people also should be consulted touching the election of those who are to be employed in the service of the Altar, for what is unknown of the many concerning the life and conversion of those who are presented, may oft-times be known to a few, and all will necessarily yield a more ready obedience, to one when ordained, to whose ordination they have signified their assent.

If, then, anyone has aught to the prejudice of these men, in the Name of God and for the benefit of His Church, let them boldly come forward and speak; howbeit, let him be mindful of his own estate.

After a pause, the Bishop, addressing himself to the ordinands, charges them as follows:

Dearly beloved sons, it is now our part solemnly and for the last time, before the irrevocable act shall be accomplished, which shall lay upon you the sweet but heavy burden of the priesthood, to charge you how great is the dignity and responsibility of this office and how weighty are the duties to be performed by those ordained thereto. It appertains to the Priest to offer sacrifice, to bless, to preside, to loose and to bind, to anoint, to preach and to baptize.

Wherefore, dearly beloved sons, whom the award of our brethren has chosen that you may be consecrated to this office as our helpers, after solemn premeditation only and with great awe is so sublime an office to be approached, and great indeed must be the care with which we determine that they who are chosen to represent our Blessed Lord and to preside in His Church commend themselves by great wisdom, by worthiness of life and the persevering practice of justice and truth. Do you, then, dearly beloved sons, keep these things in remembrance and let the fruit thereof be seen in your walk and conversation, in chaste and holy integrity of life, in continually abounding in all manner of good works. Strive without ceasing to increase within yourselves the perfection of heavenly love, that having your hearts filled with the love of God and of man, you may be almoners of Christ's blessing and bearers of His Love to the hearts of mankind. Forget never how great a privilege is yours to bring the little ones to Him through the gateway of baptism and to lift the heavy burden of the sorrow and sin of the world by the grace of absolution. Consider attentively what you do, imitate those things which in the Church of God it is your duty to handle and to transact. And forasmuch as you will now be called upon to offer the Holy Sacrifice before the throne of God, and to celebrate the sacred Mysteries of the Lord's love, be earnest in ridding your members of all imperfections. Ye whose duty it is to offer unto God the sweet incense of prayer and adoration, let your teaching be a spiritual remedy unto God's people; let your words of blessing and consolation be their help and strength; let the sweet savour of your life be a fragrance in the Church of God.

Thus both by word and deed may you fashion the temple of God, so that neither shall we appear blameworthy before the Lord, who in His Name shall thus advance you, nor ye who shall thus be advanced; but rather may we all find acceptance and abundant recompense for this day's act, which of His infinite goodness and loving-kindness may He deign to grant.

The customary promise to strive to use the power worthily is then asked and given, and the special ordination litany sung, as at the previous Service, the candidates lying prostrate before the Altar. The prayer which follows begins with the same words as that used for the diaconate, but differs in its later petitions.

O Lord Christ, the Fountain of all goodness, Who by the operation of the Holy Spirit hast appointed divers Orders in Thy Church, and for its greater enrichment and perfecting dost pour down Thy gifts abundantly upon men, do Thou pour forth Thy sanctifying grace upon these Thy servants, who are about to be numbered among the Priests of Thy Church. May their hand be strong to achieve, may wisdom guide and direct their life, may the beauty of holiness sanctify them and shed a spiritual fragrance about their path, so that in all their works begin, continued and ended in Thee, they may show forth the abundance of Thy power and glorify Thy Holy Name, O Thou great King of Love, to Whom be praise and adoration from men and from the Angel host. R. Amen.

Immediately after this prayer the Bishop amid perfect silence lays both hands on the head of each ordinand. The same is done after him successively by all the Priests present, each willing intensely to give all that he can of help and consecration to the candidate. The Bishop uses his power to pour into him the power of the Christ and to draw him into the closest possible relation to Him. Referring back to Diagram 11, Fig. 4, the three principles of spirit, intuition and intelligence (numbered 2, 5 and 7) in the ordinand are made to glow with indescribable fervour. The oblique line connecting them is opened up into activity, and greatly widened, so that not only does the spirit become much more one with the Christ-spirit, but he is also able to express himself far more fully than before through the intuition and intelligence.

It does not at all follow that he will do so in daily life; that depends upon the individual effort of the Priest; but the potentiality is there, and he who knows of it may use it to great effect if he will. The whole aura of the ordinand expands prodigiously with this direct influx of power from the Christ; every atom within him is shaken as its various orders of spirillÊ¹ are aroused. The influx rushes into 2, 5 and 7 through the corresponding principles of the Bishop himself, which is the reason why he lays both hands upon the head of the candidate, instead of using only the right hand to distribute what is drawn though the crosier in his left, as he does in the case of the deacon, or at Confirmation.

When the neophyte's aura is thus dilated and extremely sensitive, the Priests pour in their influence. They do not confer power as the Bishop does, but each gives his quota of good; and adds whatever he has that is of value, while the neophyte is in a condition to receive it. The Priests may quite probably be on different Rays, and at any rate are sure to differ in character, so each will have some quality to contribute. The bestowal of the priesthood is above all things the granting of a wonderful, colossal opportunity, and no effort is spared to help the recipient to take advantage of it.

The power of the Christ, the direct outflow from the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, comes always in the silence, for it has not yet descended sufficiently into materiality to manifest as sound; but the Holy Ghost came as a rushing, mighty wind and showed Himself in tongues of fire, conferring upon the apostles an unusual power of speech. So at the second imposition of hands later the word of power is employed as in the other Orders; but the tremendous gift of the first imposition descends in a silence that is felt. It is this act which actually makes the man a Priest and endows him with the power to celebrate the Holy Eucharist. The prayer which immediately follows the ordination beautifully refers to this:

O Lord Christ, whose strength is in the silence, grant that these Thy servants whom now Thou dost join unto Thyself in the holy bond of the priesthood may hence forward minister faithfully of the priestly power to those who ask in Thy Name. R. Amen.

Let us pray, dearest brethren, that Almighty God may multiply the gifts of the Spirit in these His servants for the work of the priesthood.

