Mr. Gladstone has declared publicly against the indelibility of Orders,—i.e.,
of course, against any legal disability to practise other trades or professions, or to abandon absolutely the clerical profession at the clergymau's own spontaneous choice. Of course this concession need not in the least involve any particular view of the sacerdotal office ; it only implies that no penalty (other than those involved in the very nature of the ecclesiastical constitution to which the priest may have hitherto belonged,—such as the incapacity, of course, to return to ecclesiastical work without special ecclesiastical permission), shall follow the priest's retirement, or hamper him in undertaking the duties of other professions. And thus much every State ought to secure for the priests under its protection. The provision of a safe and sure exit would not diminish but increase the sense of freedom and earnestness on the part of those who spontaneously enter upon the office.
Previous page