In the Liberal Catholic Church we sing the Veni Creator here, and proceed at once to the second imposition of hands; but the Roman Church has quite a different arrangement. In her ritual there comes at this point an interesting prayer invoking upon the newly-made priests “the blessing of the Holy Ghost and the power of priestly grace”—a prayer which was originally intended to do the work now done by the second imposition—that is to say, to push upward the channel made for the deacon, and enormously to widen it. In the case of the deacon, principle 7 in our diagram was linked to the corresponding principle in the Lord Christ; now the same connection is made for principle 6 (Fig.5, Diagram 11), while that to 7 is greatly strengthened and increased. The diagonal line which was called into existence at the first imposition between 2, 5 and 7 is intensified; and 7 is opened out, so as to allow the force from that oblique line to flow out better, as without that there would be danger of a great congestion.

The single sign of the cross which accompanies the utterance of the words above quoted seems to have been found insufficient to do the work thoroughly, and so about the twelfth century the second imposition was introduced, with its definite scriptural formula. Some Roman books, indeed count this prayer for “the blessing of the Holy Ghost” (which is recited by the Bishop with his hands extended over the new Priests) as a second imposition, and call that which comes later in the Service the third.

After the recitation of that prayer in the roman rite the Sursum Corda is sung, but instead of “therefore with angels and archangels” come the words: “the source of hierarchical honours and the Dispenser of every dignity.” The prayer or exordium runs on through a sort of historical retrospect of examples of early priesthood, citing Moses, Eleazer and Ithamar. After that the Roman Bishop rearranges the stoles of the new Priests, and vest them with the folded chasuble. Then he recites a prayer which in the early Pontificals is called the Consecration, or sometimes the Consummation (or finishing touch) of the Priest. It invokes (with the sign of power) the grace of God's blessing upon the neophytes, and plays a useful part in the ceremony, as will be explained when we come to consider our own version of it, which we place just after the second imposition.

After this prayer (still according to Roman ritual) comes the Veni Creator, and while it is being sung the Bishop anoints and binds the hands of his new Priests, and gives them authority to offer sacrifice to God and to celebrate Mass both for the living and the dead.

Then the ordinary course of the Eucharist is resumed with the Gospel, the Creed and the Offertory, the Priests reciting the words of the Service along with the Bishop from “Receive, O holy Father.” It is only after the communion has been received that the Bishop pronounces the words of tremendous import: “Receive the Holy Ghost.”

I have thought it well to make this long digression to explain the order adopted in the Roman ritual, in order that it may be clear that in our own we omit none of its salient points, though we arrange them as we find to be best from the consideration of the play of inner force. We will now resume the comment upon our own Service, from which we turned aside at p. 381. Immediately after the exhortation there quoted to pray that God will multiply the gifts of the Spirit, the people respond by singing the Veni Creator, and at once the Bishop rises from his knees and, laying both hands on the head of each new Priest in turn, says:

Receive the Holy Ghost for the office and work of a Priest in the Church of God; whose sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained.

We have already considered the effect produced by the down-pouring which accompanies these momentous words, and have only to add that the connection made with principle 6 enables the Priest to draw upon the great central chamber of the reservoir, which we have marked as B (Diagram 10). It is that connection which enables him effectually to give absolution and to bless in the Name of the Holy Trinity. The Church of England uses a somewhat longer form of ordination, for after the words “Church of God” she inserts, “now committed unto thee by the imposition of our hands”; and at the end, after the word “retained,” she adds “and be thou a faithful dispenser of the word of God and of His holy Sacraments, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”

In this place follows our version of the prayer called Consummation, to which I referred above. It runs thus:

O God, the source of all holiness, of whom are true consecration and the fullness of spiritual benediction, we pray Thee, O Lord, to X open to Thy heavenly grace the hearts and minds of these Thy servants, who have been raised to the priesthood, that through them Thy power may abundantly flow for the service of Thy people. May they be earnest and zealous as fellow-workers in our Order, and thus prove themselves worthy of the sacred charge committed unto them. And, as by a spotless blessing they now shall change for the service of Thy people bread and wine into the most holy Body and Blood of Thy Son, may they be ever watchful that they keep the vessel of their ministry pure and undefiled. May every kind of righteousness spring forth within them, and may their hearts be so filled with compassion for the multitude, that they may forget themselves in the love of others. Thus steadfast in that Thy most joyous service, may the radiance of Thy love and Thy glory shine ever more brightly in their hearts, till they rise unto mature spiritual manhood, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, when their lives shall be hid with Christ in God. R. Amen.

The sign of power made at the word “open” is intended to clear the way between the higher principles and the physical brain. The blessing floods the etheric brain, and is meant to run up through the pituitary body, which is the point of closest junction between the dense physical, the etheric and the astral; but if the Bishop can at the same time pour the force into the mental body of the Priest and work downwards, so much the better.

We come now to the vesting and anointing. The neophytes are still wearing their stoles in diaconal fashion, so the Bishop rearranges them as a Priest should have them, and then crosses them over the breast as they are worn by the celebrant at the Holy Eucharist. The words with which he accompanies this act refer not only to the symbolism of the stole, but also to its actual use as a conductor of force:

Take thou this stole, for a symbol of the power of the priestly office, and as a channel of the ever-flowing stream to Christ's love.

He next vests each new Priest with the chasuble, saying:

Take thou the priestly vestment, that in it thou mayest offer with our Lord Christ the most holy sacrifice of His sacred Body and Blood.

He then proceeds to the anointing of the hands of the new Priests with the oil of the catechumens. The Priest lays his hands together, palms upward, upon the gremial spread upon the Bishop's knees, and the latter, taking some of the oil upon his right thumb, draws there with a line from the right thumb of the Priest across the palms and up the first finger of the Priest's left hand. Then he reverses the motion, starting down the Priest's left thumb, across the palms and up the first finger of his right hand. He makes a cross on each palm, and rubs the oil in all over with a circular motion, After doing all this, he says:

Be pleased, O Lord, to consecrate and hallow these hands by this anointing and our X blessing; that whatsoever they X bless may be blessed, and whatsoever they consecrate may be consecrated and hallowed, in the Name of our Lord Christ. R. Amen.

The Bishop now closes the hands together, palm to palm, and they are bound together with a strip of white linen. This is a quaint and interesting symbolical ceremony, but it is also much more than that, for like all rites it has its practical side. The oil of catechumens is constructive, and is used in the building up of forms. The anointing with it is a setting apart of the hands for saintly service, a moulding of them for the transmission of that wondrous power. The hand of the Priest is a specialized instrument that can transmit blessing. The anointing brings the opening forces to bear upon the hands, and endues them with power whereby along the lines that are made in the anointing the influence can pour out; it will be noticed that the two fingers with which Bishop specially deals are precisely those that touch the Host.

It is not only that lines of force are set up in the aura; it is still more a matter of higher working altogether. It is something like a magnetization of steel: the anointing operates so that forces can pass through the hand, and at the same time tempers the hands so that they can bear those forces. It is not only a consecration, a setting-apart, but also a preparing of the spiritual side of the Priest so that he can conduct the power; and there is the idea associated with this of being able to transmit that power safely. It is like conducting lightning, and without the anointing this might well be dangerous. The power of the Host may work curious results in unworthy surroundings; for example, there are stories of the touch of the Host burning a vampire.

Of the two crosses which the Bishop makes while reciting the words, the first is intended to arrange for the distribution of the force which rushes down the diagonal line (2, 5, 7) in Diagram 11, Fig. 5, and the second for the dispensing to that which flows from principle 6. As this preparatory magnetism takes a little time to penetrate and permeate the hands, the plan of tying them together for a while has a distinct practical utility. The Bishop then holds out to the Priest a chalice containing wine and water, with a paten and a wafer upon it, these being the practical working tools of the degree in the Church which he has now attained. As the Priest's hands are bound together, he cannot grasp the sacred vessels, but he receives then between the tips of his fingers, taking care to touch both the chalice and the paten. The Bishop says to him:

Take thou authority to offer sacrifice to God, and to celebrate the Holy Eucharist both for the living and for the dead. In the Name of the Lord. R. Amen.

The hands of the Priest are then unbound; they cleanse them according to mediÊval custom with lemon and breadcrumbs, and the Celebration proceeds with the reading of the Gospel. Just before the Offertorium, the new Priests kneel for a moment before the Bishop and each presents to him a lighted candle as a visible token of gratitude for the gift received, and of the sacrifice of their lives for Christ's work. Thereafter the new Priests recite with the Bishop the remainder of the Holy Eucharist word for word, taking particular care to say simultaneously with him the Words of Consecration with due intention to consecrate. A special clause referring to the new Priests is inserted in the prayer of Consecration, and after the ablutions they come forward and kneel once more before the Bishop. They take what is called the oath of canonical obedience, pledging themselves to accept the Bishop's ruling on all matters connected with the Services of the church, and not to depart from the prescribed forms without his permission. He warns them in the following words of the danger of removing any of the ancient landmarks and of the necessity for caution and watchfulness in the celebration of the sacraments.

Dearly beloved sons, as what you have to handle is not without its mischances, I warn you that you do most diligently attend to the course of the Holy Eucharist, and especially to that which regards the Consecration, the breaking and communion of the Host. Be you also careful that in everything which appertains to the administration of the Sacraments of Christ's holy Church, you do adhere to the form set forth by lawful authority and presume not to depart therefrom in any detail.

He then gives them a special blessing for the new work which they have to do:

The blessing of God Almighty, the X Father, the X son, and the Holy X Ghost, come down upon you, that you may be blessed in the priestly order, and in the offering of sacrifice to Almighty God, to Whom belong honour and glory to the ages of ages. R. Amen.

He closes the ordination Service with a beautiful little reminder of the only way in which they can both show gratitude to God for what He has given them, and also continue steadily to draw ever nearer and nearer to Him.

Dearly beloved sons, consider attentively the Order you have taken and be ever mindful of the sacred trust reposed in you. Since it hath pleased our Lord to call you closer to Himself, forget not the service of your brethren, which is the golden pathway to his most glorious Presence. Freely ye have received, freely give.

The Holy Eucharist is then continued to its close as usual.

Before leaving the subject of the priesthood it may be well to refer to certain questions which have often been asked about it. One is whether the sadly truncated Service of the Church of England confers anything less than the fuller ritual of the Roman Church. The Orders of the Church of England are valid, and her form of ordination gives the power to draw upon the reservoir of spiritual force, and links her Priests with their Lord and Master. All that is essential, therefore, is done; but one is bound to confess that it is less thoroughly done, in that a number of valuable aids are not given.

The special preparation of the hands undoubtedly makes them capable of transmitting safely a far greater volume of force; the opening of the channel to the physical brain enables the Priest in his ordinary everyday consciousness to feel much more of what he is doing, and so give him greater confidence. Many an Anglican Priest, I feel sure, does not actually know what he achieves in his sacerdotal office; by an act of sublime and fully-justified faith he believes that he is enabled to change bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, that sins are forgiven and that blessing is poured through him; but often he may not perceive by his own feeling the mighty rush of divine power of which he is the channel, and so he has not the absolute certainty which permits him to say “I know.”

That certainty can be attained by self-development, by constant work and earnest aspiration; but its attainment is not made easy for him at his ordination, as it is in the older Churches. The opening is made by the Anglican rite, but its enlargement is left entirely to the enterprise and the knowledge of the individual Priest, and so it is not always done. The collateral ceremonies, too, open up many lines of activity which do not exist in the same way for the man who has not passed through them. It is to be remembered that forces running along different lines react upon and intensify each other, and that a great deal of additional power is gained in this way.

Another question to which much importance has been attached is that of the celibacy of the clergy. The Roman Church insists upon it as a matter both of discipline and convenience, though admitting that it is not an apostolical institution. The Eastern Church forbids a clergyman to marry, though if he was married before his ordination he does not put away his wife. In Greece itself it is stated that there are more than twenty times as many married priests as unmarried, while in Russia marriage seems to be practically a condition of ordination, though there is no actual rule on the subject, The Church of England leaves her clergy free in the matter, as does our Liberal Catholic Church.

From the especial point of view which I am emphasizing in this book marriage apparently makes no difference whatever; it certainly does not in any way affect the man's power to transmit any of the forces. Celibacy may or may not be desirable from the standpoint of expediency; there is much to be said on both sides of that argument; but as far as the inner side of the work is concerned it is immaterial. Obviously a man who is a slave to fleshly lusts is unfit to serve God as a Priest, whether he be married or unmarried; but that is quite another question.

It is often asked whether a woman could validly be ordained. That question has practically been answered in an earlier chapter. The forces now arranged for distribution through the priesthood would not work efficiently through a feminine body; but it is quite conceivable that the present arrangements may be altered by the Lord Himself. It would no doubt be easy for Him, if He so chose, either to revive some form of the old religions in which the feminine Aspect of the Deity was served by priestesses, or so to modify the physics of the Catholic scheme of forces that a feminine body could be satisfactorily employed in the work. Meantime we have no choice but to administer His Church along the lines laid down for us.

Objection is sometimes made to the oath of canonical obedience. It is thought that as we leave our people free in matters of belief, so ought we to leave our Priests free to use any ritual they choose, or none. Any man is already free to do that without joining any Church at all; but if he desires the stupendous privilege of the priesthood he must be willing to accept its conditions. Christ's Church exists in order to help mankind by the distribution of His power, and He has arranged that that shall be done in certain definite ways. Those who believe that they know better then He , and wish to do the work in some other way, are obviously out of the place in such a body as ours, and there seems no reason why they should wish to become its Priests. It is necessary that the control of the public Services of the Church should be in the hands of those who know something of the working of the inner forces involved; otherwise the fair fame of the Church might be stained by all kinds of grotesquery and inefficiency.

Another objection occasionally raised by the ignorant is that canonical obedience may include political obedience—that a Priest might thereby be compelled to vote or to act against his conscience. Such a suggestion is of course childish, for the adjective clearly defines the limits of the promise. The Priest undertakes to use in public Services only the forms provided by the Church which he represents; if for any good reason he desires to vary them in any way, he must apply to his Bishop for permission to do so. He is free to vote as he will, to espouse any cause which commends itself to him; but he must make it clear that he does so as a private individual, and not as representing the Church to which he belongs. The Church stands absolutely aloof from politics, though each member of it is free to take his own line.

THE EPISCOPATE

This, the final and highest ceremony of Holy Orders, is perhaps the most beautiful of all—as, indeed, it ought to be. All through the scheme of conferring the successive Orders, the progress in their importance has been indicated in various ways—one among them being the position occupied by the Service. The ordination of a cleric may take place at any hour, but the other four degrees in minor Orders may be conferred only in the morning. They may be given apart from the Holy Eucharist, but if they are conferred during that Service, the ordination to the degree of cleric takes place after the Introit, and to the other four degrees after the Kyrie. The major Orders can be given only during the Holy Eucharist; the ordination of a subdeacon is performed after the Collects, that of a deacon after the Epistle, that of a Priest and a Bishop after the Gradual; but in these last, parts of the Service are interspersed at various points of the eucharistic rite. For example, it is at the end of the Asperges that the Service for the consecration of a Bishop begins with his presentation to the consecrator by the senior assistant Bishop. The protocol of election is then read, and the Bishop-elect, kneeling before the consecrator, takes the oath of canonical obedience in the follow form:

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen. I, N., chosen Bishop of the Church, do promise all due reverence and obedience in matters canonical to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and to his successors. So help me God, through Jesus Christ.

From this point onward, in all parts of the ceremony outside of the usual course of the Holy Eucharist, the assistant Bishops (of whom there should if possible be two) repeat all that is said by the consecrator, making also the various signs over the Bishop-elect a number of pledges as to the use which he will make of the power so soon to be entrusted to him, so that the following dialogue takes place between them;

Consecrator. The order established of old by the Fathers teaches and commands that whoso is elected to the Episcopal Order shall beforehand diligently examined in all charity concerning the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, and the divers relations and virtues suitable to this charge; and it is seemly that this practice be maintained. For since we verily believe that this stewardship has been committed unto us by Christ Himself, it behoves us to assure ourselves that they to whom we in turn commit it shall know, and in their hearts be fully persuaded, how great is their responsibility before Him. In His Name, therefore, and in virtue of this authority and commandment, we now ask of thee, well-beloved brother, in sincere charity, whether if thou be ordained to this sacred charge, thou wilt exercise its powers wholly for what seemeth unto thee the true benefit of Christ's holy catholic Church, and for no other purpose whatsoever, laying aside utterly all thought of personal predilection or advancement.

Bishop-elect. With my whole heart I will endeavour so to do.

Con. Wilt thou, so far as in thee lies, set thy affection on things above and not on things of earth?

B.E. I will.

Con. Wilt thou with God's help ever remember, that in this high office to which thou art called it is thy bounden duty, and should be thy constant care, to show an example of godly life to all those given into thy charge?

B.E. I will.

Con. Wilt thou ever cherish as a sacred trust the power now to be committed unto thee, and solemnly pledge thyself to exercise all care and discretion in the choice of those upon whom in Christ's Name thou shalt bestow the gift of Holy Orders?

B.E. I will.

Con. Wilt thou hold thyself ever ready to do service in Christ's Name to all men so far as thou art able, remembering that the noblest title of a Bishop is “Servant of the servants of God”?

B.E. I will.

Con. Wilt thou, for the sake of the Lord's Name, seek ever to be gentle and tender to the sorrowful and to those who suffer want?

B.E. I will.

Con. Wilt thou ever bethink thee that thou shouldst be a father unto thy people, and most of all show love unto the little ones among thy flock; remembering how Christ spake: “Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God?

B.E. I will.

Con. The Lord keep thee in these things, well-beloved brother, and strengthen thee in all goodness R. Amen.

The consecrator continues:

Dost thou believe, according to the measure of thy understanding and the powers of thy mind, in the holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, from Whom, by Whom, and in Whom are all things in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, bodily and spiritual?

B.E. I do.

Con. The Lord increase this faith in thee, well-beloved brother in Christ, that thou mayest lead thy flock to a knowledge to the Divine Wisdom. R. Amen.

In the Roman rite many more questions are asked with regard to belief, and in some of them the wording is so grossly material that it would scarcely be possible for one who understands the truth to answer them in the affirmative. It may be thought that, as we leave our congregations entirely free in the matter of faith, it is inconsistent that we should demand even thus much from our Bishops. But while we do not think that either ignorance or any form of honest belief or disbelief should disqualify a man from receiving the help given by Christ in the Sacraments, we feel that those whom we entrust with their administration should have such knowledge as will enable them to give a reasonable explanation of the great divine Plan so far as it is at present known to us; and therefore we are willing to retain thus much of the ancient catechism. Another reason is that as a Bishop has to deal so fundamentally in his work with the power of the holy Trinity, that much of belief and of comprehension is eminently desirable. But we entirely decline to anathematize those who do not agree with us, and in the Roman form a Bishop is expected to do that.

The consecrator and the Bishop-elect now assume the eucharistic vestments, and the consecrator begins the Celebration as usual. After he has pronounced the absolution, the Bishop-elect, escorted by the assistant Bishops, proceeds to a side-Altar which has been set up within the sanctuary, and from that point he recites the Eucharist along with the consecrator. After the Gradual has been sung, the consecrator takes his seat on a faldstool in front of the high Altar. The Bishop-elect is brought before him, and he thus addresses him:

It appertains to a Bishop to consecrate, to ordain, to offer sacrifice, to anoint, to bless, to loose and to bind, to baptize and to confirm, to preside, to interpret and to judge.

Then the ordination litany is sung, just as for the Priest or deacon, the Bishop-elect lying prostrate, and the three Bishops rising and blessing him together at the appointed verses. After this an open book of the Gospels is laid upon the neck and shoulders of the Bishop-elect as he kneels, and is held there by one of the clergy, while the consecrator, and his assistants, with hands extended over him, recite the following form of the prayer which always precedes the actual ordination in the major Orders, though its phrasing is varied to suit the degree which is about to be conferred.

O Lord Christ, the Fountain of all goodness, who by the operation of the Holy Spirit hast appointed divers Orders in Thy Church, and for its greater enrichment and perfecting dost pour down Thy gifts abundantly upon men, making some to excel in wisdom, others in devotion and yet others to be well-skilled in action, pour down upon this Thy servant of the fullness of the Holy Ghost, that in the pontifical dignity to which we are about to raise him he may shine resplendent with all manner of heavenly virtue, O Thou great shepherd and Bishop of the souls of men, to Whom be praise and adoration from men and from the Angel host. R. Amen.

All then kneel, and the Veni Creator is sung. When it is ended the consecrator and the assistant Bishops rise, but the congregation remains kneeling. The consecrator and the assistant Bishops, still wearing their mitres and having their crosiers held behind them by chaplains, simultaneously and most solemnly lay both hands upon the head of the Bishop-elect (Plate 16), all saying slowly and distinctly:

Receive the Holy Ghost for the office and work of a Bishop in the Church of God.

Excepting only Hoc est Corpus Meum these are the most momentous words uttered in the Liturgy, and the down-pouring of divine force which they evoke is tremendous and indescribable. Referring once more to Diagram 11, Fig. 7, they push up the perpendicular line on the right to 4, and enormously widen the channels connecting 6 and 7 with the corresponding principles in the Lord Christ Himself. The Bishop is thus linked through 4 directly with the Triple Spirit of our Lord, so that blessing from that level flows through him, for those three Aspects are very truly one; and that is why he signs the people with a triple cross instead of with one only, as the Priest does. The Priest draws his blessing down the diagonal line 2, 5, 7 through his own principles, and emits it through his causal body; The Bishop, being developed more fully, is able to let the power shine through more immediately and therefore far more strongly. At the Bishop's consecration an entirely new line is also opened, linking his intuitional principle (5) directly with that of our Lord, and thus giving it the potentiality of a development far beyond our imagination. It is this wonderful Christ-force which enables him to hand on his powers to others.

It is noteworthy that there is a steady progress, as it were, in the outward signs of ordination. At confirmation and in the minor Orders the Bishop puts one hand on the head of the candidate, holding his staff. It is the same when he ordains a subdeacon or a deacon, but when he ordains a Priest he abandons the staff, and lays both hands on the head of the Priest. One Bishop ordains the Priest; if there be other Bishops and Priests present they lay their hands on the head of the newly-ordained Priest successively, because each has, or should have, something to give, something to help to make that ordination fuller. Some of those Priests and Bishops belong to different Rays, and so each one has something special, something of his own to give to the Priest who has been newly opened up and is in a condition to receive such influence. When we come to the highest stage in the Orders conferred by the Christ, the greatest possible power converges, so for the consecration of a Bishop all the Bishops present act simultaneously and all say the words, whereas in the ordination of a Priest only one utters the formula, and the others contribute what they can afterwards. Be sure that in these Services every detail has its meaning.

After a pause, with hands now extended over the new Bishop, the consecrator continues with the following prayer, the assistant Bishops likewise extending their hands, and, as already indicated, accompanying him in a low voice:

O God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, most blessed and adorable Trinity, Who wert and art and art to come as thou has now bestowed upon this Thy servant of Thine awful power, and hast deigned to consecrate him as thy representative and a teacher of Thy people, X open, we pray thee, his heart and mind to Thy heavenly grace, that he may handle wisely that which he has received and, being ever mindful of Thee, he may exercise his sacred power to the honour and glory of thy holy Name. Fulfill in Thy chosen Bishop the perfection of Thy service, and having entrusted him with the supreme dignity, do Thou sanctify him with unction from above.

This takes the place of the roman prayer that God will shed upon the newly-consecrated Bishop His strengthening blessing, and it plays an important part in the work, for it opens the way down into the mental and astral vehicles for the influence of the amazing development which has just been made possible for the intuitional principle. While all the spiritual powers of a Bishop are conferred simultaneously at the utterance of the words of power, it would be exceedingly difficult to bring them into practical operation without the aids which are given by this opening and by the anointing of head and hands. The Anglican Church loses much, and makes the work of its prelates more arduous and less readily effective by curtailing all this. She does indeed to some extent supply the place of this prayer by inserting just before the closing benediction a petition for heavenly blessing; but it would be much more efficient in its proper place. She also lengthens considerably the actual formula of consecration, which with her is as follows:

Receive the Holy Ghost, for the Office and work of a Bishop in the Church of God, now committed unto thee by the imposition of our hands; In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. And remember that thou stir up the grace of God which is given thee by this Imposition of our hands; for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and love and soberness.

It will be seen how determined is the effort made here to impress upon the Bishop-elect the reality of the power conferred upon him by the action ordained by Christ—an impression still further strengthened by the invocation of the Name of the most Holy Trinity. The exhortation to “stir up the grace” is quaint, but it shows that even the co-called reformers had a glimpse of the great truth that all power given from on high grows greater precisely in the proportion in which it is used. It is this sentence which, in this maimed rite, does as far as it can the work of opening, arranging and connecting which in more scientific schemes is achieved by the anointing.

Resuming the consideration of our own ritual, the consecrator now takes his seat and assumes his mitre. The head of the newly-made Bishop is then bound with a long napkin, and the consecrator with his thumb anoints the head with holy chrism, the first in the form of a cross over the entire top of the head, then with a series of extending circles till all is covered with the sacred oil. He says:

May thy head be anointed and consecrated with the heavenly blessing in the pontifical Order, so that the power which thou dost receive from on high may flow forth from thee in ever greater abundance and glory. In the Name of the X Father and of the X Son and of the Holy X Ghost. R. Amen.

This anointing of the head is an important item in the ceremony, for the chrism is especially the vehicle of the divine Fire. On the lower levels it is a powerful purifying influence, and on the higher it gives strength and clearness. Although it is applied down here in the physical world, its effects extend far above into unseen realms. The soul mirrors itself in the personality, and this reflection, like many others, is upside down. The higher mind or intellect is reflected in the lower mind, the intuition in the emotional or astral body, and the spirit itself down here in the physical vehicle. Ordinarily the triple spirit is so widely separate from the man as we know him that there is no apparent result from this reflection; but as in the Bishop this triple spirit has the opportunity of awakening, the application of chrism to the head intensifies the power of reflection, and makes the triple spirit glow most wonderfully, besides, clearing the way down into the physical brain for the flow of the new forces.

The force-centre at the top of the head (called by Indian students of higher physics the Sahasrara chakra, and referred to in Baptism as the gateway through which the man passes in and out) is in most men a vortex producing a small saucer-like depression, just as are the other centres in the human body. They take that shape because force is constantly flowing into the physical man through them from higher planes; but in the great Saint force which he himself generates is constantly rushing outwards through this centre for the helping of the world, and so the vortex, rotating more rapidly than ever, becomes a cone instead of a depression, and is often to be seen in statues of the Lord Buddha as a distinct projection at the top of the head.

Manifestly it is intended that the Bishop shall join this more advanced type of souls, for the action of the chrism tends strongly in the direction of this development. If he understands his business and uses his opportunities, every Bishop ought to be a veritable radiating sun, a lighthouse amid the stormy sea of life, a battery charged with almost unlimited power for good, so that he may be a fountain of strength, of love and of peace, and his mere presence may itself be a benediction.

After this anointing, the consecrator rises, and, again extending his hands, says:

Thou Who are wisdom strength, and beauty, show forth thy glory in this Thy servant. Let Thy wisdom dwell in his mind and enlighten his understanding, that in judgment he may be true, and a wise counseller unto his people discerning in all spiritual knowledge. May he be strong and of good courage, sustaining his people in the face of darkness and despondency, a tower of strength to them that falter on the way. Let the beauty of holiness shine forth in his conversation and his actions. Do Thou fill him, O Lord, with reverence, and make him devout and steadfast in Thy service. May gentleness adorn his life, that he may win the hearts of men and open them to the light of the Holy Spirit. Above all, may he be so filled with Thy love that he may touch the hearts of men with the fire from heaven and bring them from the darkness of ignorance into Thy marvellous Light: Thou Who livest and reignest, O Trinity of Might and Wisdom and Love, one holy God throughout all ages of ages. R. Amen.

The consecrator now anoints the hands of the new Bishop with the sacred chrism. He says:

May these hands be consecrated and hallowed for the work of the pontifical Order by this anointing with the holy chrism of sanctification. In the Name of the X Father, and of the X Son, and of Holy X Ghost. R. Amen.

This anointing of the hands with chrism arranges the mechanism for the distribution of the three kinds of force (coming forth, if we push our investigation far enough back into light of ineffably glory, from the Three Aspects or Persons of the ever-blessed Trinty) which flow through the Bishop by virtue of the gift of the Holy Ghost at his consecration. For that reason the triple cross is made over him.

The consecrator makes the sign of the cross first over the heart of the newly consecrated Bishop, then over his hands, saying:

Mayest thou abound with the fullness of spiritual X blessing, so that whatsoever thou dost X bless may be blessed, and whatsoever thou dost hallow may be hallowed, and that the laying on of this consecrated hand may avail for the spiritual safeguarding of Thy people: in the Name of our Lord Christ. R. Amen.

He then joins the consecrated hands and binds them with a linen strip. The sign of power made at the words “the fullness of spiritual blessing” opens fully the direct line of connection between the intuition and the emotional or astral body, so that if and when that intuition is developed it may flash through at once into what is intended to be its expression in physical life.

The un-evolved man is guided almost entirely by his feelings and emotions; and often these may be the merest impulses, born of prejudice or mistaken ideas. Later, the lower mind unfolds itself, and the man begins to check his impulses by reasoning, which, however, is often narrow and based on wrong premises. At this stage he is often a rabid freethinker, noisily denying the existence of anything which with his very limited faculties he cannot feel, see or understand.

Gradually the higher mind appears, and enables him to take a broader and saner view, to realize that he must collate his tiny personal experiences with those of others, and that the straitened limit of his comprehension is not necessarily the frontier of the universe. Thus he learns to subordinate isolated observation to general laws, and to weigh conclusions before accepting them. Very slowly he learns that above and beyond the store of knowledge obtained by wide experience there is a wisdom which knows the truth by instinct, which infallibly and instantaneously distinguishes fact from error; and to that inner faculty we give the name of intuition.

Its true habitat is that higher plane which we name after it—that to which in Oriental lands is given the title of buddhi or enlightenment; but down here in the outer world it shows itself through the emotional body as instinctive feeling. Little by little, step by step, it dawns upon the consciousness of man, and until he can recognize it with certainty he wisely fears to trust it; yet how often has it happened to all of us to reason ourselves out of obedience to some instinctive feeling, and afterward bitterly to regret that we neglected the warning.

Intuition exists—let none doubt it; but not all of us are yet sufficiently developed to be certain of instantly recognizing it when it flashes upon us; and the dangers attendant upon mistaking impulse for intuition are so serious that we do well to be cautious. The attainment of reliable intuition in daily life means the opening of that direct channel between the intuitional and emotional vehicles; and that is the very result which the sign of power over the heart of the newly-made Bishop is intended to produce. When the link is thus brought into operation, it remains for the Bishop himself to develop the faculty by making use of it.

The sign made over the heart is by no means merely sybolical, for it is through that centre rather than through the mind that intuition acts; and the sign made over the hands at the words “that whatsoever thou dost bless may be blessed” arranges the mechanism for the distribution of that wonderful Christ-force which pours through the Bishop as a result of the link made between his intuition and that of his Master.

Then follows the blessing by the consecrator of the crosier, pectoral cross and ring, and immediately afterwards the delivery to the new Bishop of these, which may very truly be called the working tools of the sublime degree conferred upon him. Taking the crosier in his hands, the consecrator says:

Eternal Triune God, before whose great white throne seven flaming Spirits stand, whom yet Thou dost send forth through all the world, X pour out upon this staff Thy sevenfold fire, that it may be a rod of power for the ruling and strengthening of Thy Church. Through Christ our Lord. R. Amen

I shall explain in a later chapter the arrangement of the seven jewels in the Altar-stone, and their especial linking with the earthly Heads of the seven Rays, who are in turn the representatives for our planet of the seven Spirits, who while ever standing before the throne of God, yet permeate the whole of the solar system. A similar plan is adopted with regard to the Bishop's crosier and his pectoral cross. The linking of the jewels with the vicegerents of the great Spirits is done yearly by the Bishop on the festival of St. Michael and all Angels, so the object of this prayer is not to make that link, but to offer this crosier as a channel for the divine power and to invoke the divine blessing upon it. The reference to the Rod of Power will be appreciated by the deeper student of the inner side of life; among Eastern mystics it is sometimes called the dorje.

The consecrator not takes the pectoral cross between his hands, and says:

Almighty God, Who of Thine own most holy will didst offer Thyself as a sacrifice for all the world, and hast by that limitation of Thyself hallowed the sign of the cross and made it for ever Thine own, let the seven Rays of Thine ineffable glory X shine through this sacred symbol, that this holy cross may ever by a radiant sun to him who weareth it, and a fount of light and benison to all Thy faithful people. O thou Who reignest from the cross for ever. R. Amen

This again, like the previous prayer, offers the cross as a channel for mighty cosmic forces; and all who have the inner sight will recognize the appropriateness of describing it as a radiant sun, for that is exactly the appearance which it presents to them. Each jewel flashes with its own especial colour, yet they blend into a wonderful and harmonious whole, and certainly the sacred symbol shed a most powerful and continuous influence not only upon the wearer but upon all who come in contact with him. The fact that the cross typifies the Sacrifice involved in the descent of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity into matter, in order that we and all the worlds may be, makes the symbol still more suitable as a vehicle through which His grace may shine upon the world which owes its very existence to that which the cross signifies.

The consecrator lays aside the pectoral cross, and takes the ring between his hands in the same way, saying:

O Christ, pure Lord of Love, whom Angel hosts obey, touch Thou with sacred fire this ring which in Thy Name we X bless, that he who wears it shall ever show Thy love and purity, and all who touch it shall know Thy healing grace. R. Amen.

It will be seen that this prayer differs in character from those which precede it. It is no longer an appeal to the Deity to recognize a connection already made, but a petition to the World-Teacher to accept the ring as a centre of radiation for the fire of His wondrous love. This ring, so magnetized, becomes the most powerful of talismans, through which the special blessing of the Christ is ever flowing forth without the intervention of the Bishop, though he is able to concentrate and direct it by the exertion of his will. This is further explained in Part III dealing with the instruments of the Sacraments.

All these instruments being now duly prepared, the consecrator presents them one by one to the new Bishop. first the crosier, which the recipient has to take between the tips of his fingers, as his hands are still bound together by the strip of linen. The consecrator says:

Receive this staff, and wield thy power with care as Shepard of Christ's flock. By virtue of the sevenfold fire of god the Holy Ghost be thou all things to all men; giving more strength unto the strong, yet showing gentleness unto the weak; full of wisdom for the wise, and for the devout full of deep devotion. Yet as the seven flashing colours of the bow make but one pure white ray, so shall thy sevenfold power be all the one great power of love.

The consecrator now suspends the cross around the neck of the new Bishop, saying:

Receive this cross, remembering that only by the perfect sacrifice of the lower nature to the higher canst thou fit thyself to bear it worthily. Go forth in the power of the cross, and may the sevenfold light of the Holy Spirit so shine through thee that thou mayest win others to the beauty of sacrifice.

He places the ring on the ring-finger of the right hand of the newly-made Bishop, saying:

Receive this ring in token of the link which binds thee to our Lord, for symbol of thine office as His legate to thy people. In His most holy name, be thou a healer of the souls of men, a channel of His love.

Then deliver to him the book of Gospels, closed, which had previously been held on his shoulders, he says:

Recieve the Book of Gospels, and be thou a teacher of the Divine Wisdom unto the people entrusted to thee.

The consecrator, and after him the assistant Bishops, give the salutation of peace to the newly consecrated Bishop, whose hands are then unbound. Both he and the consecrator then wash their hands. The now Bishop and the assistant Bishops withdraw to the side-Altar. The Gospel is read, and the Creed sung. After the Credo and immediately before the Offertorium is read, the new Bishop presents his offerings to the consecrator. According to ancient custom these consists of two small loaves of bread, two torches or candles, and two miniature barrels with the arms of the consecrator on a golden shield and those of the new Bishop upon a silver shield.

The newly-consecrated Bishop, accompanied by his assistant Bishops, then proceeds to the south end of the high Altar and says aloud the remainder of the office of the Holy Eucharist with the consecrator word for word. Except for a special clause inserted in the prayer of consecration, the Service proceeds to the end as usual. After the final blessing the consecrator and the new Bishop assume the cope. The consecrator then proceeds to the faldstool. The mitre and gloves of the new Bishop are held before him, and he blesses them. The three Bishops then place the mitre on the head of the newly consecrated Bishop, the consecrator saying:

Receive this mitre, wherewith I crown thee for the service of that our most dear Lord, Who, although He be God and Man, yet He is not two, but one Christ; and as in Himself He doth insolubly unite two natures, so mayest thou in thyself for ever join the attributes of wisdom and that of love.

It may be of interest here to quote the corresponding passage in the Roman ritual, as the symbology of the mitre there given differs from ours.

We set on the head of this Bishop, O Lord, Thy Champion, the helmet of defence and of salvation, that with comely face and with his head armed with the horns of either Testament, he may appear terrible to the gainsayers of the truth, and may become their vigorous assailant, through the abundant gift of Thy grace, who didst make the fact of Thy servant Moses to shine after familiar converse with Thee, and didst adorn it with the resplendent horns of Thy brightness and Thy truth, and commandedst the mitre to be set on the head of Aaron Thy high-priest. Through Christ our Lord.

In the Roman rite the following prayer is said when the gloves are placed on the hands of the new Bishop.

Compass about, O Lord, the hands of this servant of Thine, with the purity of the new Man, who came down from Heaven; that, like as Jacob, Thy beloved one, covering his hands with the skins of kids and bring to his father most savoury meat and drink, obtained Isaac's blessing, so may he, presenting with his hands the Saving Victim, be found worthy to obtain Thy gracious blessing. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who, in the likeness of sinful flesh, did offer Himself to Thee, on our behalf. R. Amen.

In the Liberal Liturgy no prayer is said, the consecrator, with the aid of the assistant Bishops, putting the gloves on the hands of the new Bishop in silence. This being accomplished, the consecrator rises and says:

Do Thou, we pray Thee, O Lord, fulfill in Thy servant that which is betokened by these visible emblems, so that the virtue which in these garments is prefigured by sheen of gold, by flashing of gems and cunning of varied embroidery, may continually shine forth in his life and actions. R. Amen.

Then the new Bishop is solemnly enthroned, the consecrator leading him by the right hand, and the senior assistant Bishop by the left. His crosier is handed to him, and a solemn Te Deum is sung, during which the new Bishop, attended by the assistant Bishops, proceeds round the church and gives his blessing to the people. We have found it desirable to modify some of the verses of the Te Deum, as there are phrases in the original which we do not feel that we can honestly recite.

When the procession returns to the sanctuary, the new Bishop is seated on the throne or faldstool, the consecrator standing upon his right hand, and the assistant Bishops upon his left. The consecrator turns to the people, gives the Minor Benediction, and says:

O God, the Shepherd and Ruler of all the faithful, look down in Thy loving kindness on this servant of Thine who has now become a pontiff and ruler in Thy Church; grant him, we pray Thee, O Lord both by his ministration and by word and example, so to profit those over whom he is placed that, together with the flock committed to his care, he may continually increase in the knowledge of Thy mysteries. Though Christ our Lord. R. Amen.

The consecrator and the assistant Bishops, one on either side of him, stand at the gospel side of the Altar. The new Bishop advances to the middle of the Altar and thence gives his solemn benediction in the ordinary form. The newly-consecrated Bishop then pays homage to the consecrator according to the ancient tradition of the Church. He advances by three stages to the consecrator, genuflecting each time and saying: Ad multos annos (unto many years), finally receiving from the consecrator and assistant Bishops the salutation of peace. This concluded, the procession leaves the chancel.

Though the rubric demands the presence of three Bishops to consecrate a fourth, this is by no means necessary to the validity of the Sacrament. One Bishop is fully able to hand on the episcopate, and in history has often done so. When three take part in the ceremony, each is an independent channel of force; so that even if the consecrator were himself through some strange mistake not a properly-ordained Bishop, the action of the others would remedy the deficiency, and the consecration would be valid. The assistant Bishops would have the intention of consecrating, and would have the form of consecration explicitly in their minds; and that intention would operate at the laying on of hands, even if they did not give it vocal utterance. Still, for safety's sake it is ordained that all three shall speak the words simultaneously.

Those of the laity who have the opportunity of seeing any of the major Ordinations are privileged people. It is a great thing, a fine thing to be able to see the carrying on of this scheme given to by the Christ hundreds of years ago. By their presence, by their earnest devotion. the laity can help, and can strengthen the hands of those who are passing on this wondrous gift. They themselves have not been ordained, therefore it is not in their power to pass on the Holy Orders; but it is in their power to uphold the hands of those who are doing it, and to give in that way very real help in what is being done.

Another point is that such a Service offers a magnificent opportunity to those who are trying to develop clairvoyance. Those who are beginning to see should try to see all they can. Humanity is evolving, the powers of our higher bodies are coming nearer to the surface, and sometimes some of us are able to see a little more than we used to see. Here are occasions when there is a great deal more to be seen than is visible to the physical eye. It is well worth while for those present to make an effort to put themselves into a receptive attitude, in the hope of seeing or feeling something of what lies behind the outer form of what is done.

There will be wondrous outpourings of power visible to those have learnt how to perceive them—floods of light, flashes of splendid colour, great Angels who have come to help. Many can feel their presence, and there are some who can see them. There is no reason why others should not share this advantage. Let them put themselves in an attitude of sympathy; let them try to see and to feel. That is one way in which we, the clergy, like the laity to cooperate with us in the work which we have to do.

[1] The Coming Free Catholicism, by Rev. W. C. Peck, p.44.

Minor Orders	Major Orders
Preliminary step: Cleric	Preliminary step: Subdeacon
1. Doorkeeper	1. Deacon
2. Reader	2. Priest
3. Exorcist	3. Bishop
4. Acolyte

Chapter IV. Holy Orders

Minor Orders

Major Orders

The Minor Orders

The Orders of Cleric

The Order of Doorkeeper

The Order Of Reader

The Order Of Exorcist

The Order Of Acolyte

The Major Orders

The Subdiaconate

The Diaconate

The Priesthood